The Choices We Make (Revenge)

Miracle

Rebun Island, Japan

"Daniel?" With an outcry, Victoria ran towards him, realizing who was lying on the ground in front of her. But she didn't come far when one of the paramedics stopped her.

"Let us do our work, ma'am!" He said, taking her arm. "Step aside so that we can give the injured people medical help."

"But it's my son!" She tried to free herself from his grip, but Conrad came to his aid by gently pulling his wife aside and then taking her into his arms.

"Let the doctor do his work, Victoria," he said quietly, although he was also shocked at the sight. "He knows best what to do."

She leaned against his shoulder and began to sob. "Daniel..."

His colleague, who had first run to Aiden, shook his head slightly after checking some vital functions. "He's dead," he said regretfully, then looked up at Nolan. "Were you the one who called us?" And when Nolan nodded, he continued. "What happened here?"

"They shot each other ..." Charlotte confessed.

The emergency doctor, who was kneeling next to Daniel, exchanged a glance with his colleague and then turned back to his patient. When he suddenly leaped up and ran back to the helicopter, Emily came back from her trance-like state.

"What is it?" She looked questioningly at the doctor and was surprised when he showed up again with a large doctor's kit.

"Come here! I need you!" The doctor shouted to his colleague as he took a pair of scissors and parted Daniel's clothes until his upper body was exposed.

"He's alive?!" Nolan said disbelievingly.

The emergency doctor nodded. "His pulse is weak but palpable." He looked at his colleague. "The bullet hit the lung," he informed. "He's unconscious. We've got to take him to the helicopter and make a puncture to relieve the hematothorax. Otherwise he'll bleed to death."

"What?" Victoria asked, puzzled, who didn't understand what the doctors were saying.

Emily felt her legs suddenly gave way. Daniel was alive! She couldn't believe it. And even if he was in a critical condition, she trusted the doctors that they would help him survive. Tears of relief were running down her cheeks as she watched the emergency doctors putting Daniel on a stretcher and then taking him to the helicopter. It seemed to her an eternity before one of the doctors appeared again.

"For your information ...," he began and looked around. "We put him in an artificial coma so that we could puncture the bleeding inside and outside his lung. Fortunately, the bullet only hit the left lung and no other organs. But it looks very critical. We have to take him to a hospital as soon as possible. There are no hospitals specialized in thoracic surgery in this area of Japan, so we need to bring him back to the States. He needs surgery."

"But he'll pull through?" Conrad asked.

"At this point, I don't want to make any predictions. He lives, which in itself is a miracle. But with this kind of injury, you can never tell if there are other complications." He cleared his throat. "Are family members present?"

"Yes, I am his mother!" Victoria freed herself from Conrad's arms and went towards him. "I want to fly with him," she said firmly.

The emergency doctor frowned. "We can only take one person with us." He looked at Emily, who was still sitting dazed on the ground. "Are you okay?" He leaned over her and looked worriedly at her.

Charlotte went to her sister-in-law and put a hand on her shoulder. "She's his wife," she told the doctor as she tried to ignore her mother's annoyed look. "Emily should be with him."

The doctor nodded. "I agree. Even if he is currently in a coma, he will feel that you are there." He held out his hand to Emily and then pulled her up. "Go to the helicopter," he said quietly. "I'll be right there."

"To which hospital do you fly him?" Nolan asked.

"You told us on the phone that you are from Long Island. We'll take him to a hospital in New York. There he gets the best medical care."

Conrad took Victoria's arm again. "You heard him. The helicopter takes him to the hospital. We'll also fly back." They entered the ferry that had been waiting the whole time. "Charlotte, are you coming?" Victoria reached out for her daughter's hand.

"I'll go with Nolan," she said, and stood beside him. Again she could see disapproval at her mother's face, but she didn't care. She went to the helicopter and looked inside. "He'll make it!" She said confidently, squeezing Emily's hand. "We'll see you in the hospital." She looked after the helicopter as it took off and then disappeared on the horizon.

"And what happens to him now?" Charlotte asked, pointing to Aiden, when the ferry, with her parents on board, had cast off.

Nolan went to the corpse and looked down at him. "I'll see to it that he gets a proper burial."

"I'll help you." She nodded resolutely. "You said there was someone on the island who had been well-informed about all of this?"

"Yes, Ava." He scratched his head thoughtfully. "I know you want to go back as soon as possible, but I'd like to finish this first."

"Do you want to bury him here, on the island?"

Nolan nodded. "I think here is exactly the place where he belongs," he said thoughtfully. "Aiden once told me that Rebun was a place of magic for him. A place where the soul would be reborn."

Charlotte nodded. "I met him years ago and I thought he was quite nice." She shook her head slightly. "What changed him?"

"Love," Nolan said curtly. "He adored Emily. And he always believed that she would return his affection."

"Did she?"

"I think so," Nolan began hesitantly. "Then Daniel came between them." He sighed deeply. "I saw her slowly but gradually falling in love with him and couldn't help it."

"Why would you have done something about it?" Charlotte looked at him confused.

He shrugged. It was not the time to tell her the truth. Maybe later.

"Why did Emily hate the Graysons so much?"

The question came out of the blue and he had to hold his breath for a moment. "Who says she did?" He asked uncertainly.

"Daniel told me," she confessed. "And I've overheard a conversation from my parents, where they said the same."

Nolan closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them quickly. "I promise I'll tell you everything, but now we need to take care of Aiden, okay?"

She nodded hesitantly.

Nolan pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He discussed some things and then resumed. "I called Ava," he explained. "She's coming right here, bringing a few people to the reinforcement who can take Aiden back to the training camp."

While waiting for help, Nolan pondered about how to tell Charlotte about her parents' past and Emily's plan to destroy the Graysons. He looked up as she suddenly pointed between the trees.

"Look! They're coming!"