My eyes felt burdened and I struggled to open them. I discovered it was a bigger struggle, keeping them open for longer than a second. I could hear voices overlapping above me; they sounded distant yet somehow I knew they weren't so far away. Another attempt at keeping my eyes open for a second more and it was a success. My lids painfully separated, allowing the bright overhead light to crowd my vision. When the contrast reduced, Mark was peering at me.
"She's awake!" He was saying to someone next to him.
I was moving but not actually moving. Like I was in a vehicle. It was probably an ambulance. The last few hours came rushing back in a way that made my head hurt.
"Will—" I murmured. He'd been laying in a pool of blood. His blood. Was he okay? Where was Runo? My heard hurt more and I winced.
"He'll be fine. Please check her, she's pregnant." Mark was saying before I went out of it again.
Regaining consciousness for the second time, I woke up in a hospital room. I could tell instantly because the smell of disinfectant and antibiotics made me more nauseous than my morning sickness did. I carefully tested the waters and opened both eyes. The first thing I saw was the bleached white ceiling then tilting my head a bit, a mop of blonde hair that shot up. Cece was beside me.
"You're awake! God, I've lost ten years of my life P."
I groaned attempting to sit up. My wrist started burning and there was a dull but pulsating pain behind my head. My body generally felt like it had been through a train wreck and more.
"Careful honey," Cece coaxed as she helped me up. The events of the day started returning. Going to Will's apartment, the emptiness, the stairs, the gunshots, Will and a lot of blood. I whimpered.
"You broke your wrist and you have a slight concussion. They did an ultrasound, the baby is fine."
I remembered falling on my wrist to protect my belly and hitting my head in the process. An image of Runo running his gun across my belly flashed through my mind and I was truly going to puke. My good wrist wrapped around my belly protectively. Thank God. If anything had happened...I couldn't even complete the thought. I breathed out but discerned everything wasn't okay. Runo's gun had ultimately shed blood. Will's own.
"What about Will?" I turned my panicked eyes to my sister.
"He's currently in the theatre room undergoing surgery." She confessed softly.
"Oh my God," Tears burned at the back of my eyes. I wanted to jump out of the bed and go to wherever he was. But the steadying hand Cece had on my wrist told me she wouldn't let me and the pipes connecting me to the IV told me it wouldn't be easy either.
"He's going to be alright P."
"Is that what the doctors say?"
"No," she admitted, "they say we should wait till the surgery is over but I know he'll be fine."
"What if he isn't? I want to go there." I started pulling at the wires attached to my other wrist.
"You can't go Ophelia." Mark walked into the room, passed a smile at Cece then stopped at the foot of my bed. "You're awake."
"Mark," My voice was small. He looked tired. His suit was rumpled and bags had formed under his eyes. I wondered if there was more they weren't telling me. All I could think of was Will, silently laying in a pool of blood. I wanted to leave this place now.
"He'll be out before we know it." He patted my foot. "How are you feeling?"
"Awful."
"Will will feel probably even worse once he's out." He said and I wanted to smile but couldn't. He didn't take offence.
"I'm going to the cafeteria. I'll get lunch for you two, ahem three. You must be especially starving." Mark continued with a smile.
"Thank you," I managed a small smile now. Guess the cat was mostly out of the bag. I briefly thought about how I'd get round to telling my friends. They'd definitely be shocked. Cece thanked him with a smile as well.
"Don't mention." He gleamed and left the room.
"I'll go get the doctor." Cece stood and shortly after, came back in with the doctor, who gave me a rundown of everything. My wrist was a bust but would be nearly as good as new in a few weeks—thank God I wasn't a string artist or anything of major importance that required me actively using my wrist—my concussion was still being monitored and they couldn't give me morphine due to my pregnancy. That explained the mountain of pain I was feeling.
"Do you feel dizzy?" The doctor asked and I shook my head.
"I'm fine."
"Okay, that'll be all for today. If the pain gets too unbearable we have alternatives we can give you to aid it." He explained and I nodded. "I'll see you later." The doctor smiled and went out of the room.
"Do you want the meds?" Cece was asking when the door suddenly opened again. I expected to see Mark but instead saw Lilian. She slowly came into the room and spared Cece half a smile before landing her eyes on me.
"You look like, excuse my language, shit."
"Gee, thanks. You too."
Cece stared at me with a 'and who the hell is this?' look. I grinned at her. Lilian was not in her usual drab office attire and her hair was not neatly packed in a tight bun but up in a loose ponytail. All these were telltale signs that she was worried. Mostly for Will definitely but the fact she was in my room told me she was equally worried about me too. I was almost touched.
"Are you okay?" Her eyes glinted with worry now. "And the baby?"
Of course, she knew about the baby. I was starting to realise not much went past her.
"I'm alright, the baby too." I let out a breath. I would be reciting those words a lot today.
"Mr Illston will be alright. Mr Durham said I should assure you." She said characteristically and that made me smile.
"Do you mean it?" I asked knowing she wouldn't lie. Everyone had been saying the same thing. Will would be alright. But I was saying the same thing too. That I was alright. And it wasn't necessarily true. In reality, I wanted out of this room and to see that he was absolutely alright. But he was currently under the needle and my head was only filled with ideas of everything that could go wrong.
"I hope so, Miss Duhamels."
At that moment, three more people came into the room. Detective Shaun, FBI and Mark.
"She's not ready for an interview." Mark was telling them while also placing food on the table.
"It's essential we have one now." Detective Shaun countered.
My head was throbbing even more and the pain in my wrist was nearly alive but I wanted to get it over with. I wanted to do anything that would get Runo and his cronies thrown into jail immediately. I remembered him being shot too and prayed he had survived. He needed to feel the consequences of all his sins slowly. Preferably, year after year.
"I don't mind an interview now," I said and all three men stopped arguing to stare at me.
"Are you sure?" Mark asked and I nodded.
"Take it easy on her please," Cece said as she shot up from her seat beside me.
"Please try to stay alive, Miss Duhamels," Lilian said before leaving the room. Soon, it was just FBI, Detective Shaun and I in the room.
"How are you feeling, Love?" FBI asked, sinking into the seat Cece just vacated.
"Like crap," I answered honestly.
"You two did well." He smiled.
"We were able to quickly locate Runo because of you." Detective Shawn piqued.
"Is he still alive?"
"Yes, made sure to aim for his legs. The bastard isn't escaping his punishment so easily." FBI scoffed. We got into the business of their visit and I told them everything of what happened till my head felt like it would explode if I didn't stop talking. They said they'd gotten enough and it was okay. They also gave me an overview of what Runo would be facing; his company would be seized and searched then confiscated in the long run, all his cronies would face jail time as well and the boss himself was going to rot away in prison forever. Just as he deserved.
Almost as soon as they left, my eyes closed hoping to dull away the pain of my head and wrist. When I woke up, Cece was back at my side but she wasn't alone. Demi and her husband were beside me and Demi was fussing all over me. Cece had run into her as she came for an antenatal check-up. Demi also had field day once she found out I was pregnant and cheered me up with tales of how our children would grow up together.
The next set of visitors I had was Jo and Bella, both of who looked so distraught as they came in. Jo had heard from Mark that I was in the hospital and hence Bella too. The news of what happened was also all over the news; Billionaire and girlfriend attacked by New York mobster! Jo and Bella fussed just as much as Demi had and nearly shit their pants when I told them I was pregnant. But they were pretty elated and talked my ears off about baby showers and baby clothes shopping for nearly thirty minutes.
After they left, I couldn't take staying in one place anymore and against Cece's warnings, ripped the wires out of my wrist. Hours had passed and no one was telling me anything about Will.
"And where do you think you are going, young lady?"
I looked to the door and saw Uncle Mike, William's uncle and next to him was Erin, William's sister. They both looked exhausted and my eyes melted. Erin rushed to my side and hugged me.
"How are you? We were in Santa Barbara when we heard the news. There were no flights to come back. It was terrible." Erin was shaking and I held her. This had to be the hardest on them. Will was all the family they had.
Uncle Mike pacified me; they were just coming from the theatre room and although the surgery was taking longer than expected, nothing was in the red. Yet. The bullet had bypassed Will's heart but nearly hit a major chest artery and punctured some part of his left lung. Uncle Mike reassured me it was nothing they couldn't fix but even he looked unsettled. Will was like a son to him, I knew he was simply aiming to be strong for the sake of us all. Anyway, he wasn't letting me up either and Cece called the nurses to fix back everything I'd yanked off. I pfted.
The four of us spoke like we were one big family and everything was well and fine but not being allowed to see, at least, the theatre room Will was being operated in, was making me internally lose my mind. And, none of them left me alone for a second. Lilian came by again, this time with Heather, who had a permanent look of horror on her face. Cece handed me my phone, hoping it would distract me enough but all I could think about was Will. Besides, my phone was full of messages from friends and family who'd seen the news. I wasn't sure how to respond to my parents yet and left it to Cece.
So when Mark rushed into the room some hours later with glee in his eyes and announced the one thing I'd been waiting to hear since yesterday, I yanked the wires out of my wrists again, because Will was out of the operating room and my heart was in my mouth.
***
Please don't stone me🥺
I'll sum up my absence in three words; school, school and school. But I'm out rn, and here's a much-awaited chapter! I've missed you guys a lot and btw, did ya'll see? I was added to the official Romance page's reading list. That's pretty rad. So check out TB&I under the Head Over Heels reading list.
I hope ya'll like this chapter and haven't completely forgotten all that's been going down in this book😂.
See you next time loves!❤