Another shot.
The man also fell to the ground.
Danny holstered his gun and rushed toward Cole and Vanessa.
"My boy!" Kristen screamed from the side as Jackson tried to hold her back.
"Are you okay, Vanessa?" Cole, who was slowly trying to stand up, asked her. He was pressing a hand on his shoulder, from which blood was gushing.
Vanessa stood up, too, and nodded her head in response. She was not injured.
Cole looked around. "Is everyone okay?" he shouted.
At that moment, Kristen tore herself away from Jackson and rushed to her other son.
"I'm fine, Mom." Cole tried to comfort her, but she kept sobbing.
He will live, Vanessa thought. From my bullet, he will die.
"Brother, you are injured," Jackson, standing beside his brother, said anxiously. "You are losing blood. We need to get you to the hospital."
Meanwhile, Danny was already calling 911.
"I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere," Cole replied.
As everyone gathered around him, Vanessa bent down to pick up her phone that had fallen to the ground. She discreetly turned on the camera and took a picture of the lifeless man lying on the ground.
The next moment, Rebecca called out in worry from the second floor. "Cole? Mom? What happened?"
"Go back to your room, Becca," Cole shouted to his sister.
Numb with horror, Rebecca returned to her room.
Vanessa moved closer to Kristen and hugged her. "Everything is fine, Kristen. It's okay. Come with me. Everything will be okay."
Cole turned his head after Vanessa as she was helping his mother walk up the stairs. And just a moment after they were already out of sight, he started screaming. "How the hell did this happen, Dan? How could someone come in and shoot in my own house?"
Meanwhile, crouching next to the corpse, Danny looked up at Cole. "I searched him. No ID."
"Of course, there won't be an ID! Who would go kill and carry a passport with them?!"
Jackson was looking out the window, waiting for the ambulance to come. Adrenaline might have sustained his brother at this point, but the blood loss was dangerous.
A minute later, which seemed like an eternity, he saw the paramedics crossing the driveway in front of the house. Jackson opened the door for them. "Here." He pointed to his brother sitting on the stairs, still pressing his hand against his wound.
"Entry and exit wound, bullet not in body." One paramedic said to the other after crouching next to Cole and examining his wound. "We're going to take you to the hospital, Mr. Willker."
"I'm not going anywhere. Sew, glue, bandage, I don't care. But do it here."
Even in this situation, wounded by a bullet and probably burning with pain, his voice sounded controlled, cold, and monotonous, and his face was still serious, not showing any emotion.
While the doctors treated the wound, police sirens sounded outside.
***
Upstairs, still shaking and unsure of what had happened, Rebecca stood by the window, watching the police car, which had arrived three minutes after the ambulance.
The next moment the door to her room opened, and Vanessa walked inside.
"Nessa!" Rebecca rushed to her and hugged her. "Tell me what happened! I heard gunshots."
"Becks, Cole was shot."
"What?"
"Don't worry, he's fine."
"How do you know?"
"He is wounded in the shoulder. The wound is not life-threatening."
"But how? Why?" Rebecca couldn't gather her thoughts and process what had happened.
"I don't think anyone can answer those questions right now."
"I feel like our family is cursed. Who would want to kill my brother? Why? He's a good man." Rebecca moaned barely. "Even if there was a time when he was involved in some shits... He always has been fair, honest, and loyal."
"What do you mean involved in some shit?" Vanessa asked doubtfully.
Rebecca returned to the window again and stared outside. "A couple of years ago, our father became a business partner with William Danforth. Together they owned a chain of nightclubs and casinos. Cole was twenty-four years old, in his last year in college. Dad transferred the management of these establishments to him after his graduation to prepare him for taking control of all the family business one day." Rebecca paused for a while, obviously feeling pain when talking about that. But then she took a deep breath and continued. "But what our father didn't know back then, neither any of us, was that William Danforth was using this business to cover his illegal one."
"Illegal business? What kind?"
Rebecca shook her head a few times and closed her eyes. "Drugs traffic. And I don't want to know what else. William's son, Stephen, also worked with his father. I think he knew everything his father was doing from the beginning. He and Cole became very close friends. Anyway. In the beginning, everything looked perfect. Cole was doing a great job. Ever since then, he has been good at managing. He has this flair for choosing the right people for the right job. He is born to be a leader, you know... But with time, their friendship with Stephen started to feel odd. They hung out with their other friend, Jerry, all the time." Rebecca turned to Vanessa and looked at her. "I have never liked these guys. They looked dangerous and aggressive and always were armed. With the years passing by, things got very suspicious. Cole started to buy the most expensive cars. To change them every month. He bought a private jet. And a huge penthouse where he moved to live in. He became distant from all of us... From all of his own family."
"You think that Cole had been involved in this illegal stuff?"
"I don't know. I'd like to believe he hadn't been. But there's no other explanation for the high standard he lived then. Our parents never spoiled us. The money certainly didn't come from our family. And the income from clubs did not record such profits. Dad started to worry very much. I don't know exactly how, but he found out about William and the businesses he ran under the guise of their common one. I remember he tried to get Cole out of there, but it wasn't easy. After Dad threatened William to expose him..." Tears welled up in Rebecca's eyes again. "A few days later, our father was killed. Unknown perpetrator. An unsolved case to this day. This was when Cole cut off all contact with the Danforth family, even with Stephen. He is certain that William killed Dad. But he was never able to prove it. Nor was the evidence that could have exposed him as a criminal and possibly served as a motive for the murder ever found." Rebecca tried to wipe away her tears. "Cole feels guilty about our father's death. And he lives with this thought every day. Can you imagine how hard that is?"
You have no idea how well I can imagine that, Vanessa thought. She hugged Rebecca again and continued out loud. "It is not his fault, Becks. One cannot be responsible for the actions of others."
"I know that. We all know that. No matter his mistakes, we all know Cole would do anything for our family. We all know how much he loves us. I can't lose him, Vanessa. I can't lose my brother."
"Shh. You are not losing anyone... right now. The police are already here. They will investigate the case. Now lie down and try to get some sleep."
Vanessa gave Rebecca a sedative as she did with Kristen, then went to her room and immediately dialed Karevsky.
"I'm listening, Blake."
"I'm sending you a photo. I want to know everything about him."
"Why didn't you send me, even for once, a pic of someone looking normal on it?"
Vanessa was not in the mood for ironic remarks at that moment. "Next time when someone points their gun at me, I'll tell them to wait so I can take a photo of them first!"
"Someone has tried to kill you?"
"Well. Someone tried to kill Cole. I saw him before he shot and cried out. So the man pointed his gun at me. The moment he shot, Cole jumped in front of me and took the bullet."
Karevsky burst out laughing. "You are telling me that Willker has saved your life?"
"It's not funny, Karevsky! Do you feel the irony right now? Do you understand how ridiculous this is?"
"Is Willker alive?"
"Yes, thank God. I need him alive, for now."
"You need him alive, or you do want him alive?"
"What do you mean, Karevsky? Of course, I want him dead! And I will be the one who will kill him! But after I figured out everything that is happening here."
"Of course, you will. Take care of yourself, Blake!"
"I do."
Vanessa hung up. She lay down in her bed and spent the whole day there. She wasn't thinking about food, not even coffee. She was so confused. The morning incident was repeated before her eyes like a film strip.
The night came quickly. Darkness filled the room. Vanessa closed her eyes in another attempt to sleep.
The door opened slightly. And it was closed a few seconds later.
Cole.
Vanessa ran her hands through her hair. She didn't see him. But she knew it was him.
She got up and went to his room even though her mind tried hard to oppose it.
Cole was standing by the window, the curtains were slightly open, and he was looking out.
Shirtless, only in jeans. The moon caressed his body, revealing his bandaged shoulder.
"Why did you do that?" Vanessa asked quietly, standing by the door. "Why did you risk your life for me?"
Cole turned to her. His eyes stared at her in the darkness.
Vanessa walked towards him and stopped a foot away. "You could have died. Why?"
"I told you, Vanessa—I won't let anyone hurt you."
Why? She didn't understand. Why would this man, who didn't care about the lives of others, risk his own for her? Took a bullet for her. Why did he keep protecting her? Taking care of her? How was that even possible? To hate him with all of her beings yet want to hide in his arms at the same time?
Vanessa felt her eyes fill with tears. She hadn't cried in her entire life. Even when she was burying Steve and Grace. She was sad. She was angry. But she had never cried.
But at that moment, she felt a tear sliding down her cheek. She tasted its salty taste. And it wasn't because of him. It was because of her. Because at that moment, she hated herself. In this moment of weakness. Because she had let him make her weak. He made her forget about everything and everyone. Just to feel his touch. His presence by her side. To feel the way that only he was making her feel.
Not alone. In this big, awful world.
"I won't let anyone hurt you," Cole repeated. "Always remember that."
One moment of weakness.
And as if drawn by a magnet, her lips clung to his.
"Stay with me," Cole whispered. "I need you, Vanessa."
The rest was silence.
***
In the meantime, in that seedy pub, Jerry was dancing not coordinated with a glass in his hand and a cigar in his mouth.
"Why are you so happy, Boss?" one of his boys asked him curiously.
"I did what Cole wished. He asked me to go to him. Well. His wish, my command."
"Why do you hate this guy so much tho?"
"Why? Why? Because it's him! In all his hideous perfection. It was Stephen and me in the beginning. Until Cole showed up. And Stephen started following him around like a puppy. I was busting my ass off working the streets, and they were just wallowing in luxury. And every time chicks showed up, they always went to Cole. Cole. Cole. Cole."
"You hate him because girls chose him over you?"
Jerry turned and threw his glass violently at the bar, glass pieces shattering in all directions. "I hate him because he always had what I wanted!" For a moment, behind his angry expression, his lips stretched into a devilish smile. "Well, now he has nothing."