Double update for the Holiday! I hope everyone is safe and healthy and happy! Also trigger warning, ⚠️suicide⚠️ is a strong theme in this chapter. If that's something that bothers you, please proceed with caution or just skip the chapter- I promise it won't affect your understanding of the storyline.
Entering her workplace, Ella's main phone line began ringing, and rushing to get to it, Ella ended up accidentally knocking down a vase with flowers. Wincing as the pieces of glass went everywhere, Ella still focused on the phone call at hand.
"Hello?" Ella placed the phone in between her shoulder and ear as she moved for the broom and dust pan.
"Ms. Cortesa?" A women questioned.
"Speaking," Ella crouched, picking up the larger pieces of glass carefully. "How can I help you, Ms?"
The woman paused, "I just... when is latest appointment you can assign?"
"Let me check," Ella threw away the pieces she had collected before going to her schedule. "Does five work?" Another pause with the women, this one prolonged with hints of a background conversation going on. "Is everything alright? Do you need help?" Ella was quickly on alert. The amount of times that she had received calls from patients that were being forced to receive psychological help or that were wanted help but had to do so secretly was chilling.
"No, no." The woman quickly responded, seeming honest. "That time works. Thank you." The lady hung up before Ella could even ask for basic information such as a name and phone number. Before Ella could call back, though, her own personal phone began ringing.
"Hey, mama," Ella chirped, tucking her phone into her shoulder and ear again as she resumed sweeping the shards of glass.
"Hey, Ellie. Did I catch you at a bad moment?" Elizabeth had woken up with a nightmare, and the first thing she wanted to do was check up on all of her kids.
"Nope. I just accidentally knocked over a vase that I'm picking up." Ella explained, her voice strained as she bent over to collect the tiny shards in the dust pan.
"Oh... are you okay?" Elizabeth frowned. She knew she was reading too much into things, but she couldn't help but to feel a heavy weight in her stomach at the simple reminder of her nightmare. There was so much glass stained with blood. "Be careful with glass thing today. In fact, just stay away from them."
"Yes, mamá." Ella assured her firmly, nodding even when she knew her mom couldn't see her. "How's dad?" Ella switched the topic, and that successfully drove her mom off topic.
Elizabeth ended up hanging up a bit earlier than usual, but that was just because she was afraid that she would end up spoiling the surprise for Ella if she stayed on the line. Elizabeth had always kept an open relationship with her kids, often telling them many blunt truths and stories, but that worked out in her favor since now they all trusted her and vice versa.
By the time the afternoon rolled around, Ella had pulled out a small compacted mirror to fix her lip tint after eating, and just as she was finishing up, she somehow ended up dropping the mirror, and it shattered all over her office floor.
"Seriously?" Ella whined quietly to herself before moving for the broom and dustpan again. Her mother hadn't been kidding she told Ella to be mindful of glass things today.
After cleaning that mess up, Ella had noticed that it was already five in the evening, and there was still no sign of her supposed new patient. Even after Ella called the number back twice, it seemed as though the line had been disconnected, sending her back to the voicemail both times before Ella decided to leave a voicemail, expressing her concern and availability before hanging up.
Ella, inclusively, waited an additional thirty minutes to see if maybe the woman was running late or lost, but there were no signs of either option, so Ella ended up deciding to just call it a day and leave.
Just as the young woman was approaching her car, she noticed a tall and handsome figure leaning on it.
"Fancy meeting you here," Ella quipped, leaning up to kiss him briefly as a greeting.
Damien smiled in return, pulling on the lapel of her white suit jacket to tug her back to him. "I heard that there was a beautiful doctor around here who needed saving." Damien chuckled, and Ella quirked a brow in question. Damien looked down at her tire, revealing the flat object that was ruined.
"Ay, no." Ella cried quietly, pouting as she kneeled to inspect the damage.
"Yours isn't the only one, so someone must've dropped something earlier." Damien pointed out at the other two vehicles that were a few parking spots down. "It's fixable, though. Don't worry." He soothed when he saw her cute pouting as she frowned at the tire, searching the other ones.
"I know, it just seems like today isn't my day." Ella sighed, kicking a spare rock across the lot with her heel. "Why are you here, anyway?" Ella turned her attention back to her boyfriend.
"To save you, of course." Damien teased, watching as Ella scoffed playfully, tucking a curl behind her ear as she looked around. "I wanted to invite you to dinner."
"I'm gaining weight, Damien." Ella groaned, following his ushering to his car.
"We can hike for our next date." Damien promised, opening up his passenger door to his car. He had already called someone to take care of Ella's vehicle, so there was no need for them to wait outside.
"Agreed." Ella buckled up, waiting for Damien to round the vehicle.
After being undecided about what to eat for twenty minutes, the couple concluded that they would eat at the first liked restaurant they saw, which just happened to be a wings place. There, Ella managed to convince Damien to attend to the camping event, though the convincing took place with little to no effort.
Damien would find himself defenseless whenever her eyes focused on him with that shiny and happy gleam as well as that dazzling smile of hers. With almost a drop of a hat, he agreed. It would help him keep an eye out for her anyway.
"Thank you for dinner and the ride home." Ella was getting out of Damien's car thanks to the door he was holding open for her.
"You paid for dinner." Damien grumbled. His plan was for him to pay, but Ella had sneakily "gone to the bathroom." In reality, she left to go pay for the bill, much to Damien's dismay.
"Thank you for inviting me to dinner." Ella rephrased, kissing his jaw as he sighed, falling prey to her endless charms.
"Thank you for accepting." Damien hugged her to him. Ever since she had mentioned her specific soft spot for hugs, he had also found himself in a very similar predicament, the only difference being that Damien was truly only fond of hugs when they were with a specific, raven-haired, Spanish girl.
"Text me once you've arrived home safely." Ella pulled away, fighting back a yawn of exhaustion.
Damien agreed, kissing her softly before wishing her a goodnight. He waited until she was inside to turn away, but his phone rang with Selena's contact.
Ella, meanwhile, as soon as she entered her home, something felt weird. Off.
Slowly backing away, she realized her alarm system had been deactivated. That alarmed her since she was never one to forget about that, and as far as she knew, she had paid her bill.
"Not a single step more." A low voice threatened just seconds before a cool barrel was placed on the back of Ella's head.
Ella felt her legs almost give out from beneath her, the blood in her completely falling down to her feet. Her stomach began to churn in pain as she fought to not panic.
"Walk forward. The lights stay off." The man pushed her forward with the barrel of the gun. "Quiet!" The man hissed as Ella whimpered once she saw the rope hanging from the top of her office room, a loop lower down, and a chair placed right under.
"Please. Don't do this, please." Ella pleaded, tears now blinding her pathway which only angered the man further as he jabbed the gun more into Ella's head. "Why?" Ella cried as she paused to get on the chair.
"Because you're ruining me." The man growled, shoving her onto the chair just as Rufus entered the room, his canines baring once he caught sight of the intruder that was causing Ella to emit distressed signals in overwhelming waves. The man, unaware of Ella's dog, was still shoving for Ella to get on the chair, bruising her with the barrel of the gun whenever she hesitated. Just as Ella was standing on the chair, Rufus barked loudly before latching his sharp teeth into the intruder's leg, pulling him hard to distance him from Ella.
The man fell down with a curse and yell, but Rufus didn't let go. Ella quickly hopped off the chair and pulled her cell phone out to call 911.
"I'll shoot this mutt if you press one more button!" The man yelled, fighting to get the dog off, but Rufus still was refusing to let down on his attack.
"No! Please, don't!" Ella shook her head, not baring to see her pup die. "I'm setting it down." Ella whispered, making a show of putting the phone down while discreetly pressing the call button. She didn't want her pup to die, but she had a feeling that the man wasn't going to care about him once he completed his mission of having Ella hang herself. Then again, that would out him, and he was making her hang herself for a reason.
"Get off!" The man hit Rufus's head with the butt of the gun, successfully disorienting the pup while he kicked him away, causing Rufus to whine and yelp loudly.
"Please don't hurt him. Please." Ella begged, motioning for Rufus to stay put, which he did, but he also was just barking loudly.
"On the chair. I've had enough." The man roughly shoved Ella on the chair, the gun now pointed towards her dog since he noticed that she was more complacent with the life of her dog being risked.
Ella felt like puking when she felt the the scratchy rope fall around her neck, and she couldn't help but to cry louder while praying silently. Her parents would be devastated. She prayed that the police would find her before anyone ever saw such a disastrous scene.
"I just want to know one thing..." Ella pleaded, managing to latch onto the attacker's hand that was tightening the rope around her slender neck. "Who are you?" Ella sniffed, watching as the man's eyes flashed with some humane emotion before he clenched his jaw and looked away.
"I have a life to uphold, little girl." The man grunted, waiting for Ella to remove her hands from his before stepping away. "On the count to three, you kick the chair from under you." The man stepped away, walking backwards but keeping his eyes on a shaking and devastated Ella.
Rufus left his spot, still barking as he neared his beloved owner, whining as he got closer.
"One..."
Ella cried, shaking her head, still begging with her eyes for the man to change his mind.
"Two..." the man was almost yelling, seeming as though he couldn't believe he was about to do this.
"Three!"
"I can't," Ella whispered, her eyes tightly shut as she gripped the rope, her sobs racketing through her chest.
"Go!" The man yelled, firing a bullet into the wall.
At the same time, everything fell apart.
Rufus barked louder, sirens wailed in the distance, another bullet was shot, Damien entered the room, blue lights flooded the dark street, and Ella's chair slipped from her feet.
"No!" Damien cried, images of how Vincent had killed himself burning themselves back into Damien's mind as he collapsed to his knees.
After hanging up on Selena, he had noticed that Rufus was lowly and viciously growling and barking, which was new and alarming to Damien because during the few months that he had known the dog, he had never heard those sounds coming from the normally calm and collected pup.
Deciding to enter the house, he could hear muffled voices and cries before a shot was fired. That made his blood run cold, fear crawling up his spine and immobilizing him on the spot before he shook his head.
He couldn't lose Ella. Not like this. He refused to. He promised he wouldn't get close to another person only for them to die on him.
Using that as motivation, he ran to where he had heard the gunshot, finding Ella standing with a rope around her airways, sobbing as a dark figure stood in front of Damien, completely unaware of the new visitor.
Just as Damien had knocked the intruder down, Ella's chair had slipped, causing her to fall and almost snap her neck if it weren't for Rufus standing right under her, allowing her to just barely hold herself up as Damien blindly rushed forward.
He wasn't sure how he got her down or when the police arrived, but Ella was safe and with him, and for the love of God, he couldn't even function after that.
The medics were pretty surprised to find the scene, recognizing all three figures as the ruthless Italian lawyer, Damien Petrotti, the business conglomerate, James Vanders, and the young psychologist they also often saw at their hospitals, Ella Cortesa.
While the police arrested Damien and James and interrogated them both, Fransisco and Stefanie were briefed on the incident, and within minutes, both siblings arrived on the scene. They had almost knocked down the neighbors that had surrounded the scene as well as the police officers that were blocking the entrance, but they got in, rushing to see their little Ella.
"What the hell happened?!" Fransisco was panting, eyes frantic as they scanned an obviously terrified Ella that was being checked by a medic on one side, and with Damien standing firmly and protectively by her other side now that they had removed his cuffs. "I'll check her." Fransisco quickly replaced the clumsy medic, ignoring the dude's remarks.
"Ella," Stefanie cried, lunging at her sister, hugging her tightly. "What did they do, huh?" Stefanie held on tight, both sisters crying hysterically.
"Stef, I need to check her vitals." Fransisco gently tried to maneuver around the pair, awkwardly bending at angles in order to see how Ella's body was functioning right now. He just needed to check her the only way he knew right now, which was medically. "What exactly happened?" Fransisco asked Damien after pulling him a bit to the side. Ella wasn't answering questions, she was just... falling apart.
"Vanders was here. He... he threatened her to... kill herself." Damien couldn't even say it, also going through his own personal trauma himself.
Fransisco cursed, running a hand through his hair. "I gotta let my wife now. She must be very stressed right now." Fransisco left, an excuse to give himself some time to digest the new information. He had only found out about the brief overview about what his little sister had gone through, and he was having a hard time breathing, he couldn't image what type of feelings Damien and Ella felt after having to experience such a moment.
Having helped Ella calm down a bit, Stefanie settled beside Ella, wrapping her in a blanket since Ella was shivering and freezing even though it was relatively warm outside. Damien returned to her side, noting how pale and jittery she was. She didn't resemble herself at all, and that scared Damien. She was here, but she wasn't.
"Cold?" He leaned over the back of the ambulance, watching as Ella flinched. She looked up at him through her wide and teary eyes before nodding a little. Damien cautiously approached, allowing Ella time and space if she wanted him to move away or move back, but she didn't, if anything she almost cuddled up to his side as soon as he was close enough.
Sliding her a bit closer, Damien wrapped his arms around her, leaning back on the vehicle to support his weight as Ella hid herself in the blanket and Damien. Rufus had also found his spot beside Stefanie, who was just murmuring words of encouragement to the pup while caressing his soft fur. His head was a bit roughed up since the medics also had to treat a cut that the pup had on his face from where Vanders had hit him to get him off.
Fransisco returned a while later, a bit frustrated and nervous. "Is she asleep?" He asked Damien, and Ella shook her head having heard her brother. "Are you better?" Ella nodded, not budging from her position much. "Good." Fransisco nodded, moving to lean beside Stefanie and Rufus, and Stefanie leaned against Fransisco, also seeking some comfort.
"We need to tell mom and dad." Stef mumbled, quietly as to not let Ella overhear.
"They're already on their way here." Fransisco grumbled, knowing that the situation was bound to get easier yet more complicated with their parents' appearance.
"Who told them?" Stefanie moved back, confused and shocked at how quickly her parents had reacted. She shouldn't have so surprised though... their parents, especially their mom, would cross the entire universe if it meant helping them.
"They were already on their way here since this morning; it was meant to be a surprise for both of you, but with this... I'm sure they're the ones that are going to receive the surprise." Fransisco stretched his neck, a few tense joints popping.
Ella, meanwhile, was still. She was tightly clutching Damien's shirt, too afraid to let go to get some real medical treatment, but right now, she didn't want to be surrounded by strangers in a cold and white hospital room. She wanted to be home. She wanted her parents, and she wanted to be warm and safe. For now, Damien was her warmth and safety, so she clung onto that until her body just shut down, and she fell asleep.