by Bev Dulson
‘What are you doing, this wasn’t the plan?’ Max complained.
‘Neither was him going after my girlfriend with a gun. I’ll be back for you.’ He took the stairs two at a time. He got to the top of the stairs and into the kitchen just as a gun shot went off and he saw Romeo falling to the floor.
‘It’s over Travis.’
He turned, his gun trained on Hunter. ‘It ain’t over till it’s over.’ He got the first shot in, aiming it at Hunter’s leg. He responded with his own gun, but the shot was off target as his balance went, taking him down. He scrambled to recover the hold on his gun, but Travis was quicker, he kicked it out of his hand.
‘I am going to enjoy making you suffer.’ He stood over him. With his good leg Hunter kicked out trying to knock his balance off too, but Travis was a man mountain, it was going to take more than that to move him. This was not it. This was not the end. A shot went off again, this time it hit him in his shoulder.
‘FUCK.’ Travis was not going to make this quick which meant he had to think if he was going to get out of this. He could see Romeo’s gun just to the edge of the island, out of sight of Travis, it wasn’t too far away, he could inch towards it, Travis would think he was just trying to get away. He began to drag his body, using his good arm and his good leg channelling every bit of strength from his core. He would not die here, not in Max’s old kitchen and he would not leave Mag’s again. He’d defeated one Travis brother, he’d do it again.
‘Crawl away all you want Jason Lomax, it’ll be the last thing you ever do. You’re nothing but a coward, you give it the big I am, but when faced with a real fight you’re a coward…’
Few more inches and he was there, he ignored the pain in his body, didn’t even look at the blood spilling from his body, as soon as he acknowledged it, he’d become weaker. He was already starting to feel dizzy, his vision blurring.
‘This is for my brother, you took an innocent life,’ the gun was still trained on him. ‘Hey, maybe I could write my own book about the hero who revenges his brother, kills the bad guys and gets the girl. I like it.’
‘Not how that story ends.’
Travis spun round. Magenta stood in front of him, her gun already firing before he had a chance to react properly. He fell like a giant tree, causing a barrier between her and Hunter.
‘Mags, kick his gun away,’ he mumbled. Was she even there? Was he dreaming? Was he dead? He could feel warm hands on his face, her voice.
‘I’m here babe. I need an ambulance, police…’ her voice faded in and out. ‘Don’t you dare go anywhere, you hear me?’ He could feel pressure on his shoulder it was both pain and pleasure.
‘Mags…’
‘Ssh…don’t say anything; the ambulance is on its way.’
He felt her warm breath against his forehead, her voice close to his ear. Then he heard another voice, a deeper voice. He wanted to scream, Mags, get away babe, run, but nothing, just blackness.
CHAPTER FORTY
Magenta stood outside the surgical unit, Trina on one side of her, Juke on the other. It had all gone crazy in the kitchen of the brownstone, it appeared Romeo had ducked out of the way of Tango’s shot, but knocked himself out in the process, coming too just as she’d been on the phone to the emergency services. He’d checked on Tango to make sure he was no longer a threat, he wasn’t she’d killed him. She couldn’t deal with that right now, she’d never imagined she could be capable of taking a life, but he was about to take Hunter’s so it was a gut reaction. He’d helped her get Hunter into the recovery position and instructed her to put pressure on the bleeding. He said he’d go and open the door for the ambulance so that she wouldn’t need to leave Hunter. He also said he’d go and check the basement, he was sure Jax was down there too.
Next thing was, the ambulance crew arrived and took over, getting an oxygen mask on him, trying to stop the bleeding to stabilise him before they could move him when out of nowhere Max and Jax appeared. She lost the plot, shouting to the police that they needed to arrest them both. Max had managed to calm the situation down and explain that they’d been held hostage too. Another ambulance was called so they could be taken to hospital also. She had absolutely no idea how her ex-husband had ended up locked up in a basement with her boyfriend. The paramedics had got Hunter onto a gurney and into the rig, she’d travelled with him, under police escort. Detective Saunders had arrived at the scene shortly before Hunter was moved into the ambulance. He assured her he would contact her people so they could meet her at the hospital and he’d notify the hospital of the need for security. It had all seemed like a blur.
Now she was stood, looking at surgeons operate on the man she loved and all she could do was stand there helpless in clothes covered in his blood not knowing if he was going to make it or not. He’d been unconscious the whole time they were in the ambulance. She hadn’t let go of his hand, or stopped talking to him, telling him she loved him, tears streaming down her face as the paramedics worked around her. The ambulance speeding through the streets of New York, the siren blaring, yet all she could hear was the sound of her heartbeat racing in her ears.
A nurse came over to them. ‘Miss Valentina, it could be hours yet, why don’t you come to the relatives room to rest, it’s more private there too.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m not leaving him.’
‘Magenta…’
‘No, Juke, this is where I need to be, this is where he’d be if it was me in there.’
Logan and Johnny where in the relatives room, the hospital couldn’t cope with two rock stars in the corridors, the security budget was tight. Logan had just popped out for an update. ‘Just wanted to see how he was doing.’
‘You can see for yourself.’ Magenta’s voice was flat.
‘He’s in the best place possible,’ he cringed at the cliché. ‘Not sure if you wanna know, but Max and Jax have been checked over and released from hospital.’
‘I’m not arsed. How is Romeo? I lost track of him at the house. He was amazing, helped me with Hunter’s wounds.’
Logan frowned. ‘No idea, I don’t think he’s been admitted.’
Now Trina looked confused. ‘Can you check Logan, he was on the way to the brownstone to confront Tango and rescue Hunter.’
‘He was there, he was the one who untied Max and Jax too.’
‘OK girls, probably just an oversight, I’ll go and check now. Trina would you stay with Johnny, he’s a bit shaken up, don’t wanna leave him on his own. I won’t be long, then you can come back to Magenta.’
Trina looked at her friend. She nodded. ‘You need a break mate, go and grab yourself a cuppa.’
Juke squeezed her hand. ‘I got you, baby.’
Johnny was slumped on an uncomfortable chair when Trina found him, looking like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He looked up when he heard the door open and was up on his feet and pulling her into his arms, holding on to her like his life was dependent on her. ‘Scouse, am I glad to see you. What’s happening? How is he? How’s Magenta?’
She took him by the hand and led him back to the chairs. ‘He’s still being operated on. He’s lost a lot of blood and the bullet in his shoulder is close to a main artery so it’s tricky.’
‘Fuck, I always think he’s invincible, like James Bond.’
‘He’s human.’
‘What about Magenta?’
‘She’s not great, she won’t leave the surgical unit.’
‘Don’t blame her, I’d do the same.’ A look passed between them for just a moment. Trina looked away.
‘Logan’s gone to check on Romeo, there’s some confusion about what happened to him after the shooting. No one has seen him since the house.’
‘God, this is just so fucked up. At least they got the bad guy, right?’
‘Yeah, but it wasn’t Romeo or Hunter…Magenta shot him.’
‘What? But I thought…wasn’t she supposed to stay at Logan’s until Romeo had sorted everything out.’
Trina gave out a sarcastic laugh. ‘When does that girl ever do as she’s told? She knew Tango was going to the brownstone and she knew Hunter would be there so to her, there was only one option. She took Logan’s gun from the study and followed him. By the time she got there, Tango had already shot Hunter, so she shot him, killing him.’
‘Holy fuck, that girl has balls.’
‘I can’t imagine being in a situation like that, I don’t know what I’d do.’
He put his arm around her, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. ‘You’d do the right thing, whatever it took to save the person you love.’ He planted a soft kiss on the top of her head.
She closed her eyes, tiredness and emotion flowing through her body. Her eyes flew open again as the door opened. Fly and Roxie walked through the door.
‘Dude, I’ve totally lost track of you whilst this has been going on. Where have you been?’
‘Mainly with Roxie at her hotel, lying low.’
‘Any update? Twitter is going insane with rumours,’ Roxie asked.
‘What?’ Trina grabbed her phone. ‘How do people know, we haven’t released a statement.’
Fly shrugged, it’s been trending for hours, first people thought Magenta had been shot, but then a ‘source close to Magenta’ confirmed it was Hunter.’
‘Source close to Magenta my arse, no one here has leaked this.’ Trina’s eyes were blazing as she checked Twitter.
‘It’ll be someone who has seen Hunter being brought in and don’t forget, Magenta’s been in the corridor all night, the ‘source close to Magenta’ will be someone who has walked by her.’
‘Shit… #prayforhunter is trending.’
Johnny looked over her shoulder. ‘Well, thoughts and prayers have proven effective in the past. At least there isn’t any mention of her shooting someone dead so y’know, it could be worse.’
She glared at him. ‘Johnny, shut yer gob, we know exactly how it could be worse, Hunter is still on that operating table.’
He hung his head. ‘Sorry, I’m just shit in a crisis. Maybe I should head back to the hotel before I put my foot in it again.’
‘Good luck with that dude, hospital is surrounded by press.’
‘How did you get in?’
‘You don’t wanna know, plausible deniability.’
Magenta finally let a nurse direct her to a seat, but she could still see what was going on in in the operating theatre. She hadn’t left the spot all night, she had however had a few moments sleep during the night as her body gave into tiredness. She was in one of these moments of sleep when the surgeon came out of theatre. She heard Juke’s voice in her ear.
‘Magenta, wake up.’
She shot up, seeing the surgeon walking towards her, she tried to read his face, she couldn’t.
‘Miss Valentina?’
She nodded, her mouth dry, she was too afraid to speak.
‘Can we go into the visitors room?’
She shook her head. Whatever he had to tell her, he needed to do it now, no drawn out walk to another room.
He sighed. ‘OK, I’d prefer to do this not in public, but…we managed to get the bullets out and stabilise Mr Cole, however, he had lost a lot of blood and his heart stopped twice during the surgery…’
She let out a sob, Juke squeezed her hand.
‘We got him back but the next 24 hours are critical.’
‘He’s alive?’
He nodded slowly. ‘He’s not out of danger yet. I’m not sure he’d have even made it to theatre if you hadn’t done such a good job at the scene stopping the blood flow.’
She let out a heavy breath. ‘Can I see him?’
‘He’s on his way up to intensive care. You can see him briefly, then I suggest you go home and get some sleep, we won’t know anything else until after the next 24 hours and if he makes it through the night then that’s a positive sign. I’ll get a nurse to take you up.’
‘Thank you, thank you for saving him.’
‘He’s not out of the woods yet, Miss Valentina.’
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
It broke her heart seeing Hunter hooked up to equipment to help him breathe and monitors to do just that, monitor his vital signs. She had no idea if they were positive signs. The sheet was covering him to his waist so she could see leads attached to his chest, along with the stitches on his shoulder which seemed to have the smallest clear bandage it made the all night operation he’d gone through seem insignificant. His chest was rising up and down in a steady rhythm, his body looked so strong she couldn’t imagine what the doctor meant by the next 24 hours being so critical. He looked like he just needed to wake up and get out of bed. She couldn’t see the damage to his leg, that was covered up by the blanket.
She sat next to him, automatically reaching out for his hand, expecting to feel him squeeze it back.
‘Oh babe, I’m so sorry I didn’t get there quicker. Please wake up, I can’t lose you again, I won’t.’ She closed her eyes for a moment. She’d never prayed before but right now she was praying to anyone who would listen to make him wake up. She’d do anything to see his eyes open. She was still shaken by the events of the day. Never had she imagined that when she took Logan’s gun from his study and headed over to the brownstone that she’d actually use it. She’d only held a gun once before, that night back in the mansion when she’d still been married to Max and she thought she’d found his dead body, she’d gone a bit crazy, running from Hunter with the gun in her hand. He’d calmed her down, taking the gun from her, she’d joked that she probably would’ve shot herself in the foot. Well that hadn’t been the case today. She had entered the brownstone through the open kitchen door so she’d been able to sneak in quietly. She hadn’t been expecting to see Tango standing over Hunter with a gun aimed at him, she’d clocked the blood on the floor and despite her shaking hands she hadn’t hesitated, there was no choice if she didn’t act then Hunter would be dead. So, as she spoke, she pulled the trigger, she knew she pulled it more than once, how many times, she couldn’t be sure, but once she’d fired that first shot, she wanted to make sure Tango couldn’t harm Hunter anymore. He’d seemed to fall to the floor in slow motion, the gun falling from his hand. She’d done as Hunter instructed and kicked the gun as far away as possible. Tango was blocking her way to get straight to Hunter, she couldn’t remember how she’d got to him, but the next thing she remembered, she was by his side, holding him, trying to stop the blood, then Romeo appeared helping her. It was the most surreal moment of her life.
She rubbed her hand across her face, trying to keep herself awake. She was only supposed to stay for a few minutes but it was amazing what a donation to the new hospital wing would do, she wasn’t going anywhere. She reached out, brushing his curls away from his forehead.
‘I love you, la. I’m not going anywhere.’
Her mind was full of memories, right back to when she was seventeen and he’d been the love of her life then. It had always been him. That’s why when he left and she threw herself into her career that was all that mattered. Her marriage to Max had purely been about her career, that had been all she cared about. She’d torture herself sometimes remembering simpler times, times when she’d just be lazing on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon watching a film with Jase, times when they’d gone to Anfield to watch the match, times when they just spent hours kissing, their background music being the mix tape he’d made her for Valentine’s Day, when they were supposed to be doing homework. She never expected him to walk back into her life and when he did, not only was it a shock to see him again but to discover he had a whole new identity and then to find out why it just blew her mind. It didn’t matter though, what mattered was that their love had never gone away. He would always be her everything and she knew she was his, since they’d been back together she never doubted him for a second. If she lost him now, she knew she’d never recover. What was her life without him? Juke’s words popped back into her head. She placed her hand on her tummy, she was st
ill wearing the top with Hunter’s blood on, she put her hand under her top so she could feel her skin. Still flat, was he right? Could she really be pregnant? She wasn’t doing a test until Hunter was awake, this was something they needed to do together.
‘C’mon babe, wake up soon, I think we have something important to do.’
She was exhausted. She wanted to close her eyes for just a moment, just to give her body a rest. Still holding onto his hand she laid her head down on the bed as the rest of her body stayed in a seated position. She’d just close them for five minutes.
Trina had slept for most of the night in the visitors’ room, Johnny’s shoulder making an uncomfy pillow. When she awoke she sent Johnny back to the hotel to freshen up. She went to find the nurse to see if there was any update, there wasn’t. Hunter hadn’t awoken during the night and he was still on the critical list. She headed up to Intensive Care taking a cup of tea with her for Magenta. When she got up to the unit she could see her friend asleep, her head resting against Hunter’s arm. She checked her watch. It was seven a.m., he’d made it through the night, she felt her heart soar slightly, the doctor told Magenta that would be a good sign. Hunter was a fighter, he would find his way back to her, he’d done it once before, he’d do it again. She pushed the door gently, the nurse on duty nodding that it was OK to come in. She went up to the bed, whispering Magenta’s name so as not to startle her, she saw her stir slightly.
‘Magenta, it’s me.’
She shot up. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Nothing, lovely. I’ve just bought you a cuppa and to check on you. See our boy made it through the night.’
Still disorientated Magenta checked her watch. ‘Oh God, I’ve been asleep for hours, I wanted to stay awake for him.’