A few minutes later, paramedics walked in and rushed over to Olivia. She was unconscious and covered in blood. I watched in horror as they worked on her, unsure of what I was supposed to do.
When they finally took her out in a gurney, I went to my bedroom, quickly changed and followed after them. Jerry called the police and stayed behind as James drove me to the hospital.
When we got there, Olivia was immediately taken to an operating room and I had no choice but to helplessly wait as I thought of a million ways I could have handled the situation.
I should’ve protected her better. I should’ve put two bodyguards on her. I should’ve reported Eric to the police the moment he’d confessed to killing Greg. I should’ve done more.
No one will ever use me to hurt you again. Her words rang through my mind. God, had she thought she was going to die? That couldn’t happen. She couldn’t die. I wasn’t going to let it happen.
“I need to know what’s happening to the young woman who was brought in with a gunshot wound,” I said to the nurse at the reception desk.
“Are you two related?”
‘No, but she was with me when it happened. She was taken to an operating room. I need to know how she’s doing,” I said in desperation.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry but we cannot divulge the information to you unless you’re family.”
I gritted my teeth in anger and read the nurse’s nametag. “Christy Stellar, I am Amelia Gallagher. I’m a member of the board in this hospital. If you don’t give me the information I need, I will have you fired on the spot and make sure you never work in a hospital again. Do you understand me?”
She quickly nodded. “I’ll—I’ll go check for you.” She rushed off.
I took a deep breath and a moment later, she came back. “Mrs. Gallagher, the doctors are still working on her,” she said. “Are you hurt? Can I check you for injuries?”
I looked at my hands to notice they still had Olivia’s blood as the image of her lying bleeding in my arms replayed itself in my head.
I walked away and went to wash up in the bathroom. As the water ran over my hands, washing away the blood, the last couple of hours went through my head. God, what had I done? This was all my fault.
None of this would’ve ever happened if I’d been more careful. Now Olivia was lying in a hospital bed and I didn’t even know if she was going to make it. What if she succumbed to her injuries? What if she bled out on the operating table?
Tears blurred my vision as the time I’d shared with her flashed through my mind. She’d been so patient, kind and loving with me. What had I done to deserve her? Even at the end when she’d known Eric would pull the trigger, she’d still boldly declared her love for me.
My knees unbuckled and I sat and curled up in a corner. I couldn’t lose her. I’d lost Isabel before I’d ever even known I’d been losing her. I’d spent my life with sorrow buried deep inside of me. If I lost Olivia, I was going to die. I couldn’t live in a world where she didn’t exist.
“Mom?”
I looked up at Adrianna’s voice. What was she doing there?
“My God, Mom, are you okay?” She rushed over to me and wrapped her arms around me and I broke down.
“What— what are you doing here?” I managed.
“I went to the penthouse to talk to you and I found policemen there. One of the men told me what had happened and where you were. I came here immediately. Are you okay?”
She pulled back to look at me and I closed my eyes, trying to block the tears and I shook my head.
“They told me Eric shot Olivia.”
He’d fired his gun a second before Jerry had shot him.
“I need to know how she is,” I said as I got up and wiped away my tears.
I went back to the waiting area and found Rex there. I’d been so wrapped up in my own grief I’d forgotten to tell the people Olivia loved what had happened.
“What’s going on, Mrs. Gallagher? These people won’t tell me,” he said as he rushed over to me when he saw me. “Is it true? Did someone really shoot Livvy? Please tell me it’s a lie.”
I composed myself and placed my arm over his shoulder. “Rex, it’s true.”
“No,” he said as he shook his head and moved away from me. “How could you let that happen? You were supposed to protect her.” His grief quickly turned to anger.
“She couldn’t have prevented this, Rex,” Anna said.
“You were supposed to protect her,” he said as he pulled away from Anna when she went to offer him comfort.
He had no idea how horrible I felt about everything. “It’s true. I was.”
I turned and walked away, heading back to the reception area to find out if there was any word about Olivia.
“I’m sorry, there’s no news yet. I’ll bring her doctor to you as soon as we know something,” Nurse Christy said.
I went and sat down by myself and started praying. Olivia had to get better. She had to walk out of that operating room alive. She had to look at me again, smile at me again. She had to kiss me again, touch me again, hold me again and tell me she loved me again. She just had to and this time, I was going to happily embrace it all and tell her that I too lov—.
“Mrs. Gallagher?”
I looked up at Rex.
“I’m sorry. Liv means everything to me. I just can’t imagine life without her.”
I nodded and he sat down beside me.
“She’s going to be okay, right?” he asked.
“She has to be,” I said wondering how he’d found out about Olivia and it occurred to me he’d met Anna at the silent auction. It seemed she had taken a liking to him as she stood some distance away watching us.
“Mrs. Gallagher,” I stood up when Christy approached me with a doctor beside her. “This is Doctor Freeman.”
“Mrs. Gallagher, I’m the doctor to the young woman who was brought in earlier with a gunshot wound to the stomach,” he said. “Can I talk to you in private please?” He looked at Rex and I shook my head.
“Whatever it is, you can tell me in front of him.” He was the closest thing to family Olivia had in the city and he needed to know what was going on.
The doctor nodded. “The bullet went straight through. It didn’t hit any vital organs, but she lost a lot of blood. We’ve done all we can for now and she’s under close observation.”
“I want the best possible care for her and I want to be informed of the slightest change,” I said.
He nodded.
“Can we see her?” Rex asked.
“For just a few minutes,” he said.
Christy, the nurse, took us to Olivia’s room. I stayed at the door as Rex walked in and a flashback of me going to see Isabel passed through my mind. Things had been so different back then. I hadn’t even known how deeply I’d cared for Isabel until it had been too late.
What if I went to see Olivia and she never woke up again? What if I never got to see the light in those beautiful green eyes again? I leaned against the wall and placed my hand over my heart.
“It’s okay.”
I heard Rex say as he closed his hand over mine and led me inside. It was strangely comforting to know I wasn’t alone.
“She’s a fighter. She’s going to be okay. She wouldn’t leave us when she knows how much we still need her,” he said.
Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was sleeping peacefully, apart from the machines attached to her body and the beeping sound coming from one of them.
I looked at Rex who was holding her hand as he closely watched her. His confidence in her recovery inspired hope in me.
“We’ll all be here when you wake up, Liv.” He pecked her forehead. “I’ll leave you alone with her,” he said and walked out.
After a moment, I took a breath and approached her bed. I sat beside her and closed her hand in mine. “I’m so sorry, Liv. This was never supposed to happen to you. You have so much to live for.” I lightly ran my fingers over her cheek.
> “You have to wake up.” I bit my lower lip as my heartbeat increased pace. “You have to wake up because I can’t live without you.” I had never thought I’d ever say those words to anyone and I’d never known just how much I’d mean it.
“I can’t lose you, Liv.” I leaned forward and placed a light kiss on her lips. “Please open your eyes so that we can start our lives together.” Tears started falling from my eyes again.
“If this is the afterlife I don’t want to wake up.”
I pulled back and found her opening her eyes. She had a faint smile on her lips.
A wave of overwhelming relief washed over me. “Oh, my God. You’re awake.”
“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” she asked.
She was lying in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound on the stomach and she was asking if I was okay? My heart fluttered as I leaned forward and kissed her. “You took a bullet for me,” I said. “No one has ever made such a sacrifice for me. No one has ever loved me like you do.”
She didn’t say anything. She just smiled at me and closed her eyes again. I went and called her doctor, who, after examining her, said she was stable and all we had to do now was wait.
I was massively relieved she hadn’t taken a turn for the worse and even if it was just a couple of minutes, I was glad she’d opened her eyes.
Rex was happy to hear the news as well and after consulting him on whether we should inform Olivia’s parents about what had happened, we decided after everything they’d been through with Greg, we’d inform them when Olivia was better.
When I went back to the waiting area, I found Kathy seated with Anna. I couldn’t believe her nerve. She was responsible for every bad thing that had happened to me and Olivia. How could she even show her face?
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I found out about what happened and thought I could come show my support,” she said.
“Anna, please give us a moment.”
She got up and went to Rex.
“Because of you, two people are dead and one of them is lying in a hospital bed. You did this. Everything you touch, you destroy.”
“Amelia, I tried to help get Eric.”
“You pushed him over the edge. You’re the reason he’s dead.”
“No,” she said.
“Before he shot Olivia, he was talking about how much he wanted the merger because he wanted to make you proud. He loved you, Kathy. He loved you more than anyone else ever will but all you did was take advantage and exploit him.”
“No.” She took a step back.
“He shot Olivia because he knew this was the only way he could hurt me without hurting you.” I took a step closer to her. “Look at what your love does, Mother. Look at all the pain and chaos you’ve caused.”
She weakly sat down as tears started falling from her eyes and I walked away from her without any thought of comforting her.
I approached Anna and she came and wrapped her arms around me. I closed my arms around her and held her back. I couldn’t believe I had survived such an emotional rollercoaster.
Chapter Fifty-Four
I reclined my bed to a comfortable sitting position and restlessly scanned through the channels on the television in my private hospital room, thinking about how the last two weeks had set me back in my work and studies.
Sure, I was recovering from a gunshot wound, but I kept telling my doctor I was okay enough to leave the hospital and go home but neither he nor Amelia were having it.
She was kind enough to make sure all my needs were met, but what I really needed was to get out of that bed I’d been confined to the last two weeks, and go back to my life.
Amelia and I hadn’t talked much since the incident, mostly because I’d been unconscious, and I barely remembered anything due to the heavy sedation but the drugs were wearing off now and I was itching to get back to the world.
I hadn’t had the courage to take a look at the wound because of the terror and shortness of breath I experienced from both memories and nightmares.
Every time I recalled Amelia’s face when Eric fired the shot, my heart broke for her. I’d been informed of his passing and though I was vague on details, I was waiting for the right time to ask Amelia what exactly had happened.
Their conversation had revealed details I’d been unaware of and sometimes I wondered if I’d imagined it. So much had taken place that night, it felt like it had happened to someone else.
“Olivia?” I turned towards the door at the feminine voice and my heart picked up pace. “Hi,” Adrianna said as she walked in.
“Hi,” I said.
“How are you doing?”
I turned off the television and shrugged my shoulders, wondering why she’d come to see me. During our last encounter she’d discovered about my affair with her mother. Was she there to confront me? “I’ve been better,” I said.
“It’s good to see you awake.”
Had she visited me while I’d been unconscious? “Yeah, two days now.”
She smiled, slowly and carefully approaching my bed.
“Look, I’m sorry about the way you found out about me and Ame—your mother.”
“It’s okay. We talked. She explained everything to me.”
I raised my eyebrow. “She did?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t help being curious about what she’d said.
“I probably shouldn’t be here. You’re not supposed to be under any strain.”
I didn’t mind the strain. What had Amelia told her and was she okay with it?
She sat down on the chair next to my bed and looked at me. “What did you do to her?” she asked.
“What?”
“It’s just that I’ve—.” She looked away. “I’ve never seen her like that before. I can’t stop thinking about it. They way I found her. She’s always been this strong unbreakable person to me. To see her the way she was that night… it haunts me.”
“How—,” I nervously played with the tag on my wrist. “How was she?”
“Distraught, broken, terrified,” she said.
Amelia’s image came to mind as that fateful night replayed itself in my mind. If Eric had shot her I would’ve died. I didn’t regret getting him to shoot me instead. “It was a traumatic experience.”
“You really love her.”
I met her gaze and slowly nodded.
“Well, however you two decide to proceed, I want you to know that anyone who’s willing to take a bullet for my mother deserves her. You have my full support.”
I was so taken aback by her words, I found myself speechless.
The door opened a moment later and Rex stepped inside. He hesitated at the door when he saw Adrianna, then approached me.
“Hi Anna,” he said.
“Hi Rex,” she said.
He came around my bed and lightly pecked my cheek as he closed his hand over mine.
“I’m going to leave you two alone. I wish you a quick recovery Olivia,” Adrianna said as she left the room.
“How are you doing?” Rex asked when we were alone.
“Much, much better, do you think you can sign the release forms for me?”
He raised his eyebrow. “My God, Liv. You’ve barely been conscious for forty eight hours.”
I groaned and moved over to create room for him to sit. He carefully got on the bed and placed his arm around my shoulders as I leaned back against him.
“What’s happening between you and your Anna?” I asked, wondering how much I’d missed out on.
“Nothing so far.”
“Why not? I thought you two hit it off.”
“Everything has been at a standstill.”
“How come?”
“You got shot, Liv. I almost lost you.”
“But you didn’t. I’m still here. So stop making excuses. She likes you.”
“Okay, I’ll call her.”
“No, go catch up with her right now and ask her out for a cup of coff
ee.”
“But I just got here.”
“Does it look like I’m going anywhere?”
He blankly stared at me.
“Go,” I said.
He got off the bed and reluctantly walked out of my hospital room. I laughed at him and a piercing pain shot through my stomach, spreading all over my body. A nurse had given me pain medication a bit earlier, I wondered if it was wearing off. I didn’t want to ask for more incase they decided to sedate me again. I hated knowing time was passing me by and I resented falling asleep.
Later when I was tired of stressing about the work I’d have to go back to and the delay in my studies, I attempted to get out of bed. Amelia had hired me a nursing assistant to perform minimal physical therapy to reduce limb weakness during the time I’d been unconscious so physically, I was strong enough to move on my own.
Carefully, without straining myself, I got my feet off the bed and held my breath, trying to ignore the pinch of pain from my stomach created by the movement. I supported myself on the bed as I got down and placed my hand over the wound.
It hurt more than I wanted to admit to myself as I slowly made my way over to the wheelchair just a little distance away. I was pleased with myself for the progress, but the joy was short-lived when Amelia walked in and saw me.
“Oh, my God! What are you doing?”
I opened my mouth to speak but failed to form words.
“Get back in bed.” She came over to me and offered assistance as she slowly led me back to the bed. She helped me sit back down and pressed the distress button. A moment later, a nurse walked in and I groaned in frustration.
“What were you trying to do?” she asked.
“Escape,” I said dryly.
She smiled at me as the nurse inspected the wound. “I need to change the dressing on the wound because you’re bleeding. You’re still recovering, Olivia, you need to take it easy,” she said as she leaned me back against the bed.
I stared up at the ceiling as she worked on the wound, wondering if it would leave an unsightly scar. Amelia was silently standing beside me as she observed the nurse. When she found me looking at her, she reached for my hand and gently squeezed it.
The nurse offered me pain medication before she left us alone and I turned my attention to Amelia.
Cougar Boss Page 49