T. Leigh - Gorgeous Chaos

“No, no, no, no, no…!” he cried out, shaking his head. After several intense moments, he slowly lowered his gun.

Alexander breathed a sigh of relief, taking a step toward Jack to retrieve his weapon and restrain him.

In the blink of an eye, Jack raised his gun and shot Olivia through the chest, a cruel look of fulfillment crossing his face.

“NOOO!” Alexander screamed as more shots rang out. Jack fell to the floor and Simon got up, running over to him, shooting him through the heart several more times while Alexander ran to Olivia’s side.

He quickly cut her from her restraints and pulled the tape off her mouth. He lowered her lifeless body to the floor and frantically tried to find a pulse as Martin dialed 911.

“Come on, Olivia!” he cried. “You cannot die on me! Not now. Please. Stay with me.” Alexander cradled her in his arms. “I can’t survive without you.” Tears overtook him as he wept for his Olivia lying lifeless in his arms. “I need you, love. I promise I’ll always protect you from now on. Nothing bad will ever happen to you again. Just, please… Come back to me…”

ALEXANDER SAT IN A complete daze as the EMTs arrived and pried Olivia from his arms, speechless from the trauma of what he just witnessed.

After paramedics administered CPR and found a pulse, they quickly put Olivia on a gurney, continuing to give her oxygen.

“Sir, is this your wife?” Alexander heard a voice say as he stared blankly ahead, still unable to process what was happening. “Sir?”

Alexander finally snapped to. He cleared his throat, grabbing the ring from his pocket. “Yes. She is.” He gently placed the ring back on her finger where it belonged, a tear falling down his cheek as he felt Olivia’s cold hand.

“We’re taking her to Cape Cod Hospital. Would you like to ride with us?”

Alexander slowly nodded his head, following the EMTs out of the beach house.

“I’ll stay here and take care of the police,” Martin said to Alexander as he walked through the doorway. Their eyes met and Martin couldn’t remember ever seeing him so distraught. “She’ll pull through, sir. She’s a strong girl.”

“I’m so sorry, Alex!” Simon called out, clutching the gun. “I never meant for this to happen.” He fell to the floor, crying.

Alexander showed no emotion as he turned to catch up with the EMTs, an empty expression on his face.

The next several hours passed in a daze while Alexander sat in the waiting area at the emergency room, gazing ahead at the white walls. Every time he closed his eyes, Olivia’s lifeless, blood-stained body flashed in his memory.

“Alex! Snap out of it!” his sister pleaded with him as soon as she reached the hospital in the early morning hours. “Come on. Olivia is in there fighting for her life. You need to tell us what happened…to help her. They got almost everyone involved, except Kiddish. He got away. He’s still out there so you need to tell us what the fuck happened!”

To help her . Of course! “Damn it!” Alexander roared, punching the wall, startling several nurses.

Carol ran and put her arms around him, trying to calm him down. “There’s my baby brother. Now, what happened?” she asked, leading him back to his chair.

A tear fell down his face. “She was shot,” he quivered. “The bastard shot her in the chest.” He looked past his sister. “He’s dead now, though. They’re both dead. Simon…”

“What about Simon?” Carol asked urgently, needing all the pieces of the puzzle.

“He was in on it. I think he’s the one that abducted her…but then something must have happened. Like he intervened on her behalf because, when I got there, he was knocked out cold on the floor. Then he came to and shot Jack. Simon helped! But Grant… He fucking raped her! And her dad let him!” Alexander let out a small cry, remembering the sight of Olivia tied to the chair, blood trickling down her thighs. “If he wasn’t already dead, I’d kill the motherfucker myself!”

Carol turned to face Alexander, grabbing his hands in hers. “She’s going to be okay, Alex. I just know it. You didn’t spend your entire life looking for this girl just for her to be taken from you again.” She stared at her brother, trying to reassure him. He looked like a shell of his former self.

He had seen some heavy shit during his time abroad and had dealt with it fine, but he could not handle losing Olivia all over again. He knew that he wouldn’t survive this if she didn’t pull through. Olivia was the only thing that kept him going. She was his heart.

Carol stood up, knowing that the press would have questions about what was going on. “I’m going to keep the police away from you, and I’ll make sure they have a spokesman on standby to deal with the media. I’ll call your publicist, as well, and tell her that she is not to answer any questions or make any comments on your behalf until further notice. Okay?”

He nodded and Carol turned to go make a few phone calls. “One more thing, please,” he said quietly.

She stopped and faced him. “What is it, Alex? Whatever you need.”

Taking a deep breath, he met her eyes. “I need you to call a Dr. Cameron Bowen out of Jacksonville. Send the plane for him. I don’t know what Olivia’s mental state will be when she wakes up. He needs to be here when she does. He’s brought her back from the darkness before. He may need to be here to do it again.”

Carol placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. “Okay. You got it.”

“Thanks, Carol. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Anything for you. You know I love you.” She gave him a quick hug. Then she left to go make all the arrangements Alexander requested.

Several minutes later, Mo came running into the waiting room. “Alex!” he exclaimed, his eyes red from crying.

“Mo! Jesus Christ!” Alexander jumped out of his chair, running to him.

Mo hugged him, trying to comfort him.

“I don’t know what to do! I can’t stand it!” Alexander cried out, pacing the short length of the waiting room as he ran his hands through his hair. “She’s been in there for hours and no one is saying anything!”

“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Mo commented, recalling how he felt when Kiera was in the same exact position just a few short weeks earlier.

“Goddammit! I just want to know what the hell is going on! All they tell me is that she is in the best hands possible. I don’t care what hands she’s in as long as she comes out of this alive. FUCK!” He slammed his fist into the wall again.

“Mr. Burnham?” a quiet voice interrupted, getting Alexander and Mo’s attention. He turned to see a solemn looking doctor standing in green scrubs. She was short and blonde with a sweet face.

“Yes. I’m Alexander Burnham.” His heart raced.

“Can I speak with you in private please, sir?”

Alexander looked at Mo. “Anything you need to tell me, you can say in front of Mo here. He’s Olivia’s family.”

The doctor looked at Mo before nodding her head. “My name is Dr. Hatheway. My team and I have been operating on your wife for the past several hours. It was touch-and-go for a while, and we lost her for a little bit, but we were able to bring her back. She is extremely weak. She has lost a great deal of blood, but she has stabilized for the time being. We just need to continue to monitor her vitals.”

Alexander breathed a sigh of relief. “So she’s going to be okay?”

“I didn’t say that. We’re not entirely out of the woods yet. She’s suffered a great deal but, for now, she’s stable.”

Mo hugged Alexander, patting his back.