Chapter 22.

Gabriella
I ran into the hospital breathing heavily like someone who just ran a marathon for nine hours straight.
My lungs feel clogged and I keep gasping for air as different unpleasant thoughts keep running through my head and I hope and praye what I heard wasn't true or that at least the worst was over now.
I ran towards the nurse at the reception who raised her brows cautiously as soon as she saw me panting like I was on the verge of dying.
"How can I help you? Do you need some water?" She asked politely, eyeing her colleague who quickly rushed to get me a glass of water.
"My relative was brought in here about an hour ago and I was informed it's a car accident. I want to see him," I breathe out quickly, gulping down the glass of water she handed to me.
"His name?" She asked and I almost couldn't say it cause it still sounds so crazy and unbelievable.
"M...Martin Deville," I tell her, sniffling and shaking when her expression turns sour after she reads something on her computer.
"You'll have to wait a while, miss. Currently, he's in the operating room and it's probably gonna take a few hours there." She explains calmly and my brain does a one minute pause.
"Wait, so he's currently undergoing surgery?" I ask rhetorically as different thoughts start to go through my mind.
Martin hates scars and hospitals. He has always had this phobia for hospitals and surgeries and now he could die during one? I think to myself and the mere thought of Martin dying made me temporarily paralyzed. That must never happen cause I can't imagine my life without him in it.
"What exactly happened nurse? How was he when he arrived?" I blurted out desperately and although the first nurse looked reluctant to answer, the other nurse had already started talking and I couldn't be more grateful.
"He looked pretty bad, miss…?" She drawls.
"Gabriella," I answered and she nodded.
"Well according to the police report, his brakes had failed and his car tumbled over severally leaving the poor guy in a terrible condition. I'm pretty sure he has a few broken ribs, and a lot of costly damages to his body," she explained and I honestly could no longer feel anything. My whole world feels pitch black at the moment.
"To be honest, If he makes it out of this one alive, go to church and pray cause it would be a miracle and if he doesn't. Well, let's just hope he doesn't cross over to the other side," she blurted and sighs dramatically at the end.
"Don't you ever shut up Courtney!" The first nurse snapped at her colleague before turning back to me.
"Don't listen to her miss. The doctors are still with him so there's no news on his condition. By the way, how are you related to the patient?" She asked and I answered immediately without thinking.
"I'm his fiancee." I replied to her.
She stared at me for a while before passing me some papers to sign.
"Miss, are you sure you're his fiancee cause I don't see a ring," Courtney asked rudely and if I wasn't so worried about Martin, I would slap her teeth off but instead I ignore her and face the other nurse.
She told me about the procedures I had to follow and some papers I needed to sign and as much as all of this irritated me, I kept quiet and did everything she asked of me.
"I already filled in all the information and I also signed the necessary papers. I know he's still in surgery but I want to be there when the doctors are done. Can I leave?" I ask tiredly and she nods before directing me to his operating room.
☆☆☆
Two hours later...
The doctors had refused to give me any information, they kept pushing me around and asking me to be patient and now, it's been two hours and I don't even know if my friend is dead or alive.
I knew for a fact that he can't be dead cause if he was, I'd know already.
My phone rings, distracting me from my negative thoughts and I see it's a text from Liam asking me if I'm still coming over to his place.
I'm still contemplating on whether or not I should tell him about Martin's accident and about where I am at the moment but that would be me breaking my promise to Martin and I could never do that to him.
Martin detests the thought of being pitied and he made me swear that if anything ever happens to him, I should make sure I'm the only one who knows about it. He doesn't even want his own parents to know and he never told me why.
I quickly replied to Liam, telling him I can't make it for personal reasons and when he asks where I was and what happened, I ignore the question and tell him I'd see him at the office later.
As of right now, I still don't know where I stand in his life and where he stands in mine but one thing I'm sure of is that he can't be more important than Martin. At least, not yet.
"Miss Johannson?" A voice called out and I looked up quickly to see one of the doctors staring back at me and with the look on his face, I don't think he has very good news for me.
"What is it, doctor? How is he? Is he awake? Is he okay?" I blurted out desperately, unconsciously yelling at him and he held both my hands firmly to calm me down.
"I'd advise you to relax, miss Johannson. We were able to stop the internal bleeding and other detrimental physical injuries have been taken care of but as you may already know, he took a very violent blow to his head and there's nothing we could do to help him in regards to that," he's explaining and those last words made me cringe cause I didn't want to hear his next words.
"Is he d...dead?" I asked shakily as my legs suddenly felt heavy and I had to sit back down to avoid losing my balance.
"Fortunately for us Miss, he's not dead but like I said earlier he suffered a catastrophic blow to the head and that caused his brain to bleed but thankfully, we were able to stop the bleeding and as a result of that, he's in a medically induced coma to protect his brain from swelling due to the injury. He'll be transferred to the ICU immediately and he'll be under close observation for the next few days," he explained to me and I'm more than relieved to know Martin is not dead.
"So he's alive and all this means he'll wake up soon, right?" I asked.
"We'll continue to monitor him and hopefully, that happens soon. His injuries just need time to heal and all we have to do is hope for the best. If you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to," he replied, giving me a quick bow before walking away briskly.
*****
I headed to the police station to retrieve any item that was rescued after the accident and I also wanted to get a brief on the cause of the accident.
I still can not think of any reason why Martin would be on anybody's to kill list but the police think otherwise and they claim that the accident was deliberate because his brakes were damaged completely and that proves that it was definitely tampered with.
"Sir, I need to know what's gonna happen now? Will the police open an investigation?" I ask, already knowing they would but I had to confirm.
"Yes miss Johansson, we'll have to open an investigation. This is a case of attempted murder and we can not let it slide. I'll also send a few men to make sure he's safe at the hospital," he assured me and I nodded in understanding.
"By the way, do you perhaps have any idea as to why your fiance is being targeted? Does he have any enemies, rivals, outstation debts or someone who owes him money? Do you know anything, anything at all that could be a motive for murder?" he asked and I sigh.
"I've known Martin for years sir and he doesn't have any enemies, at least none that I'm aware of. He has never mentioned anything about being owed money and he can't be the debtor because he has lots of money. So I have absolutely no clue as to why anyone would want to kill him," I replied to him honestly and he handed me a paper that had Martin's handwriting.
"It seems he wrote a letter to someone and although it's not in good shape, we're not disputing its importance. Read it and see if anything comes to mind," he said and I'm a little bit confused.
"I honestly might not make it and if I don't, make sure you open the other letter…Forgive me for…,"
I reread the lines over and over in my head but nothing comes to mind.
I just had a gut feeling he wrote this letter for me and now what I'm bothered about is why Martin would ask for my forgiveness or how and why he knew something bad was gonna happen to him.
Did Martin keep things from me? Was he living another life that I wasn't aware of? These thoughts spinned through my mind but I still could not understand anything.
"I'm sorry sir but I don't understand what this means at the but if I find out or if anything comes to mind, I'll let you know immediately." I assured the officer, who stared back at me with a weird look on his face.
"No problem, miss. We'll also let you know if anything comes up," he replied.
"I'd appreciate that very much Sir. I'll be leaving for today sir but please find out who did this to Martin. I'm counting on you." I said to him calmly before getting up and leaving.
*****
I throw myself on my bed lazily, feeling as the tears roll down my cheeks like rain drops.
At the moment, I'm feeling angry, betrayed, curious and desperate at the same time.
I so badly want to know why Martin of all people would keep things from me. I know he'd never hurt me, at least not purposely but I'm still very mad that he lied to me and it seems he has been for a long time now.
I go through the items that were recovered from the accident, although they all look torn and rough, something in me thinks it might help me unravel Martin's mystery.
There was a gym bag filled with his clothes, his wallet and a few other things that I considered irrelevant. I pull out every cloth in the bag till I find something that immediately catches my attention.
It was an enveloped paper falling out of one of his jean pockets.
I impatiently tear it open and was at first disappointed that it's not the second letter he had mentioned in the first one but instead, I'm surprised to see that it's a paper that reads transfer of properties.
I read through it, wondering whose properties were transferred and to whom they were transferred only to be much more surprised by the names written on the paper.
"Martin transferred all of his properties to me?" I questioned out loud in shock as a feeling of confusion and surprise overwhelmed me.
What in the world is happening?