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CHAPTER SIXTY
GABRIELLE
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The tension in the car was too intense, it became too unbearable.
I wanted to disappear under his prolonged hostile silent stare, time moved like a slow ticking bomb, the nervousness was killing me piece by piece. He should yell or question me so that I would brace myself of what to expect, but he did neither.
The driver made a quick turn and I soon realized that the car wasn't heading towards our house.
In fact, we were going farther away from it.
"Where are we going?" I asked nervously. My question was left unanswered. I looked at Lucian to realize that he was no longer looking at me, his head was tilted back against the car seat, his eyes were shut, his jaw was clenched tight, either to suppress anger or pain?? His chest rose and fell unevenly with each breath he took.
He looked pale. A droplet of sweat ran down his temple.
He wasn't alright!
My chest twisted with a new kind of nervousness as I recalled the shot he had taken.
Oh god! I had almost forgotten that he had been injured by Derek's bullet.
He was now wearing a jacket over the injury, so I couldn't tell how much blood he was losing, but he had to be in a lot of pain considering that he had not uttered a word to me.
Getting some treatment should be the sane thing to do instead of coming after me. Didn't he care that he could die? I stared at him anxiously.
"Y..you are still hurt, you need to get some help immediately."
Silence.
"You look pale, the bleeding has to be stopped, a..are you even listening to me?"
He didn't respond, I slowly reached out to touch him and felt as he went completely rigid.
His eyes drifted open and I was taken aback by the fierce glare of raw hatred in his eyes, I bit down on my bottom lip to suppress the sudden urge to cry. The car suddenly drove to a halt before either of us could speak, we were in front of a small isolated building. Lucian stepped out of the car and I stared at the building wondering why we were here.
"What are you waiting for!?" He snapped impatiently. I scrambled out of the car and followed him like a lost puppy into the house ahead. We entered the building which was all painted in white, the smell of sanitizer and antiseptic hung in the air and I suddenly realized that this was a clinic.
It was very quiet and there didn't seem to be anybody around. I was proven wrong when an aging man dressed in a white lab coat approached us hurriedly.
"Please come, this way." He led us towards an empty passage until we stood in front of a glass transparent door.
He turned to give Lucian and me a final stare before disappearing through the door.
Lucian started to enter but paused to stare at me briefly.
"You are going to wait out here, ... don't make me punish you more than I'm already going to."
A sane person should be scared of his threats, but I was relieved that the statement meant that he couldn't be badly hurt.
What was seriously wrong with me?
I stared through the transparent door and watched Lucian walk towards a hospital bed inside.
The doctor brought out a scissors to tear off his shirt and a pained sound escaped my mouth at the bloodied sight. The doctor started to work and I tore my eyes away from the sight.
My eyes found a chair a few feet away, I slowly walked towards it to curl myself into a ball.
I was depleted of both physical and mental strength. I couldn't tell how much time had gone past when the doctor walked out of the room wearing a tired expression. I jumped to my feet and blocked his path. "How is he now? Is he okay?" My gaze flew past his where I could see Lucian lying on the bed. I returned my gaze to the doctor who wore a small smile.
"Rest assured, he's in no critical condition, his body is just very weak for losing so much blood, as long as he gets enough rest, he should be fine."
I nodded, heaving out my relief and thanking the doctor.
"Can I enter to meet him?" I asked.
"Of course, why not? But be quiet not to wake him."
He left after giving me the go-ahead, I opened the door and walked inside slowly. Lucian was fast asleep as the doctor had said. He was shirtless, his shoulder had a bandage around it and an IV drip was connected to his hand.
He looked vulnerable and very much human, totally different from the man he would be once he wakes up. This was one of the very few times that I could study him so openly and freely, every time I was in danger, it was he who would always appear like a vengeful creature, he cared about me and I deeply care too, so why was it so tough being with him?
LUCIAN
~~~
My eyes slowly drifted open to the bright lights on the ceiling, for the briefest second I didn't recognize where I was, my first instinct was to reach out for the gun I always had the habit to keep under my pillow. Suddenly, I recalled everything. Being shot and coming over to this place. I must have fallen asleep due to the effects of the painkillers.
I noticed the grip on my good hand and turned my head around to see her.
Brie!
She was sitting on a chair beside the bed, her head was leaned against the bed and her eyes were shut.
Her hair was in disarray, shielding her face from view but her light snores told me that she was fast asleep.
For a moment, I ALMOST forgot that I had every reason in the world to be furious at her.
She had betrayed me yet again for him! My chest went constricted until it was almost fucking too hard to breathe.
Her betrayal hurt a thousandth times more than the injury I suffered.
When she had held that gun and ran away with that bastard, all I had seen was bloody red. I had completely lost it, it hadn't mattered that I had been taking my pills consistently for the past few weeks, from the very night when we had lost our baby.

Why!
I needed the answers to the questions burning through my mind.
I still recalled that she had tried to warn me, I had moved but not quickly enough, the bullet had grazed my shoulder. The fear and concern in her eyes right then had made the bullet and the pain worth it.
She'd even stupidly tried to take a bullet for me, that had been one of the most terrifying moments of my entire life when I thought the bastard would shoot her. All I could think of then was ripping him to shreds but she saved him.
Why did she pretend to care about me only to leave with him in the end?
She was prepared to kill herself so that he would escape.
Maybe she had been confused just as I was right now, and in the end, she had discovered that he meant more to her than I would ever. She placed the right bet, that I wouldn't risk her life and if I could guess the reason I found her all alone, it was because she wanted to cause a distraction, She preferred to be caught and to give him more time to escape, it goes further to prove how much she loves him.
It shouldn't hurt so much, but the anger, pain, and jealousy continued to fuel through my veins until that was the only thing I could focus on.
I stared at the hand which was still tightly gripping onto mine. She didn't have to pretend to care, she should know more than anything that I hated deceivers the most.
I yanked my hand free and she suddenly jerked awake from sleep.
"You are awa.." She started to say when she found my gaze. The moment her eyes instantly filled with fear, the only thing I could think of was that she had every reason to be.

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