Chapter 125
Before anyone could react, Grace pulled the trigger.
“NO!” Will shouted and ran towards her. She was dead before she hit the ground. Will fell to his knees and froze. The gunshot echoed in his ears, obscuring all other sounds. Officers ran past him, yelling commands at each other. The smell of blood, gunpowder and burnt flesh assaulted him. His stomach rolled over, and he could feel all of its contents wanting to come up.
Hold it together. Hold it together. Hold it together, he chanted. His breath came in struggled, tattered pants. The air couldn’t get into his lungs fast enough. The commotion swirled around him, making him dizzier and dizzier. He felt drops of water on his face and vaguely wondered if it was raining.
What just happened?
“Hey! Hey!” Captain Whitlock rushed to his side and knelt beside him. “Stay with me, kid. Snap out of it!”
“Did she… is she…,” Will managed.
“Yeah. I’m sorry. I know what she meant to you.”
“Is it… my fault? Did I… do that to her?”
“No. No, it’s not. I need you here with me, okay,” Captain Whitlock shook Will’s shoulders, trying to bring him out of shock. “We found them. Both of them. They’re on the way to hospital now.”
***
“We haven’t gotten an update in a while,” Spencer paced the length of the dining room. “Should we call?”
“No,” Alex said. “They could be in the middle of something.”
“Will’s press conference sure has stirred things up,” Sabrina said, flipping through the channels. Every channel was replaying his announcement and subsequent aftermath. The city was in an uproar. Will had been right about one thing. Stewart Industries was a household name. In some form or fashion, everyone depended on that company. “Come look.”
Alex and Spencer walked over. They expected for the press conference to create waves, but not of this magnitude. Sabrina kept flipping through channels but stopped when she found one that wasn’t covering the conference.
“We are coming to you live minutes after William Stewart shocked the city to its core. Troops of police officers were seen surrounding this building behind me, currently under construction. Slated to be a small office suite, just moments ago, an object was seen falling from a window. What followed next can only be described as harrowing. Cries for help could be heard coming from the building’s top floor. Officers have entered the building, and we are waiting for confirmation of could possibly be occurring inside.”
“Holy shit!” Alex jumped up. “It’s them! It’s got to be them!”
“Paramedics have just arrived on scene,” the reporter announced. The three of them watched as EMT’s rushed inside with a pair of stretchers. “I am receiving word that two women were found in dire condition and are being brought of the building.”
“Dire condition?” Sabrina yelped. “It couldn’t be anybody else.”
“We have them?” Spencer asked, almost unable to believe the nightmare was over. Their eyes were glued to the TV as the rescue unfolded before them. Anxiety overtook them, but it was different than it had been. Hope lived somewhere among the strain, and they clung to it.
“Here they come!” The reporter continued. The shot panned over to the EMT’s and officers pouring out of the building. They watched with cautious optimism. The first stretcher emerged, and the slim form of a battered person lay on top. The EMT’s fussed over the patient, shouting commands, and clearing people out of the way. Only the person’s arm was visible.
“Oh my God!” Sabrina shouted, shooting up out of her seat. “That’s them! That’s Jess!”
“How do you know?” Alex and Spencer asked in unison.
“Her tattoo! The one on her wrist!”
The men looked and saw a small, colorful feather on the person’s wrist.
“I was there when she got it! It’s her!” Sabrina dissolved into a puddle of tears as she realized her friends were finally safe. Moments after they watched as the second stretcher came out. “Let’s go! We have to go to them,” she tugged on Alex.
“You and Spencer go. I’ll stay with the babies.”
“Are you sure?” Spencer asked, already making moves to leave.
“They’re your friends. I’ll catch up after,” he smiled at Sabrina, and wiped her tears away with his thumbs.
“I love you,” she whispered. “Thank you!”
“Thank you, Alex,” Spencer captured the other man in a quick hug, before taking Sabrina by the arm and leading her away.
***
Captain Whitlock got Will a cab and had him sent to the hospital that Emma and Jess were being taken to. He tried to shake it, but he couldn’t get that image of Grace of his mind. It was not the way things were supposed to end between them.
He thought he was done with her. Not that long ago he said she wasn’t anything to him. I’m sorry. I know what she meant to you. That’s what the captain said. She did once. She once meant everything to him. But not anymore. So why does it hurt? The way her unseeing eyes stared at him… they way they would stare at him forever. She was right. That image was burned into his soul and would live with him forever.
Everything she did, she claimed to do in the name of love. Is that what loving him did to her? Is that what it could do to Emma? His mind spiraled out of control, haunted with the possibilities of harm he could bring to her. He loved Emma… but he once loved Grace too. Would this dance repeat itself? Would Emma leave him to only one day become another Grace? What was the best thing to do?
He arrived at the hospital; his mind heavy with the day’s event. Blood was replaced with lead in his veins. Before he realized what was happening, he had sunk into a chair, his head falling into his hands. A deep, shuddering breath wracked his body and he expected tears to follow, but none came. Emma wouldn’t want to see him. He was sure of it. Everything that had happened to her was his fault. She would probably tell Sabrina and Spencer to make sure he stayed away from her. They probably wouldn’t let him see Lizzie anymore either.
Snap the fuck out of it, he chastised himself. No one is going to keep you from your child. No one. As far as Emma was concerned, he’d let her tell him she didn’t want him. Enough of the pity party and sack the fuck up.
“I should call Sabrina,” he said. “She’ll want to know her friends are safe.”
“No need!” he heard before someone barreled full force into him. Sabrina had thrown her arms around him, hugging him. The action shocked him as she wasn’t ever this vulnerable with him. “Thank you,” she said, her eyes glistened with happy tears. “If it wasn’t for you, they’d be dead. Thank you for saving them,” she cried. “I’ll never be able to repay you for this. Just know you have a friend in me. As long as you’re good to Emma, of course,” she giggled.
“I plan to be.”
“Me too,” Spencer added. “After everything you’ve done… thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Will said. His earlier apprehension melted away. Maybe he wasn’t as horrible as he thought.
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