Chapter 118

*(TW: mentions of blood as the result of complications related to reproductive surgery)*


**Artemis**

Tet tries to hit me again, but seeing Blue lying there on the ground makes me see red and I push my brother hard. He isn’t ready for the move and stumbles off me. I can hear the others coming our way, but I need to make sure he doesn’t run.

“Tet, stay down.” I warn him while pointing my gun at him. “I don’t want to shoot you, but I will.”

He laughs. “Sure, you do brother. I know how much you hated how dad favored me all these years. He barely acknowledged you. Poor little Artemis always wanting daddy’s approval.”

I’m the one who laughs now. “I don’t give a shit about dad’s approval, and I have never been jealous of you. All I wanted was to never be part of the shit company named after us. He wouldn’t let me go! I was happy to let you become the next blood sucker in this family.”

He scowls at me but doesn’t say another word. The others come in and one of them grabs Tet pulling him to his feet and dragging him out of the room. I run back over to where Blue is laying on the ground and kneel next to her.

“Blue. Come on baby wake up.” I pat her gently on the cheek, but she doesn’t wake up.

I place two fingers on the pulse point of her neck and only feel a faint thump against my finger.

“Sir-“

“Call an ambulance! Now!” I yell at them.

One of them pulls out his phone and makes the call. I carefully lift Blue and pull her closer to me. She doesn’t wake at all and when I look her over and that’s when I notice the blood. There’s a lot of it. I pull the shirt she’s wearing back and it’s a mess. Blood is smeared all over her stomach so it’s hard for me to see where it’s coming from but with the large incision from the c-section I have a pretty good guess. There is no active blood coming from the incision, but it looks like she’s lost a lot already.

“Ambulance ETA thirty minutes.” One of the men says. “I was a trained field medic in the military. I can examine her.”

I don’t want to let her go but I want to be sure she’s okay, so I nod and set her down again. He moves in on the other side of her and starts to examine her. He looks over her stomach and carefully presses along her stomach.

“The bleeding has stopped but it would be best to try and stabilize the area and bandage it before the ambulance comes.” He says as he takes his backpack off and starts rummaging inside.

He pulls out a few items and gets to work cleaning the area around her insition and starts to wrap gauze around her abdomen. He wraps it a few times and ties it off.

“Why won’t she wake up?” I ask him.

“The blood lose could have sent her into shock. Her pulse is weak but steady. That’s a good sign. She’s been through a lot and it’s taken its toll on her.” He explains.

Once he’s finished with her he packs up his stuff and moves away to keep a look out for the ambulance. I’m not sure where the other guys are or what they’ve done with Tet but I don’t care. They can take him and do what they want. I don’t give a damn after what he’s done.

The ambulance arrives twenty minutes later and quickly loads Blue into the ambulance. They allow me to ride in back with her and she’s rushed to the closest hospital. When we arrive she’s rushed I to surgery and I’m left pacing in the waiting room praying that I won’t lose my wife tonight.

It feels like hours have passed by the time a doctor appears. I’m on my feet in an instant.

“How is she?”

“She did very well. There was a significant amount of blood loss which we were able to remedy and we closed the section of her incision that had opened. She’ll recover just fine.”
“Thank you.” I say letting out a breath of relief. “When can is see her?”

“I can take you back now but she hasn’t come out of the anesthesia yet.”

“That’s okay I just want to sit with her.”

He nods and leads me to where they’re keeping Blue. When I see her a sense of relief comes over me when I see she isn’t as pale anymore. I sit down on the chair beside her bed and grab her hand.

“You have the worst luck baby. I hate that so much of it is because of me. If I was smart I would tell you to run away from me as fast as possible, but I can’t give you up. I would chase you and beg you to never leave me again. I’m begging now that you never resent me for all the hurt I’ve caused you. You have given me more than you know. You helped me learn that love wasn’t impossible for someone like me. You taught me that it was okay to smile and laugh. You gave me the chance to be a father. Whatever you want I will do for you because you have done so much for me.”

“I could really use some ice cream right now.” She says with a horse voice.

I suck in a quick breath and lean over to kiss her. “You have got to stop scaring me like this.”

She laughs bit starts to cough right away. “I just want you to come to my rescue and you always do.”

I bring her hand up to my face and she turns it to cup my face.

“This is my fault. I’m so sorry.”

She shakes her head. “This was Tet’s fault. He’s the one who took me. None of this is your fault Artemis. Okay? Don’t kill yourself over this. Please?”

I nod but I’m not ready to let the blame go just yet.

“Where is Tet?” She asks and my blood boils.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. I’ve left all that up to the General. As much as I would like to ruin my brother’s life even more, I want to focus on you and our family.”

Her eyes widen. “The babies! Are they okay?”

“They are. I sent them home with Rhea and arranged for the three of you to be treated privately from our home. That hospital was incompetent. There is no way I will trust anyone with you guys again. The only reason I allowed them to bring you here was because you need immediate treatment but believe me I am going to have a full medical staff hired for our family.”

She shakes her head. “That isn’t necessary. I’m sure this was a fluke.”

“It is necessary.” I snap at her. “I’m sorry. Don’t argue with me on this please? I won’t feel comfortable with you being cared by anyone I don’t know.”

She sighs but agrees. “I know our safety is important to you and I agree our kids need to be treated by the best.”

“Thank you.”

“So when can I get out of here so I can be with my babies and Lily?” She asks with hope in her words.

“I'll talk to the doctor and get us a personal ambulance. Our new doctor is already at the house. Wait here and I’ll speak to the surgeon.” I stand and lean down to kiss her on the forehead before stepping back and leaving.


**Blue**

Everything from tonight feels like a bad dream. So much of it is fuzzy thanks to the blood loss and I’m glad for it. There has been so much trauma in my life that I couldn’t stand living through that and seeing vivid images of it every night. Not that I’ll get much sleep with three new burns at home, but still. As much as I wanted to fight Artemis on the personal doctor I have to say I am tired of hospitals. It would be nice to be treated in the comfort of our home. Knowing Artemis he’ll probably build a whole medical wing for us.

With so many kids it would definitely give me peace of mind. Also we wouldn’t have to worry about he press waiting for us outside. God that would be awful for our babies. I know eventually the world will see them but I want to keep them hidden as long as possible. Its not easy keeping Lilly hidden since she’s a lot older and goes to school outside of home, but our babies are small enough that we can keep them hidden a little longer.

Artemis walks back into the room with a soft smile on his face. “Ready to go home?

“You have no idea.”