"I watched as he had one meaningless affair after another. They meant nothing to him, none of them. I was supposed to go to Vegas with him and help him with the presentation. I had a plan. I had told him I had met someone, and that we were going to spend some time together," she says holding the gun pointed at the floor by my head. I listen to her and all her crazy delusions while trying like hell to come up with a way out of this.
"He was jealous. I saw it in his eyes when he left. No doubt that is why he felt he needed to move on with you." I'm searching the room for something, anything I can do to get Ian's attention. She has me away from anything I can knock over, and even if I did I would probably be dead before Ian ever got to me.
"I actually think it was to make me jealous. I mean, it was a game we were playing. I wish to God I had gotten my hands on that tape before he found out it was me that drew Jim Olsen out of his cubby hole. I think if he saw it he would never want to touch you again." She continues ranting and I feel the anger flow through me like fire.
"But then you had to go and get pregnant. You think I don't know that was always your little plan? You know that you had to do something to trap him." She is pointing the gun at my belly now, and I let out a whimper. "Please No," is what I'm trying to say, but all that comes out is a pathetic moan.
"Stop your moaning, you little bitch." She's even more pissed now. She leans down pulling up her pant leg. Grabbing another gun, she points one at me and the other toward the door.
"Seems as though we have a visitor. Ian come join the party," she says staring at the door.
Chapter 14
Ian
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I was coming up the stairs to bed when I heard her voice. I knew exactly who it was. Then I heard my girl whimper. Instantly, I turned to the hallway table feeling underneath for one of the guns I had hidden, but it was gone. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I hear commotion coming up the stairs. I turn to Sam and Miry as they're coming up to bed. Sam sees me, and I signal that there's an intruder. He whispers to Miry, and she runs down the stairs. I see her pulling her phone out as she goes. Please be calling 911 right now.
Then she hears me, she knows I'm out here. There is only one thing I can do and that is to go in. Stepping through the door, I put my hands up so that she knows I'm unarmed. I'm hoping to God that I can talk her down.
I see Aubrey on the floor tied up and gagged, but she is in a position where I can't see her face. I hear her though, small whimpers like she is trying to talk, trying to plead for me to help her. I love you baby, I'm here.
"Michelle, this isn't you. You're not a cold blooded killer." I try to reason with the wild eyed maniac that is standing with a gun trained on the two most important things in my life. My girl and my child.
"See, Aubrey, he knows me," Michelle hisses. "He also knows that I will do anything to protect him. Right now, I'm trying to protect him from the little whore who's trying to trap him. She already made me a killer, Ian. Because of her I had to kill Jim Olsen. Granted, he was a disgusting slime ball, but still." She is shaking her hand with the gun that is pointed at Aubrey. I have to get her attention off Aubrey and onto me. She's going to see through it, she knows every trick in my book. I just hope that she is not thinking clearly right now.
"Michelle, let's go talk this out." I tell her softly, hoping that if I play into her fantasy that I can get her away from Aubrey. "Come with me so we can talk in private." I motion with my hands for her to come to me.
"Ian, Ian, Ian. Do you really think I'm going to fall for that?" She says shaking her head, but at least she has taken her eyes off of Aubrey. Now if she would just lower the fucking gun that is aimed at my girl.
"Fall for what?" I ask trying to sound wounded at her mistrust in me.
"I know she has you under a spell, and I also know that as long as she is alive you will never truly be mine," Michelle says and I can see in her eyes she is starting to break down. Tears are welling in her eyes, and she is fighting.
What happened next I didn't expect. It happened so fast that I couldn't have changed it if I tried. Michelle had taken a step toward Aubrey. I yelled "NOOOOOO" as soon as I realized what was happening. Aubrey swept her legs out, and with all her might she hit Michelle at the ankles making her stumble.
BANG, BANG, BANG. Three deafening shots rung through my ears as I watched it all happen in slow motion. I didn't feel the pain at first, but was on the floor with Sam rushing past me. Michelle hit the floor and Sam was on his knees next to me. I felt the pain next as Sam was pushing on my stomach.
"Hang in there buddy, help is on the way," Sam said watching me. Hang in there... what was going on? I needed to see if Aubrey was hurt. Go to her Sam, get away from me!
"Aubrey," I tried to shout, but my voice was just a whisper. "Aubrey, baby, I need to see your eyes." I pleaded with Sam to move so I could see her. He didn't move, he stayed by me. He was pushed out of the way by a man with a stethoscope hanging around his neck. I was surrounded now by three EMT's working on me, asking me questions. Before I blacked out completely, I looked up to see that Sam's hands were dripping with bright red blood.
Chapter 15
Aubrey
I can hardly believe it has been two months since that horrible night. Two months since the two shots Michelle got off from her guns before Sam shot her between the eyes. One shot just missed me by a millimeter and I walked away with barely a scratch. My Ian was not so lucky.
I'm sitting on the edge of his hospital bed staring around the room that I have barely left in two months. They told me he wouldn't make it, that the damage was too severe. That they couldn't remove the bullet because it was lodged next to a major artery. That if they tried, he would bleed to death before they could get it stopped. He had to be put into a medically induced coma almost right away to keep him from moving.
They were scared that the bullet would shift and knick the artery. I would not accept that. I wasn't going to give up on him like the doctor's had. I fought with them and his Uncle Troy. He was his only next of kin, and since we weren't married yet I had no say in his medical care.
Troy listened to the doctor's, and believed that Ian wouldn't want to be kept alive by artificial means. In the coma, he had to have oxygen and a feeding tube, and Troy was going to have them removed. I pleaded with him to give me some time to find a doctor that would do the surgery.
"Please give him a chance!" I begged Troy, rubbing my belly. The knowledge that I was pregnant is what finally changed his mind. He gave me three months.
I found the best surgeon in the world, and paid him to come do the surgery. That was the longest ten hours of my life, but he came through it and his body was healing. My man was a fighter, but he was still in a coma even after they stopped the meds that were keeping him in one.
I was not giving up. I brought doctors in from all over the world. Some said that his body was healing and that he would wake up. Other's told me that there was too much damage and that he would never wake up.
All I knew as I sat there looking down at my baby bump and feeling our child move inside me was that I was not giving up. The only time I ever left this room was to see Dr. Henry. I was now a little over four months, and all was well. I was supposed to keep my stress level down. Yeah, right.
Sam and Miry stayed in New York with me. They plead with me to go home and get some sleep and that I need to rest.
I rested by Ian's side. No way in hell was I not going to be here when he woke up. The last thing I remember him saying as I was being untied by a police officer was my name and he was pleading to see my eyes. By the time I was free of my restraints and crawled to him, he was out. I cried out his name over and over, but I was left on the floor surrounded by his blood as they took him out on a stretcher. I would be damned if my eyes weren't going to be the first thing he saw when he woke up.
I only ate when Miry practically force fed me. I knew I needed to, but food just tasted like cardboard in my mouth. I had lost weight which Dr.
Henry was very unpleased with. I was ordered to drink at least three nutritional shakes a day or he was going to make me have an IV again.
Once my weight stopped dropping I didn't have to go in for daily weight checks. I talked to Ian constantly giving him updates on the baby.
"Dr. Henry did an ultrasound today." I told Ian when I got back in the room and Miry had left to go back to the hotel. Sam or Miry had to be in the room before I would leave to go next door to the make shift exam room Dr. Henry set up for me. It was costing me a pretty penny to rent the room, but that was the only way I was leaving. I had to be able to get back within seconds.
"He told me he knows the sex of our little one." I move to lie next to Ian so I can talk right in his ear. "I need you to wake up because there is no way I'm going to find out without you." Tears prick the backs of my eyes thinking about having this child and it not knowing his or her father. Not like my father who was alive and well when I was born, but Ian not getting to see his child when he so desperately wanted to.
"Troy's coming to visit, so I need you to be awake when he's here." I only had a month left till the deadline Troy gave Ian. He was so sure that Ian wouldn't want to live like this. I can't say that I think Ian would want it either, but there was still a chance, the doctor's had said there was still a chance. I begged and pleaded for Ian to open his eyes so I could see those deep blues. I almost never stopped begging.
When I slept my dreams were filled with Ian. I would wake up and for a moment I would be happy, but then reality would sink in and the happy faded into sadness.
"Baby. Please." I whisper laying my head on his chest. A single tear drops and instantly soaks into his shirt.
"Aubrey," I hear Miry say my name, and I realize I had fallen asleep listening to the gentle thump of Ian's heart beat under my ear. I sit up and look at Miry in a daze.
"What time is it?" I ask noticing that it is now dark in the room.
"It's 8:30, I brought you something to eat," she says holding a Styrofoam take out container.
"Thanks," is all I can muster at that moment. I crawl off of the bed, gently leaning in to kiss Ian softly on the lips. I use the bathroom and come back to sit next to Miry.
"Cheeseburger," she says placing the container on my lap. "You have to eat at least half." She orders and I know that she won't leave me alone until I do what she says. "Troy and Amy are here," she adds softly, "Chelsea is with them."
"What?" I yell after taking a bite of the burger, almost spitting it right back out.
"Aubrey, now you have to stay calm. She insisted on being able to come in to say goodbye." Miry answered gently. Say goodbye, fuck no!
"Fuck no, she is not allowed in this room! And what the hell does that mean, say goodbye?" I shout just as Sam walks in the door. He looks pissed and sad at the same time. He sits next to me with Miry on the other side. "What's going on?" I ask starting to panic.
"It appears that Troy is listening to his wife," Sam says looking at the floor.
"What the fuck does that mean?" I shout, not meaning to be shouting at them, but I have a horrible feeling something bad is about to happen.
"You know that Chelsea and Amy are best friends right?" Sam says still staring at the floor.
"What the hell does that have to do with Ian?" My stomach feels like it is being punched over and over as the bad feeling creeps up into my throat.
"Chelsea is claiming that Ian called her a week before the shooting, and that he told her he didn't think the baby was his." Sam explains. The heat raises up my neck and over my head. "She says that he was going to stay with you just until he knew you were healthy enough, and then he was going to come back to be with her." His words are like knives stabbing at my chest.
"What?" Is all I can muster.
"Aubrey, it's not true, I know it's not. Ian would have told me, and I guarantee that not only did he love you with all his heart, he never once thought that the baby wasn't his," Sam says as I look down at my engagement ring. The sapphires that surround the diamond are like looking into Ian's eyes. I remember the words he said as he proposed to me. I know what Chelsea is saying is not true, but what does this mean? What are they going to do?
"They have a restraining order," Sam says his fist clenched so hard his knuckles are turning white. "We are all on it you, Miry and I." His jaw is clenched and tight. "It says that we are inhibiting Ian's recovery by being around him." Tears stream down my face before I even know I'm crying.
"They are going to remove us and given Ian one more week before they decide if they are going to remove the life support." I am up on my feet screaming at the top of my lungs.
"NOOOOO! They can't do this! Please, you have to stop them! I can't be away from him! He is going to wake up!" I shout through the uncontrollable sobbing that now has my whole body trembling.
"Aubrey, you have to stay calm for the baby." Miry is up trying to soothe me, but I push her away. I climb onto Ian's bed and I start kissing his face frantically all over.
"Wake up, baby, wake up! Please, baby, I need you and I need you to wake up!" I'm shouting as tears splash off Ian's face. Through my sobs, I hear the door open and watch horrified as Chelsea, Amy and Troy enter the room.
"Get off him!" Chelsea screams at me running to the bed to push on me.
Sam comes to me protectively grabbing Chelsea's arm. "Don't you touch her!" Sam grates through gritted teeth.
"Let go of me!" Chelsea screams, fighting against Sam's restraint on her arm.
"Sam, we will get security if you don't leave quietly," Troy says in a hushed voice, almost regretful of what he is doing. The smug look on Amy's face is about to make me throw up. This is all her and Chelsea's doing. Troy is so God damn pussy whipped that he is allowing this.
"Please, Troy, don't give up on him. Please, he is still there, give him time." I plead to him as Sam starts to move me away from Ian. Chelsea is instantly leaning over Ian's body kissing him on the lips. I fight at Sam's grip. I want to pull every hair off her fake blonde head, scratch her eyes out, and then punch her in the face.
"NO, NO, NO! Sam, please, they can't take him off the life support!" I am shouting as loud as my voice will allow and fighting at Sam's grip as Miry comes to flank me.
"Aubrey, we'll figure out something, this isn't over," Sam says trying to reassure me.
"Oh, but it is. You're done playing the pitiful pregnant girl, acting like you own him. It was clear that Ian wanted Chelsea by the phone call he made." Amy's hideous smug voice rang through me like nails on a chalk board. Troy put his arm on hers and shook his head lightly telling her to stop. She left my gaze to shoot Troy a you better behave warning look.
"NO! Troy, don't listen to them! Please don't kill him! PLEASE NO!" I shout, still crying uncontrollably. Sam has to pick me up to get me out of the room. "NOOOOOOO, IAN BABY, WAKE UP! WAKE UP, BABY, PLEASE!" I scream as loud as I can as I'm carried out of the room before the door shuts behind us.
"NO SAM! NO, SAM, LET ME GO, PLEASE!" I am pounding against his chest as he carries me to the elevator. He puts me down once in, and I bolt weeping and crying as hard as I can ever remember. I feel like I just saw the man I love with all my heart for the last time.
"IAN, Please, Ian. Please." I am back up in Sam's arms and he is walking with me cradled up to his chest. I sob into his shirt burying myself into him just to escape reality for a split second. I feel my whole body go weak against him and then the tunnel of black.
Chapter 16
Ian
She's screaming. She needs my help. I can't find her. I can't see her. It's not the gentle voice that I have been hearing, her sweet words soothing me. This is panicked and wrong. She is in danger, she is hurt. I can't find her. Aubrey, baby, where are you? I try with all my might, to fight to move, to open my eyes.
"I told you my voice would wake him up. Oh, Ian, I love you." A voice screeches and I recognize it, but can't quite pick it out. Where's Aubrey, I need to hear her voice.
"Hey brother,
can you open your eyes?" I hear Troy say. My eyes flutter open and everything is blurry. I can't make out the figures that are hovering over me.
"Where's Aubrey?" I say and no one answers. I say it louder and realize that no sound is coming out.
"Just relax, the doctor is coming in." Troy's voice says calmly next to me.
I feel something on my face, and I realize it is someone kissing me. They are moving to my lips, and I know instantly it's not Aubrey. I see blonde hair and hear the most annoying screech. "Oh, Ian, I knew you loved me too." It's Chelsea. I try to swat her away, but I can't move. I can't even move my head.
"Aubrey!" I scream and only hear a tiny mumble. What the fuck is going on, and where is Aubrey? Like a freight train hit me, I remember the night. Michelle, the shots, and Aubrey...I never saw her eyes. Is she dead? Why is Chelsea here saying she knew I loved her? Fuck! Tell me what is going on, I try to scream.
"Don't try to talk yet," Troy says and I am able to focus my eyes on him. I am pleading with him with my eyes to tell me what is going on, but he's distracted by another voice.
"Let's give them some time alone." It's another female, and it is not Aubrey. Give who time alone with whom? Fuck me, what in the ever loving hell is happening?
This time when my eyes open I don't hear anything. The room is silent except for some soft breathing beside me and a steady beep. I can turn my head this time, and sitting in a chair close to me is fake blonde hair. I focus and realize it is fucking Chelsea. What the hell is happening? Why is she here? Where is Aubrey, Sam, or even Miry?
"Aubrey," I say and I see Chelsea move so I know that sound came out.
"Ian," she says standing at my side in an instant. "Hi sleepy head, I was beginning to wonder if you would ever wake up again. You woke up about 4 weeks ago, but was out again. The doctor said it was normal for that to happen that way sometimes." What the hell is she talking about, and why won't she shut the hell up?
Deep Blue Forever (Deep Blue Series) Page 6
