Devotion - Chapter 35 #2
"But baby, you never complained about how much better the sex got. All the new techniques." She put her hand back on his chest.
"Don't fucking touch me!"
Isabella didn't remove her hand. "Look at me, James. Don't look at her. For once in your life, focus on me!"
James' eyes left mine. Originally Isabella had said I'd be dead in ten minutes.
But it seemed like more time than that had passed.
Maybe James' sedative would wear off soon.
Maybe someone would show up and help us.
My world was filled with maybes. But maybes weren't going to save me.
I pulled my arms as hard as I could and accidentally let a whimper escape from my lips.
"Penny." The agony in James' voice brought tears to my eyes.
"This isn't about her!" Isabella yelled. "This is about us!" She pulled out a gun from her purse and pointed it toward me.
"Isabella, please just let her go. And we can talk."
"Is this about the baby? If you want a baby, I'll give you a baby. We were always good at practicing."
"What are you talking about?"
Isabella turned toward me with a smile on her face. "He really doesn't know?" She laughed. "This just got so much better."
"Know what?"
Isabella slid off his bed and walked toward me. "She didn't tell you? She's pregnant."
The moment I had planned in my head for telling him about the baby had been ripped from me. This would be his last memory of me. Me not telling him something. It would tear him apart. If Isabella didn't kill him, that would.
James just stared at me. He didn't say a word. The color had drained from his face. And I realized he wasn't really staring at me. He was looking past me. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. I had it all planned out.
Look at me. Please look at me. "James, I was going to tell you on your birthday. I..."
"That's quite enough." Isabella pressed the gun against the side of my forehead.
Oh God. My heart was pounding. It was all I could hear.
And all I could think about was how mad I'd been the past few days.
And how it was such a waste of time. Such a horrible waste of time to have anger in my heart.
I should have been counting my blessings.
I should have been with him the whole time. I should have been savoring it.
"Isabella, stop!" James yelled. "Please stop. You win. You win, okay? I'll do whatever you want."
"I want you to be with me. I want us to be what we used to be. I want everyone to be jealous of me again. I want my fucking life back!"
"Okay. Me too. I want it all back. I want you back."
"But what about the baby?"
"I never wanted kids. And I don't want that one. She knew that. She knew that and she got pregnant anyway. I don't want anything to do with her or that child. You know me, Isabella. You're the only one that really knows me. You're all that I want. It's always been you."
James! Look at me! I struggled against the duct tape.
Isabella pressed the gun harder against my temple. "You'll go back to her."
"No. I'll never want her as much as I want you. You know that, baby. I'll file for divorce. We can go wherever you want. Just...please come here."
The gun slowly dropped from my forehead. "I just don't understand. Why were you ever with her then? Why would you hurt me like this?"
"I pitied her. She was weak. I liked that she was young and naive and didn't know better.
Because she was everything that you weren't. And it killed me that you didn't want me anymore.
That someone so strong willed and sexy had cut me down.
I was just trying to forget by dating someone that was so opposite of you. But I could never forget you."
Young. Naive. Weak. It was everything I didn't want to be. It was everything that I was. Look at me James. Show me that you don't mean it .
"I know how unforgettable I am." She ran her fingers through his hair.
And he smiled. That smile was like a knife in my heart. They looked so natural together. I looked away. Maybe he was just telling her what she needed to hear. But maybe...
"Then kiss me," he said. "Let's start over. Let's put all of it behind us. We'll be better than we ever were."
I watched as Isabella leaned down a little closer to him. And I died inside. Isabella was right. The thought of him with her had always haunted me. And now that I was about to see it? It was seared into my brain.
This couldn't be what he really wanted. This couldn't be.
So why did he ask her to kiss him? To give me a chance to escape?
There was no escape. I pulled my wrists as hard as I could.
It just made me cry more. Young. Naive. Weak.
I was so weak. I gritted my teeth as I pulled again on my restraints.
Nothing. All I could do was watch the man I love tilt his head toward the woman he was professing his love for.
It happened in a flash. James pulled out his IV and wrapped the cord around Isabella's neck right before her lips met his.
She dropped the gun on the floor and it skittered over to the window.
"You tried to kill me, you fucking bitch!"
"James!" I screamed as Isabella struggled in his arms.
"You tried to kill my brother!" He tightened the cord around her neck. Blood trickled down his hand where his IV had been.
"James, stop!" A part of me wanted him to kill her. She had put us through hell. But this wasn't James. He would never do something like this.
"You tried to kill my wife. You threatened my family," he was choking on his words. "I was forced to give up my life to be with you once. I'll never make that mistake again. No one will ever tell me how to live my life again." He replaced the cord with his hands.
Her face was turning purple.
"James, you're not a murderer! Stop!"
"She'll never leave me alone! She'll never leave us alone." His voice cracked on the word us.
She was starting to sag in his arms.
"This isn't who you are. James!"
He let go of her throat and pushed her off the bed. Her body slumped to the ground. But I could see her chest rise with each breath. She was alive. Just unconscious.
"Did she hurt you?" James said as he ripped off the rest of the wires that were attached to him. "Are you okay?" He stumbled out of the bed and caught himself on the edge of it. "Penny?" He fell to his knees in front of me.
I couldn't respond because I was choking on my sobs. This wasn't the end. I wasn't going to die. We were going to be okay.
He ran his fingers along my skin as if searching for some sign of injury. My arms. My legs. My face. He grabbed something to cut away the duct tape and he pulled me down into his arms.
"I'm okay," I whispered. "I'm okay."
The tears in his eyes just made mine fall even faster.
"Penny." His voice sounded so hoarse. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, baby."
"You're bleeding."
He smiled through his tears. "I'm fine. We're fine." He pulled my face to his chest. "You're shaking." He wrapped his arms tighter around me. "It's okay now. We're okay."
"For a second I let myself believe that the things you were saying were true," I said into his chest. "I thought, I thought..."
"No. No, Penny. I didn't mean any of it." He leaned back and put his palm on my stomach. "None of it." He was staring at my stomach. "Are you really pregnant?"
"I didn't want you to find out like this.
I wanted to surprise you. I was going to give you this little onesie I picked up in the gift shop for your birthday and tell you.
And I know you don't want kids. At least, not for a long time.
I was stressed out before the wedding and I must have forgotten to take my birth control and. .."
"Penny." He grabbed the sides of my face. "I want everything with you. All of it. And if you're pregnant, I want kids now. I want it."
"You're not mad?"
"Mad? Why would I be mad?" He laughed. "No. This baby is going to be every part of you. Sweet and kind and good. No, I'm not mad."
"I thought you'd be upset."
"No, baby." He kissed the side of my neck and pulled me against him again. "Never. I'm going to be a dad." He buried his face in my hair.
"You're going to be a great dad."
He just held me in response. I let myself cry against his shoulder. This was all I needed. For him to hold on to me. This was all I ever needed.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he whispered.
"I'm okay." I was holding on to him like he was the only thing keeping me afloat.
"And the baby? Everything's okay?"
I pulled back. "I don't know. I found out I was pregnant right after you came to the hospital. I was a mess. I couldn't eat. I... I don't know."
"I'll go tell Porter or Briggs to get the nurse."
"No." I grabbed his arm before he could get up. "Briggs was working for her. She threatened his wife and daughter. And the nurse drugged you. I don't know if she knew what she was doing or if it was an accident..."
"Is Briggs out there right now?"
"I don't know. The last thing I remember was him putting this cloth over my mouth and..."
"That son of a bitch." James grabbed the edge of the bed and slowly stood up.
"James, you need to sit down. Your stomach is bleeding." There was a blood stain on the front of his hospital gown.
He looked down at the blood.
"Something must be wrong with your stitches. You have to sit down."
James tried to walk past me but I grabbed his arm.
"James, please just sit down. I'll go get someone."
The door burst open and Briggs rushed in holding a gun. He was completely out of breath.
My heart was filled with fear. Because the gun was pointed directly at me.
"Jesus Christ," he said and kept his gun pointed at me.
James stepped in front of me.
"Get down!" Briggs yelled.
"Briggs, you don't have to do this," James said.
"I said get down!"
The room echoed with the burst of his gun.
I screamed and pulled James down behind the side of the bed. I heard glass shatter behind us. I turned my head. I'm pretty sure James saw it the same time that I did because he tried to push me behind him again. Isabella was standing in front of the broken window with the gun in her hand.
"Drop it!" Briggs shouted. "Now!"
She smiled and lifted the gun toward me and James.
Another shot echoed in the room and hit Isabella right in the chest. A third shot hit her in almost the same spot. The gun fell from her hand. She stumbled backwards and crashed through the broken window.
We heard people screaming outside and a sickening crunching noise.
"Are you both okay?" Briggs said. He knelt down next to us. He put his hand on my shoulder.
"Thank you," James said and clasped his hand.
"I'm so sorry, I..."
"It's okay. I understand. I'd do anything for my wife and baby too."
"Baby?" Briggs turned his head to me and smiled. "You're pregnant?"
I nodded. None of this news was happening the way that I had planned.
"Congratulations," he said with a big smile.
I couldn't think about this right now. I tried to run through everything Isabella had said to me in my mind. "Officer Daugherty was working with her," I said. "And possibly the nurse. I'm not sure she knew what she was doing. Find Detective Lee."
"I already called it in when I was hightailing it back here after checking to make sure my family was okay. Detective Lee is on his way. And..."
"You piece of shit!" Porter yelled as he came running into the room. He grabbed Briggs by the collar of his shirt and pushed him onto his side. He landed a hard punch across Briggs' jaw. "I trusted you!" Porter yelled as he landed another punch.
"Cole! Stop!" I tried to stand up, but James put his hand on my shoulder.
"Porter, he just saved our lives," James said.
"And you wouldn't have needed saving if he had done his job. He was behind the whole thing!" he spat and grabbed Briggs' collar again.
"Both of you stop!" James said affirmatively.
"I wasn't behind the whole thing, man," Briggs said. "Just today. She threatened my family."
"And what about when Isabella snuck in here the first time and tried to kill him?" Porter said. "Because of your stomach issues. Bullshit." He pushed him back down on the ground.
"That was true. I didn't...she didn't threaten me until today." He ran his hand down his face.
"You can tell it to the cops," Porter said and pulled him to his feet. "I'll be right back," he said and he walked Briggs out the door.
"I'm sorry," Briggs said as he was pulled out of the room. "I'm sorry!"
"We can't let him get sent to prison for this," I said.
"He drugged you." James ran his palm along the side of my face.
"And he saved you." I swallowed hard. "Is she dead?"
"I think she was dead before she even fell."
"It's over." I pressed my head against his chest.
"It's over."