Chapter 35

Derek

"How's she doing, Doctor?" I asked the bald man in the white overall before me. He'd been attending to Roxanne for the past forty-five minutes and he hadn't said much since then. I was beginning to wonder if there was something he was hiding from me or worse, he didn't know what he was doing.

There were two nurses in the room that accompanied the doctor. I'd been told to stay outside for most of that forty-five minutes and now that I had been allowed in, I was expecting that the doctor would give me something.

Apart from the medical staff, Dennis was also with me in the hospital. He had helped me track Roxanne's phone when I had that call with her the other time. We had both followed her up to that bridge and found out that she was being attacked by robbers. I nearly lost it when I found Roxanne lying on the floor bleeding from a gunshot.

We had both rushed her down to the nearest hospital after we had killed every one of those robbers. Now that things weren't looking good, I wondered if I had acted more quickly and looked for a way to locate Roxanne, she wouldn't have ended up on this hospital bed looking lifeless.

I noticed that the doctor seemed to be holding back so I spoke to him more firmly,

"Doctor, you can speak to me. Tell me exactly what's going on with her."

"We're still assessing the situation, Mr. Hemming. But it's not looking so good."

"What do you mean? Can you save her?"

"The bullet went through her back and missed her heart only by a whisker, so she would have to enter surgery. I have to be honest with you, there's no certainty about what her condition would be after surgery."

"Are you saying there's nothing you can do, Doctor?"

"We could enter surgery and try to save her but it's going to be a 50-50 situation."

"What does that mean, Doctor?" I said angrily. "You need to do everything you can do to save this girl or else I'll tear down the whole hospital and burn everything to ashes."

My face had transitioned from the more friendly and agreeable look that I had on previously into a fierce and threatening stare. The doctor seemed to get an understanding of what I meant.

"We'll do everything we can do to save her, Mr. Hemming. If you'll excuse me." The doctor said as he left the room with his nurses.

"Boss," Dennis moved closer to me as soon as they'd left. "I have a better solution but I don't know if you’d be able to get it considering the circumstances."

"What is that? Name it." I said.

Dennis lowered his voice as he spoke, "There's a magic potion within the clans that can help with injuries like this. It heals the victim in no time."

"I know about the potion. Where can I get it?"

"Now, that is where the issue lies. Families within the clan take turns to be in possession of it every year. This year, it's your wife's family's turn, boss. So, she must have access to the potion."

"Are you certain?" I asked him. I needed to know for sure if what we were looking for was really with Diana's family before I approached her.

"Yes, boss. I am."

"Then we need to move her out of this place quickly. Make preparations, I won't submit her fate to the hands of these incompetent doctors."

Dennis spoke with hesitation, "But boss, what about your wife? I don't think she'd be quick to agree to help her given the circumstances."

"Don't worry about Diana, I will take care of her. Just concentrate on helping me get Roxanne safely out of this hospital as soon as possible."

I turned to look in her direction on the bed. She lay there without any movement whatsoever. I couldn't imagine a world where Roxanne wasn't in it.

In less than an hour, I'd brought Roxanne back to the house. Diana came out of the room and met us in the living room. At first, she didn't know what was going on.

"What happened?" She asked anxiously when she saw Roxanne's pale and lifeless body on one of the sofas. I immediately knew she hadn't been able to identify the girl I had brought. She must have thought it was one of the werewolves who worked for me.

"It's a long story," I said. "But I need your help, Diana."

Diana began to read into the situation gradually after I said those words. She moved closer to Roxanne's body and examined her closely.

"How could you?! You brought her into this house? You're unbelievable!" She yelled in quick succession.

"Listen, Diana. Calm down and just listen." I tried to pacify her but she wasn't having any of it.

"I know exactly what you need from me and I'm never going to give you. You must be crazy to think that I'll help the girl you've been cheating on me with."

"It's not cheating when we were never in a real marriage, Diana," I said plainly.

Diana opened her mouth and quickly turned to look at Dennis who was also in the room with us. I could see that she was embarrassed by his presence but what Diana didn't know was that nothing was hidden from Dennis. Certainly, not the genuineness of our marriage. It was more open to everyone within the clans than Diana was willing to admit. She had built a world of lies around herself and lived in it.

"Get this girl out of this house immediately or I will eat her alive!" Diana threatened.

She was in the angriest state I had ever seen her and it wasn't looking good. Yet, I knew time wasn't on my side when it came to Roxanne's condition. She had already lost a lot of blood and if something wasn't done quickly to help her, I might lose her eventually. The thought of this sent cold shivers down my spine.

"Okay, Diana. I'll let go of all of my personal assets in exchange for a drop of the potion."

Diana was shocked by that statement. She couldn't believe how far I was willing to go to save Roxanne. It was contrasting to how I had dealt with her all along in our marriage.

"You really are something else. What does the girl offer you that I couldn't? You're even willing to lose all you have to help her. I can't believe this."

"I just need the potion, Diana," I said coldly.

After a long while had passed with Diana folding her arms and navigating her eyes between Roxanne and me, she finally agreed.

"Fine. I'll agree to your terms," she said, "But that is the end between the both of us. I'll be moving out of this house and I'll cut very ties with you forever."

"Just give me the potion," I said again.

She became angry once more but she agreed to give me the potion. At that moment, I realized that Diana really loved me. It wasn't just the illusion that she built her world around. It didn't matter though. Roxanne is whom I have fallen in love with.

While I gave her the potion, Diana went on about leaving me completely and never looking back. It didn't bother me at the very least. All I cared about at the moment was Roxanne getting better. So I ignored her and concentrated on giving her the potion.

By the time Diana was done moving her things out of the house and had left, Roxanne woke up. The magic potion was really effective and quick, just as its reputation described.

Lucas

Despite everything I'd seen about Roxanne on the internet over the past few days, I still thought about her. I wondered what kind of mess she must be in right now. Definitely, the leaked tape must have had a very huge impact on her and things could even be worse than I thought.

Somehow, I had allowed myself to believe that everything was not as it seemed. I couldn't help but consider the possibility that Roxanne was in an impossible situation and that was the reason for the tape and everything that was happening to her.

Maybe it was something that I could help with, I told myself. But first, I needed to understand what was really going on with her. I texted her and asked how she was doing. I asked if she could meet with me and discuss this.

After I'd done so, I began to question my own intentions. Was I thinking this way because I loved Roxanne or was there something else? It was a question I couldn't answer because the details weren't clear to me either.

I sat down at my favorite spot under the oak tree as I thought about all this.