Chapter 109: Devastation.

Chapter 109: Devastation.
The deafening crack echoed through the room, slicing through the silence and shattering all hope. Dua's eyes widened in horror, comprehension dawning too late. The sound reverberated in her mind, drowning her in a torrent of love, loss, and despair.
As the echoes faded, so did Steven’s warmth, leaving behind an emptiness so profound it seemed to absorb everything around them. 
Dua's heart raced as shock stole her breath away, tears spilling down her cheeks. The world spun on its axis, and in that moment, nothing would ever be the same.
Instinctively Victoria pulled her trigger at Bob, then at Mark. Shane pulled out his gun and shot at Diane, the sound of gunshots filling the air as they kept firing bullets until their victims laid dead. 
Dua felt as if she were suspended in time. Her heart raced with the adrenaline coursing through her, the agony of witnessing the love of her life slip away, combined with the horror of the violent retaliation erupting before her. She found herself frozen, staring at Steven’s limp body, the life draining from his eyes. The unthinkable had occurred, and every ounce of her being was consumed by the weight of irrevocable loss.
She stood up from the chair only to fall on the floor from weakness as a result of the to much blood loss she suffered, and the shock of what had unraveled before her. 
Her siblings who were rooted in place from shock finally moved to her, Desmond gathering her into his arms.
Shane rushed over to his brother with Victoria who supported him in putting Steven on his back. Quickly they rushed Steven and Dua to the nearest hospital. 
Arriving at the hospital, all their words were a mess, they couldn't give a clear statement about what befell the couple to the doctors.
The fluorescent lights of the hospital felt blinding, but the chaos of the chaotic scene enveloped them still. The sterile air was marked by the faint scent of antiseptics and the muffled cries of desperation coming from distant rooms.
The doctors got to work, some wheeling Dua into another department. But as they were about wheeling Steven into the theater, Victoria stopped them. "He has a hole in his heart," she revealed his medical history to the doctors.
"What?!" Denise and Desmond exclaimed.
"If possible... could you conduct a surgery on his heart at once?" Victoria cried.
The doctors heaved a deep sigh as one of them spoke, "it'd be difficult, coupled with the bullet in his brain, but we'll try our best."
"Please, do." Shane urged and the doctor nodded as they wheeled Steven into the theater.
The waiting room was a jagged pit of anxiety, a place where minutes felt like hours, and every second dragged with the weight of uncertainty. Shane paced back and forth, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. Each time he glanced at the doors leading to the operating theaters, his heart raced anew, teetering on the edge of despair. 
"This can’t be happening," he muttered under his breath, impatience flecking his words. The thought of losing Steven, his brother, alongside Dua, the woman who had brightened his brother's very existence, made his chest tighten with grief.
Victoria sat in a chair, gripping her hands tightly together, her knuckles turning white as her tears flowed. She stared at the floor, memory images of happier days flooding her mind—the laughter, the late-night talks, Steven's infectious smile. It felt like they were living in a nightmare from which they couldn’t awaken. “We did everything we could, didn’t we?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. 
Denise, couldn't fight against the tears pooling in her eyes as she let them out freely. "We were too late," she choked out, grief evident in her tone. “What if they don’t make it? What if…” She paused, unable to voice the thought that hung heavily in the air, too horrific to spell out. She squeezed Desmond's hand, needing him to ground her even as her heart felt like it was fracturing under the weight of their reality.
Desmond sat alongside her, his expression grim and resigned. He felt a mix of anger at the universe and a deep sense of helplessness. He could still feel Dua’s warmth, the way she had leaned against him in the chaos, her blood seeping onto his shirt, merging their lives together in that tragic moment. "We can’t let despair win," he said, more to himself than to anyone, but the determination in his voice was weak against the overwhelming despair. 
Just then, the double doors swung open, and a doctor stepped through, clad in scrubs with a mask hanging around his neck. The room fell silent as a heavy silence descended, all eyes on him, hearts racing with dread. 
“Doctor?” Shane stepped forward, breathing heavily, his voice tense. “How are they? Are they okay?”
The doctor cleared his throat, "I can only say about Mr Steven Levi's condition, the other doctors attending to his wife will tell you about hers." 
"Mr Levi..." he paused, heaving a deep sigh. "The surgery is successful. His heart is fine now, and we got the bullet out of his brain. But..." he trailed off.
"But what?" Victoria urged him.
"It's very possible he might experience a memory loss when he regains consciousness. The chances are fifty-fifty." The doctor revealed and their hopes shattered.
"Come on, guys. There's hope, at least he'll wake up. Getting his memory back won't be a problem, we'll help him with that." Desmond tried to encourage them. 
"But what about Dua?" Victoria asked and another doctor stepped out from a door. 
"Mrs Levi, she..." the doctor trailed off. 
"We're sorry, she lost the babies, we couldn't save them. We tried our best but the poison she digested had been in her system for too long and it had caused a lot of damage to her and to her babies." The doctor revealed.
"And the mother? How's my sister, please?" Denise asked.
"She slipped into a coma." The doctor replied.
Silence descended upon the group, wrapping them in a suffocating blanket of despair. The doctor’s words echoed painfully in their minds, reverberating like a relentless drum, a cruel reminder of the irreplaceable loss they had just endured. Dua’s lifeline, those precious little lives that had been so full of promise, had been extinguished along with her bright spirit, leaving an unfathomable void in their hearts.
Denise's knees buckled beneath her, and she fell into Desmond’s embrace, her sobs wracking her body. The weight of grief felt heavier than any physical pain she had ever experienced; it saturated every breath she took. “No... no, no,” she wept, shaking her head in disbelief. “Not them. Not my sister... She was supposed to have the life she always dreamed of.”
Victoria stood frozen, tears cascading down her cheeks, pooling silently at her feet.
“I should have done more,” she whispered, guilt gnawing at her. “If I had just gotten to them sooner…” 
Shane’s face drained of all color, his hands trembling as he clenched and unclenched them at his sides. “This isn’t real,” he murmured, trying to convince himself of a reality that felt too painfully grim. “It can’t be.”
Desmond held Denise close, his heart heavy with the burden of pain. “There’s nothing we could have done,” he urged, his voice nearly breaking. “We have to think of them. We have to be strong for them when they need us.” 
But inside, he grappled with the despair that threatened to drown him. 
How could they ever move forward without Steven and Dua?