181|How The Fairy Tale Ends

181|How The Fairy Tale Ends
There are moments in our lives—crossroad moments—that change everything through the convergence of destiny and choice. Moments when one must decide to proceed in the same direction or change course.

Liam getting shot wasn't that moment.

But, the seventy-two hours before the shooting—at the charity benefit when Aleksei handed Eden the ring box—now, that was a crossroad moment, the converging point when their fate collided with their decisions.

The minute she looked inside and saw the bullet, she knew she'd opened Pandora's box and released all the misery and evil into their lives, and Liam's feud with the Ivanovs would only end in grief and bloodshed.

Now, as Jace and Aaron raced her to the Medi Clinic in Glen Eagles, where Liam was taken by an emergency services helicopter, Eden was well aware she'd been presented with another crossroad moment—she could either curl up and die from despair or hope and pray that the God she hadn't talked to in years miraculously comes through for her and lights up the way.

She chose to hope and pray, and that's all she did as she held Brenda's rosary and touched the crucifix for comfort.

Not a single word was uttered during the fifteen-minute ride to the hospital. The mood in the car was so sombre and the silence so eerie it was almost as if they were already in mourning.

Liam's head of security was waiting for her at the entrance when they arrived. He hurried her inside, leading her through a series of hallways and elevators.

The whole time Eden tried to keep up with his quick stride, she couldn't take her eyes away from the bloodstains splattered on his shirt; they painted a harrowing picture.

"What happened, James? How bad is he?" She asked as they jumped into yet another elevator. They'd moved through so many floors and so many elevators her head was almost spinning. But she was glad to escape the overpowering smell of disinfectant permeating the corridors, even if it was only briefly.

"They've just rushed him into surgery, Ma'am. Dr Samuels is working on him. He's one of the best trauma surgeons in the country. You can rest assured Mr Anderson is in good hands," he replied.

Eden was mighty relieved at his announcement. Liam's chances were looking significantly better if the best trauma surgeon in the country was on his medical team.

But she needed a little more reassurance. So she pressed James, begging for the even slightest ray of hope. "He'll be okay, though, right? I mean, it can't be that bad?"

"The doctors are doing everything they can." He smiled patiently and repeated what he had already told her as he pushed her through the doors of the trauma unit, where they were greeted by a hoard of security personnel from Anderson Logistics.

"We don't know if the shooting was an accident or if Aleksei plans to come back and finish the job. So we have to be careful," James explained his troop's presence.

Liam's parents, both visibly distraught and anxious, rushed to her side as soon they saw her.

"Oh, Eden. I'm so glad you're here," Lois cried as she clung to her. "The doctors haven't told us much. But James said we lost him on their way here, but the paramedics were able to bring him back and control the bleeding."

"Do we know anything about the shooting? Where was he shot? How bad is it?" Eden asked. "I don't understand any of it. He was just supposed to meet Aleksei and give him his twenty per cent and now—and now—"

A massive lump of despair clogged up her throat, cutting off her words as she gasped for breath and tried to take in huge chunks of air to drive away her panic.

Clarke rested his hands at her sides and gently shook her out of her hysteria. "If there's anything I know about my son, he's as stubborn as they come. He won't die."

Desperately wanting to believe him, Eden nodded and allowed him to sit her down on the bench directly across the operating room, and they began their long wait.

As the first hour slowly merged with the second, it became harder for her to remain calm and positive and not for the first time since Liam's phone call, she found herself struggling to come to grips with the day's events.

She didn't get it, how things had gone so wrong, and the day that should have been one of their happiest had turned into this never-ending nightmare.

She just wanted to know why.

Why now, when everything was going so well, and they were so happy and in love?

The Lord says askto, and you shall receive. She did ask Him to bring her and Liam together. But now—now He was threatening to rip him from her again.

Lois took her hand and clasped it in hers and smiled her reassurance. "He'll be okay. But your hands won't at the rate you're going."

"Sorry," Eden mumbled.

"Do you take anything?"

Eden turned her confused gaze on her, "For what?"

"Your anxiety?"

"Nothing, so far. The doctor thinks it's due to stress. But she didn't prescribe anything. I think maybe because of the baby."

Lois' eyes widened, a big smile lighting up her face. "You mean?"

Eden nodded. "I found out this afternoon, and I don't know what I'll do if Liam—"

Lois pulled her close and hugged her tight. "He'll make it. He has no choice but to make it now. And my son is anything but a quitter. If he knows about the baby, he'll fight with everything in him to make it back to you."

Eden could only nod, placing all her hope in her words. She knew Liam better than anyone. After all, she was his mother.

"Do you pray?" Lois pointed at the rosary on her lap.

Her question caught her off guard, and for an embarrassingly long moment, Eden didn't know what to say. She was so tempted to lie just to save face. But she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Her shoulders slumped, shame clouding her eyes, she stared at the ballerina slippers at her feet and confessed. "It's been a while."

"I think today is a good day to start again," Lois replied. She stood up and held out her hand. "Let's go pray."

Eden took it, but her eyes remained glued to the door and her heart inside the operating room.

How was she supposed to leave Liam while he was fighting for his life?

"It's okay. Clarke will call us if there's any change," Lois assured her.

Reluctantly, Eden followed Aiden's grandmother to the chapel on the 4th floor, comforted by her strength and warmth as she held her hand and pulled her along.

Her faith has always been shaky at best, and her relationship with God, fraught with conflict stemming from contradictions with his teachings. But the unfairness of today had made her question everything, especially the little comfort she'd found in scripture.

Despite all her inner turmoil, she still lit a candle for Liam and knelt at the altar.

With her head bowed in front of the crucifix, she asked for His grace and prayed harder than she had ever done for anyone.

Believing prayer alone may not be enough, she also bargained with every breath in her, promising to never ask for anything else after this if God could just perform this one miracle.

Lois' phone rang, and Eden turned to her, hope shining bright in her eyes.

"It's one of the board members, I have to take it, and it may be a while," Lois dashed all her hopes with her announcement.

"Go ahead. I'll come up soon." She nodded and waved her off.

Eden sat down, and for the longest time, she stared at the light seeping through the stained glass window, fascinated by the halo above the head of the Virgin Mary, as she struggled to understand what lesson she was supposed to learn from this.

People always say things happen for a reason, and it's all part of God's great plan. But faced with the possibility of the dark, endless tunnel called grief, she struggled to see how ripping the father of her kids from her just when everything was starting to fall into place was part of His great plan.

What kind of great plan was this?

She wanted no part of this great plan.

Eden sighed as she stood up and lit another candle.

When a young couple came in and approached the altar, she left the chapel. She didn't want to intrude on their private chat with God. Maybe they'd have better luck with Him.

She had just sat down beside Lois when Liam's sisters tore through the door with Matthew and Julian running behind them.

They were distraught and heartbroken, brimming with worry and concern. But the people who had all the answers were still inside the operating room, doing everything they could to save Liam's life. So Clarke had to step in and be the beacon of hope they all needed, and he did his best to ease their fears and assure them Liam would pull through.

"How are you holding up?" Julian asked as he knelt in front of her.

"Do you need anything?" Matthew added at her side.

"I just need Liam to pull through," she replied, giving the brothers her bravest smile even though she felt anything but brave.

"He will," Julian said. "He's a crazy bastard. Matt, remember back in '12 when he totalled his car in the final lap of the Iconic race?"

"Yeah," Matthew laughed. "The idiot jumped out of a burning car and walked away without a single scratch on him, pissed out of his mind he'd lost the race and not in the least scared he could have died—"

The operating room door squeaked open, pausing the brother's recollection of the past, and a drained-looking surgeon came out.

From the grave look on his face, Eden knew nothing good would come out of his mouth. So she sat dead still and held herself tightly to keep herself from coming undone while Liam's family huddled around him.

The doctor's eyes darkened the longer he spoke in his flat, toneless voice. But Eden managed to catch fragments and pieces of his update—Severe blood loss. Laceration to the left kidney. Blunt force trauma to the abdomen. Laparoscopy—

She wanted to scream and ask him to speak English. But what right did she have to yell and act like a spoilt princess when Liam's parents were doing everything in their power to hold it together?

"We've done everything we can—" Dr Samuels murmured, his voice much louder than before, almost as if he wanted her to hear the most devastating part of his debilitating news with absolute clarity, whether she chose to remain on the bench or not.

Lois broke down and cried, the sound of her grief flowing down the hallway and bouncing off the walls. It's rawness, a sharp contrast to the sterility of the room and the harrowing situation they all found themselves in.

Clarke's face crumbled ever so briefly, but he quickly masked away any hint of emotion as he propped Lois up and held her tight. If there was ever a time she needed an anchor, it was at that moment.

Misty-eyed and heartbroken, Eden watched all their fears play out right in front of her. Loud as her sobs were, they couldn't drown out the doctor's announcement.

'We've done everything we can!'

His words echoed in her head over and over, but no matter how many times she replayed them, she couldn't make sense of them.

What did they even mean?

Were they giving up on Liam?

Was that it?

Was this how the fairy tale ends?

With his news delivered, one of the best surgeons in the country returned to the operating room, leaving them to pick up the pieces.

Clarke and Lois turned to her.

"No," Eden shook her head, refusing to acknowledge the truth in their eyes.

If there was a way she could melt herself into the bench and be one with the cold, hard metal, just so she wouldn't have to hear what they had to say, she would.

"I don't want to hear it! He's not gone!"