Chapter 52 Bullet
Getting Maverick onto Baximus was not the hardest part. Getting his hand off Heaven was. Even unconscious, his fingers were locked around her wrist tight, desperate, refusing to let go.
Heaven cried out softly each time they tried to pry him loose.
Richard, Edward, and Killian struggled, exchanging horrified glances.
“He won’t let go…” Killian whispered.
“Damn it, son… let her go…let us help you,” Richard muttered through clenched teeth.
But Maverick didn’t let go.
Not until his grip finally slackened from sheer blood loss.
Baximus reared anxiously as they lifted his master onto his back, but stayed steady as if he understood this moment was not one to falter.
They rode fast.
A helicopter was already waiting, blades spinning, roaring, spraying dust into the air.
Eleanor clutched Maverick’s body the entire time, refusing to let anyone else hold him.
The only son remaining. Boyle was gone and now he wanted to go too.
Her only anchor left in the world.
“Maverick…please…please,” she whispered into his hair, her voice shredded beyond recognition.
Eva stood frozen, her face blank with shock her father pulled her into his chest.
“Dad…Maverick can’t die … my husband can’t die…” Eva muttered frantically, her eyes welling up.
Edward wrapped his hand around her and whispered close to calm her down. “Shhh… no one is dying…”
The helicopter lifted off.
The moment the helicopter landed in the military hospital, Maverick was rushed straight into the operating theatre.
Doctors shouting orders. Nurses running here and there.
Eleanor stood frozen after the doors slammed shut, her bloody hands trembling violently.
Her sobs had dried into something worse: a quiet, hollow fear that made her eyes look centuries old.
General Richard turned to a nurse.
“Check on her too,” he ordered, voice firm, pointing at Heaven.
But before the nurse could move Eleanor snapped.
Her voice ripped through the hall like lightning. “Check on WHAT?!”
Her finger pointed at Heaven with wild fury.
“CHECK ON WHAT?! You, bad luck…What did you do to my son?!”
Heaven staggered backward, eyes wide, throat tightening.
“I… I didn’t… I didn’t do anything…”
Her voice was so small, it barely made it into the air.
Richard rushed to Eleanor, grabbing her arms.
“Eleanor. Enough. We’re in public.” he didn’t want her spilling more than she should out of grief.
But Eleanor broke against him, sobbing into his chest.
“He’s all I have left! He’s all I have….!”
Heaven’s knees nearly buckled.
Eva had been crying uncontrollably, face buried against her father Edward’s chest.
But then she heard her mother in law lash out, she heard Heaven’s broken defense and something pulled her forward.
Her blonde hair was tangled, sticking to her wet cheeks. Her legs wobbled as she walked toward Heaven.
“Ev…Eva…” Edward whispered, trying to stop her.
She gently pushed his hand off.
She needed to hear it from Heaven herself.
She reached Heaven and held her by the shoulders, hands shaky
“Heaven…” Her voice cracked.
She swallowed hard, forcing the words out through her trembling lips.
“Please… tell me… what happened to my husband?”
Heaven lifted her face. Their eyes met.
Heaven's eyes were red, swollen, shaking, the eyes of someone who had watched death crawl too close.
“…we…” Heaven stammered, her chest heaving.
“We saw the… the antelope… and… we were about to… shoot it… and then he…”
Her breath hitched, her whole body collapsing inward.
“…he was shot.” Her voice splintered. “From the back…”
She shook her head, sobbing harder.
“I… I don’t know… I don’t know who…I don’t know why…there was nobody there…”
Eva’s grip tightened. Gasps echoed around them.
At that moment, Major Vincent burst into the hallway, panting.
“I came as soon as I heard. How is he?!”
No one answered. Richard’s jaw clenched. Edward’s brows furrowed.
Eleanor’s knees gave out; she grabbed the wall for support, while a shocked Kiara held onto her.
And Heaven stood in the center of the chaos, covered in Maverick’s blood, shaking uncontrollably.. he was the only thing that made sense to her.
Then General Richard stepped forward. His eyes were murderous.
“Someone shot my son,” he growled, voice shaking with barely contained rage.
“In my own house.”
The temperature in the hallway dropped. Richard snatched his phone and barked into it, each word sharp enough to cut steel.
“I want the alibi of EVERYONE who attended the hunt.” His voice thundered through the corridor.
“I want EVERY CCTV camera reviewed. Every exit, every entry, every blind spot.” He paused, breathing hard.
“I don’t care who it is.” His next words came out like a death sentence:
“I NEED THE HEAD OF WHO DID THIS.”
He ended the call with a violent snap. The corridor remained silent.
Holding its breath. Until the operating room red energy light flickered to green.
Immediately the doors of the operating theatre opened. Every head snapped up. Richard moved first, almost stumbling in his rush Eleanor right beside him, her entire body trembling. Eva lifted her face, tear-stained and pale, while Heaven froze in place, blood dried stiff on her clothes, unable to breathe.
The doctor stepped forward.
“We were able to pull the bullet out,” he began, voice steady from years of bad news training. “Luckily, it didn’t hit his heart. It was a close call.”
“So can we see him?” Eleanor blurted, her voice sharp with desperation, stepping forward as if she would force her way past him.
“Eleanor, he hasn’t finished talking…” Richard held her arm gently but firmly.
The doctor continued, eyes soft with remorse. “He is in critical condition. The bullet missed his heart, but it hit a major artery, causing severe internal bleeding and massive blood loss. We managed to stabilize him… but we cannot predict when he will wake up.”
A suffocating silence wrapped around them. He looked at Richard directly. “It’s a miracle he survived the initial impact. Your son has… a strong will to live.”
Eleanor’s legs gave out, and Richard caught her before she hit the ground. She covered her mouth with shaking hands, sobbing silently.
Eva let out a strangled cry and buried her face against General Edward’s chest.
Heaven stood motionless, heart splitting apart. Her hands twitched helplessly.
“Only two people are allowed to see him now,” the doctor said gently.
“I will go.”
“I will go.”
Eleanor and Eva spoke at the same time.
His mother and his wife were chosen without question.
“You both can go,” Richard said, voice low. He turned to the doctor. “I need the bullet removed from him. Immediately.”
The doctor nodded.
“Richard, we need to secure this entire hospital,” Edward said grimly. “And his room. We don’t know who shot him yet and why.”
Richard’s jaw tightened. “Do it.”
Edward’s gaze shifted to Heaven. His eyes lingered on her on the dried blood, the trembling, the shock.
“Killian, take her home,” he ordered quietly. “She looks exhausted.”
Heaven opened her mouth.
She wanted to say she didn’t want to go. She wanted to say she wanted to see him too. She wanted to say he held her even while unconscious.
But she said nothing.
Who was she to him?
A forbidden secret. A hidden sin.
Numb and hollow, she turned and followed Killian down the hallway, leaving behind the man whose blood stained her hands.