Chapter 123 #41: I Need You
The sound of gunfire still rings in my ears long after the echo dies.
Rhys moves fast. Faster than my brain can catch up with. One second the gun is pressed to my forehead and I am staring down the end of every bad decision I have ever made, and the next second Maya is flying backward, her body slamming into the metal shelving behind her as bullets tear into the wall where my head was.
I stumble as the pressure disappears, my knees nearly buckling beneath me in relief. Rhys is already in front of me, one hand gripping my arm, the other steady on his gun as he scans the room.
“Uncle Rhys!” I shout, flying into his arms for a hug.
“Are you hit?” he asks quickly, pulling away to check me.
“I don’t think so,” I say, though my voice shakes despite my best efforts. “I don’t feel anything.”
“That’s shock,” he replies. “You’d feel it soon enough if you were bleeding.”
Maya is on the floor now, scrambling as she reaches for her fallen weapon. Rhys fires a warning shot, the bullet grazes close enough to make his point clear.
“Don’t,” he says coldly.
Her eyes moves between us in calculation. She snarls something under her breath, then bolts toward the back exit. I begin to chase after her but Rhys holds me back just in time.
“We don’t have time,” he says, pulling me toward the door he came in through, his grip firm but not unkind. My legs move on instinct. My body is still catching up with the fact that I am alive.
Outside, the cool night air crashes into me, and I suck it in like I’ve been drowning. The street is chaos, engines running, men shouting into phones, weapons tucked back into jackets as if none of this happened.
Rhys doesn’t let go of me until we reach his car.
“What the hell were you thinking?!” he scolds, once he has me seated with the door slammed shut. “Do you have any idea how close that was?!"
“I was thinking about my daughter,” I snap back. “And about how that woman was about to kill me.”
He exhales hard, running a hand through his hair. “Thank goodness Sel called me and told me you were in trouble. She said she had to leave with Lucy and gave me the location. I got there as fast as I could.”
“Sel,” I repeat, my chest tightening. “Where is she. Where’s Lucy.”
“At the hospital,” he says. “They got her there not long ago.”
Relief hits me so hard it makes me dizzy. I press my forehead to the cool window for a second, grounding myself.
“And the ledger,” I say, straightening. “We’re not leaving it.”
Rhys pauses, then looks at me. Really looks. His expression shifts from anger to something like resignation.
“You’re not letting that go, are you?"
“No,” I say firmly. “That ledger is the only thing keeping Maya from trying this again. It’s leverage. It need to stay with me.”
“You know keeping it paints a target on your back.”
“So does being alive,” I reply. “At least this way I have a weapon.”
He studies me for a long moment, then nods. “Fine. But it stays hidden and I hold on to it. It’s better this way so no one knows where it is, since they’ll be watching every move you make. If anything happens to you, I burn it.”
“Deal.”
The drive back to the hospital feels endless. My mind keeps replaying Maya’s voice, her confession, the way she looked at me with so much hatred. The fact that she’s still alive and out there proves that this isn’t over and we’re not safe just yet. But for now though, all that matters is my daughter.
When we finally pull up, I don’t wait for Rhys. I’m out of the car and through the doors before he can say another word.
The smell of antiseptic hits me immediately I cross through. My heart pounds as I scan the waiting area, my eyes locking onto Sel first.
She’s pacing with her phone in hand, her expression brittle with exhaustion. And beside her, sitting quietly on a chair too big for her, is Lucy.
My breath leaves me in a sob.
I cross the room in seconds, dropping to my knees in front of her, and wrap my arms around her small body before she can even react.
“Lucy,” I whisper, my voice breaking. “Oh my God. My baby.”
She melts into me immediately, her arms clinging tightly around my neck.
“Mommy, where were you?” she murmurs, her face pressed into my shoulder. “I was so scared.”
“I know, baby,” I say, burying my face in her hair and breathing her in. “I know. I’m here now. I’ve got you.”
Tears soak into her curls, my hands trembling as I hold her, as if letting go might make her disappear again. Sel crouches slowly beside us,.
“She’s okay,” she says gently. “A bit shaken, but stable.”
I nod, unable to speak for a moment. My chest feels too full, my heart stretched to its limits.
After a while, Lucy pulls back slightly, looking up at me. “Can we go home now?”
The word home slices through me. I don’t even know where home is anymore.
I force a smile. “Soon baby. We just need the good doctor to give you a quick check-up and then we can leave.”
She frowns. “Are there going to be needles?”
“Probably,” I say sincerely. “But then if you make it through without crying, there’s a giant bowl of ice-cream in the fridge with your name on it.”
She beams up at me.
Sel clears her throat. “Nora, there’s something you need to know.”
I look up at her. “What is it.”
“The doctors said they can’t proceed with the surgery.”
My stomach drops. “Why.”
She sighs. “They need formal or visual consent frim the donor. It's hospital extraction policy. David has to authorize it himself. And given the circumstances...” she trails off.
“He’s unconscious,” I say, already knowing where this is going.
Sel nods, but doesn’t reply.
The world tilts. I grip Lucy tighter, my fingers digging into my own arm as panic threatens to take over.
“How long,” I ask. “How long can she wait.”
“They’re monitoring her closely,” Sel says. “But time isn’t on our side.”
I stand slowly, lifting Lucy into my arms. “Take me to him.”
David’s room is quiet in a way that feels wrong. Machines hum softly, steady and indifferent. He lies there, pale, still, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. I approach the bed slowly.
Lucy tugs at my sleeve. “Is Mr. David sleeping, Mommy?”
“Yes,” I say, sitting beside him, settling her gently into Sel’s arms. “He’s resting.”
I take his hand, lacing my fingers through his. His skin is warm beneath my hand.
For days, I don’t leave that hospital.
I sleep in a chair. I eat vending machine food. I shower in a bathroom down the hall and change into clothes Sel brings me. I refuse to go home. There is nothing there for me.
I sit by Lucy during her tests and hold her hand when she’s scared. I sit by David when the nights get long and the silence gets loud.
I talk to him. At first, it’s small things. Updates. Mundane details. Then, one night, when Lucy is asleep and Sel has gone to get coffee, I finally let the words spill out of me.
“I’m terrified, David,” I whisper, my forehead resting against his hand. “I don’t know how to do this without you. I don’t know how to be strong enough for both of them.”
My voice trembles, but I don’t stop.
“Our daughter is fighting for her life in the next room,” I continue. “And I feel like I’m being torn in half trying to be in both places at once.”
I squeeze his hand. “I know I haven’t always been easy. I know I’ve been angry and distant and stubborn. But I love you. God, I love you so much.”
Tears blur my vision.
“I need you,” I confess softly. “I can’t do this alone. Please, wake up. I need you to tell me what to do. I need you to tell me you’re still here.”
I take a shaky breath. “If you pull through this, I promise I’ll be better. I’ll listen more. I’ll fight smarter. I won’t shut you out anymore.”
My grip tightens. “Just don’t leave me. Please not now. Not when we need you most. We have so much wasted time to catch up on.”
I press my lips to his knuckles, my tears falling freely now.
“I love you, David,” I whisper. “I need you.”
For a moment, nothing happens.
Then, faintly, unmistakably, his fingers curl around mine, and squeeze back.