Chapter 291 - 292. (Real Chapter 292)

Christain called Adrian once.

There was no answer.

He called again, and there was still nothing.

Christian stared at the phone, his jaw tightening.

He had no idea what had happened after he and Kylie jumped into the water. He knew his men had remained behind to deal with Noah’s uncle and the men on the ship. He knew they had been ordered to eliminate the threat.

The ambulance hit a small bump in the road.

Kylie’s body shifted slightly.

Christian’s heart stopped. "Careful!"

The paramedic steadied the stretcher.

"She’s secure, sir."

Christian looked at Kylie. "I’m sorry," he whispered.

He didn’t know what he was apologising for.

"I should have found you sooner."

The paramedic glanced at him softly. "Sir, talk to her if you want. She may still be able to hear you."

Christian looked up sharply. "She can hear me?"

"We can’t be certain. But talking to her won’t hurt."

Christian looked back at Kylie.

He moved closer.

"All right, Blue. You heard that? You don’t get to ignore me anymore."

His voice shook.

He brushed his thumb over her knuckles. "Now I think you just enjoy making my life difficult."

Her hand didn’t move.

Christian swallowed. "I don’t mind, you know." He stared at her. "I don’t mind any of it."

The words were too small for what he felt.

He bent over her hand and pressed his lips to her fingers. "Come back to me, Blue."

The ambulance sped toward the hospital.

.....

The emergency department doors opened before the ambulance had fully stopped.

The paramedics moved quickly, pushing Kylie inside while giving the waiting medical team a rapid account of her condition.

Christian followed.

He didn’t remember getting out of the ambulance. He didn’t remember the moment his shoes touched the hospital floor.

He only remembered seeing Kylie disappear through a set of doors, her stretcher surrounded by people in medical scrubs, and trying to follow her.

A nurse stepped into his path.

"Sir, you need to wait here."

"She’s been shot."

"We know. The trauma team is with her."

"Then let me through."

"Sir—"

"Her name is Kylie Benneth...." He paused, breathimg hard. "Kylie Benneth," he said again, more quietly. "Please."

The nurse’s expression softened. "Sir, the doctors need room to treat her. We’ll give you an update as soon as we can."

Christian looked past her toward the doors. He could see movement through the narrow glass panel.

People moving around a bed.

Someone cutting through fabric. Someone calling for equipment. Then a doctor appeared at the edge of the room and disappeared again.

Christian’s chest tightened. "Is she conscious?"

The nurse shook her head.

He nodded once, as though she had told him something he could accept.

"How bad is it?"

"They’re assessing her."

"She was shot in the side. She lost blood. The medic said—"

"Sir, I understand."

"No, you don’t." He swallowed. "You don’t understand. She’s—"

His voice failed.

The nurse waited.

Christian looked down at his hands.

There was blood on his shirt.

Kylie’s blood.

It had dried in places, darkening the fabric, but fresh smears remained across his fingers. He stared at them with an expression he wouldn’t have recognised on his own face.

He had seen blood before.

But this blood was different.

It had come from a woman who had been laughing with him not long ago. A woman who had trusted him enough to jump into the sea with him.

A woman who had told him she loved him while she was bleeding in his arms.

Christian rubbed his hands together. They trembled, and the blood didn’t come off.

He looked at the nurse. "Can I wash my hands?"

"Of course."

"Where?"

She pointed down the corridor.

He stared in that direction. Then he looked back at the doors. "What if they need me?"

"They’ll come and get you."

He nodded again. But he didn’t move.

........

Emilia arrived seventeen minutes later.

Christian knew the time because he had checked his phone so many times that the screen had dimmed twice.

He had been standing in the same place for most of those seventeen minutes.

He had tried to call Adrian four more times.

He had sent messages to his security team. He had demanded updates about the men who had boarded the ship with him.

He had asked the hospital receptionist whether the trauma team had any news.

He had received no answers that mattered.

Then the doors at the far end of the corridor opened, and Emilia came rushing through them.

Her hair was dishevelled. Her face was pale, and there were tear tracks across her cheeks. Selena Hayes was beside her, one hand wrapped around Emilia’s arm while a hospital staff member guided them toward the reception desk.

Emilia looked around wildly. "Christian!"

He turned.

She crossed the distance between them so quickly that he barely had time to move before she reached him.

"Where is she?"

Christian opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Emilia stared at him. "Christian."

"They took her in."

"How long ago?"

"Seventeen minutes."

Her face crumpled. "Seventeen minutes?"

"They’re working on her."

"Is she—"

Emilia couldn’t finish.

Christian shook his head. "I don’t know."

For a moment, neither of them moved. Then Emilia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.

He stood rigidly for a second.

He wasn’t used to being held when he was the one falling apart. He was used to being the person people reached for when things went wrong, the one expected to find a solution before anyone else had finished panicking.

But Emilia held him tightly, and something inside him gave way. His arms closed around her.

"She’s going to make it," Emilia whispered.

Christian shut his eyes.

He wanted to believe her.

He wanted to take the words and build a world around them.

"She’s going to make it," Emilia repeated, her voice trembling. "She’s Kylie. She’ll be angry if we start crying before she wakes up."

A broken sound escaped him.

Emilia pulled back just enough to look at him. There was blood on his shirt.

Her eyes dropped to it. "Oh, God."

"Not mine."

She looked up sharply. "Is it—"

"Kylie’s."

Emilia covered her mouth. For a moment, she looked as though she might be sick.

Christian caught her arm. "Emilia."

She shook her head.

"Emilia, look at me."

She tried, but her eyes kept returning to the blood. "How much?"

He didn’t answer.

"Christian, how much blood did she lose?"

"I don’t know."

"Was she conscious?"

"At first."

Her eyes filled again. "What do you mean, at first?"

He looked away.

"She spoke to me before we reached the dock."

Emilia clutched his arm. "What did she say?"

Christian’s jaw tightened.

He could still hear Kylie’s voice.

’I love you. And your annoying dimples.’

The memory was so clear that for a second he could almost feel her fingers against his cheek.

"She told me she loved me."

Emilia made a small, wounded sound.

Christian stared at the floor. "Then she closed her eyes."

Emilia pressed her hand over her mouth again. "She hasn’t opened them since?"

He shook his head.

Emilia’s knees seemed to weaken.

Christian caught her before she could stumble, guiding her toward one of the chairs against the wall.

"Sit down."

"I don’t want to sit down."

"Emilia."

"I can’t sit here while she’s—"

"You need to breathe."

"So do you!"

The words came out louder than she intended.

They both fell silent.

Emilia stared at him, breathing hard, tears gathering in her eyes.

Christian lowered himself into the chair beside her.

For the first time since they had reached the hospital, he allowed himself to sit. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

His hands hung between them.

Emilia looked at him. She reached for his hand. "She’s going to survive this."

Christian didn’t look at her. He finally turned his head.

Emilia’s eyes were wet, but she didn’t look away.

"I don’t know what the doctors are going to say. I don’t know how long the operation will take. I don’t know whether she’ll wake up tonight or tomorrow morning or whether she’ll make us wait until we’re all losing our minds."

Her voice shook. "But I know Kylie."

Christian looked down at their joined hands.

"She has been through things that would have made other people stop trying. And she keeps going. Not because she’s never afraid, and not because nothing hurts her. She keeps going because she refuses to let the worst things that have happened to her decide the rest of her life."

Emilia swallowed.

"She’s not going to let this be the end of her story."

Christian stared at her for a long time. Then he whispered, "It can’t be."

Emilia squeezed his hand. "No. It can’t."