Protect Me: Oakville Series:Book Three (32 page)

A nurse walks over with the most beautiful baby girl I’ve ever laid my eyes on. The floodgates open and I have no control, nor do I care at this point. She’s so tiny and pink. The nurse leans down and rests the baby on Holly’s chest. Her eyes pop open and she begins to sob. Gently, with her hand, she strokes Hope’s cheek.

“Beautiful,” Holly whispers. Then, all hell breaks loose. Machines begin beeping loudly as doctors whisper and scramble around frantically. When I look back at Hope, I notice she’s turning a light shade of blue. When the nurse notices, she swiftly wisps Hope away from us.

Just then, I hear the doctor say, “We’re losing her. There’s too much bleeding.”

I’m torn between following my daughter and watching over my wife. Holly squeezes my hand. Her tear-filled eyes and a look of pure fear on her face scares the shit out of me. “Go. Please, go with Hope. She’s so little and probably scared. She needs her daddy,” Holly pleads. I glance up at Becky, hoping she’ll tell me what to do.

“Go. They won’t let you stay in here anyway. I’ll be here with her the whole time. I promise,” Becky says as she moves over to take my seat. I stand and kiss Holly lightly on the lips.

“I love you, doll face. I’ll stay with her and make sure she’s okay. I need you to promise me you’ll hang on. You can’t leave us. Promise me,” I beg, cradling her face in my hands.

“I promise I’ll do my best. Now, go,” she says before passing out completely. Pulling myself away from her, I follow behind the nurse racing out the doors with Hope in her arms.

I watch through a glass window as the nurses and doctors in the NICU hook Hope up to the machine to help her breath. They also insert an IV into her tiny little arm. Watching this threatens to break me. My poor little angel is so fragile and only a few minutes old. She shouldn’t have to go through this. I feel so fucking helpless. I can’t do anything but sit here and watch.

“She’s a fighter like her mom,” Angel says from behind me.

“Yes, she is. They say she’ll be fine in a day or two. Has there been any news yet on Holly? I’m going crazy here.”

“Nothing yet, man. I’m sorry,” Angel says sadly. “She’ll be okay. I know it. She loves you and that sweet little girl too much to go anywhere.” God, I pray he’s right. The thought of losing Holly causes an unbearable pain in my chest. I’m so worried about her, but I promised to stay with Hope.

“Paul.” I turn around to see Dr. Monty standing behind me. He looks worn out. My legs threaten to give out on me and I wobble when I go to take a step forward. Angel catches me and keeps a tight grip on my arm to keep me upright. “She’s okay. They are moving her to a room now,” he says with only a half-smile. Something else is wrong, I can see it in his eyes. “She lost a lot of blood and we were able to give her a transfusion with what we had on hand. Holly’s blood type is AB negative, which is very rare. We only had a small amount. She’ll need more. Her friend Tanya is a match and is up donating as we speak,” he explains. He takes a deep breath and I can see this is where he’s going to tell me whatever bad news he has. “In order to stop the bleeding, we had to perform a total hysterectomy. I’m sorry, but she won’t be able to have any more children.”

I can’t seem to catch my breath. This is going to destroy Holly. I find a chair and sit in it before I fall down. I close my eyes and try to get my breathing under control. “Can I see her?” I ask.

“Yes. It may take a little longer for her to wake up, but you can wait in her room so you’re there when she does. Follow me,” Dr. Monty says. I’m not sure I should leave Hope, but I need to see Holly.

“I’ll stay. I won’t leave her,” Angel says, moving back to the window. Relief washes over me. I’ll have to remember to thank him later, too. Right now, I need to get to Holly. I follow Dr. Monty to the elevator and up to the fourth floor. The elevator doors open to absolute chaos. An alarm is sounding as doctors, nurses, and security guards scramble in all directions. The feeling that something is terribly wrong returns in my gut. I step out of the elevator and brace myself along the wall. I see Beasley walking toward me. He’s dressed in his uniform, meaning whatever is going on is bad enough that they called in the sheriff.

“Paul, its Holly. The nurses who were bringing her to her room were found knocked out in the elevator. There’s footage of her being wheeled out of the hospital on a gurney. She was put into a medical transport van. We’re trying to find it, but as of now, it’s seemed to disappear,” he says regretfully. Just like that, my entire world goes black. I can no longer hold it all together. My legs give out and I drop to the floor. A howling scream escapes me. I begin sobbing uncontrollably. I can’t stop it and I don’t care who’s watching. I’m at my breaking point. I’ve failed to protect her yet again and that’s not something I can handle. Beasley kneels beside me and wraps me up into his arms.

“I know what you’re feeling, son. Let it out and then pull yourself together so we can find her,” Beasley firmly states.

I don’t know how long I’m crying on the floor, but just as quickly as it came on, it stops. I need to help find her. I not only owe it to Holly, but also Hope. She needs her mommy. There’s only one person who would do this. I know I should have killed him when I had the chance. Ray Marconi is going to pay for this, that’s a promise.

M
Y EYES
flutter open and I try to take in my surroundings. The room is dimly lit and I hear beeping from a machine next to me. As I try to sit up, a stabbing pain radiates in my abdomen and I immediately lay back down. Looking around, I can see I’m not in a hospital. An eerie feeling comes over me. This can’t be right. Why am I here and not in a normal hospital? Nothing in here is familiar to me. The last thing I can remember is telling Paul to go with Hope and watch over her. Oh my God! Hope. Where’s my baby girl? Did something happen to her? Where’s Paul? He wouldn’t just leave me.

I attempt to sit up again, but the pain is more than I can bear, causing me to scream out. I’m too weak, too sore, to move. After taking a few deep breaths to ease the pain and calm my nerves, I try to remember how I got here. The last place I remember being was in the operating room. How did I get here? Tears begin to fall from my eyes. Something is wrong. I just don’t know what.

When I hear voices outside the door, I freeze. They seem to be arguing. The female voice sounds familiar, but I just can’t place it. When the arguing grows louder, a chill runs down my spine the second I recognize the man’s voice. This can’t be happening. My heart begins beating so fast, it causes the machine to beep frantically. The door flies open and Ray runs in. The sight of him makes me want to vomit.

“Holly, baby, are you okay?” he inquires. If I didn’t know better, he might actually have me believing he’s concerned. I’m just a possession to him, nothing more. “Shut that fucking beeping off!” he screams at the woman dressed in scrubs, reading what looks like a hospital chart. I’ve seen her before. She was one of the nurses in the operating room. She tried to soothe me. I can’t remember her name. I’m so lightheaded, I can’t think straight.

She turns off the machine, ending the annoying beeping. “She needs a blood transfusion. Her blood type is very rare and I was only able to grab a little bit. She needs to be in a hospital. This place is not set up to take care of her needs,” she snaps at Ray. I like the fact that she’s standing up to him. It’s obvious she doesn’t seem to like him, I can tell that much by the disdain on her face every time she looks at him. I don’t miss the fat lip and black eye she’s sporting either. I have a feeling she’s not here under her own free will. I’d know Ray’s handy work anywhere.

Ray smacks her hard across the face, sending her falling to the floor. “Just remember you are here to take care of her. If you can’t do that, you’re no longer needed and I’ll have to get rid of you,” he snarls as he stands over her shivering body. She lets out a small whimper. My heart breaks for this woman. I’ve been in her shoes. Naive and scared. Not believing anything like this can actually happen to you. Wondering what he’ll do next. I know exactly how she feels. I need to get him to focus on me.

“Ray, leave her alone. She can’t do anything if she’s scared to death,” I reason. His expression softens as he turns and looks at me and it makes my stomach turn. How did I not see through him from day one? I can’t believe I ever loved this man enough to marry him. He’s a monster.

“I have some supplies to get, but someone is watching the house. If you try to leave, I’ll know. I promise you won’t get very far before I put a bullet in your head,” he says, his voice filled with so much venom, you don’t doubt he’s capable of carrying out his threat. I feel like vomiting when he bends down and kisses my forehead. His lips on my skin feel like acid. He glances down at the frightened nurse. “Don’t try anything stupid,” he barks out before walking through the door.

“I’m K-Kelly. He forced me to help him take you from the hospital. I’m so sorry,” she sobs. That revelation isn’t a surprise to me. I’ve needed to know something since I woke up, but was too afraid to bring it up around an already agitated Ray.

“My baby. Do you know if she’s okay?” I ask Kelly, who’s now by my side, holding my hand. I’m so afraid of what her answer may be. I don’t even realize I’m crying until she reaches over and gently wipes away a tear sliding down my cheek. Her face breaks out into a huge smile.

“She’s perfect and beautiful. She’ll be on a ventilator for a day or so, but she’ll be fine,” Kelly assures me. I close my eyes and thank God for keeping her safe. At least now I don’t have to worry about her. Paul will do anything to protect that little girl. Then, there’s always the gang who will love and protect her, as if she were their own. I know she’ll be well taken care of if something happens to me. I’m not foolish enough to think I’m making it out of here alive. I refuse to let Ray cause me to live in fear another day. Now that I know Hope is okay, I’m no longer concerned about myself.

“How bad off am I?” I ask while watching her beautiful smile turn into a sad frown. “Please, be straight with me.” She takes a deep breath and squeezes my hand.

“You’ve been out for three days. I was afraid you weren’t going to wake up. There were complications during the C-section. You were bleeding out. In order to stop it, the doctors had to perform a complete hysterectomy. I’m so sorry, Holly.” She watches me carefully, waiting to see if she’s giving me more information than I can handle. Devastated is the only word I can use to describe what I’m feeling. Paul and I talked about having at least three children. We both wanted a big family, something neither of us had growing up. I can’t help but wonder if all the efforts they made to save me on that table weren’t all a total waste of time.

I give Kelly a nod, reassuring her it’s okay to continue. “You lost a lot of blood and needed a transfusion, but you have a very rare blood type and there wasn’t much on hand at the hospital. By some miracle, your friend Tanya is a match and she donated as much as she could, but it just wasn’t enough. You’ve developed a small fever, which usually is a sign of infection, so we’ll have to keep an eye on that. I promise, I’ll do everything I can for you.”