Chapter 4 - A Bullet Was Meant for Me, But Lucy Threw Herself Between UsEverything happened in seconds.
Marcus dragged Lucy behind the stone fireplace.
I pulled my weapon.
Ethan shouted,
“Back door!”
We moved.
Another bullet struck the chandelier.
Glass exploded across the floor.
Lucy screamed.
Then she ran.
“Lucy!”
She wasn't running away.
She was running toward me.
I turned.
A gunman stood across the courtyard.
His weapon was aimed directly at my chest.
I raised mine.
Too late.
Lucy jumped.
The shot fired.
She collapsed.
For one second, the world stopped.
“LUCY!”
I caught her.
Blood spread across her jacket.
“No.”
I dropped to my knees.
“Stay with me.”
Her eyes fluttered.
“I told you…”
“What?”
“I wouldn't let them take you.”
I couldn't breathe.
Marcus shouted for the ambulance.
I carried her myself.
My hands were covered in blood.
The same color.
The same terrible feeling.
The same helplessness I had felt three years earlier.
But this time, I wasn't sixteen minutes too late.
I refused to be.
At the hospital, surgeons took her immediately.
Samuel arrived.
“You need treatment too.”
“I don't care.”
“You're sick.”
“She was shot because of me.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know enough.”
Hours passed.
Finally, the surgeon came out.
“She survived.”
I nearly collapsed.
“Is she awake?”
“Not yet.”
I sat beside her bed.
Her tiny hand lay beneath the blanket.
I held it.
“I promised you one week.”
My voice broke.
“I lied.”
Her eyes remained closed.
“I don't want one week.”
I lowered my head.
“I want you to stay.”
That night, I called Ethan.
“Tell me everything.”
He came to the hospital.
He looked exhausted.
He finally confessed.
Three years earlier, Claire had discovered that Ethan had been secretly working with a group of investors.
They wanted control of my businesses.
Ethan had agreed.
But Claire discovered the plan.
She threatened to expose him.
Ethan didn't order her death.
But he gave the group information.
Her schedule.
Her route.
The truck driver's name.
He claimed he didn't know what they planned.
But his betrayal had put her in danger.
I stared at him.
“You killed my family.”
“I never wanted them dead.”
“You gave them the information.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“I was weak.”
I stood.
“I trusted you.”
“I know.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
I looked at him.
“I was dying before Lucy.”
He stared.
“What?”
“Cancer.”
His face changed.
“How long?”
“Twenty-six days.”
He looked devastated.
Then Lucy's heart monitor beeped.
Her eyes opened.
“Mr. Vincent?”
I rushed to her.
“I'm here.”
She smiled weakly.
“Did I save you?”
I cried.
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“Good.”
And that was the moment I realized something.
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I didn't want to die.
Not anymore.
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