A light in the darkness

Chapter 41

Bella had sat in front of the double doors of the surgery room, staring ahead into space. It was 20 hours that Mason was under surgery and she had sat there for that long without eating or drinking anything. She was numb. Her brain had made her numb to don't feel the extreme waves of stress, dread, and nausea. Her soul was not able to bear the pain and it seemed it had left her body.

She had not shed a single tear. When she had heard the news on the phone, she had just stood on the spot silently for a few minutes. Even before Albert called her, she knew something had happened. A dreadful feeling on the pit of her stomach had grown throughout the night and she wasn't so surprised when Albert had called her and had told her about Mason.

Yet, the pain was unbearable. The fear of losing him was consuming her soul. She had always tried to prepare herself for such a day considering his job, but no preparation was enough to help her go through that dreadful time. The waiting was simply killing her slowly.

Albert and Eva had sat beside her, waiting anxiously. All brothers were there too. Even James and Jordan had come. Everyone was silent, enduring the torturing hours. No one had come out to give them any news and the ticking of the clock was mocking all of them as they waited for 20 hours.

Ben had woken up a few hours ago and when he had heard about Mason, they had to sedate him to keep him in bed.

Suddenly the doors opened and a doctor came out. Everyone stood up quickly.

"How is he?" asked Bella. Her face looked calm but her insides were churning.

"He is alive." answered the doctor and Bella closed her eyes briefly. At least he was alive. Everyone sighed around her. "But I'm not gonna lie. He is still in critical condition. We lost him three times during the surgery."

"How bad were his injuries?" asked Rich.

"He was shot once on top of his chest, near his shoulder and his arm was impaled badly by something like a hunting knife that had torn his flesh. He had lost too much blood from the two wounds." explained the doctor. "You can add three broken ribs and a sprained ankle to the list, but that is not what makes us worried."

"What is it?" gulped Bella. She tried to sound strong but her voice came out like a whisper.

"It seems his head was hit somewhere when he had fallen." continued the doctor while staring at Bella. "There was a blood clot at the back of his brain and we had to remove it as soon as possible. That is why the surgery took too long."

Everyone took a sharp intake of breath. Bella bit her bottom lip hard that her lip began to bleed.

"God, Damn it!" hissed Xander losing his cool. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists hard. "You are killing us. Was the fucking surgery successful or not?"

"We removed the clot," said the doctor and glanced at Bella sadly whose eyes were still closed. "But he is in a coma. The chances of him waking up is less than 20 percent."

Albert took a menacing step forward and grabbed the doctor by his collar and pulled him up a bit to be at eye level with him. The color drained from the doctor's face when he looked into Albert's eyes which looked feral.

"You listen here and listen good." snarled Albert. "I will give you everything you need, money, equipment, the best doctors from around the world, just make fucking sure he wakes up and heals. Am I clear?"

"Albert!" called Eva gently and put a hand on Albert's shoulder while Rich pried him off of the doctor. "They will do their best, honey. Don't worry."

The doctor gulped and nodded. "Sir, we will do our best." said the doctor.