Behind the Mask

Chapter 77

Sean's POV

The trial had droned on for two days after our arrival with expert witnesses arguing about the drugs in her mother's body until finally the jury went into deliberations. The most damning evidence came from Chloe herself. Apparently, she'd been offered a plea bargain in exchange for testifying against Dalton. She talked of how he wanted his wife gone now that they were expecting a child together. The color had vanished from Marissa's face when she heard that. We had all still assumed Jackson was the father of Chloe's child. Marissa had run out of the room with me hot on her heels. I didn't care, I followed her into the restroom and held her hair as she threw up the little bit of lunch she'd eaten.

"I'm so sorry, Marissa," I said, handing her a damp towel.

She looked at me with haunted eyes, "She's carrying my little brother. What's going to happen to him? What about the other boys?" I shook my head, unable to give her any answers. She ran her hand over her own stomach. "Will this madness ever be over? I don't know how much more I can take, Sean."

I pulled her against my chest, "I know sweetheart. None of this is fair and I wish there was something I could do to ease your pain." She sighed and laid her head on my shoulder. We heard a knock on the door and Axel's muffled voice on the other side.

"Jury's coming back," he said. I pulled her up with me and taking her hand in mine, we followed Axel back to the courtroom.

****

"Guilty on all counts," the jury foreman read.

"You have no right!" Dalton raged at the jury and judge, "I didn't do a damn thing! It was all her," he pointed at Chloe and then turned his anger towards Marissa. "If you hadn't run off with that no-account peasant none of this would have happened. I should have made sure you both died in that wreck!"

Marissa gasped, "What did you do?"

"I told you I'd never let you go, girlie," her father said with a vicious sneer and lunged for her. Gunshots rang out and I watched in horror as she crumbled to the floor.

I could hear officers yelling, people screaming and footsteps running from the room, but all I focused on was her. I quickly searched her body for any wounds and finding none, I checked her pulse, pulling her head into my lap. "Marissa, baby, wake up," I begged. Owen and Axel knelt on the floor next to us while Nate ran to find help.

"Sean!" I heard Luke scream and turned to see Victor cradling a bloody Gabe in his arms.

"Owen, take her," I yelled and scrambled toward them. His shoulder was pouring blood as I ripped my shirt and applied pressure. "We need a paramedic now!" I yelled to the room, praying someone would come.

****

When the ambulances finally arrived, I'd gone with Gabe, my hands still coated in his blood, while I assumed one of the others went with Marissa. When I saw them in the waiting area, I asked, "What room is she in?"

Owen had a panicked look, "We thought you knew."

I scoffed, "How would I? Weren't you in the ambulance with her?"

He shook his head. "They wouldn't let us ride. They said we weren't related and it was against policy," Axel spoke for him. It took only seconds for the panic to cross all our faces.

I raced to the nurse's station. "What room is Marissa Ryland in?"

The nurse looked at the screen, "I'm sorry sir we don't have a patient by that name."

I clenched my fists as Owen came next to me, "Can you look at this picture? Maybe she's under a different name, Marissa Porter perhaps? She would have arrived by ambulance close to the same time as Gabriel Coleman. They were both involved in the shooting at the courthouse"

The nurse looked at the picture of Marissa on Owen's phone and shook her head, "No sir, I'm sorry. We only dispatched one ambulance, and," she tapped on her keyboard, "no, there were no others dispatched. The officers only reported one injury. Are you sure she left by ambulance?"

I stepped back in a daze. She was gone...oh my gods, they took her.

I started to shake then began running down the hall as they called a code blue with Gabe's operating room number.

Author's Notes:  Cliffhanger...the darkness is coming my lovelies.  Grab a cuppa and take a moment to process...lots of triggers upcoming so read with caution.