Everyone was charmed by Leo's bright smile but behind it all, he could barely keep it together inside. From taking care of his sick mother to suffering mental and physical abuse from his father to keeping up his perfect grades in school.
King was th...
My knee bobbed as I sat in the waiting room, hands still red. I wasn't sure if they were stained from Leo's blood or from how hard I scrubbed them in the bathroom after we got here. Cops were posted by the operation doors. It didn't take them long to start asking us questions after Kiki and I got here. Uncle Ben or Dom took my gun at some point beforehand and took off soon after the cops started searching the area.
We told them some random story. Leo and I were walking to meet my uncle when they pulled up and tried to mug us. Leo and I tried to get away, but Leo was hit, and Dom's car was shot up because they were trying to help us get away. They seemed to believe it, but I didn't care if they did. The only thing I cared about was whether Leo would make it or not. They hadn't given us an update.
Thoughts of Kiki yelling at me to let Leo go before I got him killed kept replaying in my mind over and over again like I was a prisoner in hell. I should have listened to her. What if my selfishness got him killed in the end? How could I live in a world without him in it?
"King," Kiki called to me as she kneeled in my line of blank staring at the wall. "Drink this for me." She grabbed my hand to place a warm cup in it. Looking at the light brown liquid flashed me back to this morning when Leo passed me a freshly made cup of coffee with a smile that lit his face so beautifully. I would give anything to see that smile again.
Tears clouded my vision, thinking about how our morning had gone from our typical cozy start to this nightmare I couldn't wake up from. Kiki wrapped her arms around me tightly—something we both needed right now.
The sun was set when someone finally walked out of the doors in scrubs with a grim look before turning to us. My stomach dropped as Kiki pulled me to stand, and the room was spinning.
"Are you the family of Leo Turner?" He asked, taking off the bandana covering his brown hair.
"Yes. What's going on? We've been here for hours without any updates," I said, trying not to let my anger out on him.
"It was a complex operation, but he is stable and recovering."
My knees nearly gave out when I heard those words. Kiki gasped, clinching to me so we both wouldn't go down at the relief of hearing he was alive after so long of not knowing.
"The bullet in his shoulder tore a significant nerve. I tried to repair what I could, but we won't know how much mobility he will have with that arm until he wakes up. He may need more surgeries in the future to fix it, if possible, but that's not what I'm worried about right now. The two in his stomach are our main concern. We had to remove a kidney that took most of the damage from bullet number two, and the third bullet is too close to his spine right now to remove without the risk of paralyzing him. I'm afraid my skills aren't enough. We have someone coming from another hospital who would be more qualified, and we had to give him a lot of blood during all of this. His body needs to rest after all the trauma it's been through, so he is in an induced coma for now. We'll need to keep him in that state until we can remove the last bullet and his levels are more stable."
"When can we see him?" Kiki asked because I was still trying to process all the information he had just dumped on us to form words.
"They're still setting up his room and ensuring he is stable for the night. In the meantime, we will set you up with the ICU room number and bands to get into that part of the hospital. A nurse will be here shortly to review everything with you." He shook our hands and said he would return to see Leo in the morning once the other doctor arrived to see when they could do the second surgery to remove the bullet close to Leo's spine safely.
We collapsed against the chairs as soon as the doctor walked away. Wiping away the tears, I grabbed Kiki's wrist as she sobbed into her hands uncontrollably and whispered to her so the cops didn't hear me. "I don't know if I killed that son of a bitch, but they can never know Leo is alive. Mr. Scott is the one behind all the attacks. He wants me to join him, burning down everything I know and love until I crawl to him with nothing else to lose. Remember when he was at the ring months ago? He will be after Leo if he finds out about him." Kiki's eyes grew in horror. "Rex wanted Leo dead in revenge for his brother's death, but everything else was Mr. Scott's doing. This is all my fault for declining his offer to join him. Everything is my fault!"
It felt like the world was caving around me again as I let it all sink in for the first time. I was so focused on Leo dying that I couldn't think of anything else.
"Then you run," Kiki said, looking me dead in the eyes with tears still streaming down her cheeks. "You get Leo as soon as he can leave here, and you both go somewhere far away until we take care of Mr. Scott. No one else will be able to take care of Leo but you. You know as well as I do that he won't leave this place without you, either."
It was something I was planning to do after everything was over, but to hear her say it without hesitation made it feel like I was being stabbed in the heart for the second time today.
"You know I can't," I started to say, but Kiki got up from the chair and wiped her face.
"For Leo, you will. If he stays here, they'll find him and finish the job. Leo is going to have a long recovery ahead of him. He will need you fully there for him, and you won't be able to do that here. I love you, King, and I love Leo, too, but you can't be here when this turns into a full-out blood bath." Her hands trembled as she pulled out her phone. "Stay here, and don't leave this hospital. I'll talk to my dad and let him know about Leo and what you said."
I pulled her into a hug as I saw a nurse approaching us. "No. I need you to keep an eye on Leo for me." I pulled away as her eyebrows pressed together. "I'll be back soon."
"Where are you going? You can't leave. King!" Kiki yelled after me.
I didn't stop as I walked out of the hospital and flagged down a taxi. I wouldn't spend the rest of my life on the run and wouldn't do that to Leo either. She was right. He would need help recovering, and moving from city to city to hide from this monster wouldn't help anyone either. More would die if I left. He would just kill them to try to get me here again anyway. Who would be next? Kiki? Uncle Ben? My dad? Olivia? It wasn't going to end if I left.
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