The Older Man Part II

Chapter 21

Aftermath

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VINCENT'S POINT OF VIEW

"So how bad is it?" I asked, holding my phone between my cheek and shoulder as I sorted through all the papers in front of me.

I was on the phone with Elijah. He called me when he got an update on how Adrian was doing in the hospital.

He told me that after I left, he called an ambulance that rushed him to the emergency room. The only reason he was informing me of how Adrian was doing was so that I could prepare myself for any legal troubles that varied on how critical his condition was.

I told Cheyenne what happened. She wasn't very happy about the trouble I might get into because of it, but she knew that my heart was in the right place. I hated how much this negatively affected her, but I still feel that it did some good for her.

"Well," Elijah started off with an exhale, "he's not doing real good. I went by yesterday and the nurse I spoke with said he was in pretty bad shape. He has two broken ribs. One rib started to puncture his lung, so they did some surgery. Apparently, he lost a lot of blood. His jaw's broken and he had a concussion by the time he got to the hospital. He's unresponsive right now. The nurse said he looks like he could slip into a coma, but they're not sure; it just looks that way based on what they've seen in the past with other ER patients. He was admitted to a room last night and he's breathing off of a machine right now," he informed me.

I mentally hissed at the severity of everything Elijah told me.

I knew I caused a decent amount of damage, but I didn't know I was capable of inflicting that level of physical impairments in one sitting. It shouldn't have been something I was proud of, but given the circumstances, I felt it was justified.

After all that Adrian did to Cheyenne, he's lucky he isn't dead.

"Shit," I said in shock. "Yeah, you fucked him up really bad," Elijah responded. His tone was short and pointed.

He had been pretty upset with me since that night and I genuinely couldn't figure out why.

Yeah, what I did was horrific, but what he did to my fiancé was far worse. Elijah knew how much I loved Cheyenne. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that something like that happened to her and I didn't do anything about it.

I know Elijah wanted us to go to the police about this, but I knew how that song and dance would go.

With Adrian's level of pull in the legal field, as well as his family's collectively impressive resume, no amount of fighting him legally would result in justice for Cheyenne.

The thought of him walking away with no consequences for violating her made me sick to my stomach, so I did what I felt was right, at whatever cost.

"So what's gonna happen? You know, legally? Have you heard anything?" I questioned, partially changing the subject.

He sighed out before answering. "As of right now, his lawyers have yet to respond to any calls or emails. I have no idea why, but they're not. Without their involvement, I don't think anything will happen right away, but I'd be lying if I said that you were out of the woods on this." Elijah answered.

I rubbed my temples. My head was hurting from looking at the papers I got from work and also from the stress of this conversation.

I took off my glasses and set them on the dining room table where I sat. With my palm, I rubbed my eyes that were growing tired.