Chapter 9 - The Brink of Death
I screamed for a medic as Luca's blood rapidly soaked through my hands.
The marble floor beneath us turned into a terrifying crimson pool.
Julian rushed over and applied extreme pressure to the gunshot wound.
"The ambulance is three minutes away," Julian yelled over the chaos.
I grabbed Luca's cold face, forcing him to look at me.
"You do not get to die on me now, Luca Moretti!" I cried desperately.
"You owe these children a father, and you owe me an apology."
Luca managed a faint, rattling chuckle that quickly turned into a cough of blood.
"I love you, Nia," he rasped, his amber eyes losing their sharp focus.
"I never stopped loving you, even for a single second."
The paramedics burst through the front doors, pushing me gently aside.
They loaded him onto a stretcher and rushed him toward the waiting ambulance.
I left the twins with Julian and climbed into the back of the emergency vehicle.
The paramedic began frantic chest compressions as the sirens wailed loudly.
"His blood pressure is dropping dangerously low," the paramedic shouted.
I held Luca's limp hand, praying to a God I had not spoken to in years.
I remembered the beautiful days before the money and the power had ruined us.
I realized that despite all the pain and betrayal, my heart still belonged entirely to him.
The monitor beside his head suddenly let out a high-pitched, continuous beep.
His heart had completely stopped beating.
The paramedic grabbed the defibrillator paddles and charged the machine.
"Clear!" he shouted, sending a massive shock into Luca's chest.
Luca's body jolted violently, but the monitor remained flat.
"Charge it again to two hundred!" the medic yelled in panic.
I closed my eyes and sobbed, believing I had just lost the love of my life forever.
The second shock vibrated through the small ambulance cabin.
The flatline sound stretched on for agonizing seconds.
Then, the monitor beeped once.
May you like
Then twice.
A slow, steady rhythm finally returned to the glowing screen.
