“Waylen?” Leilani asks as she bends over and touches Waylen’s shoulder. She repeats it louder, shaking Waylen’s arm back and forth.
Thick blood is caked across Waylen’s face and head, and he seems completely unconscious. It’s impossible to tell what sort of injuries he has. Andrew isn’t even sure if Waylen is alive. Leilani kneels down and holds Waylen’s head between her hands.
“Call an ambulance!” she screams.
Andrew reaches for his cellphone, but Robert is faster—he’s already barking orders into his phone. Andrew looks at Leilani helplessly. Her hands fluttered nervously over Waylen’s body, trying to find his injury. Her face is pale, and she seems to be having trouble breathing. He’s never seen her this panicked before, not even when he took her to see Charles.
Andrew can’t help feeling jealous. He knew she cared for Charles, but he never expected her to be so upset about Waylen. She prefers every other man to me, he thinks bitterly. The smell of the smoke mixes with the smell of burnt skin and blood, and Andrew feels his stomach turn.
Medics burst into the room, carrying a stretcher. They lift Waylen onto it and rush away from the room. Leilani chases after them, and Andrew runs after her. The lights from the ambulance flash red and make the hotel lobby look bloody and grim. Leilani trips and Andrew catches the back of her bloody blazer.
She tries to break away and run after the ambulance, but she’s too slow. The doors of the ambulance swing shut and the vehicle speeds away toward the hospital with the siren blaring. She looks wildly around the lobby as if she doesn’t know where she is, and Andrew guides her to the curb and helps her get into his car.
He drives to the hospital in silence, wishing he could just take her away. It would be a while before anyone even noticed that she was missing, he thinks. By then, I could have taken her to Misty Mansion or a secret island. Still, she should go to the hospital. I don’t think she’s injured, but a doctor should look at her.
Andrew drives up to the Emergency Room entrance. Before he can even park the car, Leilani has jumped out and started running toward the doors. Cursing under his breath, Andrew slams the brakes and follows after her. Security guards stop them outside the doors to the emergency operating room. Robert and several Bamford family bodyguards are already waiting there.
“Mrs. Bamford, are you hurt?” Robert asks.
Leilani shakes her head, and Andrew feels relief flooded his body. She’s covered in blood, but it must be Waylen’s. Andrew slumps into one of the chairs in the waiting area, near enough that he can watch and listen to Leilani.
Leilani stares at the swinging doors leading to the emergency operation rooms. Somewhere behind those doors, Waylen is fighting for his life. She has no idea how badly he was injured, but she knows he used his body to protect her from the bomb blast.
“It must have been Jackson,” she says, her entire body shaking with rage.
“I’m going to kill him,” Robert says.
“No, wait until Waylen wakes up,” Leilani says. “I’m sure Jackson is expecting an attack. You need time to prepare, or you’ll be killed too.”
Somewhere outside the emergency room, an engine backfires, and Leilani jumps. The sound is too similar to the explosion. She closes her eyes, and she can still see the bright flash of white light and feel the heat from the blast. Holding her head in her hands, she sinks into a chair. She feels too exhausted to stand.
“I don’t understand what happened,” Leilani says. “The bodyguards checked everyone who even came close to the dining room. How did a bomb get in?”
Robert shakes his head and says, “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. And I’ll personally punish the guard who let the bomb in.”
Leilani stares blankly at the swinging doors. Every time a doctor steps out, her heart skips a beat, but the doctors never talk to her. She has no idea how many minutes or hours pass, but it feels like an eternity. Finally, she sees one of Andrew’s bodyguards run across the emergency room. She’s surprised to see that Andrew is still there.
“Mr. Clifford, I found out how the bomb got in,” the guard says. “Jackson Oliver put it into a waitress’s body. Capsules filled with powerful explosives were put into her b.r.e.a.s.ts and butt. To the guards, she probably just looked like she’d had a lot of plastic surgery.”
Leilani can’t believe her ears. The thought of blowing up a helpless waitress makes her sick to her stomach. Why would the woman even agree to it? She wonders. Did Jackson give her a choice? Did he trick her into it?
“I don’t think the bomb was meant to take Mr. Bamford’s life,” the guard continues. “If Jackson really wanted him dead, he would’ve used more powerful explosives or a more accurate method.”
So Jackson is just playing with us, Leilani thinks. He’s trying to scare and torture us, but he doesn’t dare to kill Waylen. At least not yet. If anything happened to Waylen, the Oliver family would be in huge danger from Francis Bamford. She looks over at Andrew and raises a questioning eyebrow.
“Don’t worry,” Andrew says slowly. “Waylen won’t die.”
Leilani frowns at Andrew’s cold tone. Andrew catches the look and gives her a smile. She wants to slap it off his face, but she’s not even sure she has the energy to stand.
“Waylen is more powerful than Jackson, but do you know why he’s less dangerous?” Andrew asks.
Andrew clenches her hands into fists, digging her nails into her palms as hard as she can. She knows why Waylen is less dangerous, but she doesn’t dare to say it out loud. The very thought fills her with guilt.
“It’s because Waylen has a giant weakness, and Jackson doesn’t,” Andrew says.
Leilani bites the inside of her cheek. I’m his weakness, she thinks. He got hurt again. This can’t go on—it just can’t.
“Does Waylen think that stealing the heart is the way to do the least harm?” Andrew asks. “Does he really think my family will just let him get away with killing me? He’s in a terrible position, Leilani. If he doesn’t help Charles, the Olivers will kill him, and if he does, my family will Kim instead.”
Leilani closes her eyes slowly. Andrew is right, she thinks. Waylen is in terrible danger no matter what. There’s really only one way to help him, but it’s such a horrible option I wouldn’t let myself properly consider it. But I need to stop being so selfish and do the right thing.
“I’ve given you time to think about my offer, but I think you’ve had enough time now,” Andrew says seriously. “Marry me. I’ll make sure that my family won’t blame Waylen for my death. After I die, you can go back to Waylen, and Charles will get to live. It’s the best possible option.”
“Why does it have to be me?” Leilani asks. “The way you feel about me is unnatural—choose any other woman.”
“No way,” Andrew says. “You’re the only one I want, the only one my heart wants. It has to be you. I need to have what you and Waylen have.”
“Well, you’ll never have that,” Leilani snaps. “Even if I went with you, I would never touch you.”
“When you were at the Misty Mansion, I had many chances to force you,” Andrew says softly. “Why do you think I didn’t take advantage of them?”
“Because I’m pregnant?” Leilani guesses.
“Because I love more than your body,” Andrew says. “Of course, I want you to make love with me, but mostly I just want you to love me. I didn’t have to take you home after you left the police station, but I did. If you’re with me, it has to be your own choice. I’m not going to force you.”
Leilani feels her head spinning. She wants to hate Andrew, but she can’t bring herself to feel hatred or even anger. Instead, she feels sad for him. Maybe it’s because he sounds so broken or because he’s willing to die to save Charles. She sighs heavily as she thinks about her options. If it wasn’t for the toxin in her body, it’d be easier to go with Andrew. But she knows she’ll probably die before she has a chance to go back to Waylen.
Suddenly the doors swing open, and a team of nurses slowly wheels a bed away from the operating room. Waylen is lying on the bed with his eyes closed. He’s pale as if he’s lost a lot of blood, but he seems to be alive.
Robert and three bodyguards rush to the bed and take it from the nurses.
A tall doctor pulls off his surgical mask and wipes the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. His blue scrubs are stained with blood, but he smiles kindly at Leilani.
“He’s out of danger for now,” the doctor says. “He suffered from a terrible wound on his back, and it took us a long time to remove all the fragments of glass and metal from his back, but he’ll be okay. He might be unconscious for a while, though.”
Robert and the guards begin pushing the bed towards the VIP ward. Leilani wants to follow them, but she has to deal with Andrew. She turns to look at Andrew and makes up her mind.
“I can only give you six months,” she says.
I’ll probably die in six months when I give birth, she thinks. I need Andrew to promise to give the heart back no matter what. If I promise to stay with him for a year and then die, he may decide to keep the heart.
Andrew smiles bitterly, but he says, “Okay, six months it is.”
“So you promise to give Charles the heart in six months?” she asks.
“No problem,” Andrew says casually.
“Promise me that there will be no more fighting, and I’ll make sure that Waylen won’t come after you,” Leilani says.
“Okay, I promise,” Andrew says.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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