I stood just outside the door, clutching the door knob tightly as I placed my ear next to the crack of the door, listening to everything that was being said inside, the knife tightly clutched in my other hand. I couldn’t see what was going on inside, even though I desperately wanted to, but I knew that staying behind the door would be better, not only for me but for Theodore as well.
“Well, that didn’t take too long,” Theodore’s voice sounded smug and confident. I knew my husband had no clue that the demented insect standing in his office had a gun on him. That was why he sounded so smug.
“You’ve made a huge mistake, Theodore,” Ian’s words were dripping with venom, “A mistake that’s going to cost you everything that is important to you,” he threatened. Instinctively, my grip on the knife tightened. If Ian dared pull a gun on my husband I wouldn’t hesitate to stab him, prison be damned!
“The only mistake I made was being nice to you all through high school and college, and that’s a mistake I’m glad I won’t be making again,” Theodore retorted.
“You ruined my life, you a$$hole, you raped my wife and you say you were nice to me. Because of you, Cindy and I became the gossip of the whole college,” Ian said, fury palpable in his tone.
“It’s not rape if she asked for it. I’m sure you couldn’t mistake the moans and screams of pleasure coming from Cindy as I fucked her brains out,” Theodore taunted. I wanted to barge inside and slap some sense in Theodore. He was purposely baiting Ian-a killer on the loose.
“Shut up!” I jumped when Ian’s voice exploded, “Not only did you ruin my life, you had the fucking balls to dissolve my company! Wrong move, Benson, wrong move,” Ian seethed.
Trying my best to stay behind the door and listen quietly and not to watch what was going on inside but failing miserably, I pushed the door just a couple of inches so I could see what was going on.
Ian stood in front of Theodore’s desk, his face crimson with anger, his eyes blazing with unkempt fury; his lips were curled up in a snarl. While Theodore sat behind his desk with a smug smile on his face. His arms were folded across his chest, exuding an aura of confidence and power.
“Oh, so you finally got to the point, I’m glad, you were wasting my time, not to mention you were starting to bore me,” Theodore mocked making me want to bang my head against the wall.
He has a gun, Theo, don’t act so smug, please, I don’t want to be a widow at this age; I haven’t even started cursing about the fact that I’m pregnant with your babies yet. I wished I had telepathy so I could communicate my crucial thoughts to Theodore, but no, I just had to be born human!
“You need to shut the bloody hell up before I bust a hole in you,” Ian threatened.
“Even if you do bust a hole in me, I’m still going to have one less than you,” Theodore responded. I swear, if Theodore got shot because of his arrogance, I would refuse to sleep with him for the rest of our married lives.
My heart jumped to my throat and I bit my lip to stop the scream that was about to erupt out of me when Ian pulled out the gun from the inside of his suit jacket and pointed it straight at Theodore.
“You better give me my company back before I count to ten, otherwise you can say goodbye to your precious Hailey and your beloved twins. I’m going to have fun with this. First I’m going to push your precious wife down the stairs or I might kick her stomach repeatedly until both your babies die, I’m not sure yet, but then I’m going to fuck your whre with all my friends and then sell her off to the black market, so the choice is yours.”
Throughout all this, Ian sounded like a deranged psychopath. I begged Theodore mentally not to take the bait, that Ian was bluffing. I just hoped that Theodore would be smart enough to figure that out.
“Ian, you can’t even fuck your wife and you talk about fucking mine.” Theodore burst out laughing after saying this, making me wonder whether throughout Ian’s speech he only understood the part where Ian threatened to fuck me?
The cocking of the gun had my heart nearly bursting out of my ribcage. The scream that I was trying to prevent from escaping was threatening to break free. I closed my eyes amd prayed for Theodore’s safety, while bringing the knife up to my chest.
“Give me my company back, Theodore, or I’m having the video released,” Ian ordered Theodore, who appeared just as calm and collected as he did when I left his office.
“Your company is no more, and go ahead, release the video,” Theodore replied smoothly, his tone held no hint of fear.
“You dissolved my company so now you must give me yours, if you want to have some semblance of a normal life after today.” Ian was starting to piss me off.
“I’m not going to give you anything, so go ahead, do you worst,” Theodore challenged.
“I’m going to kill you.” His words were not a threat this time. I knew that if Theodore didn’t give up his empire then Ian was going to shoot him.
Feeling helpless I gritted my teeth as I thought of a way to save Theodore. I thought about calling security, but one look at the unconscious guard had me discarding that idea. No, I couldn’t jeapordize the lives of so many people. Theodore wouldn’t want that.
The only other option I could think of was calling the cops. Peering through the two inch crack to make sure Ian hadn’t let his sanity get the best of him and shoot Theodore, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the two men being locked in a staring contest.
Good, as long as they’re playing Who’s the Alpha, Theodore would be safe.
Not wanting Theodore to be out of my sight for more than thirty seconds. I rushed over to my work station and got my cell phone out of my bag. With trembling fingers I unlocked my phone and dialled 911. In a few seconds I got connected with the cops.
“911, what’s your emergency?” the lady on the other end asked, her voice professional.
“Hello, I’m calling from Benson Enterprises, there is a shooter here and he-he’s pointing a gun at my boss,” I tell the lady, my heart pounding.
“Don’t worry Ma’am, the police is on its way,” the lady replied, her voice firm.
“Thank you.” I hung up, then hurried back to my original position by the door.
My feelings conflicted when I saw Theodore and Ian standing facing each other. Theodore was a few inches taller than Ian, but Ian was bulkier. I wasn’t sure if lean men had the advantage when it came to fighting, or bulky men. However, I was glad that Ian hadn’t shot Theodore, but my heart sank when I saw the gun was still pointed at Theodore.
I knew any second now Ian would slip off the cliff of insanity and would shoot my husband, and that was something I couldn’t let happen. I could wait for the police but I knew time was something I didn’t have; Theodore didn’t have, and that was enough to decide the next course of my actions. Cursing my stupidity and recklessness I threw the door open with a bang and barged in, the knife hidden behind my back.
“Stop, don’t hurt him,” I said, panic evident in my tone.
“Hailey, you promised you wouldn’t interfere,” Theodore shouted, a hint of fear lacing his voice.
“Yes I did promise, but he has a gun pointed at you and I couldn’t sit back and let you get shot all because of a stupid promise,” I argued, defending my actions.
“Oh, how cute, little Hailey trying to play hero and save her husband,” Ian mocked making me narrow my eyes while Theodore glared.
“Leave her out of this, your fight is with me, leave my wife out of this,” Theodore muttered, anger darkening his eyes.
“No, actually I think I’ll use her as target practice and make you watch it,” Ian said smugly, making me want to slap him.
“You touch a hair on her body and I swear to God, Ian, I’ll end you,” Theodore warned.
“Watch me.”
It all happened too fast. Ian whirled out pointing the gun at me. My heart accelerated as I saw the gun pointed at me. Fear exploded in my belly and icy terror pulsed through my veins. Ian had a wicked gleam in his eyes while his lips curved in a vindictive smile. This man was out for revenge and nothing would satisfy him until he ended his enemy. I just wished that my death would be quick.
I closed my eyes and screamed when a bang resounded in the air, clutching my stomach to protect my babies as I fell on the floor. Pain shot through my shoulder as it made contact with the hard floor. I kept my eyes closed and waited for the pain to register, but it didn’t.
Slowly I opened my eyes to see Theodore on the ground as Ian stood over him. Ian’s back was to me as he stood towering over my husband with a gun pointed to his forehead. Fear paralyzed my body as I saw Theodore on the ground clutching his shoulder as blood oozed out of it. There was no fear in Theodore’s eyes as he laid there on the floor with his dark eyes locked with the demon’s.
“Time to say goodbye, Theodore,” Ian said, his voice dripping with vindictive glee.
“You’ll never find happiness, Ian,” Theodore replied firmly.
“My happiness is in your death, so your words hold no significance to me, because now I would be the happiest man alive.”
I didn’t know what came over me as I heard the exchange between Theodore and Ian, but it was like my soul had donned a metal armor, ready to go into battle. To fight for its happiness, its light, its love. My soul was ready to fight for Theodore. I was ready to fight for the love of my life.
Standing up, I carefully pulled the knife out of my back, where I had it embedded in my skirt-since I had no other place to hide it-I slowly walked forward, careful not to make a sound, my gait that of a predator about to strike. Theodore saw the knife in my hand then locked his gaze with mine just for a few seconds, enough to let me know that he was perfectly okay with what I was about to do, then switched his attention back to Ian, while I continued forward.
“No one can be happy with murdering someone,” Theodore said to Ian. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to keep Ian engaged in conversation; to have Ian only focus on him so I could stab him with ease.
“I can, especially when the person who ruined my life with his mere existence will finally leave this world, trust me Theodore, Cindy and I have made plans to celebrate tonight after I personally see your body off to the morgue,” Ian responded. I knew that Ian had finally lost the little grip he had on sanity, and now he was nothing but a loose canon. A loose canon that we needed to get rid of as quickly as possible.
“Any last words, Theoodre?” Ian asked Theodore.
“Yes, actually I do want to say something before I leave,” Theodore replied with a small smile.
I was now standing just mere inches away from Ian now. Narrowing my eyes, I raised my hand holding the knife, and without thinking twice, plunge the knife straight into Ian’s back.
The scream that erupted had my soul rejoicing as Ian fell, blood quickly soaking his shirt. My soul shed the steel armor it had donned earlier, as Ian’s body fell limp. The threat now no more.
Rushing over to Theodore, I crouched down and put his head on my thighs as tears fell from my eyes. I caressed his face and kissed his lips as he looked up at me and smiled.
“I’m so sorry, I-I’m so so-sorry you got shot because of me.” I choked on my own words as my body trembled with relief.
“Hey, no crying, I’m glad I got shot instead of you, because then I would’ve done more than just stab Ian for shooting you,” Theodore said, happiness lacing his words.
“No, you weren’t suppose to get shot, he was suppose to shoot me,” I argued, cursing at fate for my bleeding husband.
“Sweetheart, I wasn’t going to let him shoot you, I’d rather die than see you hurt,” Theodore responded evenly.
“Don’t say that,” I cried, the thought of Theodore not being with me was unfathomable.
“It’s true, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you or my children,” Theodore said softly, his eyes closing.
“No no, Theodore open your eyes, please stay with me, you can’t leave me.” I slapped Theodore’s cheek lightly as terror seeped into my veins.
“I’m tired, flower, I want to sleep,” Theodore murmured, not opening his eyes.
“No please, Theodore, please stay with me, the police is on its way, just open your eyes please,” I begged, tears running down my face.
“I love you, Hailey,” Theodore mumbled softly.
“No, don’t you dare say goodbye, wake up!” I cried but Theodore didn’t listen, his eyes remained closed.
Before I could let the dark cloud of grief and terror surround me, the door burst open and a team of officers flooded in. I breathed a small sigh of relief as the paramedics arrived and immediately loaded Theodore on a gurney. I refused to stand back while my husband was being tended to, so I raced after the paramedics, completely ignoring the officers who were shouting my name and jumped in the ambulance just as they loaded the gurney on it.
“Ma’am please, you have to leave, we need to tend to him,” the paramedic lady told me, her voice professional, the ugly, dark stain on Theodore’s shirt not fazing her in the least.
“No, I’m his wife, I won’t leave him,” I asserted.
“Ma’am please, you can follow us to the hospital but I’m afraid you’re gonna have to leave,” the lady persisted but what she didn’t know was that I wasn’t going to leave my husband in any case; they would have to kill me first.
“Listen you, I’m only going to say this once, this is my husband and I’m not leaving him alone while his life hangs by a thread, so quit wasting your time amd energy telling me to leave because I’m not going to do so and use that time and energy to fix my husband otherwise, believe me I will end you,” I seethed, losing all sense of rationality.
The woman just stared at me for a few seconds like I had just escaped from an asylum. I didn’t blame her though. I was sure I looked like an escaped lunatic, not to metion I was feeling like one too. Seeing the pale face of my husband as he laid silently on the gurney had my sanity evaporating.
Then with a sigh she nodded and told the male paramedic to close the doors of the ambulance. After a few seconds, the driver started the ambulance and drove us to the hospital.
Throughout the journey I kept repeating only one phrase as my eyes were glued to my husband’s sleeping form.
Oh God, please let Theodore live.