Katalina
Getting outside, I found the lecture room area eerily silent. Apart from Huracio’s men who seemed to have taken over the area, there was nobody.
Mum dragged me over to my car. Stone was standing by it.
“Open the door.” She snapped at him.”
With a nod from Huracio who was close behind us, Stone opened the back door and she literally threw me in the back seat, locked the door, then got behind the wheels.
“Don’t be afraid, Kitty. Apply pressure to your wound. I will be right behind you.” Huracio yelled as Mum closed the door.
“Follow me and you will never see her again.” Mum yelled at him.
Once that door was closed, all I could see was his mouth moving. I couldn’t hear anything he was saying again. Mum started the car and headed for the school gate.
Taking Huracio’s advice, I looked around the car, but there was nothing I could use to staunch the blood.
“Mum, Mum, take me to the hospital, please.”
“…”
I got no response. The bullet had caught me on the side of my right thigh and within minutes in the car carpeting was pooling with blood.
I removed the flimsy blouse that I was wearing and tried to use it to stop the blood, but it was soon soaked through.
“Mum, why are you doing this to me? I am bleeding to death.” I cried as I started feeling weak, and a little cold. I tried to look up and saw that we were no longer in the school. We were in traffic and Mum was crying.
“Mum, please, I don’t want to die. Please, the blood is not stopping.” I kept wailing, but she ignored me.
“Mu…”
“Shut the fuck up, you stupid slut.” She finally got tired of my wailing and screamed at me while viciously hitting the steering wheel. I have never seen her get so infuriated before. “A turned my back for just a few weeks and you stole my man? Katalina, how could you?” She yelled in anger.
The rage in her voice shook every part of my soul. I have always wondered about what reaction she would have once she knew of my relationship with Huracio, but I never thought it would be this bad. Emilia warned me about this. What should I do? Is she going to let me die out of spit?
“Mum, I am sorry. I am sorry!!” I wailed uncontrollably.
Guilt, confusion, fear, all sorts of inexplicable emotions swirled around my head. “I had no choice. He made me fall for him, Mum. I had no choice, I am sorry. I don’t want to die.”
“I had everything planned, but you ruined it all. You ruined it all, Katalina!” She banged on her steering wheel repeatedly.
“Please, I am sorry.”
She turned off the main road, and instantly sped up. The car snaked from one lonely street to the other, while I continuously applied pressure to the wound.
“Take this!” She suddenly turned around and threw a bank card at me. “Things are about to get really bad, and you are right in the middle of it. If you know what’s good for you, get out. Run away. Huracio will never love you. Your father killed his parents and only brother. He is holding you hostage and lying to you. He doesn’t love you. He is just using you. Even if he is not, you can’t be with him. You can’t. He killed David. He fucking killed David.”
She started hitting the steering wheel again.
“Who Is David?” I asked cautiously as a deeply dreadful feeling surged from my guts. It started feeling like someone had their hands wrapped around my neck and they were quizzing. “You are lying. Please, tell me you are lying.” Forgetting the pain in my leg, I leaned through the space between the front seats and yelled at her. “It was an accident. How could it be him?”
“It wasn’t him. It was Salvatore. They mistook David for your father. It was not an accident. It was murder.”
“Oh My God. Oh My God. Oh My God!”
I was so stunned that I suddenly felt empty. I reclined into the back seat and just kept muttering ”oh my god’ under my breath.
“I went back to your father so he could help me take revenge on Salvatore. If I knew things would get this complicated, I wouldn’t have done it. Darn it!” She hit the wheel again.
“Mum, my biological father. Does he know me?” I gasped while trembling all over.
“No. He thinks you are David’s daughter and we have to keep it that way. If he finds out that you’re his daughter, he would kill me. He would come for you. No matter what you do, Katalina, you can’t let Massimo find you. He is not a good person. You can’t let him find you. Do you understand?” She suddenly faced me with an intense gaze. Her eyes were red and cold. I knew she meant every word.
“Massimo. That’s his name?”
“Katalina, I am serious.”
“Yes, Mum.” I whimpered. “I am feeling cold, Mum. I really need to go to the hospital.”
“We are almost there. Just hold on a bit more.” She replied. This time, she wasn’t so stern. “Sit back and keep pressing the wound.”
We drove in silence for a while before she stopped in front of a private clinic. She then turned to me. “Get down.”
I snapped out of my daze, blinking. At this point, I was covered in sweat and my temperature was high. I had lost too much blood, and my head was pounding.
“Mum,…”
She got down from the car, opened the back seat door, and dragged me out.
“Help, help!” She screamed, catching the attention of people milling around the hospital.
Right after that, she got back into the car and drove off.
“Mum…” I reached out, but she was gone.
“What is going on? What’s wrong?” A security man ran over and asked.
“Oh my God, she is bleeding!” a woman who was close behind him exclaimed.
“Help me. I got shot. Help me.” I gasped as it was becoming harder to breathe.
The security man instantly bent down and scooped me into his arms. He ran into the hospital where someone was already rushing out with a stretcher. They got me on it and I was soon in the emergency ward.
I have no idea how long I was out, but by the time I woke up, I found Emilia sleeping on a couch. I tried to stand up, but my right leg felt heavy and numb.
“Katalina, you are awake! Thank God!” She woke up and hurried over. “Kata, you really scared me. How are you? How do you feel? Let me get the doctor…”
I grabbed her hand and shook my head.
“I just want to drink water.” I said in a hoarse voice. My throat was dry and scratchy.
“Okay.” She grabbed a small bottle of water from the mini fridge in the room and handed it over to me. After taking some sips, I felt better.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You don’t remember?” She asked, looking very worried.
“Of course, I remember. Mum shot me and dropped me at the hospital gate.”
“Kata, I am so sorry.” She held my hand, trying to console me.
At that moment, my heart was as calm as a still lake. Though I was feeling a profound sadness, it didn’t make me feel flustered like I should normally feel. Instead, I just felt spent and empty.
“How did you find me?”
“Huracio did. He was following Helena all the time. He asked me to stay with you while he went after Helana. Let me tell him you…” she reached for her phone, but I grabbed her hand and shook my head.
“Don’t.” My voice trembled and sobs bubbled in my throat. It took all my strength to do it, but I swallowed it. This wasn’t the time to cry.
“Okay.” I nodded and returned back to the bed.
“We should call the doctor. He…”
Before she finished, I pressed the red button beside my pillow. A nurse stepped inside and said she would go get the doctor.