Page 60 of Black Wedding

“Evan, get Vinnie over there and look after him! Make sure no harm comes to him. Bring him to the hospital, okay?” I shout, and my brother nods in confirmation before heading back towards the house to find the boy we left cowering in the blood-soaked room.

I strap myself into the ambulance and take hold of Bree’s hand. I spent the whole journey talking to her, telling her all about what we should have been doing right now. We should be married, but I tell her not to worry because as soon as she is just the slightest bit better, I will be marrying this girl. The idea that I could lose her is terrifying, and I don’t ever want to feel that again.

We arrive at the hospital just in time as Bree’s heart stops again. The female paramedic climbs onto the gurney, straddling my girl and begins to press down on her chest while people help to wheel them both through the hospital. I try to help, but I feel like I am falling over my own feet. They push through a door, and a little woman dressed in a nurse’s uniform stops me.

“I’m sorry, Sir. No one is allowed past this point. Let me show you into the waiting room, and when we know more, we will update you,” she says politely.

I want to argue. I want to tell her to go fuck the waiting room. I want to storm past her to be with Bree. But I don’t do any of that, instead, I follow patiently and allow her to lead me into a plain cream waiting room with the ugliest shade of green chairs I have ever seen. She tells me I can wait for her here, and I just break down into tears. The horror of seeing the person you love stop breathing, their heart stops beating, it’s terrifying. The nurse gives me a light hug. It’s the best she can manage, given our height difference. I am grateful to her for caring. She sits me down just in time for the others to arrive. They take up their seats around me. It’s not long before Kellan, Mia, and Hallie show up too.

That gorgeous baby girl always seems to know when I am at my lowest. Or she can sense the general sombre silence in the room because, except for the odd coo from my arms, she remains quiet and settled. I notice that Kellan and Mia are sitting together, talking to each other like civilised humans.

We all sit in comfortable silence until Paddy is the first to break it. “Got you, you fucker!” Paddy shouts. It had been silent for a while, and nobody was expecting someone to talk, and so when he did, everyone jumped. Even Hallie makes a gurgling noise, expressing her displeasure at us all for waking her when she had just fallen asleep.

We all look up to him to explain further. “My guys have caught Vernon and Jimmy. There was some fighting, but I had better men, and they could take them alive. They have them right there if you want me to put them on speaker,” he asks, and I nod my head. I have no idea what I’m going to say to them, but I know I need to.

I hand Hallie over to Kellan, who passes her to Mia, without even thinking about it. Paddy brings the phone over to me, and we wait for it to ring. Once they are on speakerphone, I can’t find the right words to use.

“I don’t even know what to say to you both. You, Vernon, I can understand. I’ve always known you are a power-hungry asshole. I just had no idea the lengths you were willing to go to so you can get what you want. But you...Jimmy. You betrayed Bree in a way that you can never undo. If she dies, I will hunt you both down and make you pay, painfully,” I spit, meaning each and every word.

“W-what do you...what do you mean if she dies?” asks both Vernon and Jimmy at the same time, though it’s Jimmy’s voice that quivers and shakes.

“That psychopath you left her with? Luther? Well, he beat the shit out of her. Carved her up like a turkey at Christmas. Then stabbed her in the stomach before I got a chance to put a bullet between his eyes. Her heart has stopped twice since we found her. They are pumping blood into her just as quickly as she is pumping it out. Her organs are at risk of shutting down. She is in the operating theatre at the moment.” I make sure to list everything they have done to her, every little hurt they have caused. I want them to feel shame for the pain they have caused someone who is supposed to mean the world to them.

Initially, we are met with just silence, then sobs. “We never intended for her to get hurt,” cries Jimmy.

“Well, she is fucking hurt. Do you know that Bree once told me that you were the only guy she ever trusted before she met me? She thought you would never hurt her. Now, look. Even if she does wake up, I have no idea what damage has been done, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. Luther was in between her spread open legs when I got there with his cock in his hand. The death he got was too good, in my opinion. Yours will not be as easy,” I state, and I hear gasps all around the room when I tell them about the horror I saw in the room.

The only person who looks truly as horrified as me is Vinnie. I give him a small smile. I don’t want anyone to know he is here. His life could be in danger, and so he is under our protection. Because of him, I may have got to Bree just in time.

“How fucking dare you threaten me? I am still the leader of the London base, and you are in London. So, I rule. Remember your place, or I will put you in it, boy!” shouts Vernon.

“Don’t you dare threaten my son, you psychopathic piece of shit! Just because you don’t give a shit about your daughter and her life doesn’t mean we don’t. You even think about talking shit to Liam again, and I will rain holy hell down on you until you beg me to stop!” Desmond yells, shocking us all.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Parenting advice from the guy who disowned his son, only to let him back in the Family now there’s a chance of power?” adds Vernon, much to Desmond’s amusement.

“Actually, since we are stating facts, I didn’t kick Liam out of the Family; he left. He chose to work for himself instead of for me. When he introduced that spitfire of a daughter to us, we all knew she would make a better fucking leader than you. I have never hidden that I think I could rule better than you do, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I can’t fucking wait to see what that girl can do. I think she will make a hell of a leader, which is why we came to a truce. Thanks to Bree, my sons now communicate with each other again. They are happier than I’ve seen them in a long time. Not to mention that I have never seen Liam as happy as he is with Bree. So, I may be a shit parent, but I know when to back down,” my father replies vehemently. For the first time, possibly ever, I am incredibly proud of my dad.

“Vernon, you are my responsibility, and I will issue the punishment when the time is right. However, I need to be here with Bree and find out what happens to her first, then I will decide. As for you, Jimmy, that will be down to Bree to decide what she wants to happen. But as far as your employment goes, you can very much consider yourself fired,” Paddy spits as he hangs up the phone, no longer needing to hear any more from them.

Time passes so slowly as we all just slowly move around each other in the small waiting room. Some pace while others sit in silence. Some offer to go and get coffee and food. But mostly, we just wait, our heads bobbing up and down with every passing person wearing scrubs, hoping that this person will be the one to come in and give us news.

We sit in that small room for eight whole hours with no news, and all of us slowly start to get antsy. Finally, Kellan takes Hallie home to sleep, and Mia goes with them. My father goes back to the hotel, he says it’s to update Finn, Mum, and the girls, but we both know that’s not the real reason. Shit is getting real, and he is scared. I know because I am too.

Evan and Paddy fall asleep in their chairs, but I can’t sleep. Not until I have her in my arms. Not long after they fall asleep, an older man with a bright white beard comes into the room wearing scrubs in an ugly shade of blue.

“Are you the family of Brianna O’Keenan?” he asks politely.

“Yes, I am her fiancé, that is my brother, and he is her grandad.” I point to the two sleeping figures in the corner.

“Yes, it was very smart of Bree to legally name you as next of kin when you got engaged. We have the paperwork on file,” he states, and I want to smile at Paddy and his ability to make anything materialise. I also want to thank him for trusting me enough to name me. I know Bree would have if given a choice, but he didn’t have to.

“That’s just Bree. Please, doctor, I have to know how she is,” I plead, and he pats my shoulder before leading us over to the two seats in the corner, opposite of Evan and Paddy.

“Bree sustained some pretty horrific injuries, and as you know, she has undergone an extremely complicated surgery. She had several parts of her bowel damaged from the knife wound, including her liver and spleen. We removed part of the liver, as well as her gallbladder and spleen. We struggled to locate all the places she was bleeding internally, but think we have got them all. We have sewn up most of her cuts and have glued others. She has multiple rib fractures, and one of those ribs had punctured her lung. She has a chest tube in place and a machine breathing for her at the moment. She lost her body’s blood volume and is currently having it replaced. What Bree’s body has been through is horrific, and she is still not out of the woods yet, but I am hopeful. She seems like a very strong young lady,” he states, and I can’t help but smile. He has only ever known the unconscious version of Bree, and he can still tell she is a fighter.

Looking up at him, I can see there is more he is deliberately not telling me, and that scares me. “What aren’t you saying?”

“Unfortunately, no matter how hard we tried, we were unable to save the baby,” he says, and I feel like the world drops out from under me, and I don’t know which way is which. Bree was pregnant? Did she know? Why didn’t she tell me? “She was only a few weeks along. She might not have even known, not that it makes it any easier, of course. I am very sorry.”

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