Page 81 of Letting Go
I rush the room and kneel next to Vivian’s side as Marcie Claire yells we have no right to be in her home and are trespassing on private property.
“You fucking shot her! Why the hell did you shoot her?” I roar at Marcie Claire, while putting pressure on the bullet wound in Vivian’s bicep.
“This is all a misunderstanding and is a private matter. Y’all have no right to break into my home like this! I didn’t try to shoot her! I didn’t mean to! I would never hurt her! I love that girl like the daughter I never had! Clark startled me by rushing me, I never would hurt Vivian! Why did you do that, Clark? Look at what you did, Clark!” I hear the cuffs clink around her wrists, instructing Tara and Mason to remove her from the room.
Marcie Claire fights them and demands we get out of her house, but her husband interrupts her, “Marcie Claire, shut up. As your husband and an attorney, foroncein your damn life just shut the hell up!”
“I need paramedics in here! I have a victim with a gunshot wound to her upper right bicep,” I bark at my team. I lower my head so I can talk softer to Vivian. “Hey there, baby, you’re going to be okay, I’ll make sure of it. You’re okay, Viv, I’m here now. We’re going to get you taken care of in just a minute.” I use my free hand to brush a few loose pieces of hair off her forehead as she leans into my hand.
With her eyes filled with tears and a quivering lip, Vivian tells me, “Special … Special Agent Man, I’m really happy to see you right now. She … Marcie Claire. Walker, it was her. Clark was so mad, mad … at her! And the poems? She sent the poems!”
“Shh, it’s okay, Sugar, we’ve got you. We’ll get this all sorted out.” I’m holding pressure on the bullet wound, but I really hate how much blood she’s already lost.
“But she did it! Marcie Claire called Trent a roadblock she had to remove. I don’t know how, but some mob guy named Gio is Chase’s biological father. Marcie Claire asked him to have Trent killed as a favor! I don’t know what’s going on, or what I did to deserve this, but she admitted she killed Trent for me to be with Chase!” Vivian pauses as sob escapes from her. “It’s my fault Eloise lost her daddy.” Vivian is talking much faster than is typical for her and is clearly going into shock.
“Shh, baby, take a breath. You did so well, Vivian, you’re so brave. It’s okay, you are going to be okay, I promise.” I will do everything and anything in my power to ensure she is more than okay for the rest of her life. “And you figured out the missing piece. We couldn’t connect why Gio Bruno would be willing to get involved, but you, my clever girl, helped us put that piece together.Now deep breaths in for four, out for four. With me, in—one, two, three, four. Out—one, two, three, four. Good girl, Vivian. That’s right, I’m right here, focus on my voice, baby.” I try to help her focus on her breathing, and she gets a few deep breaths in before paramedics finally rush into the room.
I go to take a step back to give them space, but as I start to move away, Vivian reaches up over her head with her good arm and grabs my hand. “Please, Walker. Please don’t go.” Tears cascade from her wide eyes down her beautiful face.
I take her hand, interlocking our fingers. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. I’m right here. I’m right here with you, Vivian.”
“Will you stay with me?” she pleads with me, as if I could even consider leaving her side right now.
“You might regret asking me that, honey.” I try to lighten the mood a little. “I’ll stick to you like white on rice.”
“I’m okay with that, especially right now. I’m scared. I need you, Walker.” Vivian’s plea is barely a whisper as her voice breaks a little. I don’t think either of us are talking about just this moment. I squeeze her hand before answering her plea.
“Well then, it’s a good thing you have me, baby. I’m not letting you go.” I lean in and kiss her forehead.
The paramedics bandage the bullet wound as best as they can but personally, I think they are taking too long to get the stretcher, so I bend down and haul Vivian into my arms. She snuggles into my neck as I carry her bridal style out of the Riley house to the ambulance.
“I’m riding with Vivian to the hospital. Can you meet us there to help me with her statement?” I ask Mason as he walks with us toward the open doors of the ambulance.
“Yes sir, Agents White and Shannon are escorting Marcie Claire Riley to the Sheriff’s office for initial processing then we can transport her to our office in Nashville,” Mason explains.
“I want to be there when she is interrogated, but I’m needed elsewhere right now.” I tilt my head toward Vivian, who is occupied answering medical questions the paramedics have for her.
Mason nods in understanding. “Yes sir, we will keep you in the loop and one of us will stay with her until you join us back in Nashville.” I thank him as I join Vivian in the back of the ambulance. I realize I’m not going to be able to stay with her and do my job at the same time. We need to get Marcie Claire to admit to soliciting the sniper and I need to be in the room when we interrogate her.
Squeezing her hand to get her attention, Vivian turns her head toward me. She is so delicate and vulnerable laying on the stretcher. I am so fucking pissed that she got hurt. Her eyes are filled with tears I can tell she’s trying so hard to hold back. “Hey, it’s okay, you’re safe now, I’m right here,” I try to console her and wish I could take away her fear after everything that just happened. “I will be by your side as much as I can, but I also need to do the job I promised you I would do, so that means I need to go to Nashville when they interrogate Marcie Claire.”
“Could they do that here in Forrest Falls? Then you would at least be in town and not so far? I mean, if it could be … no, sorry, you know what, that’s a silly question. I know your job needs to come first. I’m sure one of my siblings or my daddy can come meet me at the hospital, it’ll be fine.” She bites down on her lower lip and tries to look brave, but I’m not buying it. I also really don’t like the idea of someone else being there for her when she wants me by her side.
“Don’t do that, baby. You don’t have to try to be brave around me, it’s okay to admit what you want or need, okay?” I softly stroke her forearm with my thumb as we ride to the hospital. “Let me check with my team and see what we can do, but regardless of where I need to go, I will have to step away for at least a little whileand I know you have a lot of family that will show up. Who do you want me to call for you first?”
“The entire Callahan Cavalry is going to show up. Oh no—Eloise! She can’t see me like this or find out I was shot after everything with her daddy! Her nightmares just started getting better,” she cries as Vivian’s eyes widen and her heart rate escalates on the heart rate monitors.
“You’re a good mama, Viv, and Eloise is going to be okay. How about this, why don’t you let me know who you want me to call to join us at the hospital, and who you think should take Eloise until we get you cleaned up, so she doesn’t see you until you’re ready for that. How’s that sound?” I ask as relief washes over her face.
“That’s a good idea, she’s currently with Savannah, but that’s also who I would call to meet me at the hospital,” she admits. “She will have her kids too as I’m sure Shane is still at work.”
“Could one of your brothers pick up Elosie and Savannah’s girls to go do something with them? That way Savannah will be free to come to the hospital without any of the kids knowing about it just yet,” I suggest as she nods.
“Yeah, Ryan or Finn, either of them should be able to help,” she says as her lower lip starts to tremble. “I can’t have Eloise see me like this, she just started sleeping through the night. Walker, I’ll never forgive myself if I cause her to have more nightmares.” Vivian looks up and blinks quickly as she’s trying to stop the tears that continuously slide down her face.
I gently use my thumb to wipe away her tears. “I have Liam and Savannah’s numbers, I’ll take care of it, okay?” She gives me a tight smile with a nod of her head and tries to take a deep breath. Without letting go of her hand I’ve been holding, I pull my cell out of my pocket to send a text to my team first.
Me
