Page 114 of Unburdening His Heart

Maybe I can mark her off the list as one of Malcom’s possible henchmen. Or maybe she’s a damn good henchman. I scrub my hands over my face before raking my fingers through my hair. What the fuck is really going on?

I walk slowly towards the waiting area, looking back a few times before the imaging room door closes and I can’t see Andrew or his nurse anymore.

The news plays on the TV in the waiting area, but no one else is here. Thankfully, the volume is low enough I can’t actually hear it. The waiting area isn’t in a room with a door. It’s open to the hallway, tucked in a corner.

I can’t make myself sit. I pace the room back and forth, watching everything. Every time the elevator doors slide open, I poke my head into the hallway to see who’s there. It’s always the nurses, techs, and janitorial workers. No one I recognize, but also no one I can trust.

Just relax, Charlie. He’s okay.

I hear the click of a door closing, and I poke my head out to see Andrew’s nurse walk away from the imaging room door. I stand and watch for a few moments. Nothing else happens, so I go back to pacing. I can’t settle my mind or my heart. I’m praying the CT shows good results, that he should wake up anytime now, but I fear it won’t.

Moments later, I’m jarred out of my thoughts as I hear another door. I poke my head out just in time to see a man go into the imaging room. That’s not his nurse! My feet move toward the room before my brain processes another thought.

There’s no badge reader outside the door, so I push the handle down and shove the door open. The room is dimly lit, taking my eyes too long to adjust from the bright florescent hallway lights. I approach him slowly. He’s at the head of Andrew’s bed with his back to me. The man is wearing scrubs, but something is off, and I confirm that the moment I look down and see he has matte black dress shoes on. He mutters something, but I can’t make it out.

The click of the door behind me gets his attention. He turns, and I realize two things in rapid succession. Who he is and that he’s holding a pillow over Andrew’s face. His defenseless body lying there, still. Too fucking still.

“Malcom!” I roar as I charge him.

I shove him away from Andrew with everything I have. Then I scramble to push the pillow from Andrew’s face, but before I can see if he’s breathing, Malcom backhands me from the side.

Oh, fuck!

I stumble sideways from the blow, and my vision spins. The entire room pitches as I try to regain both my composure and my balance from nearly falling. I scramble to steady myself for the next attack. I’m Andrew’s only defense right now, and I’m already long forgotten as Malcom’s sights set back on his comatose son.

“No!” I scream as I charge him again. “Get the fuck away from him!”

I swing my fists at him as soon as I’m within arm’s reach, calling back on those self-defense classes we took with Nathan. I land a few blows to his head and chest, but he fights back. I dodge the first few of his swings, but then he lands a direct hit to my face, a loud crunch filling the room as my nose gives way to his fist.

The blow sends my head whipping back, and my vision blurs once again. A gush of blood rushes from my nose, running down my chin and onto my shirt. I couldn’t care less right then. It doesn’t deter me from fighting. I won’t let him touch Andrew.

I bend forward, watching Malcom’s every move as I briefly hold my nose. I suck in deep breaths through my mouth because breathing through my nose feels like being punched all over again. Adrenaline races through me, and my mind struggles to sort through the extremely limited possibilities I have to get out of this. I focus on his shoes in front of me as I struggle to right myself. He stands still. He must think he’s stopped me, that I’ve given up, but this motherfucker couldn’t be more wrong.

I ball my fist as tight as I can and lunge forward, swinging with all my strength as I nail him in the balls. He stumbles back and loses his balance before landing on his ass beside Andrew’s bed.

Without hesitation, I grab a cord that lays across Andrew’s bed, praying it’s not one he needs. I slide behind the flailing coward still on the floor and wrap it around Malcom’s neck and pull as hard as I fucking can.

I wrap it around his neck again and again before pulling again. Blood from my surely broken nose drips onto his face as he looks up at me. He pulls at my fingertips while his legs thrash and kick, but I tighten the cord, restricting his airway.

By some miracle, I’m able to keep control of him out of sheer determination to keep him from hurting Andrew again. To keep him from hurting all his children or hiring someone to do it for him. This one man’s life isn’t worth six others, and that’s exactly what’s at stake.

Andrew and me. Andrea and Jack. Addy and Nathan.

I have to save them.

This is for all of us.

As his lips turn blue, I stare into his cold, deadish eyes. My teeth grit together when I speak to him. “You’ll never fucking hurt them again, you worthless piece of shit. I’ll make sure none of them ever suffer because of you again!” I yell it so loudly my voice bounces off the walls of the room.

The door bursts open, and SJ and Jack rush in. Their eyes dart between Malcom and me, then to Andrew. SJ is at my side in a flash, taking the cord from my hands. Malcom’s body sags against my legs. Even his weight against me turns my stomach, so I shove him off me.

His body falls to the side onto the floor with a sickening thud. He lies there, still, but the shallow rise and fall of his chest tells me he’s unfortunately still breathing. I’m unsure if I feel relief or disappointment for that fact right now, but any regrets I may or may not have at choking Malcom fall from my mind as my attention turns towards Andrew.

Jack is beside him. “He’s breathing,” he says, and it’s like my entire body stops in its tracks. My panic rushes out of me, and my adrenaline crashes, leaving me feeling like Jell-O.

I struggle to rise from the floor on seemingly boneless legs, but I manage to rush to Andrew’s side. I take his hand in mine. It’s warm.

I let out a shaky breath as I lean over to press my forehead to his briefly before placing a gentle kiss on his. I move down to lay my head on his chest, feeling the even rise and fall of his breaths. Oh, thank God.

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