"What the hell?" Alex walked out and stopped short. "Stephen? What the hell are you doing, man?"
"I'm taking back my life." He pointed the gun at Jamie and waved it. "This bitch ruined everything. It's all her fault."
"What's her fault, Stephen?" Alex moved up beside Jamie and pushed her back a little.
"No. Stop moving her. I'm not leaving here until everything is made right. If you can't make things right, then I'll just take my payment with her life. Easy enough."
"And spend the rest of your life in jail?" Alex chuckled, surprising Jamie. "What kind of life is that, man?"
"Fuck you, Alex! You sent your lawyers to take what little I have, and when they weren't effective you reached down deep and took my family's business. Why? Isn’t it enough that you got the girl?" He took a few steps closer, and something changed in his expression that sent a tendril of fear through Jamie.
"You leave her alone!" Alex shifted slightly, but Jamie moved back up beside him.
"Stephen." Her voice was soft. "Please put the gun away. Why don’t you come to my office? We can talk all this through and figure something out. Please."
“Talk?” He looked at her like she was the crazy one.
“Sure. Just you, me, and Alex.”
“You want to have a civilized conversation?” He stared at her, the gun aimed at her as he struggled to control his anger.
“Let’s talk.”
"No! I'm not in the mood to talk.” He swung his arm and aimed the gun at Alex. “I gave her to you! And this is the thanks I get?” His face burned red at he glared at Alex. “I hate both of you. All of you." He turned swung the gun back toward Jamie and pulled the trigger as he screamed, “I hope you die, bitch!”
Suddenly it felt as if the world was in slow motion. Jamie saw Stephen’s loss of control of the situation, the realization that he hated her more than anything. It was almost as if she knew he was going to shoot her, and it came as no s
urprise when the loud bang of the gun went off.
Jamie cringed and prepared for the worst. She thought about how much she loved Alex. She hoped she’d told him that enough. She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye.
Mark rounded the corner in a full sprint and tackled Stephen to the floor. The gun skittered across the floor and under Kirsten’s desk.
He was a second too late.
Stephen had aimed to hit her, but miraculously missed. Jamie stared down at her body, expecting to see red leaking from somewhere and shock to knock her senseless. It didn’t happen.
Until suddenly Alex fell to the floor, curled up, with blood oozing from his chest.
Jamie stared down in horror, her body dropping beside him as a different kind of terror settled into her chest. "Nooo! No! No! Please no!! Call 9-1-1 now!" Full-blown panic set in as she frantically pressed her hands to his chest, tears burning her eyes. "Help. Help!"
She watched as blood seemed to pour through her fingers as she pressed against the hole. “Don’t you dare die on me, Alex Reid.”
Several employees raced up and moved to the floor, working to press their hands to Alex's wound as he glanced weakly up at Jamie.
"It's okay. I'll be okay. Just a nick." He let out a shaky breath as his face visibly paled, scaring Jamie to death.
Moments later, but what felt like forever, EMS arrived and pushed everyone back as Jamie tried to stay close to Alex. Security had dragged Stephen out of the room to wait for the police. Or maybe the police had come. Jamie didn’t know, as she’d been too focused on Alex.
"Please, Miss. Go down to the street level and you can ride in the ambulance with us. Just back up for now." The guy told her before moving back to help Alex.
Mark reached out and pulled her into a tight hug. "It's going to be okay. They'll patch up Alex and we can probably take him home tonight." He looked terrified.
He was lying to make her feel better, but she couldn't blame him for trying. He was shaken up too. Alex wasn't moving by the time they took him downstairs, or not from what she could tell. Terror raced through her and she let a few tears go to relieve some of the pressure building up inside of her.
She pressed her teeth into her bottom lip before walking with Mark down the stairs to the bottom level. There might not have been any physical damage done, but watching him go down moments before jacked her up emotionally in ways she wasn't prepared to deal with. She had no idea if he was alright or not. She’d never been more petrified than this moment.
Losing him wasn't something she would survive. The truth of that left her feeling heavy, exhausted, lost.