Jill’s hand clenched in mine before it went lax. Looking back at her, I met her eyes as they widened before looking down at her chest. The front of her crisp white shirt blossomed with dark red. She swayed a bit, releasing a strangled breath before she lurched forward.
I caught her on the way down, both of us landing on the hardwood floor with a thud. I tried to push my shaking hands down onto her chest to stop the bleeding. “Oh, God!” I shuddered. There was so much blood.
In the back of my mind, I could hear somebody screaming, I didn’t realize it was me until Tom came to stand in front of me. “Jill! It’s okay, everything’s going to be all right. Stay with me. You’re okay, you’re okay!”
My hands wouldn’t stop trembling as I looked for something to stop the bleeding. I used my fingers to hold the wound, but the blood just kept pouring out.
She choked as she looked back up at me with terrified eyes. “Run,” was all she managed as her eyes fluttered shut.
I tried to shake her, but it did me no good. “Jill!” I screamed, my tears blurring my vision.
Tom grabbed a fist full of my hair and hauled me up to my feet. I cried out as pain flared across my scalp. He dragged me away from the door. Away from my friend who was surely dying.
I felt an unholy amount of anger surge as I tried to fight back. I was not going to go down without a fight this time. I had been a bystander in my own life for too long and I was finally ready to fight for myself.
I kicked out and struck him right in the knee. He stumbled a bit but kept his grip. “This will be much easier on both of us if you just hold the fuck still!” he yelled at me as he brought the gun down, slamming the barrel across my face.
Pain exploded across my cheek that had my vision dimming at the edges. I could already feel my eye starting to swell shut. I tried to remain standing, but I was finding the action hard.
“You shot Jill, you son of a bitch! How could you?” I screamed. “You aren’t going to win. They’ll hunt you down!” I let all the venom I felt running through my body out with my words.
I reached up and tried to claw his eyes out. A small victory when he let me go to hold his face. I tried running back to my desk to call 911, but he recovered too quickly and tackled me. The force of the fall caused my head to bounce off the floor.
Everything faded out for a moment. When I came to, the pounding in my head was nearly enough to make me pass out. I could taste blood in my mouth. I tried to roll over so I could crawl to my desk when Tom rolled me back over, coming down on top of me. I tried to fight him off but failed miserably. He easily picked up my torso and shook me violently, slamming my head into the ground once more.
Sharp pain bloomed across my skull again. Blackness threatened as I fought to stay conscious. He held my hands above my head with one of his as he brought the gun to under my chin, forcing me to look up at his bloody face. I may have felt a sense of accomplishment for causing his gaping wound if it hadn’t been for my impending death.
“You stupid fucking bitch!” he spat at me. “If you would have not fought me this could have all been over by now! I was just going to have you transfer me the money. It wasn’t supposed to be like this! I just wanted to scare you. But now you took away my choice. That bitch is dead! And now I have to kill you so you don’t run to the cops. I’m not going to go down for this. I’m gonna kill you and then run.”
I tried to buck him off as he moved the gun to my stomach. I guessed a quick painless death was too much to ask for.
For the third time that day, the gun went off, burying a bullet deep in my gut. I screamed in agony as pain ripped through my body. He let go of my hands as he sat up on top of me.
I grabbed the barrel of the gun still shoved to my belly and looked up at my attacker. The father of my child. The person I had shared a life with. I looked up at the man I once thought I loved with wide eyes. There was nothing of that man left in the eyes that stared back down at me.
My vision blurred again as I heard a loud yell of rage and Tom’s weight was lifted off me. I turned my head to see Reid tackle him to the ground next to me.
The gun was flung across the room. I tried to crawl toward it but didn’t make it far before my arms gave out on me. I was helpless as I lay and watched as one of my loves fought my would-be murderer.
I knew I was losing too much blood as my limbs started to go cold. My vision kept fading in and out as I watched Reid climb on top of Tom, pelting his face with savage blows. Tom’s face was a bloody mess by the time Reid wrapped his hand around his throat, trying to squeeze the life out of him.
I could hear sirens now. I felt a little relief at the thought of someone helping Jill. I had the sinking feeling that I wasn’t going to get to tell my boys how I felt about them. I loved them so much, and they would never even know. More tears brushed my skin as they escaped.
My vision blurred. It was like I was losing time with each blink, and it sounded like people were yelling at me through a tunnel.
Blink. Reid was about to kill Tom.
Blink. An officer was hauling Reid off of Tom.
Blink. Reid was above me begging me to open my eyes.
Blink. He was pushing on my stomach to stop the bleeding, yelling at me to stay awake.
Blink. Reid was being pulled away from me, screaming with tears in his eyes.
Blink. A strange man was pushing on my stomach saying something about my heart rate.
Blink. Tom was in handcuffs, staring at me with hatred in his eyes.