324 This Waiting Feels Like Torture
Axel swallowed, eyes fixed on the doors. “And the rest?”
“Fractured rib, fractured wrist, and contusions along her left side. They’re aligning the bones now and will stabilize the fractures with tes and screws. It will take four to five hours in total. After that, she’ll be moved to recovery”
David leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
“She’ll need a few days to heal before she can move much. Two weeks of bed rest. No stress. No shock. Her body needs to recover.”
Axel clenched his jaw.
“And mentally?”
David sighed.
“That… will take longer if she knows she lost the child…”
Silence lingers.
For a moment, silence hangs in the air as David lets Axel take his time to absorb the devastating news he’s just received.
Axel feelspletely overwhelmed, his mind seemingly ceasing to function for the first time.
After his mind drifted for some time, he suddenly refocused his mind and finally found his voice. “I will stay here, waiting. You can return to your work.”
David slightly nods, “I already arranged a private suite for her. No press, no visitors unless you approve. Security is doubled. No one touches her without my permission.” Axel finally looked at him. “Thank you.”
“Don’t say that, man,” David smiled softly, “She’s my sister–inw… I will do anything to help her.”
Axel leaned back, covering his face with both hands. His voice muffled. “Dave… I’m going to find them. The ones who did this.”
David didn’t pretend to dissuade him. He knew better. Evelyn’s ident was anything but simple. “I know, man. You should!”
Axel lowered his hands, his eyes still angry but calming a bit.
324 This Waiting Fools Like Tortur
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“I’m going to take them down,” he said, every syble sounding chilly. “I will make them regret breathing.”
David was silent for a moment before he stood from his seat and said, “But for now, you need to focus on her. When she wakes up… she will need you more than ever.”
Axel nodded, jaw trembling.
His heart aches to imagine how devastated Evelyn would be when she learns they lost
their child.
He didn’t say anything more… he followed David into his private suite to wait.
Settling into the empty private suite felt like torture. This waiting felt like torture.
Axel sat alone, elbows on his knees, staring at the pristine floor like it might offer
answers.
The world outside the window continued as if nothing had happened. Cars drove by. Nurses passed in hurried rhythms. Life carried on.
But for him, thest hour felt like a decade.
His chest tightened.
Every inhale felt nonexistent, like air refused to reach his lungs.
He checked the clock several times. And he realized it’s only been three minutes. It might as well have been three years.
He wanted to storm into the operating room. He wanted to demand to watch the procedure, to be there, to hold Evelyn’s hand, to do something other than sit here and
wait.
He was about to text David and beg him to let him stay in the observation hall when his phone vibrated in his pocket.
The sudden noise made him flinch.
He snatched it up, expecting Collins, Ethan, or anyone working to hunt down the people responsible.
But his blood chilled when he read the screen.
Finley Morgan.
“Why now?” Axel muttered, staring at the name like it was a bomb. “Why the hell
now?”
324 This Waiting Fools Like Torture
He didn’t want to answer. He didn’t want to speak. He didn’t want to exin.
He didn’t want Finley to know.
He didn’t want to say the words out loud and make them real again.
But his mind forced his thumb to slide across the screen.
“Axel?” Finley’s deep voice came through… steady, calm, and unaware. “Did Evelyn arrive home?”
Axel inhaled slowly. His hand tightened around the phone.
“She said she’d call me when she got there,” Finley continued. “It’s been two hours, and I tried to call her, but her cell phone is inactive.”
Axel tightened his grip on his phone. Before he could say anything, Finley spoke again, “I’m worried. Did something happen? Is she with you?”
For a moment, Axel almost lied.
He almost said, “Yes, she’s here,” or “she’s just resting.” But the concern in Finley’s voice sounds genuine, unfiltered, and instantly crushed the lie in his throat.
Finley Morgan was Evelyn’s uncle.
Axel closed his eyes.
“There was an ident,” he finally said, voice low and heavy. “A car ident. Right after she left your house.”
Silence. It feels as if the connection itself has already ended.
Finley’s voice returned a few secondster, cracked with panic. “What? What do you mean? How? Where is she? How bad is it?”
“She’s in surgery,” Axel said. The words tasted like metal in his mouth. “At Hope Medical Center.”
Finley started talking all at once. Fear, confusion, guilt. He wanted details, wanted to know how, wanted to me someone, wanted to fix something… anything.
Axel rubbed his forehead, his eyes burning. “Listen to me,” he cut in, his voice firm. “Don’t tell anyone. Not your grandparents or parents. Because no one knows yet…” Even his own son doesn’t yet know about this ident. He can’t bear to tell him.
324 This Waiting Feels Like Torture
Axel imagined Oliver’s little face, how he would ask, “Where Mommy?” He always asks about her first thing when they are away from home. A knife twisted in Axel’s chest.
Finley inhaled shakily. “I’ll be there soon.”
“Drive carefully,” Axel muttered, then ended the call.
Silence dropped around him again, suffocating.
He leaned back against the sofa, letting his head fall. The surgical lights above the operating room hallway flickered in his memory. Evelyn’s pale face. The blood. The life they had lost.
He ced his phone beside him and closed his eyes.
His mind went to Oliver, and it started to torture him…
How do you tell a child his mother isn’ting home?
How do you promise everything will be fine when you don’t even believe it yourself? How do you look into a pair of eyes that look innocent and not break all over again?
His breath trembled.
He dragged his hands down his face and stayed like that, motionless, trapped in the roar of his own thoughts.
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<strong>Olivia Harris</strong> is an emerging author celebrated for her captivating romantic and steamy novels. With a talent for crafting deep emotional connections and fiery chemistry between her characters, Olivia’s stories offer readers an escape into worlds filled with passion, intrigue, and heart-stopping drama.