CHAPTER 40: Waiting

POV: Avalon Pierce

The hospital waiting room smelled like antiseptic and fear. Avalon sat on the floor with blood on his hands. Selene’s blood.

Maya sat beside him, wrapped in a shock blanket, crying silently.

Diana paced. Margaret made phone calls. Catherine—somehow Catherine had shown up—sat in the corner looking destroyed.

They’d been waiting three hours.

Three hours since Selene collapsed in the warehouse, since the paramedics rushed her into the ambulance, three hours since a doctor said “gunshot wound to the abdomen, significant blood loss, we’re taking her to surgery now.” A complete three hours of nothingness and silence.

Maya squeezed Avalon’s hand.

“She’s strong,” Maya whispered. “She survived losing Elena, she survived you. She’ll survive this.”

Avalon wanted to believe that but he couldn’t forget the amount of blood he saw. The way Selene’s eyes had closed and her hand had gone limp in his.

The way she’d looked—small, fragile and breakable.

“Mr Pierce?”

Everyone stood as the surgeon entered.

He was in his fifties, grey-haired, tired-looking.

Avalon couldn’t read his expression.

“Is she—” He couldn’t finish the question.

“She’s alive,” the surgeon said.

The relief was so intense that Avalon’s knees buckled instantly.

“The bullet entered her lower left abdomen, missed major organs but caused significant internal bleeding. We repaired the damage, removed the bullet, and transfused three units of blood, thank God she’s stable now.”

“Can we see her?”

“Not yet. She’s in recovery still sedated. We’ll move her to the ICU in about an hour, then the immediate family can visit. One at a time.”

“I am her husband.”

“Then you’ll go first. But Mr Pierce—” The surgeon’s expression turned serious. “She’s stable but critical. The next twenty-four hours will tell us if there are complications. Infection, organ damage we missed, and blood clots. She’s not out of the woods yet.”

“Okay, but will she make it?”

“I can’t promise anything, although she’s young, strong, and fought like hell in surgery which counts for something.”

After the surgeon left, Maya collapsed into Avalon’s arms.

“She’s alive. Oh God, she’s alive.”

Avalon held her while she sobbed.

Over Maya’s shoulder, he saw Catherine watching them. Her face was wet with tears. He should hate her, perhaps blame her for all of this. If Catherine hadn’t threatened Selene ten years ago, none of this would have happened but right now, he was too exhausted to hate anyone.

An hour later, a nurse came.

“Selene Pierce’s husband? You can see her now. Ten minutes.”

Avalon followed her down sterile corridors.

The ICU was quiet. Machines are beeping while nurses are moving silently.

“She’s in room four. She’s still sedated so she won’t respond don’t be alarmed by all the equipment.”

Avalon pushed open the door and his heart broke into fragments.

Selene lay in the hospital bed, so pale she looked dead. Tubes everywhere, IV lines, heart monitor, oxygen mask and bandages across her abdomen showed where the bullet had entered.

He pulled a chair close and took her hand into his.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “It’s me. I don’t know if you can hear me but—” His voice cracked. “You can’t do this. You can’t leave me, not now, not after everything we just survived.”

The heart monitor beeped steadily.

“Maya’s safe, you saved her again. Richard is in custody and Diana is pressing every charge possible—attempted murder, kidnapping, conspiracy. He’s going away forever.”

Selene’s chest rose and fell with the ventilator.

“You have to wake up. You have to come back to me. I can’t—” He stopped. Swallowed hard. “I can’t do this without you, I spent ten years trying and it nearly destroyed me, I am not going back to that.”

Nothing, no response or reactions. Just machines.

“I love you. God, I love you so much. Please fight to survive. Please—”

The nurse knocked on the door….

“Time’s up, Mr Pierce.”

“Just one more minute.”

“I’m sorry. ICU rules.”

Avalon leaned down and kissed Selene’s forehead. “Fight,” he whispered. “Please come back to me.”

He left before he started crying.

Maya went in next.

Then Diana.

Then, surprisingly, Catherine.

Avalon watched through the window as his mother sat beside Selene’s bed. He saw her lips moving and wondered what she was saying.

When Catherine came out, her eyes were red.

“I told her I was sorry,” Catherine said. “For everything. For the pain I caused. For—” She stopped. “I told her to fight because she has so much to live for and she can’t let my mistakes kill her.”

“Your mistakes are not the ones killing her right now. Richard did this, her selfish idiotic a dad”

“Richard pulled the trigger, yes….But I set everything in motion when I threatened a pregnant girl and drove her away.” Catherine looked at him. “Avalon, I know you hate me—”

“I don’t hate you.”

“You should.”

“I’m too tired to hate anyone right now, I only want my wife to survive.”

Catherine nodded. “She will. She’s stronger than any of us.”

Detective Shyn showed up around midnight.

“How is she?” she asked.

“Alive. Critical but stable.”

“I’m sorry this happened. We should have moved faster maybe we could have protected her better.”

“You couldn’t have known Richard was the real threat.”

“We could have. Looking back, all the pieces were there, he was too convenient, perfectly positioned, I still don’t know how we missed it.”

“So did we.”

Shyn sat beside him. “For what it’s worth, we have him cold, everything he said in that warehouse was recorded. His confession about manipulating Marcus and Vincent, buying board members and his plan to kill you both, you don't have to worry, he is going away for life.”

“Good.”

“There’s something else tho. Richard has been talking, he is trying to make a deal. He claims there’s one more person involved, someone who helped him plan everything and that person is in your inner circle.”

Avalon’s blood ran cold. “Who?”

“He won’t say until he gets immunity which he’s not getting. Anyways, Mr Pierce—be careful if Richard is telling the truth, someone close to you has been working against you this whole time.”

After Shyn left, Avalon sat in the waiting room turning over possibilities.

Someone in their inner circle, who could this be?

Diana had been with them from the start but she also had access to everything. Their plans, evidence and strategies.

Margaret had been Nene’s best friend but she had also been strangely absent at key moments.

Catherine had apologised even tho she also caused this whole mess to begin with.

Robert Chen from the board had been supportive but he was also perfectly positioned to feed information to Richard.

Who could it be? Or was Richard lying? Creating paranoia as one last act of revenge?

Avalon has no idea, all he knew was that Selene was fighting for her life two rooms away and nothing else mattered.

Morning came grey, cold and gloomy.

The surgeon returned at 6 AM.

“She made it through the night which is a good sign. However, we are reducing sedation and if all goes well, she’ll be up in a few hours.”

“And if it doesn’t go well?”

“Then we reassess but —she’s fighting. Her vitals are strong, and her blood pressure is stable, there are no signs of infection yet, we are cautiously optimistic.”

Avalon didn’t know how to be cautiously anything. He was either drowning in fear or gasping with hope, he had no middle ground.

At 9 AM, Maya fell asleep on his shoulder.

At 10 AM, Diana brought coffee that neither of them drank.

At 11 AM, Catherine left to shower and change with the promise of coming back.

At noon, the nurse came.

“She’s waking up. You can now see her.”

Avalon nearly ran.

Inside the ICU room, Selene’s eyes were open, barely, glassy with pain and medication but open.

“Hey,” he said softly.

Her eyes found him, and she focused on him as she tried to speak but the oxygen mask made it difficult.

The nurse helped adjust it. “Just a few words, don’t strain.”

“Maya?” Selene’s voice was barely a whisper.

“She’s safe, you saved her.”

Tears leaked from Selene’s eyes. “Good.”

“You scared me baby, don’t ever do that again.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. You’re alive, that’s all that matters.”

She tried to reach for him but winced from a throbbing pain.

“Don’t move,” Avalon said. He took her hand instead. “Just rest, you need to heal.”

“Richard?”

“In police custody, he confessed to everything and he is going to prison forever.”

“Good.” Her eyes were already closing again. “Tired.”

“I know, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Her eyes closed.

The nurse came and checked her vitals. “She’s doing well. This is normal—she’ll drift in and out for a day or two eventually the sedation will wear off fully.”

Avalon sat beside the bed, holding Selene’s hand.

She was alive, awake and going to survive.

The relief was so overwhelming he finally let himself cry.

Three days later, Selene was moved from the ICU to a regular room.

Maya practically lived there. Sleeping on the chair beside Selene’s bed, talking to her, reading to her and making her laugh even though it hurt.

Diana visited twice a day with updates. Richard’s arraignment, the board’s emergency meeting and media firestorm.

Margaret brought flowers, books and fierce determination that Selene would recover fully.

Catherine visited once more, she apologised again and left before Avalon could respond.

And Avalon? He never left.

He slept in the hospital, ate in the cafeteria, changed his clothes in the bathroom and refused to go home until Selene could come with him.

On day five, the doctor cleared her to go home.

“With conditions,” he said firmly. “She needs to be on bed rest for two weeks, no heavy lifting, no stress, light activities only and you must come back immediately if you have a fever, increased pain, or any sign of infection.”

“I’ll make sure she follows orders,” Avalon said.

“Good. Because you’re very lucky, Mrs Pierce an inch to the right and we’d be having a very different conversation.”

That night, Avalon helped Selene into the penthouse.

She moved slowly and carefully as she felt pain with every step she took, but she was home and that was everything to her.

Maya fussed over her. Diana had stocked the fridge. Margaret had hired a private nurse to check in daily.

And Avalon watched his wife settle onto the couch, wrapped in blankets, alive and safe.

They’d survived. AGAIN.

Marcus, Vincent, Richard and a bullet to the abdomen.

They’d survived all of it.

But they couldn’t keep living like this, under siege, attacks, and waiting for the next threat.

Something had to change.

Selene looked at him. “What are you thinking?”

“That we can’t do this anymore.”

Fear crossed her face. “Do what?”

“Fight for Pierce Holdings, the inheritance. At this point, I don’t think it is worth it.”

“Avalon—”

“You were shot, and almost died. Maya was kidnapped, my mother had threatened you, Marcus tried to destroy us, Vincent tried to buy us and Richard tried to kill us. So, tell me at what point do we say enough?”

Selene was quiet for a long moment.

“What are you suggesting?”

“I don’t know yet but we need to talk about our future and whether we are staying in San Francisco, running Pierce Holdings, living this life—whether it’s worth what it’s costing us.”

“Where would we go?”

“Anywhere. Somewhere quiet where people aren’t trying to kill us for money.”

“You’d give up the company? Everything Nene built?”

“I’d give up everything to keep you safe.”

Selene reached for his hand. “I know but running won’t solve this. There will always be another Richard or Marcus. People who want what we have.”

“Then what do we do?”

“We need to stop being victims, stop reacting and start controlling our own story.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet but we will figure it out. Together.”

Avalon pulled her close but was very careful of her injuries.

“Together,” he agreed.

They sat in the quiet penthouse, the city lights glittering below.

Somewhere out there, according to Detective Shyn, one more traitor lurked.

Someone close to them.

Someone they trusted.

Someone who’d helped Richard all along.

But for tonight, they didn’t care.

They were together and they were at home.

Tomorrow they’d start fighting back.

Tonight, they’d just survive.

Avalon’s phone buzzed at midnight.

Unknown number.

A text message.

He ignored it at first but he caught a glimpse of the message and he just couldn’t ignore it.

**Richard was right about one thing, someone in your inner circle has been helping from the beginning. Someone you trust completely who knows all your secrets and soon, you’ll find out who. Sleep well, Avalon. You need all your rest tonight.**

Avalon stared at the message wondering when the game would be over but  he knew somehow that this was just beginning.