Finding Love – Episode 29

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CHAPTER 29✏

 

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♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥

 

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Leona’s eyes widen in utter shock as she saw the bullet hole on Amelia’s shoulder, with a piercing scream, she scamper to her and crouched beside her .

 

“No! Amelia” her heart thumped fiercely against her chest and accompanied her words with severe breath grunts. Amelia laid on the floor, completely weak and close to unconsciousness, blood pumped out of the wound and the shooting pain that accompanied it, made her gasp for air. The pain was excruciating and at the same time irritating but she couldn’t scream.. she was too weak to do anything apart from breathing. Her eyes closed.

 

“No no.. Amelia look at me! Please look at me!” Leona called, squeezing her palm

 

in hers as tears trickled out of her eyes.. Amelia eyes opened halfway and she

 

managed to turn her head to look at Leona, a tear crawled out of her eyes, holding

 

her helpless emotions; her fear and pain. Leona read it, she’d never have believed

 

that anything could make Amelia fear this much, she had never seen her in that

 

expression.. but somehow everyone tend to have one thing that frighten them and

 

Amelia’s fear applied to everyone. .

 

Who wouldn’t be afraid of death!

 

She quickly took off her shirt, not caring that she only had a small singlet on in the cold area.

 

Leona raised her head up and rested it on her laps, holding her face to keep her awake while jer other hand stroke her palm.. She left the clothe on her injured shoulder, trying to stop the blood.

 

“Amelia!” tears made her voice come out low, she sobbed for a while before squeezing her palm again.. Amelia opened her mouth to talk but only a deep and cracked moan came out..

 

“Don’t say anything, don’t. Just look at me, don’t stop looking at me.. Please” Betsy laughed coldly, seeing her enemies in a pathetic state gave her joy, extreme and unexplainable joy. Helpless, scared, shattered, pains..

 

It brightened her watching them especially Amelia.. The nosy bitch that she had never liked right from when they crossed path. Right from college, Amelia has always been a threat to her, she could say Amelia was the only girl that didn’t see her as someone that needed to be respected. She had even fought her on several occasions, most of which ended Betsy in pains and finally at the sick bay. Now, Betsy could say she had had her revenge, in a painful and life sucking way and it felt so good.

 

“We need to take her to a hospital” Leona turned to Betsy, she could sense the fear in her voice; fear of losing her friend.

 

“She isn’t dead yet?” Betsy mocked “I thought I hit her in the head.. fu.ck! How could I have missed the target” she said in a cold voice. “Here, let’s do this again. . I won’t miss this time” she raised the gun up again to Amelia’s direction. . “No Betsy, please. I beg you please call a doctor!” Leona pleaded..

 

“What the fu.ck are you trying to do Betsy?!” Laura walked up to them, the gang following behind her.. she saw Amelia on the floor and quickly rushed to her. Seeing the gunshot wound, she charged toward Betsy. The men checked Amelia. “What the fu.ck happened here?” She said to her face “Are you trying to get us screwed?” Laura spat.

 

“She was being too lousy Laura, I had to do something-

 

“And that something had to be putting a fu.cking bullet in her body!” She yelled at Betsy in anger “We talked about this Betsy! What if she dies!? Are you fu.cking going to take responsibility for it? Or what if we get caught by the sound? How can you be so thoughtless?!” Laura barked at her..

 

“She won’t die if we take her to a hospital, she needs immediate treatment” Leona interjected and gulped, Laura turned to her “please” Leona begged. Laura sighed, giving Betsy one last glare, she walked back to where Amelia was, bent and examined the wound..

 

“Guys..take her in, give her anything that’ll keep her conscious. Shawn, you know what to do” Laura said to one of the guys. “Yes” the Shawn guy nodded, Laura stood up.

 

“But she needs a doctor and a proper treatment! We can get that in a hospital” Leona said.

 

“And get caught by the cops? No honey. Shawn here is pretty good at handling bullet wounds, he’ll take care of her” Laura replied. “But what if-

 

“No more questions!” Laura chipped in sharply. “Shawn will handle everything.

 

Right Shawn?” Laura said, looking back at him again.

 

“I will” he assured Leona.

 

“I object. You’re not even a doctor talk more of a qualified one! I can’t let you treat her. What if she dies.. let’s just call an ambulance, please. Amelia needs full and proper treatment else she’ll die. I promise to keep calm, no one will know anything. Please just call an ambulance and let’s get her to a hospital” Leona pleaded in tears. “That’s too risky,” Laura said. “Jermaine, lock her in the room” Laura said , walking away. Leona was about dashing to her when a strong hand held hers.. she struggled but she was no match for the big woman. Shawn, lifted Amelia up on his shoulder and walked towards the warehouse.

 

“You’ll pay if anything happens to her! I’ll make sure you pay with your life! All of you!” Leona yelled threateningly, struggling to free herself but she was knocked out on her neck to quieten her and she fell asleep. ******

 

 

 

“We’re set to take off” The inspector said to Liam. “Our men have secured the place and we’re told that it’s safe to arrive” “I’m coming with you” he said.

 

 

“Are you sure, son?” Granny asked, placing a palm on his shoulder “It’s been close to 24 hours and you haven’t had rest or food” she said in concern.

 

“I’m fine nanny. I just need to find Leona first. I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything again if I don’t see her” Liam said and granny nodded in understanding. “They’ll find her, I have a good feeling about this” Liam nodded placing a palm on hers..

 

“I’m coming too,” Jackson said and the officer gave him a small look before nodding..

 

“Liam?” He looked up immediately at the familiarity of the voice and stood up.

 

“Mom” he squealed and walked to her before falling into her inviting embrace. .

 

They disengaged.

 

“I came as soon as Julia called me” she said and Liam gave granny a questioning look, she nodded and as he turned, his mother hugged him again. Rubbing his back and inching him closer to herself.. Liam pulled away after a while. “You look really bad” she said in utter concern.

 

“I’ll look really worse if I don’t find her, mom” he said truthfully.

 

“You will, okay?”

 

“Everyone’s been saying that but you know Laura, you know how deadly she can

 

be when provoked; that was one thing that made you glad when she broke up with

 

me. What if..what if she does something crazy to Leona?” Liam asked, scared of

 

the fact that he was saying the truth. .

 

“Shh.. don’t say that” his mom assured.

 

“None of this would’ve happened if Leona hadn’t gotten entangled with me, if she hadn’t accepted me then maybe she’d still be here. Why is love always so harsh on me?”

 

“It not son. At least you found it, an honest one at that and with a great lady even though I’m yet to meet her. I promise you son, Leona will be fine. I have strong faith that this will end well” she said with deep assurance. Liam nodded before hugging her again.. she caressed his back, her son’s emotions rubbing off on her. If this doesn’t go well then she’ll be the sole cause of it, this whole adventure to find love was her idea.. it has to go well no matter what.. she sighs hopefully.

 

“Mr Gonzalez, the car has arrived. We need to leave as soon as possible” the officer interrupted the moment and Liam pulled away from his mother’s hug.. “I’m coming with you, officer” Jesse said, coming to them. His gaze moved from Damien to his mom..

 

“Mrs Clara Gonzalez?” He called and she tilt her head toward him. “Is that right?”

 

“Uh..yes. have we met before?”

 

“No, not at all. I got a loan from your company recently, Jesse Terence?”

 

“Oh..yeah, right”

 

“What’re you doing here?”

 

“I came to see my son” she said, pointing to Damien .

 

“Your son? Wh-” his voice trailed off when he finished tracing her finger to Damien.

 

“Him?” Jesse pointed to Damien “Damien is Liam Gonzalez? Your son?” He asked, unsure and she gave him a curt nod before turning back to talk to Liam. His mouth hung open and stayed open, no words coming out. If this is truly Liam then he had been the one behind the loan.. His eyes widened at the thought. But why doesn’t his face match with the ones in the media.. Did he have a face surgery or what? He still felt the shock from the discovery..

 

Geez! He’s so ruined.

 

“We’re coming along too” Elisabeth said, speaking for both herself and Hilda. “I don’t think-

 

“If you can produce my daughter right now, then try to stop me” Hilda said in determination. The officer gave Liam a questioning look.

 

“It’s okay officer Stan, we’ll just add an extra car to the list” Liam said and he nodded.

 

“Okay then. It’s time to go” he said and Liam gave his mom a small smile before leaving her palm, she gave him a nod and he followed the rest to the car.

 

Leona stared at the two sisters that stood before her, she had woken up earlier in that position; tied and helpless. Betsy gave her a smirk

 

“How’s Amelia?” She asked and earned a glance from both sisters..

 

“Sadly, she’s fine as at when I checked last. She’s conscious” Betsy answered and Leona sigh in relief.. Almost immediately the door burst open with force and one of the women swooped in.

 

“Laura, we have to get out of here now” she said breathlessly. Both Laura and

 

Betsy got alarmed immediately.

 

“Why? What happened?” Laura asked.

 

“I saw this strange guy spying on the house earlier and talking on the phone, it seemed like he was giving out information about this place to someone. He escaped before I could get him. We have to leave now!” She said much to Laura’s fright..

 

 

“Betsy, get all the equipments,” she said before turning to the woman “you help her with the load and this one, I’ll get Shawn and the girl. Meet us in the van” Laura ushered the orders quickly, referring to Leona before dashing out..

 

Amelia shut her eyes as a hiss of drastic pain passed through her gritted teeth.. “It’s out” he said, raising his hands to her view to reveal a thin bullet resting in between a pair of tweezers.. “I did it in the most gentle way that I could since it’s your first time” he said, taking the tray that had some medical equipments and leaving the bullet at a bare side. “Now I’ll just sew it up and wrap it. You’re lucky the wound isn’t deep”

 

Amelia’s sighed weakly. The man’s words, as cold as it was also was comforting, assuring and caring and there was something about the way he treated her; like someone that had been in the medical team in the past.. He started stitching her flesh back together, closing the wound.. She moaned.

 

“Sorry. There’s just a little left..” He said. “After I stitch this up and wrap it, you’ll have a long rest and when you wake up, boom! You’ll feel very little pain” he smiled at her.

 

“Shawn?” She called weakly, it sounded more like a mutter but he heard her “that’s your name, right?” He gave her a glance and looked away, focusing on the stitching.

 

“Yes” he answered her.

 

“Have you ever been a father?” She asked and this time his gaze shot up to her in a questioning manner that she couldn’t read, then he looked back down. “How do you know?” He asked in his usual cold voice.

 

“Because I used to have a father and just like him you have this calm and caring gesture and something that I can’t explain. I know a dad when I see one” Amelia said within breath. He sniffed before answering her.. “Yes, she was six when I left her”

 

“You left her? Why?”

 

“I was being arrested. My wife was found dead in my basement” he said with pain

 

underneath his cold voice.

 

“You killed her?”

 

“No, I’d never do that” he answered sharply and sighed. “I loved her so much, we used to be a very happy family until that night came” he paused and sat her up, taking some bandages to wrap the wound. “I caught her cheating on me, right on our bed with her lover that I never knew about until then. We had a very heated argument after it” he released a ragged breath and didn’t talk after a long while.

 

 

“And?” Amelia pushed and he acted like he didn’t want to continue telling her the sad tale of his life, he kept wrapping her wound. Amelia was about giving up when he talked.

 

“I threatened to kill both her and the bastard for betraying my trust and cheating on me. I was so mad and angry, I had to leave the house to cool off” he said and bent his head downward, not wanting Amelia to see his pain and weakness, his palms grabbed the sheet tightly. Amelia placed her palm lightly on his, caressing it with her thumb as if assuring him. He sighed loudly and looked up, Amelia saw the tears in his eyes and him struggling to prevent them from falling. Even with the emotions bursting out, he tried to be bold and not breakdown.

 

“The cops were all over my building when I got home the next day. As soon as I stepped down from my car I was handcuffed like a criminal and blatantly accused of murdering my wife in cold blood. Of course I couldn’t believe any of what they were saying, it looked so real but I felt that it was a joke; at least to me,” he paused and wet his lips with his tongue. “I tried to defend myself, tried to tell them that I had no idea about what I was being accused of but I was dumbfounded when Fiona, my sweet little daughter, plainly told the cops that I was lying, that I killed her mother; my wife. She confessed that we had an argument and I had said that I would kill her and when I left home angrily, the kitchen knife got missing so she insisted that I did it. She called me a killer; it was the most horrible thing that I’ve ever been called.. My work was to save life not take them and before that incident Fiona had always looked up to me with so much admiration, she used to tell me about how she’ll love to be a medical doctor like me when she grows up, she used to call me her role model but that day, her eyes held nothing but hatred and disgust for me. I became her worst enemy. My car was searched and the exact kitchen knife that my wife had been stabbed severally with was found in it, bloody. I realised that I had been framed at it hurt more that I couldn’t even help myself, the cops wouldn’t let me say a word, my alibi wasn’t even strong enough” he said extreme pain clouding his words.

 

“My whole world crashed at that spot, right in front of me. It was shocking and

 

flabbergasting as to how a doctors life could turn to a prisoner in just one hour,

 

how my whole life could change in a split second” he said. Amelia gave him a mild

 

smile, still caressing his palm.

 

“How long is your sentence?”

 

“For life” he said and Amelia gasped “I escaped and I’ve been on the run since then. No lawyer was ready to take my case. I don’t blame them anyway.. If my own child could turn me in, who could defend me?” He asked rhetorically and Amelia

 

was about asking if he knew where his daughter was when Laura walked in..

 

Shawn quickly hid his former expression..

 

“Shawn, we have to leave here immediately. We’re being trailed” she said. “Bring the girl with you to the van” she said and walked out. Shawn gave Amelia a look and she saw the fear in them.. Obviously, for the police. The people that had shattered his already good life..

 

He grabbed a bag and started packing stuffs into it..

 

“Come on,” he helped her up “try not to stress your shoulder so you don’t tear the stitch” he said and she nodded, allowing him to help her up. He grabbed the bag and they walked out, he supported her with his arm spread across her waist.

 

They met the other team and they started the journey to the van.. Laura opened the Van’s booth and they threw the loads inside, Betsy closed it while the rest moved to enter the car..

 

“No one move!” A high ranked officer stepped forward, his gun pointed toward them… The other officers gathered around, their guns pointed to them too. Seeing the gestures, Laura brought her gun out too, aiming it toward them and the remaining team followed..

 

“Put down your weapons and no one will get hurt” the officer said.. They looked behind them and realised they were surrounded by police.. A pang of fear rushed to her inside but she still kept the gun pointed toward them.

 

“I think you should tell your team that” Betsy said and immediately grabbed Amelia roughly from Shawn.. She squealed in pain at the mishandling and the stitch tore, blood peeked from the bandage. Betsy held her tightly by the shoulder and pointed the gun to her head.. Giving the cops a daring look. Laura immediately grabbed Leona too, pointing the gun at her head.

 

“Drop the fu.cking guns or you lose these two bitches” Betsy said, her voice bold.. She touched the gun’s mouth on Amelia’s head and she shut her eyes, her breathing going fast..

 

Leona shut her eyes, hoping she could just Wake up from the terrible nightmare..

 

“I’ll count to three, if you don’t drop the guns then I’ll take down one of the girls”

 

Betsy said “One..Two..

 

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