I can’t lose you too
To get to the top floor, Melissa used Mark’s code to access the elevator thus needing no help from his secretary.
When she got to the eighteenth floor she didn’t find the secretary at the desk. James too was not in his office. Only Sasha and Mark were in the office. Giving them the privacy to make out.
Seeing him cosy with Sasha sealed the deal.
When she saw them kissing at the mansion she thought Sasha had forced herself on him.
Seeing him embrace her broke her heart. She wanted their marriage to be more than an arrangement. She believed he was in love with her as much as she loved him.
Holding back a sob, she ran to the elevator. She didn’t look back at the secretary who called her name when she walked from the washroom.
For a moment Mark’s hands froze. He didn’t understand what had happened. When Melissa walked in he couldn’t move.
“Ah!” Sasha screamed in pain as Mark pushed her off getting up from the chair. “Mark, please just let her go.” She pleaded holding his hand.
“Enough Sasha, I’ll deal with you when I get back.” He pulled his hand from her forceful hold causing her to fall on her back as he left the office.
“Sir, what happened? Should I call security?” His secretary asked dialing the phone as the elevator door closed.
Melissa rushed out of the building to the car park with her hand on her mouth. She didn’t want to cry yet the pain in her heart forced her to.
“Is everything okay ma’am?” Her driver asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.
“Take me back to the office please.” She uttered, turning her gaze outside the window. As more tears filled her eyes, she recalled seeing Sasha and Mark in each other’s arms.
…..
At the Johnsons building, Mark got in his car. Not waiting for his driver and his bodyguards, he went after Melissa.
He needed to see her. To talk to her and explain what she had seen.
As he drove, he rang her phone. Every two minutes he anxiously called her but she didn’t pick up.
Looking at the tracker on his phone, he followed Melissa’s car hoping to speak to her and clear everything up.
“Please answer your phone.” He desperately looked at his phone holding the steering wheel. Stopping at the red lights, he tapped at the wheel, his eyes glued to the traffic light.
“Come on, come on. Melissa please talk to me.”
As he drove when the traffic light turned green, a van came from the opposite direction driving towards him at high speed.
Sliding the door open, two armed men fired at Mark’s car. They shot at him countless times causing his car to hit the pavement.
His bodyguards, driving closely behind him, shot at the moving van. When the van drove off they pursued them as other bodyguards ran to save Mark while calling for an ambulance and police backup.
Melissa sat in the car looking at her ringing phone. Mark had called over twenty times but she just stared at it. Feeling fed up by his persistence, she answered only to hear the round noise. She was too familiar with it.
“I love you.” He uttered his last words.
“Mark! Hello! Mark!” She called but he didn’t talk back, only people’s screams could be heard.
Raising her gaze from the phone, she saw the Johnson hospital ambulance drive past them.
“Mark! Drive back, take me back now.” She urged her bodyguard who was driving the car to head back.
All the way back she prayed to see him.
She didn’t care about him and Sasha anymore; all she wanted was to see him. To hug him and make sure he was okay.
The way back was closed. The traffic had stopped as police and Johnson’s security personnel surrounded the area.
“No! Mark no no, this can’t be.” She stepped out of the car and ran through the traffic. Out of breath, she clenched the phone in her hand as she pushed through the crowd surrounding Mark’s car.
“Let me through. I’m his wife.” She pushed the police kicking him in the groin when he couldn’t get out of the way.
“Let her go with him.” Her bodyguard told the officers incharge showing him her work ID.
“Mark, Mark I’m sorry.” She rushed to him, tears streaming down her cheeks.”Please don’t leave me. Tommy, Tommy and I need you so much. Please hold on for me.” She kissed his hand and placed it on her cheek.
When he made a sound, she gazed at him. “Mark! Doctor, what is happening?” Leaning closer to him, he opened his eyes. Smiled at her, then closed his eyes as his hand lost its strength.
“Doctor! Mark, Mark look at me. Please look at me.”
As soon as the ambulance doors opened the doctors took.
“Miss, please step back.”
“He’s my husband. I have to go with him.”
“No ma’am, please stay here.”
Forced to drop his hand, Melissa sobbed watching them roll him away.
They didn’t let her go in with him.
She wanted to keep holding his hand. To let him know how much she loved. How much she needed him.
At the hospital, all the surgeons had been waiting. They rushed him to the operating table leaving distorted Melissa lying outside on the floor crying.
A few moments later Robert got to the hospital. “Melissa, what happened?” He helped her sit on the chair with assistance from a nurse.
“It’s all because of me. They shot Mark because of me. She sniffed, staring at his blood on her hands. “I… I don’t know if he will make it, Robert.” Tears welled up in her swollen eyes.
“Calm down, the doctors will do everything they can to save him.” Robert hugged her tight, soothing her.
“I can’t lose him.” She sniffed against his shoulder.
“Security, get this woman out of this hospital.” Sasha walked in with two guards behind her. “Throw her out, she has no business here.” She commanded, trying to drag Melissa out.
“Sasha stop.” Robert stopped her, pulling Melissa behind him.
“She has every right to be here, you’re the one who should leave.” Robert pushed Sasha away causing her to stumble.
“I’m going nowhere. I see you have all the Johnson’s men in your palm. Let’s see what grandfather Johnson will do to you once he gets her.” Sasha snorted as sat a few feet from them crossing her legs.
“Please don’t fight.” Melissa held Robert’s hand stopping him from dragging Sasha out. “She’s not worth it.”
They sat outside the operating room waiting.
The nurse in charge occasionally updated them on the progress since Mark had to undergo a series of surgeries.
Five hours later, the red light in the room went off and the doctor got to speak to them.
Mark had sustained serious injuries on his chest and head putting him into a coma.
They had to closely monitor him in the intensive care unit and only when he woke up, would they determine the extent of the damage done by the injuries.
Once they moved him, only Melissa was allowed into the room.
With her head and every part of her body covered with protective gear, she stood at the door staring at a white bandaged body.Property © NôvelDrama.Org.
Mark had so many injuries, for a moment she didn’t recognize him.
“I lost my parents, I can’t lose you too.” She sat beside the bed taking his hand in hers as tears streamed down her cheeks. Sobbing, she lay her head on the bed. As exhaustion took over, she fell asleep until movement in the room woke her up.
“Get her out.” Mr. Johnson got to the hospital demanding Melissa to leave.
“No grandfather, this isn’t right. She’s Mark’s wife.” With Sasha supporting Mr. Johnson nothing that Robert said could change his mind. The hospital’s security escorted Melissa out making sure she was not anywhere near Mark’s ward.
“Melissa!” Lisa walked to her at the waiting area. “It’s going to be okay.” Wrapping her arms around Melissa’s shoulders, she soothed her trying to calm her down.
Lisa had dropped everything when Robert called her.
After speaking to the doctor, she managed to persuade Melissa to go get some rest and a change of clothes.
….
As they neared the villa gate, her bodyguard who was driving the car got a call.
“I’m sorry ma’am, I got new orders.” She glanced at Melissa in the rearview mirror. “We can’t get to the villa and as of now, I’m relieved of my duties.” The female bodyguard apologized as she stopped the car.
“What? They can’t do that. Since Mark is in the hospital do they think they can kick you out of your house?” Agitated Lisa complained getting her phone to call Robert.
“It’s okay.” Melissa touched Lisa’s hand, stopping her. “Take us to the apartment please.” She requested looking out of the window, surprising Lisa and the lady bodyguard.
Melissa’s things were shipped to the apartment and Tommy was taken to live in the mansion.
The next day she went to the kindergarten to get her son but the security stopped her.
She was not allowed anywhere near Tommy as Mr. Johnson had ordered.
Every morning for three days, she sat outside the school gate in a taxi watching as her gloomy son walked up to his teacher when Mr. Johnson dropped him off.
All her attempts to visit Mark at the hospital were not fruitful either.
“She is back sir, shall we let her see the boy?” The house manager asked when he was informed by the guard’s Melissa was standing outside the mansion gate again trying to get access.
“Have her sent away and in no circumstance should he see his mother. Or find out she came looking for him.” He instructed standing by the window with his hands crossed on his back.