Page 74 of Bad Duke

“Olivia! Olivia!” I enter the code on the door and smash through it, searching around the empty bar room and seeing no sign of her.

“Help. Help, we’re in here!” I hear a male voice followed by a gunshot and a loud scream has me sprinting down the corridor toward the room it came from.

I barge through the door and the first thing I see is Olivia, her body stretched out and tied to a bed. Her eyes are open, she’s the one who screamed and she’s alive, which makes me able to take a fucking breath.

Marina turns to face me looking shocked and I notice a hole in the head of a body in front of her.

“Alex!” Liv calls out to me desperately, her skin pale and her eyes wide and scared.

“What the fuck is going on, here?” I look at Marina, who still has the gun in her hand and is now pointing it at the only thing in this world that matters to me.

I want to charge at her, rip the fucking head off her shoulders, and spit down her neck, but I can’t, not while she’s got hold of that gun.

“Marina, what is this?” I ask, keeping my eyes focused on hers and trying not to let Olivia’s scared, little breaths distract me.

“Alex, you were supposed to go back to your apartment.” She looks agitated, and when Olivia makes a loud moan and scrunches up her face, I ignore the fact that Marina’s armed, and rush to be with her.

“Liv, are you okay? What's happening? You hurt?”

“I think the baby’s coming.” She looks up at me with tears spilling from her eyes.

“Okay, okay.” I do my best to keep her calm, despite the fact she’s tied to a bed and has a fucking gun pointing at her.

“Marina, you have to let me get her to a hospital.” I look up at her, what all this is about doesn’t matter anymore. I need to get Liv out of here.

“I can’t do that, you know I can’t. If I let you leave, she’ll go to the police,” she refuses, making the rage I’m feeling threaten to unleash.

“Marina, the last thing on her mind right now is the police.” I see now that the guy in the chair is Samuel Hamilton which confuses me even more.

“Alex!” Olivia screams my name, her body tensing like she’s having another contraction. It’s close to the last one so I have to think really fast about what to do here. If I pull my gun, it will spook Marina and, undoubtedly, she will shoot. I can barely recognise the woman in front of me, she’s manic and unpredictable.

“Why don’t you tell me what all this is about?” I ask her, keeping eye contact and figuring the safest thing for me to do is try to talk her down.

“This is about me and you.” She smiles sadly. “We’ve always been a team, and I’ve been waiting, Alex. I’ve waited so long.” Her eyes fill with tears that she quickly wipes away with her free hand. “All the parties and other women, I knew you’d eventually settle down and it was supposed to be with me.” The devastated look on her face brings all that she’s saying to reality and I haven’t got time to be shocked by this revelation. Clearly, Marina is insane and I can use a little inspiration from Lewis to try and fix it.

“Marina, I had no idea, you never?—”

“Oh, come on, Alex, I’m twenty years older than you. I’ve been at your beck and call since the day we met. Don’t tell me you didn’t see it.” She talks over me, getting agitated.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” I hold my hand up to try and calm her. “I don’t know how I didn’t see. But I see it now.” I start to move away from Olivia, and slowly approach her, reminding myself not to strike too soon.

“You're married to her. You love her.” She shakes the gun, pointing at Liv, in her hand and making my heart plummet.

“I married her because I needed to take the pressure off, and if I’d known you felt this way, things would have been different.” My words come out like a confession and she frowns at me as her breath stutters on her tears.

“No.” She shakes her head. “`You told me how much you loved her. We had talks. I know what you said, Alex. Don’t lie to me.” Tears roll over her cheeks and I hear a desperate cry come from Olivia when she changes the direction of the gun on me. I try not to let my relief show as I steady my breathing.

“Marina, I’m not lying. I just never thought I had a chance with you. I was kidding myself trying to love her. But, now that I know you feel this way, everything is going to be different.” She lowers her hand that's holding the gun and sighs.

“We’ve got a few problems though, ones we’re gonna have to fix, together. You’ve killed some people,” I remind her. When she nods her head and her tears keep coming, I wonder if she feels any remorse.

“I had to make her leave you but she wouldn’t, and now…” She goes to raise her hand again.

“No…no. Marina. Listen to me. You can’t hurt her. She’s having my baby.” I manage a smile. “A baby I need you to help me raise. But we have to be smart. We haven't got much time. I don’t know how to deliver a baby, do you?” I look at her and shrug, she needs to think she’s in control here. “We have to get Olivia to the hospital.”

“No.” Marina shakes her head. “It’s too much of a risk. If she talks?—”

“We have to, you don’t want to be responsible for me losing my child, Marina. You love me, you’d never want me to suffer something like that.”

---