Page 62 of Scandalously Yours

I quickly moved on to tell them about how Kristopher tried to make her see reason regarding their divorce and custody issues. No matter how calmly he talked, she had become more unhinged. I told them about the warning shot, and what she’d done to my cellphone that was on the ground. If they didn’t understand how crazy Hayley was, there was nothing else I could tell them to explain it.

I knew from various case studies that some people would inflict harm upon their spouses when going through divorce or custody battles. Sometimes, they would even hire someone else to do their dirty work. Not Hayley, though. She wanted to make Kristopher pay, and the longer this line of questioning went on, the longer it would be until I’d be released so I could get to the hospital to see him.

Was it possible that the price was one he would end up paying with his life?

No, I couldn’t go there. I shook my head to expel those thoughts completely. The officers had a combined look of concern and sympathy toward me. I didn’t want their pity, though. I wanted them to let me go.

“Can I leave now?”

“We still have some more questions, Miss Johnston,” the officer told me, and I let out a frustrated cry.

“Which ones?” My adrenaline was disappearing faster than a speeding bullet, and these officers seemed determined to keep me here. “Just spit them out so I can go.”

They wanted to know about the actual shooting, so I told them she had meant to shoot me, and he had jumped in front of me. He’d taken a bullet for me, and if that didn’t speak to what kind of man he truly was, nothing else I told them would. I then finished by telling them how the blood got on the dumpster. I knew he likely had gone unconscious from a concussion, and I hoped that was all it turned out to be. I didn’t even want to imagine him with some sort of traumatic head injury like brain swelling.

I was about to finish telling them about how I used my medical training to try to stop the bleeding until help arrived, but one of the officers got a call and when he answered it, the ground fell out from beneath me at the two words “Simon coded”. I knew exactly what that meant.

“Nooooooooo,” I cried out in pain.

I could barely breathe as my eyes widened in terror, and my heart clenched in my chest. My eyes darted around wildly as I waited for one of the officers to tell me it had been a false alarm. The looks on the faces of four men stated otherwise. I needed to escape, to get to him, but when I tried to move, my feet were blocks of cement. I fell to my knees as I clutched at my heart. My foolish, stupid heart.

Kristopher had gone into cardiac arrest. Hayley had told me that if she couldn’t have him, no one else would either, so it looked like she had gotten her wish after all. She hadn’t been lying. As I rocked back and forth, my mind was inundated with memories of the two of us in the Bahamas. We were walking along the beach, hand in hand. There were more from our very first kiss the night we met, to the glorious love we made in those magical caves on the last one there.

It was more than that, though. Additional memories came rushing back of the walks and calls we took back in New York City. His office... Boston... the hospital room... but the memories that threatened to do me in completely were the fresher ones from twelve hours ago where our perfect night turned into what started out as such a great morning. Now, everything was gone. He was gone. I couldn’t allow myself to believe it. I tried to inhale, but it was as if the air was depleted of all oxygen. I coughed and choked between sobs.

“I love you, Ale.”

The hands of a few different officers managed to get me upright onto my feet just as I heard Kris’ deep voice echo in my ears, cutting through the thunderous sound of my heartbeat as it pounded in my skull.

“Kris,” I managed to get out before crumpling to the concrete below.

I saw his face one final time before I succumbed to the darkness pulling me under. Without him, there would never be light in my life again. Our love story was not a conventional one, but it was perfect, until now. What seemed like just the beginning had ended up being the end.

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