Price of Anger

Time froze as Louis stared in horror and every detail seemed to fall into sharp focus. Victoria shuffled her feet as she stumbled backward, her face contorted in a grimace of pain, and her hands instinctively clutched at her side where blood was beginning to bloom across her shirt, rich crimson that spread like wildfire, soaking the taut fabric of skin. "No!" Louis yelled, voice raw with desperation as he ran towards her. The gunshot still rang within his ears and it sickened him further; the sight of the blood sapped all strength from his body. Victoria's eyes fluttered, her attempts to stay upright failing, her lips parted in a gasping, breathless sound, but the weight of the bullet's impact proved to be too much. Her knees buckled, and she slumped into Louis's arms. "Daniella!" Louis bellowed, thick with wrath as he looked up to see Daniella still frozen in place, the gun still clutched in her trembling hand. Her eyes were wide with shock, her face pale as the reality of what she had done finally sunk in. All that cold, calculated anger that had driven her a moment before seemed to vanish, to be replaced by an appalled kind of incredulity. Her fingers slackened and the gun slipped from her grasp, clattering onto the hardwood floor with a deafening thud. "Oh my God," Daniella whispered, barely above a whisper, as she took one backward stumble. "Oh my God, I didn't-" But the panic had already seized her then. Saying nothing more, Daniella whirled around and ran out the door, her feet pounding against the floor of the apartment in her scramble to get away. Louis didn't care. His world had narrowed to the woman in the arms woman he loved, bleeding out in front of him, her breathing shallow and labored. "Victoria, stay with me," Louis whispered, voice shaking, cradling her against him with desperate hands pressed against the wound in her side. His mind reeled, but his thoughts were incoherent, jammed by the image of the blood that just would not stop flowing from her. "Please, stay with me." Victoria's eyelids fluttered weakly; her breath came in short, ragged gasps. Her skin was white, her body shuddering as she fought to remain conscious. "L-Louis." she managed to whisper, her voice low and barely audible. For a moment, her eyes met his, filled with fear and pain. "I'm here, Victoria. I'm right here," Louis said, his voice breaking as he pulled his phone from his pocket. His hands shaking, Louis dialed for an ambulance, his fingers slick with blood as he pressed the buttons. "911, what's your emergency?" "My wife's been shot!" Louis yelled into the phone as his heart was pounding in his chest. "She's bleeding she's bleeding so much. Please, you got to hurry!" "Remain calm, sir. We're dispatching the ambulance right away. Could you tell me her condition?" Louis looked down at Victoria, his heart compressing painfully in his chest. "She's- she's losing a lot of blood. She's barely conscious. Please, just hurry!" The operator's voice was firm and calm, but Louis barely heard her as she guided him through basic first aid, telling him to keep pressure on the wound, to talk to Victoria, to keep her awake. But Victoria was slipping away. Her eyes were barely open now, her breath shallow and weak. Louis's hands were soaked with her blood, and he felt completely, utterly helpless. "Victoria, stay with me," Louis begged, his voice thick with emotion. "You have to stay with me. I can't lose you. Not like this." Victoria's lips quivered in a faint, shattered smile, but full of pain. "I'm sorry, Louis," she whispered, her voice no more than a breath. "I'm so sorry. Louis shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "No, don't say that. You're going to be okay. The ambulance is coming it's going to make it." But even as he spoke the words, part of him knew he lied. The blood wouldn't stop, and Victoria's skin was growing colder, her body weaker. Time seemed to stretch on and on, each second an eternity as Louis held her, praying-begging-that the ambulance would arrive in time. When the paramedics finally burst through the door, everything sprang back into motion-the world, as it were, having held its breath in anticipation of their arrival. Louis barely registered the questions they asked or the scurrying motion around him as they worked to stabilize Victoria. He simply stood still with the stickiness of her blood on his hands, his mind whirling as they loaded her onto the stretcher. "Is she going to be okay?" Louis demanded, his voice breaking with desperation. "Please, tell me she's going to be okay!" "We're doing everything we can, sir," said one of the paramedics, his face grim. "But she's lost a lot of blood. We need to get her to the hospital right away." Louis followed them to the ambulance, his heart pounding in his chest. He climbed in beside her, his eyes never leaving her pale face as the paramedics worked frantically to keep her alive. The sirens were blaring on the ambulance now, sirens that whirred through city streets with speeding lights that flashed in blurred red and blue. Louis reached out and took Victoria's hand in his, squeezing softly, hoping-praying-she would squeeze back. But her hand lay limp in his, her body unmoving, and Louis felt a wave of fear crash over him. Chaos was too small a word to explain the turmoil at the hospital. The nurses and doctors thronged Victoria, pushing her toward the operation theatre while Louis stood in the corridors, trembling through his body adrenaline and fear. The brown stains of her blood clung to his hands, and the metallic smell to his skin. The hours blended as Louis walked back and forth, his head reeling with a thousand thoughts: How had this happened? How had things spiraled so far out of control? He remembered bursting into Victoria's apartment, how Daniella had stood there, the gun pointed at him. Daniella's face was contorted in utter panic as she pulled the trigger. And then. Victoria pushed him out of the way, saving his life. Why? Louis's heart clutched painfully in his chest. She had sacrificed her life for him. A nurse appeared beside him and dragged him back from his reverie. "Sir, she's in surgery now. It's going to take some time." Louis nodded numbly, his hands still shaking. He didn't know what to do. The weight of everything that had just happened pressed down on him like a suffocating blanket. Daniella had almost killed her. And it was all his fault. He sank into a chair, burying his face in his hands as tears streamed down his face. Hе couldn't lоsе her-not likе this. What would Victоriа's life have been if there had been no contract marriage? If there were no Sebastians to deal with? If shе hadn't been usеd as bait by her parents? The questions tore through his mind, leaving him empty and aching. Could she have been happy in a normal life, free of chaos and hurt, had it not happened? What if he simply never had dragged her into his world of power and betrayal? Louis's heart felt as though it were going to break in his chest as he waited alone, afraid of what was to come.