I Won't Give Up (24 page)

“
They’re going to do everything they can.
” He picked me up
like he used to when I was a little girl. A nurse came
and
directed us to a private
waiting area.
The room was small, the walls were pale blue and it reeked of disinfectant
, my stomach rolled
. There were four chairs on the window wall with a small rectangular coffee table
covered in magazines
in front of them.
I struggled to get down.

“Fiona, we need to know what happened.” My dad said
placing me on my feet
and gestured to the agents
.

“
Dad!
My boyfriend just got
shot, I haven’t eaten all day.
I’m scared and exhausted!
I need to
call his dad. I just need a fucking
minute.
” I
yelled and
started crying again.
Luke ca
me in
the middle of my
tirade
.
He ordered the agents outside and told them they could stand by the door.
He
pulled me into his special brother hug making me sob even harder.
My dad stood there looking helpless.

“I’m going to call your mom
.
I’ll get you something to eat. Anything special
?”

“Anything is fine,
s
oup maybe?” I was hungry but my stomach was in knots.

“
I’ll b
e right back.” He
leaned
in to kiss my forehead before leaving the room.

“He’s going to be okay.” Luke said
sitting and
pulling me onto his lap. I put my head on his shoulder
with tears falling like
Niagara
Falls
.

“I need to call Kurt.” Luke reached in his pocket and handed me his cell. I punched in Cooper’s home number and prayed I got an answer.

It rang three times.

“Hello.”

“Kurt.” I sobbed.

“Fiona is that you?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Where are you? Are you okay? It’s been all over the news.”

“I’m ok-k-ay.” I choked. Luke took the phone from my hand.

“Mr. Kinley, it’s Luke Prescott, we’re in Delaney there’s been a bit of an incident
,
Cooper’s been shot.”
Hearing those words made me feel like
I was dying. “We’re at Mercy General, they’ve taken him into surgery. Yes sir, I’ll keep you posted.” He hung up and put the phone back in his pocket.
“He’s on his way.”

“If only I’d given him a chance the first time around I would have never even met Garrett.
None of this would have happened, it’s all my fault.
”

“Fiona. Stop.” Luke said rubbing my back trying his best to soothe me.

“I love him so much Luke. If anything happens to him, I can’t even think about it.”

“
He’s strong Fi and you guys are finally together that’s what he wanted he’s going to be fine but y
ou need to talk to the police. They need to get your statement so they can make arrests.
They’re outside.
” I nodded
reluctantly
.

My dad came back with my soup.
I forced
a couple
spoonfuls
down
to calm my angry stomach
.

“Mom’s on her way
.”
My poor mom was probably freaking out.

“How’d you know where I was?”
I asked Luke.

“Cooper.
” I looked at him to elaborate.
“
He ended up at the lake house on Friday
hoping to talk to you
and when you didn’t answer any of his messages he called me
.
He said ‘she texts me back even if she’s pissed at me’” I laughed knowing that was true, I would at least send him a K or something
so he’d leave me alone
. “
We didn’t know
at the time
but by
then someone
had already made conta
ct with dad about the ransom.
The police showed up at the house and started asking questions
when I called Cooper back he said that you were dating someone.” He gave me a stern look and I noted his disapproval especially since we didn’t keep secrets from one another. “
Cooper
said he
knew
him and his
background
. He
figured he might have been stupid enough
to bring you to Delaney
. He was right. Then they never took his phone, he texted me letting me know what was going on
. I was expecting to hear something else from him but I assumed his battery probably died
. L
ater that night we
got a call from Carl who said they were planning on moving you guys
in the morning
. W
e planned an ambush and now we’re here.”
I took a few moments to
comprehend
the information
.
“Can you give your statement now?”

I nodded.
I felt like part of me was missing probably because it was on the operating table.
My dad opened the door to tell the detectives to come in
.
Two detectives sat on the coffee table in front of me.

“Ms. Prescott we have a few questions we’d like you to answer
if possible.” I nodded.

“I’m Detective Marc Espinosa and this is my partner Detective Jackie Rey.”
The one named
Jackie pulled out a small note pad.
Marc Espinosa was a tall man with a medium build, he had a shaved head and brown eyes and skin the color of caramel his voice was soothing speaking to me as if I were a small child.

“What can you tell us about Mr. York?”

“Um, not m
uch
really, we
met about a month ago
. I
t was purely coincidental
. W
e met at a convenience store
out by Lake Winona
where my family has a lake house
.
I
overheard
them say
they had no idea who I was at the time
but when the figured it out they planned on kidnapping me for ransom
.”
“They who?”
Detective Rey inquired further. She was slender, blonde and small statured, she had a narrow face and sharp features.  

“Garrett and Eli
but I don’t know his last name
. That’s what they said earlier.”

“Anything else you can add?”
My mind was in a haze.
I hadn’t even been able to process the events myself yet.

“Fiona
they
really need to know
what happened in there?”
I took a deep breath.

“
All I remember is
we were at the lake house,
Garrett
was making dinner and next thing I knew he was
smothering
me
with a rag
.
W
hen I woke up I was at
Eli’s house.
“Garrett and Eli were holing me up like some prisoner.
Garrett was going to try to rape me but
Cooper saved me
.
Cooper knew them
; he
said Eli’s dad was ex-mafia though I think
ex
is a bit of an understatement.
” I shivered.
“
W
e tried to get out of the house
but on the way out we ran into
Giovanni,
that’s
Eli’s dad.
They wanted to separate us but Cooper refused.
He made Cooper fight. I
t was awful,
he forced him to. I
f he
refused
they were going to hurt me.
He only agreed if Carl would be allowed to stay with me during the fight.
Then this morning they s
aid they were coming to move us. T
hat’s when
Garrett
shot
him
. Please don’t let them take him from me Daddy, please.” I didn’t even realize I’d called
him daddy until after the fact
.
I saw
how fragile life could be at that moment. I needed to find forgiveness.
I knew when my dad left my mom that he didn’t do it to hurt me, I don’t think he really meant to hurt my mom either but I know what it’s like to feel like part of you is missing. I was feeling that right now.

“
Mr. Kinley isn’t in trouble ma’am it’s clearly a case of self defense.
Can you think of anything else that might be of importance.”

“I’m not really thinking clearly right now, I’m exhausted, worried, scared, frustrated. Do you have a card you can leave and I’ll call to set something up later today.” Detective Rey reached in her pocket and produced a card handing it to me.

“Mr. Prescott can we talk to you outside.” They asked my dad.

“I’ll be right out.” He said holding up his hand. The walked out closing the door behind them.

He
left to talk to the detectives
.

Kurt came in through the doors.
He looked haggard and disheveled not put together
like
he normally was. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, Cooper was all he had left.

“
Fiona, are you okay?
Any news?”
He sat in the chair next to me and took my hand.
“
I’m hanging on by a thread and we haven’t heard anything yet
,
he’s still in surgery.”

“What happened?” I
started briefing
over everything that happened over the past twenty-four hours. Kurt seemed really angry when he heard Giovanni’s name but when I got to the part about the fight he was furious. I didn’t even get to the point where he was shot
before he started swearing
.

“That lying bastard. I paid him $100,000 to leave us alone and to never contact Cooper again. He was black and blue for months because of him, months! He used him like some kind of pawn. He was going to get him killed.”

“I’m sorry Kurt. I didn’t know any of this, I swear.
He didn’t want to fight, t
hey didn’t leave him any choice
but that’s not when he got shot. They were trying to move us to another location
this morning and
Garrett was waiting for us
. O
ne of the guys he knew from there was trying to help us get away
,
we were almost gone when someone fired a shot it hit him in the side. They took him in for surgery as soon as we got here
,
he was semi-conscious. I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault.” I couldn’t shake the blame that was eating at me.

“Fiona it’s not your fault you don’t even know the half of what happened before we moved and I don’t really want to get into any details right now but I can tell you it was not good.”

Moments later
the doctor from the emergency
room
walked into the waiting room.
“Kinley family?”

“Yes.” Kurt said giving my hand a squeeze.

“
I’m Dr. Glatt.
Cooper is out of surgery. The
bullet penetrated the kidneys
and some of his intestine
,
we were able to repair most of the damage but he lost a lot of blood and went into cardiac arrest on the table
. W
e were able to stabilize him but he’s not out of the woods just yet. They are moving him to ICU as we speak and you should be able to visit him in about 45 minutes but no more than one or two at a time and not for a prolonged period of time. He needs to rest. We’re keeping him sedated right now
. W
e’ll take him off slowly starting tomorrow
depending on his progress
. Do you have any questions?”

“Is he expected to make a full recovery?” Kurt asked.

“We believe so.”
I took a deep breath.

“Miss Prescott we’d like to
do some quick blood work on you to make sure what ever was used to render you unconscious is no longer in your system. I can have a nurse come here and do it if you’d prefer.”

“That’s fine. Thank you.” I said giving him a tight smile.
I squeezed Kurt’s hand.

Ten minutes later nurse Shelly came in and took three vacutainer’s of blood to send off to the lab. Then we waited in silence to be called to ICU.
My
dad walked in with my
mom
,
she was noticeably very upset. She pulled me into her arms for a hug
. I
t was awkward seeing
Luke was still holding me and I never let go of Kurt’s hand.