A devilish smile appeared on my face as I made my way to the apartment door, already running ideas through my head on different ways I could wake her.
***
I walked into the apartment and headed for the stairs. I didn’t register the sight before me at first, because it was so fucking terrifying that it just couldn’t be real. But it was.
“Fuck! Geezus! Fuck! Alexis! No!”
I ran the fastest my fucking legs could carry me and skidded to my knees where her crumpled body lie at the base of the steps. “Please don’t be dead! Fuck! No!”
Adrenalin was coursing through me, and the first thing I did was check for a pulse. “Thank God.” She had a pulse and she was breathing. Gently, I lifted her head and noticed blood on my hand. “Fuck!”
She made a murmuring noise, one of pain.
“Hunny, you’re gonna be okay. I’m going to call an ambulance.”
I grabbed my phone and dialled 000.
“You have dialled 000 emergency. Do you need Police, Fire and Rescue or Ambulance?”
“Ambulance, I need an ambulance now. My girlfriend has fallen down the stairs and she is unconscious. She is fourteen weeks pregnant. Her head is bleeding, and... Oh fuck, I think her leg is broken.”
I’d seen some pretty horrific shit in my life but the angle at which her foot lay to her leg was not normal.
“Is she breathing?” the operator asked, in a calm voice.
“Yes. Yes, she is breathing. My name is Bryce Clark, and I own City Towers. We are in the penthouse. I have a helipad. Please send a chopper, now!”
Alexis murmured again. I gently ran my hand down the side of her face. “It’s okay, my love, I’m right here.” I leaned over her, wanting to pick her up in my arms and hold her to me, but I knew not to touch her. I didn’t know if anything else was broken, she could have fractured her spine for all I knew.
I looked over her with a bit more detail when I noticed the blood staining her dress in between her legs. “Oh, God. No.”
The operator was still talking on the other end of the phone, but I couldn’t focus on a word she was saying. I stared down at Alexis and I lost control, taking hold of her hand and kissing it, crying and telling her that the paramedics were coming and that she was going to be fine. After that, it was all kind of a blur.
***
Once at the hospital, my incoherent state of mind still remained. All I remembered was seeing her being wheeled away from me and into the emergency department, then feeling like my life had once again ended.
A nurse lightly touched my arm. “Mr. Clark?” She guided me to a seat. “I’m so sorry that your wife is hurt.”
I didn’t correct her mistake of Alexis’ title. To me, she was my wife; she was my life, and as soon as it was legally possible, I was going to marry her. We just had to get through this first. We had to.
“Your wife is stable and she will be fine.” Oh, thank fuck. “She is on her way to Radiology to have an x-ray of her ankle which is clearly broken. She will also have a CT scan to check the severity of her head injury. Now, Mr. Clark...” she placed her hand on my shoulder, “I’m so terribly sorry to have to tell you this, but upon examination of your wife by the paramedics, they found evidence of an incomplete miscarriage.”
I dropped my head into my hands, already knowing that was the case. Seeing the blood that had stained Alexis’ dress, kind of made it unmistakeable. It wasn’t any less painful to hear though.
The nurse—I didn’t even know her name—gently squeezed the hand she had placed on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry. Is there anyone I can call for you?”
I lifted my head. “No. That’s okay. I will call Alexis’ mum. Thank you.”
“Okay then. There is a waiting room, just down there.” She nodded down the corridor. “Please help yourself to a drink. I will be at the nurse’s station if you need anything. As soon as your wife is out of surgery I will come and let you know.”
I thanked her again then turned and headed for the waiting room, grabbing my phone out of my pocket. I dialled Chelsea’s number.
“Bryce, hi. It’s so nice—”
“Chelsea. I need you to take a chopper and fly to the co-ordinates I’m about to send you. I need you to pick up Alexis’ family then fly them directly to the Royal Women’s Hospital as soon as possible.”
“Is everything okay? Are you—”
“Chelsea, can you do that for me? Please?”
“Of course, I—”
“Thank you. I’ll send the co-ordinates now and the clearance to land when I have it.”
I hung up from Chelsea and dialled Maryann.