Chapter Seventeen

Murray continued to push Caitlin to do his will, but she rejected his offer so many times. When she threatened to call the police, he reminded her of her son who he could kill immediately with just a phone call.

"I have men everywhere to do my will. You can not escape me Caitlin. You can run, but you can't hide." he said with a dark smile.

Caitlin was trapped. She had no one to call for help, and she couldn't tell anyone either for fear of what Murray might do.

Two nights later, she was returning from work when she received a disturbing text in her phone from an unknown number. It read;

" If you want to save your son, come to his school before the countdown ends.

50, 49, 48…."

Caitlin was terrified. She quickly got into a taxi and rushed to the school. The taxi man didn't know why she needed him to go so fast, but he had to obey her order because of how distressed she was. She arrived at the school and received another text.

"9, 8, 7,6…."

She quickly rushed up the stairs to sultan's class room but it was dark. The timer went off with a beep, then suddenly two loud gun shots were heard. Caitlin screamed in tears and then the lights came on. Two of the teachers that looked after Sultan had been shot dead on the head. Two hefty men in black held Sultan who was trying not to cry so loud, or they would shoot him too.

"Well, well, well, look who finally showed up. I never knew you loved your son this much. How pathetic."

Caitlin turned to see Mr Murray at the door, dressed differently with a dark mask on. She had recognized him even when he had the mask on and the two hefty men turned out to be his bodyguards.

"Please don't do this! Please don't kill him!"

"Well my dear, you know our deal." he approached her and held her chin, then pulled her face roughly.

"Agree to be mine, then your son will live."

Caitlin burst into tears. She looked at Sultan who was also crying. Her heart was torn and she didn't know what to do. She didn't want to lose her son, nor did she want to allow Murray to have his way with her. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Yes…yes…i'm....i'm... yours but please just spare my son."

Murray stared at her for a while, then he smiled.

"Are you serious?!"

Caitlin nodded and he signaled the guards to let him go. The little boy rushed to his mother and they hugged, both crying.

"Sultan…are you hurt anywhere?!" she asked, checking him for any injuries.

He shook his head negatively.

"Take them to the car, while I dispose of these bodies." Murray said and the hefty men took Caitlin and Sultan away. They took her to the school yard where their car was parked and forced her to get in, then they shut the door.

Caitlin couldn't stop crying as she hugged Sultan. Her life would be so miserable from then on. Now Murray would do terrible things to her, just like Kane once did. She couldn't help but cry afresh.

"God please help me…." she prayed silently in tears, when suddenly she heard loud groans from outside. This was followed by several gunshots, then everywhere went silent. Fear gripped them.

"Go down Sultan!" she whispered and he crawled beneath the seat of the car. Caitlin looked through the window but saw no one. She slowly opened the door and came out, then gasped at what she saw.

The hefty body guards laid on the ground, dead in their own pool of blood. Caitlin was so shocked. What happened to them?! She knew she heard gunshots earlier, but who did it?

"Caitlin…!" a gentle voice suddenly called behind her. She slowly turned and saw a tall, well built man in black, his face covered in a mask and he held a big gun in his hand. He slowly took off the mask and to her greatest shock, it was Kane!

Caitlin stared in shock. Her eyes widened as she stared at him. Suddenly everything seemed to be working in slow motion. Tears welled up in her eyes as she realized what had happened. He smiled slightly at her, relieved that she was alright and she felt her heart ache as so many emotions twirled in her head. Then Kane looked up and saw Murray who had seen everything, pointing a gun at Caitlin. He was going to shoot her! If he couldn't have her, then it was better for her to be dead.

Kane immediately pushed Caitlin out of the way as Murray pulled the trigger and there were several gunshots. She fell to the ground roughly, shutting her eyes tightly. Everywhere went quiet again. Then she opened her eyes and saw Murray with a bleeding chest. Blood oozed out of his nose and mouth, then he coughed and fell from the rail down to the floor, twelve meters below.

Caitlin quickly stood up and slowly approached Kane who turned to her. She was shocked to see that he had also been shot several times. He coughed and groaned in pain. His shirt was entirely stained with blood. His nose and mouth also bled. Caitlin was horrified. She rushed to him and he fell into her arms. She held him, staggering at his weight on her. She tried to make him lie down and knelt beside him. He was slowly losing consciousness. She couldn't believe what just happened. He coughed and groaned silently in pain and looked at her. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stared at him.

He slowly stretched out his shaking, blood stained hand and cupped a side of her face, then he smiled slightly and passed out the next second. Caitlin panicked.

"Kane?! Kane! Can you hear me?!" but he didn't reply. She quickly reached into his pocket for his phone and called 911.

Shortly, the police came with an ambulance. The school was secured immediately with police lines as they took out the dead bodies, including the teachers that were killed, Murray and his bodyguards. Kane was taken to a hospital, along with Caitlin and Sultan. She was still in shock, and couldn't speak to anyone. Sultan was also frightened. He stayed close to his mother as everyone scurried around in the hospital, trying to save Kane's life. He had several bullets in his body and had to have surgery to remove them.

In the meantime, they tried shocking him to restore his heart beat and it worked after a while. His heart rhythm was restored and they commenced the surgery right away. While the surgery went on, Darian arrived at the hospital. He found Caitlin and Sultan just outside the surgical theater.

"Miss Caitlin!" he called. "Where's Kane?!"

Caitlin could not answer. She only stared at him with hot tears running down her cheeks. He feared for Kane's life.

Hours passed and soon the news about that attack of a notorious mafia in an elementary school was everywhere. It was also reported that the only survivors was a young lady and a little boy who had been saved by the wealthy young CEO, Kane Esmond. It was big news that spread like wildfire.

The other doctors checked Caitlin and Sultan to find if they were harmed in any way, but they were fine, just shaken. Hours passed, Kane was still in the theater. Six hours later, one of the doctors approached them.

"Doctor! How's he?!" Darian said, worried.

"Well, the surgery was successful. We took out four bullets from his chest and stomach area and thankfully his vital organs were unharmed, but he sustained a lot of internal injuries and it's going to take a while to heal. He's going to make it. He's just very lucky."

Darian heaved a sigh of relief. Caitlin was also relieved that Kane was going to be fine. She wiped the tears off her cheeks and hugged Sultan who was also sobbing.

"Can we see him?!" Darian asked.

"Not yet. You'll have to wait until tomorrow. He's still unconscious."

Then they stayed in the hospital until it was very late.

"Miss Caitlin, you have to go home and rest. You both look really exhausted." Darian said. It was already eleven fifteen.

Caitlin still couldn't say a word. She nodded and wiped her cheeks and Darian carried Sultan in his arms.

"I'll give you a ride home."

She agreed and they left. She took one last look at the door of the room where Kane was, and left. It was a very quiet ride to Caitlin's house. Sultan had fallen asleep on his mother's lap. After a thirty minute ride, they arrived and by then It was already twelve midnight.

"Thank you… Darian." She managed to say in a shaken voice. He was quite shocked that she knew his name, but he nodded and left.

That night, Caitlin couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned all night as the whole event that happened the previous day played over and over like a nightmare. She could hear the gunshots echoing in her head. She couldn't stop seeing the images of the dead bodies in her sleep. She decided to stay awake till dawn as she couldn't bear any more nightmares. While she sat on the bed, she couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened. She couldn't help but blame herself for everything that happened. It was her fault, yes it was. She had allowed her anger and hatred for Kane to rule her life and make it miserable. If only she forgave him, she couldn't have left Allensouth to this city that had brought nothing but bad luck to her and her son.

She turned to look at him sleeping so peacefully, but she could tell that he wasn't peaceful. He looked so tired and moaned silently in his sleep, like he was having a bad dream. She patted his back gently to relieve him and he stopped, then she covered her face with her hands as she remembered the pained look on Kane's face before he passed out. He had risked his life to save her despite everything she had done to him.

She couldn't hold back the tears any more and began to sob. She put her hands over her mouth so as not to make any sound as she cried and she went on thinking and crying until dawn. The next morning, she woke up from her short and disturbing sleep to find herself kneeling beside her bed.

Sultan had moved closer to her but he was still fast asleep. She needed to visit Kane and find out how he was doing. She woke Sultan up and bathed him, then bathed and made him breakfast, however he didn't eat much. She also didn't eat anything except a glass of warm milk and they left for the hospital. She met Darian in the reception and he was surprised to see them.

"Caitlin! You're here?"

"Yes….I came to see how Kane's doing." she said feeling so much guilt. "How is he? Is he awake?"

"Well not yet. But hopefully he'll wake up today. I'm just glad that he's alright."

Darian noticed that Caitlin looked so pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't slept well. Sultan was also incredibly quiet. He must have been so frightened after everything he saw last night and Darian felt bad for him.

After a few hours of waiting, the doctor finally allowed them to go in. Caitlin's heart broke when she saw the state he was in. There were so many machines strapped onto his body through wires and he had also taken a few pints of blood because he bled quite a lot, thereby resulting in blood shortage. She covered her mouth with her hand as tears welled up in her eyes. Sultan was also sad to see him in such a state.

"Daddy…" he mumbled tearfully. Darian could feel the little boy's pain. Sultan let go of his mother and approached the bed. He looked at his daddy for a while as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Daddy….please wake up." he sniffed and wiped his face with his hands. Caitlin and Darian watched with heavy hearts and she couldn't hold back her tears and tried her best not to sob out loud.

Suddenly, Kane's fingers moved a bit. Darian noticed and stared with high hopes.

"He's waking up!" he gasped.

Kane moved his eyebrows a bit, then groaned so silently.

Darian rushed out to call the doctor immediately.