77

NOAH :

"Beautiful house. So you live here together now?" Fernando asks and walks towards the front door with me.

i start to smile “Yes, I started building it once I knew I fell in love with her. I can't believe we've known each other for almost a year now. Time goes by so fast." I mumble and enter the house.

"Babe ? I'm at home." I call out loudly and take off my shoes. Fernando imitates me.

"I can't believe you came up with the decor yourself and planned the house yourself."

Well, I didn't do it all alone. I enlisted the help of engineers, otherwise this house would collapse. I have a little idea about it, but planning everything all by yourself would be too dangerous.

"Babe!" I shout loudly and sigh. Where is she?

"Why don't you go into the kitchen? Just straight through. I'll go see Mirella shortly."

"Sure." He replies shortly and walks into the kitchen while I walk upstairs to the bedroom. Maybe she just lay down and is asleep

But when I get upstairs to the bedroom, I don't see her lying in bed.

What the... ?

I look around the room uncertainly and hear something falling in the bathroom.

What the hell is going on here? She would have contacted me immediately if everything was ok.

"Mirella?" I call once worried and walk towards the bathroom door.

"Noah..." I hear her cry while I hear my heart sink. I walk straight into the bathroom and open the door and what I see there breaks my heart.

"Baby..." I breathe softly and walk towards her.

"What happened?" I ask her, grabbing a towel and pressing it on her stomach.

"It hurts." She whispers, crying, and puts her hands on mine. She leans against the wall, exhausted, breathing heavily.

What happened here ?

"FERNANDO 'CALL AN AMBULANCE IMMEDIATELY." I yell loudly, smiling at Mirella. "It'll be fine. We're taking you to a hospital, but you have to tell me what happened here baby."

"Catarina seems to have figured out where we live..." she whispers.

What ?

"All I know is that she suddenly stood behind me and threatened me with a gun. She said she didn't want you to love anyone else and that I didn't deserve to be with me. When I tried to take the gun away from her, she pulled the trigger and left."

This woman is crazy. She's a psychopath and needs to be stopped.

I won't let her ever hurt Mirella again.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here. It's all my fault." I mumble and keep pressing on the wound.

Suddenly I hear a loud bang downstairs.

That was a weapon...

"You must check on him."

I can't leave her alone. She is injured.

"No, I'll stay here."

Right now I don't have a cell phone with me.

"The ambulance is on its way." I hear Fernando say behind me. He sits next to me and smiles at Mirella.

"Hey you. Everything will be fine. The ambulance will be here soon and they'll take care of you."

Exactly. Everything will be fine and someone will take care of her. I hope they hurry up. I can't let anything happen to her. She makes me so happy... she can't do this to me now.

"It's gonna be alright baby..."

She lost blood... Lots of blood. If the ambulance doesn't come soon, she'll lose consciousness... and maybe worse.

oh shit That damn bitch. If I get my hands on her, I'll kill her. What is wrong with you ? Catarina has never been so violent.

Why is she acting like this? Mirella didn't do anything to her.

"I'm so sorry..." I breathe and stroke her cheek.

"Noah..."

I will kill her !

"NOAH! Move to the side." Fernando calls and grabs my arm.

I do not want to go away. I want to stay here next to her.

"You have to move to the side. Otherwise they cannot help Mirella. Let go. Everything is good."

Nothing is good. I promised to protect her and now she's hurt.

"Mr. lee ! Please move aside. We take over now. Let go of the cloth and take a few steps back. This is the only way we can ensure that nothing worse happens." someone from the emergency services talks to me.

I do not want.

"Baby, let her through. It's OK. Let go of the towel." Mirella whispers smiling and takes my face in her hands.

Hope nothing happens to her. I don't want to and can't live without Mirella. She changed me so much. Through her I learned to love and to live again.

"Please don't leave me..." I breathe softly and let go of her.

Please...

MIRELLA :

I slowly open my eyes and have to blink a few times before realizing where I am.

I swallow hard and clear my throat. I'm so thirsty.

Looking to my left hand, I see Noah sitting in a chair with his head on the bed, asleep. Why didn't he lie down in a bed?

My other hand gently slips into his hair. I gently brush a few strands of hair out of his face and notice how he flinches slightly.

He's so cute when he sleeps.

"Baby..." I whisper softly to him. He immediately raises his head in surprise and looks at me.

"Mirella..." he replies and sits up.

I wonder how long I've been lying here? I feel like I've only been here a few hours, but I'm sure I've been here a few days and it looks like he has too. His hair is completely messed up.

"I'm thirsty." I murmur, smiling slightly at him. I really need something to drink first.

"Of course, wait a minute." He immediately gets up and pours me some water into a glass before coming back to me and holding it to my lips.

After finally taking a few sips, I lean back and look at him with a sigh.

He starts smiling slightly and puts his hand on my cheek. "You look beautiful." He breathes softly and brushes a few strands of hair away from my face.

"I look like a corpse and you're telling me I'm beautiful?" I ask, giggling, putting my hand on his.

He knows how to make me smile. I just hope things with Catarina haven't changed anything between us. I don't want him to blame himself for anything. That's just not right...

"You're always beautiful, whether you look like a corpse or not... but... I don't think your beauty was made for me, Mirella."

What ?

What does he mean with that ?

Swallowing, he sits down next to me on the bed and grabs my hand.

"We should break up." he whispers, staring down at my ring.

Call it quits ? What does he mean break up?

"I thought I could do it all, you know? That was wrong. I thought I could marry the woman I love... and protect her, but I failed the first time."

But that's not his fault! He couldn't have known that Catarina knows where we live. It is not his fault.

"Don't talk nonsense, Noah. You are my future husband... You can't just break up. It will make me unhappy."

He just can't do this. I won't allow that. This year that I've spent with him so far has been the best of my life. I don't want to give up on us because of Catarina.

“God brought us together for a reason...he wanted us to be together. Please... everything is fine. I'm here."

I smile and sit up and smooth his hair. He can't just leave me like that now. Not after we've been through so much shit.

"What if I can't protect you and our children? Sooner or later one of you will die because of me. I can't allow that, Mirella."

That will not happen.

"If you go, I'll never forgive you, Noah. you will marry me ! I know you love me and I love you."

I just know it.

It's quiet for a few minutes between and, but then he looks me in the eye. "I'm scared." He mumbles and starts to smile.

I know. I have that too, but going through it in pairs is still better than going it alone.

"Everything will be fine and we will be happy. If we both work together and are a team, then everything can only get better. We'll clear things up with Catarina and we'll be happy. Just like we both imagined. Don't forget you proposed to me. Pulling him back is cowardly and I know you're not a coward. But on the contrary. You are the strongest, smartest, most beautiful and best man I have ever met in my life. I can't give that up, no matter what the others say. I love you and you will always be my man."

He doesn't trust himself and that's why he doubts himself so much. He has to learn to trust himself and I'm sure that sooner or later he will.

He nods slightly.

"Promise me we'll never break up when it comes to this. We stick together !"

"Yes, we stick together. I promise we'll never break up over something like that." he promises and leans forward. He kisses my forehead gently and then suddenly starts talking about Catarina.

"It's over with Catarina."

How done?

"Do you remember the shot we heard when I was upstairs with you?" he asks quietly.

Yes, but what does that have to do with Catarina? I nod.

“Fernando shot her that night. She managed to escape, but was found several hundred yards away. She bled to death."

What ? But... why did Fernando do that?

"They've been divorced for a long time and while he's still in love, he thinks he did the right thing. He's glad you're okay and said he didn't regret it. He would do it for you again and again if need be."

The poor...

"Where is he ?"

"Flyed back to New York. He had to go back to his mafia. After all, he has to take responsibility."

I'm so sorry. I never thought it would come to this. Hopefully Fernando is okay... I really didn't want all this to happen.

"How long ago was the evening?"

"Four days. The doctors operated out the bullet that was in your stomach. They say that you will recover and that you will be fine soon. You've lost some blood, but you're out of harm's way."

It's good...

"I'm glad you weren't pregnant. I don't know how I would have coped with the death of our first child." he suddenly murmurs and looks at me relieved...

How right he is. I couldn't live with this... not with the death of my child.