33) Don’t

Edward

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as I collapsed onto the ground. My heart was beating at an alarming speed as I tried to centre myself. Breathing seemed to be just as difficult as keeping myself conscious. This was too much. I could not believe this was happening. Right here. Right now. At the least expecting time. 

"Edward! Edward!" I heard voices call for me as I desperately tried to inhale. The pain was excruciating. Probably the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. It felt as if someone had set my body on fire and swung at me with machete. "Edward breathe! Call an ambulance," the voice screamed. I was not even sure if they were screaming or if it was my imagination conjuring it up. Everything felt so much louder, so much brighter that I feared I was loosing my grip on reality. 

Someones hands held my shoulders and I felt myself being cradled. A wet substance rolled down my face and I could not differentiate if it was sweat or my own tears. I had no idea for how long I lay there. Just struggling, but soon the blasting sounds of a siren ran in the background and everything went black. 

'Billionaire Edward Coleman, age 35 gunned down in Athens, Greece. Witnesses have no idea if the fifth richest man was shot or not.'

'Billionaire Edward Colemans video collapsing after a gunshot is the worlds trending video.'

'Experts believe that Mr. Coleman had been shot at the winery and have no idea if the billionaire playboy will make a recovery. No sources are willing to comment on the incident.'

My eyes flung open as I heard the beep of a machine next to me. For the first few seconds my vision was blurry before clearing. The ceiling was a plain white and so were the walls. It took me a minute to understand that my unfamiliar surroundings was in fact a private hospital room. The smell of chemicals only confirmed my suspicions. Groggily I turned my head and noticed a heart monitor, an IV that was connect to my right arm and the fact I was wearing a hospital gown.

An eye watering migraine hit me as soon I tried to sit up. 

"Mr. Coleman," I heard a female voice from the doorway, "you're up. Excellent I will get the doctor just hold on tight."

"Vasili," I groaned hoping she would have heard me. 

"Don't worry sir you will have visitors after the doctor checks on you," my eyes finally connected with hers and the obvious accent she had told me I was not in London. She had olive coloured skin and dark long hair. Her eyes were a dark green and I could tell she was Greek. I was in Greece? With that she left the room and a few minutes later a tall older man entered with greying hair. The white lab coat indicated he was my doctor. 

"Mr. Coleman lovely to finally meet you. I'm Dr. Kapoor," he smiled as he sat down on a chair next to my bed holding a clipboard. His accent was more middle eastern as it had a thickness to it I had heard before. U.A.E. 

"What happened to me?" My voice was hoarse and it felt painful to speak a full sentence. 

"Mr. Coleman you are in Athens private hospital in Greece. You suffered a severe panic attack after you almost got shot at the winery. Do you remember any recollection of thee events?" He looked at me expectedly. 

At first I had no idea what he was talking about till I remembered talking to John about something. Vasili. Yes. The glimmer at the top of the building. The panic to warn Vasili. "Vasili where is he?" Immediately I felt my heart rate increase and the heart monitor made it no secret as it notified the doctor and the nurse. 

"Sir please I need you to calm down. Everyone was safe no one got hurt. I just need you to take deep breathes," Dr, Kapoor said breathing deeply with me. After a few minutes I calmed down long enough for him to tell me more information. "You have been in the hospital for the past day. I had to sedate you heavily to prevent your stress levels. Mr. Coleman I have noticed you've had a long history of panic attacks from your medical records."

"That is private information," I said lowly. 

"I understand that sir, but once news got out of your almost assassination your next of kin, your sister Amanda Agassi released your medical records to us so we could treat you better. From what your family has told me you have not informed anyone about your condition," the more he spoke the more worried I was. This was not something I ever wanted to share with anyone and now my entire family was aware of it. Eventually word would get out that I suffered from severe anxiety and what would I do then? 

"What is your point?" I snapped getting irritated with the doctors useless questions. 

"Mr. Coleman I think it would serve in your best interest to get help. It can impact your physical health severely leading to more break downs, possibly a heart attack one day and so much more. It is nothing to be ashamed of. There are great rehab facilities that I could recommend you to, that have had great success."

"Thank you very much Doctor, but I would prefer if you treated me for my current state. The rest will be discussed with my private Doctor in London. Now can I please see Vasili and my family," I growled. 

The Doctor sighed and simply nodded, "they will be here in a moment." They both left the room and after a short few minutes the door opened to reveal Vasili. 

"Edward my soul," he cried and ran towards me. "You gave me such a huge scare! Never do that  again!" 

"I don't think I have much control over that," I chuckled. He immediately wrapped his arms around me. 

"Why didn't you tell us?" He whispered as he held me tightly. I knew what he was referring to and I sighed deeply. 

"How was I suppose to tell you? I'm the symbol of confidence and power around the world. I didn't think anyone would take me seriously."

"Edward you're a human. We all have our struggles and fuck anyone who thinks you don't have any because you have money. I swear people are so fucking narrow minded these days it makes me just want to punch a hole through their skull and..."

"Calm down Rambo," I heard Amanda's voice from the door way. She was dressed in a large tee shirt with shorts and her hair looked like a mess. "You piece of shit. I left France faster than Marco during Fashion week." Even though she seemed to be furious she pushed Vasili off me and crushed me with her tiny body. "You scared me so much. I don't know what I would have done if something happened to you," she sobbed. 

My heart immediately broke as I saw my baby sister cry. I hated seeing Amanda upset with everything in me and I always tried to protect her from it. I never thought I would be the reason for her to cry like this. It only dawned upon me then that I was doing more harm than good by keeping my anxiety a secret. "I'm so sorry Amanda."

"You better be. Mum and Dad are on their way." I immediately felt like jumping off a cliff when I heard my mother was on the way. She had the skill of being overly dramatic. "Let me go get Marco. He was worried sick about you." 

Once she had left Vasili was back at my side and held my hand. "Marco is being a bit off around me. I don't know if I did something wrong."

"Don't worry about it he might just be stressed with everything going on. He was in charge of security and he takes great pride in it," I kissed the back of his hand as he frowned slightly. 

"I hope so. All the guys are being weird around me. It's like they know something I don't. I think they all think this happened because of me," he sighed and sat down. 

"Hey don't say that. You couldn't predict that someone would try to shoot one of us. I'm just happy your safe. I'll talk to them once I'm out of here so we can clear the air. We are all very protective of one another so they will react that way since you are the new comer. They'll come around," from just the way Vasili spoke I knew that he had no idea that the shot was not intended for me, but for him. I had no idea why Marco had not told him yet, but I felt it was the wrong time. There was enough drama to begin with.