69 The Heart

"Doctor, the patient has a gunshot wound to the left ventricle of her heart and she's in cardiac arrest!" One of the nurses yelled as they pushed Amy's gurney into the operating room.

The thoracic surgeon gave swift commands.

"I'm opening her now to start internal cardiac massage." He made the incisions for the thoracotomy. He glanced at the IV bags containing blood and fluids flowing into his patient.

"We're going to need a lot more blood. She's losing it fast." He instructed as he massaged her heart manually.

"Doctor, patient's systolic blood pressure is 70 and falling, sir. 60...50...30...doctor! She's going into hypovolemic shock!" The anesthesiologist said.

"Crap! Where's that extra blood?! I need it now!" The surgeon yelled.

"Here, sir!" One of the nurses shouted as she began replacing the IV bags. Amy lost blood almost as fast as it was going in. However the extra blood was working.

"Blood pressure rising, sir." The anesthesiologist said.

"Keep the blood coming. I'm starting the repairs now. Let's do this, people!" The surgeon shouted.

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Calvin dropped to his knees as blood was sent into the operating room over and over again.

He felt guilty. He hadn't done enough to protect her; hadn't raided the Red Vipers fast enough. He hadn't been a good man for so much of his life. Now that he was determined to be a man Amy could be proud of, would she be taken from him?

They continued to wait until eventually the operating room lights went off and the surgeon came out.

"Who's here for Amy Zhou?" He asked.

"I'm her husband!" Calvin said walking to the surgeon.

"Mr. Zhou, your wife sustained a gunshot wound to the left ventricle of her heart. She was in cardiac arrest and lost a lot of blood. She went into hypovolemic shock, so we don't know yet how or if any other vital organs were compromised—" The doctor was interrupted.

"But she's alive?!" Calvin asked.

"Yes, she's alive. She has recovery ahead of her and will need to remain in the hospital for awhile, but she's young and strong. Her body has a heck of a will to live and we put up a heck of a fight to save her.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Calvin bowed and cried, knowing she was alive.

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Amy was wheeled out of the operating room and taken to the VIP ward. Calvin sat with her all day.

At around 10 PM that night his phone rang.

"Boss, we got the shooter. He didn't want to give up information easily, but we, Ah, persuaded him to talk. The person who ordered the hit was your ex-wife. We got a video confession and hand delivered it and the shooter to the police station." One of the men on his security detail told him.

Calvin was stunned. Shocked. Enraged. He had wondered over the years if Julia had some sort of mental health disorder but he was never sure. He just knew she constantly accused him of cheating years before he ever did. It seemed like paranoia or some obsession.

However, she had never attacked his mistresses. Why Amy?

He mentioned this when his brother dropped off some soup Anna had made.

"That's easy. The mistresses never took her place as wife to the second Master. You divorced Julia and later married Amy. Amy had the position, the power, and access to all of your financial assets instead of her. It was simply jealousy." Robert told him. His words made sense.

The police interviewed the other ladies at the table with Amy and also questioned him about Julia.

In the early morning hours a police officer knocked on the door to Amy's ward.

"Come in." Calvin called.

"Mr. Zhou, when we arrived at your ex-wife's high rise apartment, she jumped off of her balcony on the thirty-first floor. She was pronounced dead at the scene." the policeman told him.

Calvin held his wife's hand. It was surreal to think his ex-wife died and his current wife nearly died within just a few hours of each other.

Right or wrong, he felt relief. Julia would never be able to hurt Amy again. He did feel empathy for his sons. He knew they loved their mother.

The nightmare would be over once Amy woke up.

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Amy lifted heavy eyelids and blinked slowly. Where was she? Why did she hurt so bad? She glanced to her side and saw Calvin sitting in a chair and slumped over the bed by her hand.

"Calvin?" She whispered. He stirred and slowly sat up.

"Amy! I'm so thankful you're alright!" Calvin cried.

"Am I in the hospital?" She asked?

"Yes. You were shot in the heart." Calvin told her the truth.

"Was it those people who were after me?" She asked. She didn't remember being shot.

"Yes. Julia hired a hit man. The police have the shooter and Julia committed suicide. You're safe now. But you gave me the scare of my life. You almost died several times before the surgeon was able to fix your heart." Calvin told her.

"I dreamed I could see them working on me. And you were on your knees crying. I wanted to tell you everything was fine but I couldn't talk." Amy told him.

"I was on my knees crying. They kept bringing more blood to the operating room and I was so afraid." Calvin told her.

"All will be fine now." Amy whispered.