The Sweetest Temptation
Chapter 146: Ruin

Chapter 146: Ruin

The sight of her falling and bleeding on the ground was the most terrifying thing Damien had ever witnessed. His heart ceased to beat and he struggled to breathe, feeling as though the air had been forcefully taken from his lungs.

He couldn’t process what was happening around him. His hands shook as he touched Beatrix’s arm and gazed upon her motionless body. Damien realized that she had been attempting to shield him from harm.

"N-no," Damien whispered. "S-somebody, please help her."

Xavier rushed towards him, and he snapped his head toward him. Xavier stared at Beatrix, shock and disbelief skating all over his face.

Damien grabbed his arm. "Please, s-save her!" He stuttered.

He looks at Damien with sympathy in his eyes.

"I called an ambulance and they will be here soon."

"Xavier," he cried, shaking his shoulder.

"She-she is not leaving us, is she?" Damien whispered brokenly, shaking Xavier even more, but he didn’t say any word, still speechless due to the sight before him.

Instead of saying something to calm Damien down, he pulled him into a tight hug, and he couldn’t contain his tears as they flowed hard and unforgiving.

The brotherly bond between them needed no words to understand the pain Damien was going through.

*****

While transferring Beatrix to the operating room, Damien grasped the patient trolley and observed her ashen skin.

Upon arrival, the doctor greeted them with grim tidings. "She’s in a critical condition, and I must warn you," the doctor hesitated before disclosing the brutal reality.

"The odds of her survival are slim." Damien’s breath caught in his throat, and Xavier gasped beside him as the doctor’s words cut through him like a blade.

"I don’t know if we can save her," the doctor says, his voice filled with determination.

As soon as the doctor left the room, Damien collapses onto his knees and Xavier wrapped his arms around him. Through tears, he muttered,

"I messed it up. I didn’t mean to hurt you." If he had agreed to Alina’s plan then all of this wouldn’t happen.

The weight in his chest grew heavier as he sobbed. Beatrix’s words kept replaying in his mind. "I love you."

How could she leave him like this after saying this? He won’t forgive her if she abandons him now.

He can’t lose his mother and the woman he loves in the same month and date.

******

3 hours later_

The darkness loomed over, suffocating any shred of hope as it enveloped every inch. Helpless and exposed, the excruciating pain faded into the background as the sight of her face in his mind brought on a new kind of agony. It was then that he realized the true meaning of falling in love so deeply that every breath was for her.

The idea of inner beauty became a reality, as the person he had been searching for was right in front of him all along. In that moment,

Damien knew that he would risk anything for her, even his own life. It wasn’t a cliché, it was the truth. It was already too lat but he would make it right once he gets another chance.

As the clock on the wall ticked on, time seemed to lose all meaning to Damien. With every passing second, the small glimmer of hope he clung to began to fade away. He sat on the floor, rocking back and forth with his eyes tightly shut, refusing any form of comfort.

The bodyguards Xavier had left for him sat in anxious silence, a few fidgeting with impatience, like the constant pacing of the captain , which only served to exacerbate Damien’s already frayed nerves. Every inch of his body trembled, down to his quivering bottom lip. The memories that haunted him were vivid and all-consuming, including the faint reminder etched onto his hands.

The sound of the gun going off echoed in his mind and he flinched and his head jerked forward, colliding with his hands as he squeezed his eyes shut.

Despite his best efforts, the image of her falling to her knees was seared into his mind. The piercing scream that escaped her lips and the sight of the lake of blood running across her chest continued to haunt him like a never-ending nightmare.

The only image that played in his mind was that of Beatrix lying there, giving her hand one last squeeze before slipping away from his grasp. He remembered how her entire body was lifted off the ground and dragged away from him by the paramedics.

The sound of the gunshot echoed in his head, getting louder and louder until it was almost unbearable.

The familiar ache was making his head hurt more. Unable to bear the agony any longer, Damien broke down in defeat, whimpering as tears flooded down his cheeks.

A voice called out, "Damien!Damien!" as someone rushed towards him. Damien was caught off guard and recoiled in fear, his face contorted with terror. The face that came into view bore a striking resemblance to Beatrix , and he kept repeating her name.

Xavier, who was approaching him, stopped in her tracks and held out his hands in a soothing gesture, speaking softly, "Damien, it’s me,Xavier."

Damien shook his head frantically, tears streaming down his face as he cried out in anguish, "No, No, No. It was supposed to be me! Why wasn’t it me instead? Why?" His outburst caught the attention of those around them.

Gradually, Damien closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm himself as he muttered the same phrase over and over again, "It should have been me. It should have been me."

While crouching down and holding his shoulder, Damien interrupted Damien and reassured him by saying, "It’s not your fault,Damien."

Damien was startled by his touch and he gently removed his hand from his shoulder.

"Damien, don’t blame this on yourself. I’m sure Beatrix wouldn’t want that" He muttered, not once looking away.

"B-But..." He blubbered. "I-I-I should have got s-shot."

Xavier shook his head firmly. "No. Beatrix got shot. Now I know how...much you’re hurting. How you feel like the world has collapsed on you.

And every single moment, you are blaming yourself continually over and over or going on what you could have done differently. I know Damien.

I blame myself." He said, then gently sighed before he added. "But, Beatrix got shot. She did it for the sake of saving you.

"But Damien, please don’t blame yourself.

Beatrix wouldn’t want that. We’ve all got to be strong for her."

Damien nodded.

The door to the operation room finally opened, and that made them all immediately rush to it.

The doctor stood by the door. He opened his mask and sighed, making Damien’s heart thump hard against his ribs as he waited in anticipation for what he was going to say.

He didn’t even breathe.

"We’ve finished the operation. It took quite some time to pull out the bullet," the doctor said.

"But she hasn’t survived the danger." His voice was filled with concern. "She still needs to pass the critical point. We have to wait for her.

I’m afraid to say that in this case, the probability for her to open her eyes again is

50:50. In the meantime, we will transfer her to the designated room."

Damien’s heart sinks. So, there was still a chance that she won’t open her eyes again? That she won’t see him and talk to him again?

He could hear Xavier beside him saying ’Thank you’ to the doctor, but his mind was still blank, his body still numb. His heart was still broken.

If Beatrix didn’t open her eyes anymore, what would he do? How was he going to live?

"Can we see her?" Xavier asked the doctor.

The doctor frowned but looking at how devastated Damien looked he nodded,

"Alright but one person at a time and make sure you’re properly covered before entering the recovery room."

Xavier nodded, "Alright."

Upon entering the room, Damien was met with an unsettling silence and his gaze immediately fell upon her.

She looked so weak, fragile and for that moment it looked like there was no life in her.

Despite his slow approach towards the foot of the bed, the familiar ache in his heart remained unsettled.

He had waited anxiously for twenty minutes outside, apprehensive about the possibility of coming to meet an empty bed. However, to his relief, she was there, attached to tubes and the rhythmic beeping of the cardiac monitor.

She was alive. Upon realizing this, he let out a sigh of relief, tears welling up in his eyes as he smiled at the sound of her steady breaths, though her eyes remained closed.

Despite the heart being the strongest muscle in the human body, it seemed to cause the most pain. He couldn’t fathom why she had made such a sacrifice for him when he didn’t deserve it.

Comparing themselves, he saw her as the epitome of purity and freshness, while he saw himself as the complete opposite, a dark star and a thorn in comparison, ruining everything.

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