I don't know what happened before Layla landed on top of me when I was trying to prevent her from having a bad fall on her stomach. This was because her hands slipped on the gun, resulting in her falling, but she continued picking up the struggle of getting the gun from me.

From there, everything happened so fast, the next thing I heard was two shots being fired and Layla grasped, her eyes dropping to her stomach to see her white shirt was slowly turning crimson red. Her breathing ragged as she placed her hand on her bullet wound and bought it to her face before looking at me in the eyes before hers rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed on her side on the floor and I quickly got to my side to shake her awake, but she had lost consciousness.

Troy quickly pushed me away, trying to shake Layla up. I could see his hands stained with blood and I turned my head to see Junior lying lifeless on the floor, Angelo knocked out not very far from him.

"Layla?", Damon took his shirt out to apply pressure on Layla's wound, trying to shake her awake. "Please, open your eyes please"

"Layla, wake up", Troy gently tapped the side of her face continuously, and I was about to offer some assistance, but Damon pushed me away from them

"Don't fucking touch her", he warned, scooping her up bridal style in his arms. "I hope you're happy now, this is what you wanted right?"

"Not like this", I tried explaining but Troy's voice interrupted me

"We need to get them to the hospital", Troy fished for his car keys in his pocket before walking over to Cedric, and he growled out in pain while holding his head, it must be from a mild concussion because I saw him hit his head on the floor after I shot him, resulting in him losing consciousness. Troy wrapped his arm around his neck, helping Cedric on his feet as Damon rushed out the door to the car.

"You will pay for this, even if it's the last thing I do", Troy threatened before he and Cedric walked out, then I heard the sound of the car speeding out towards the gate and I stood frozen at the doorway, this whole thing starting to eat at me when I realized what I have done

"Come on", I pulled Angelo to his feet when I saw him starting to move a little on the floor and helped him on his feet. It seemed he was hit with something hard on his head because his forehead was bleeding.

"Junior?", he asked, looking around while massaging his bruised face a little

"He's dead", I looked over at his body sprawled on the floor. "Help me carry his body to the car, we'll work something out.

My heart was racing, and I was really nervous because I didn't know how Layla's fate will turn out while she was rushed to the theater. My clothes soaked in her blood were a constant reminder that she might not make it because she lost so much blood, causing me to crumble from the inside from the fear that flooded through me every second. I only zoned back into reality when Troy placed his hand on my shoulder and gave a little squeeze.

"Layla's a fighter, she's going to make it", he reassured, and I desperately wished that was true, but those words meant nothing, not until I hear from the doctor that her and the baby were out of danger and from where I was standing, it didn't look good

A few hours passed, and it felt like I was slowly losing my mind from all the waiting, pacing nervously in the waiting hall before catching a glimpse of a doctor walking towards us and Troy stood to his feet so that we both met his gaze

"Mr Kingsley?", he asked, looking in between us and I nodded my head, taking a step closer to him

"How are they?", my hands started to shake. "Are they going to be okay?"

"Mr Jones will be okay", the doctor reassured and paused before drawing a deep breath. "Your wife is also going to be okay as we managed to stop the internal bleeding, and she's stable at the moment"

"And the baby?", I held a breath waiting for his answer, but he frowned, slowly shaking his head and I felt my chest tightening

"I'm sorry Mr Kingsley", my aching heart sank deeper into my chest. "We did everything in our power, but it was already too late"

I felt light-headed all of a sudden, a crushing sensation clouding all over my body and I could feel myself falling off my feet, but Troy caught me just in time, and helped me to a seat

"Are you okay man?", he asked concerned, and I buried my face in my hands to regain strength before nodding my face a little

"I'm sorry for your loss Mr Kingsley", the doctor squeezed my shoulder lightly before excusing himself to do rounds when I seemed a bit better

"I'm really sorry Damon", Troy said quietly next to me and I wiped the tears that were streaming down my face

"How am I going to tell Layla?", my voice started breaking, struggling to catch my breath a little. "She was so excited about this pregnancy, this is going to murder her"

"Do you want me to be in the room with you when you tell her?", he asked while he ran his hand up and down my back, but I shook my head no

"I just need a little more time, I'll break the news to her on my own"

"Damon?", Layla shook me gently to wake me up when I had fallen asleep in her ward after spending a day at the hospital and I stood on my feet to kiss her forehead

"Hey"

"What happened?", she looked around her in confusion and I could tell the drugs hadn't weighted off her yet

"We are at the hospital", I took her hand in mine and caressed it slowly

"Why?", we locked eyes when those words escaped her lips, and it honestly broke my heart, it meant that I had to tell her everything

"What's the last thing you remember?", I asked and her eyebrows furrowed for a second as she paused to think, then it dawned on her what happened, and she placed her hand on her now flat stomach

"The baby", she whispered quietly, and I almost broke down from the look of devastation slowly registering on her face and watched her eyes flood with tears, her chin starting to quiver as she shook her head no

"I'm really sorry", I whispered, and she continued shaking her head, tears falling from her eyes

"No", she sobbed heavily. "No please no", she cried, and I didn't have anything more to say, I just held her tightly in my arms. She tried to push me off her at first as it seems she struggled breathing, but she eventually gave up and held on tight to me and cried. It was heartbreaking to hear her cry like this because she was looking forward to having this baby, and now he's gone.

A few days passed, and I was clearly mistaken when I believed I had seen Layla at her worst, I was wrong because it was nothing compared to this. She just stared into space, didn't move, eat or sleep. I knew we wouldn't grieve the same way but grieving apart wouldn't work for us either. I wanted to be there for her, but she wasn't letting me.

"The nurse told me you were not eating anything", I sat on the chair next to her bed, putting a sandwich and a few fruits in front of her, and she didn't say anything. "Layla, I know you're hurting, but you need to eat something", I tried to convince her, but she continued ignoring me

"Layla please-"

"I'm really not hungry", she forced herself to say and a tear slid down her cheek

"Can you at least try to eat something? ", I asked, and she looked at me and studies me with her eyes before slowly nodding her head

"You're being discharged today", I said trying to start a conversation, and she just nodded as she started taking small bites of the sandwich she was eating

"I would like to go back home with my father, if you don't mind", she looked at me and I raised a brow

"Home, as in your father's house?"

"Yeah", she drew a breath. "I would like to nurse him back to health after what Daniel did to him"

"Okay, I'll let Harry know about our departure"

"There's no need for you to come with us"

Her words caused my eyebrow to raise a little, questioning her motives. "Why not?"

"I just need to get away from this place for a while, just to clear my mind a bit"

"I hear that, but you can't surely expect me to let you go alone in this state"

"Why not?"

"Because Layla, I'm your husband. I want to be there for you. For better or for worse, remember? Wherever you go, I'll go with you".

"You don't have to", she side glanced at me as she chewed. She hasn't actually looked at me in the eye since I broke the news to her, like I repulsed her or something. Deep down, I felt like I knew this was coming, like somehow I kind of expecting this to happen.

"You're doing it again", I whispered quietly to myself, but it seems she heard me and her brow raised while she focused on eating

"Doing what?"

"You're leaving me", I breathed out, and she showed no expression on her face, instead she took another bite of the sandwich and did not bother to look at me

"Layla, look at me", I pleaded, but she chose to ignore me and look the other way instead, and wiped the tears off her face with her wrist

"It's just that...", she paused to think for a second before shrugging her shoulders a little and sniffed. "I don't need any more drama in my life Damon"

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't do this", she turned to look at me and tears continued to fall from her eyes. "I can't carry on living like this"

"What do you mean?", I was really worried now, and her not being clear was not helping me at all.

She drew a deep breath. "I want out"

I stopped blinking and held my breath for what seemed like minutes, to also give her time to think what she was saying through

"You want out of what Layla?", I asked quietly when she wasn't elaborating further on what she meant, so that she could change what she said and that whatever she was going to say next wouldn't break me into half

"I want out of everything, this life, this family, this marriage, just everything ", she rose her eyes to finally look me in the eyes. The second she said that, something inside me tore into pieces and my chest started burning up, making me feel weak.

"Layla you don't mean that-"

"Maybe I don't, but right now I feel like I do", she shrugged her shoulders a little. ''I want a divorce Damon"

That was it, the second I knew it was over, and I just stood there, looking at her with my heart shattering into pieces from inside me, like a bullet pierced through all my vital organs, and I was bleeding inside out before taking two steps backwards and turned to the door, almost losing my balance on the way out of the ward, but I felt someone holding me up to see it was the doctor who broke the miscarriage news to us

"Mr Kingsley, are you okay?", he seemed concerned while helping me maintain my balance back, and I waved it off by telling him I was fine and continued walking

Next thing I knew, I was kneeling on the floor with my hand on my chest, breathing heavily, struggling to catch my breath and saw a group of people running my direction via my peripheral vision. I finally couldn't hold myself up for long, and I sprawled on the floor, seeing only pairs of feet still running to get to me before it all turned white........

"Damon?", a voice whispered softly, and I peeled my eyes open to see Layla next to me. The only different now was that I was on the hospital bed, and she was standing beside me.

"Hey", I croaked out, turning my head to look at her but my eyes were so heavy, I could barely keep them open. "Are you okay?"

She blinked a little before nodding her head. "I'm fine"

"What's going on?"

"You collapsed due to a panic attack", she said, closely studying my face to see any change in my expression

"Oh", I closed my eyes a little before turning to look away from her. "Okay"

"Yeah, so how are you feeling?", she asked and in my mind, I could still hear her breathing out that

I want a divorce

"I'm fine", I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling above me to stop the tears to fall down my eyes

"So the doctors discharged me yesterday and discharged my father early this morning", she paused, waiting for me to say something, but I chose to not say anything, instead I just nodded my head

"Mom and Dad flew in early today, I told them what happened-"

"When are you leaving?", I blurted out, to my own suprise, but it was from the anger blended with the hurt I felt inside me and her eyes widened a little

"I was thinking tonight, but I decided to stay a bit longer for your sake-"

"You don't have to", I interrupted her while she was going to say something further and her eyes arched up in confusion

"What do you mean?"

"You want to leave right?", I turned to look at her. "So leave"

"I can't leave you like this"

"I'm a grown man and I can take care of myself", I said, and she paused for a second before slowly nodding her head. We locked eyes for a second, neither of us saying anything I opened my mouth to speak.

"I'm really tired Layla"

"Oh okay, I'll give you time to rest"

"No, you don't understand", I stopped her just when she was about to leave by grabbing her by the arm and pulled her close again

"What I mean is that I'm really tired of always having to give you reasons to stay in this marriage while clearly all you want to do is run away at the first sight of troubles heading our way, that's not how marriages work, and I'm not an expect myself, but I know that this is not what I signed up for. I was willing to stay and work things out because that's what marriage is all about; sticking together and conquering any obstacles faced together, it won't always be perfect. But if it means that I'll have to run after you every time we face some difficulties and convince you to fight for what we have, then maybe this was not meant to be. Maybe we are not meant to be".

She dropped her eyes to the floor

"So if you want a divorce, then divorce me Layla. I really don't care anymore what you do, even though all I wanted, was to be there for you and love you unconditionally but how can I do that when you want out of everything".

She kept quiet, tears started streaming down her face

"This whole Daniel thing wasn't my entirely fault. Your father chose to abandon him and that resulted in him growing up with all the resentment and hatred in his heart, but what do you choose to do? You're choosing to turn a blind eye to what your father did to him and I have to suffer the consequences. How is that even fair?"

"Damon-"

"If you're going to try to make me feel bad then I'm sorry, not this time. It's all up to you what you want, it's either you want me to be a part of your life, or you don't", I paused to look at her as she wiped off her tears and our eyes met. "Go Layla, it's fine"

"It doesn't have to end like this", she sobbed, and I shook my head

"Go", I repeated, turning to face the other way and I could hear her heave a sigh before hearing her walk out of my ward, breaking into tears as soon as she closed the door behind her and I closed my eyes, the tears I kept hidden for so long fell down my cheeks and I just knew,

That was it

I dragged myself out of Damon's ward and closed the door behind me, then walked to the window that allowed me to see him through the glass, and he was still facing the other way, he didn't even look back once

He is done with me

I drew in a breath and walked away from the window to the driver outside waiting to take me and my father back home. I caught a glimpse of the Kingsley's at the reception, and before I could even turn back and try to find another way out of the hospital without bumping into them but-

"Layla!", Mom called out for me, and I turned to see her walking towards me, leaving Dad to inquire at the reception and a smile grew on my face when I saw she was carrying Dylan in her arms and his eyes lit up when he saw me. She embraced me in a bone crushing hug the second she reached me and Dylan whimpered for me to take him in my arms.

He looked so adorable, with his chubby cheeks and his almost dimple as he giggled to himself. He has grown so big since I last saw him. I pulled him close to my chest and never wanted to let go of him. I wished I could just stay like that, with him in my arms forever.

"Layla sweetheart", Mom rose my face so that I could look at her, concern raining from her eyes when she realized I was crying and pulled me in for a hug again. We felt another strong pair of arms wrapping around us, and it was Dad, joining in on the warmth.

No words could explain how comforting that was

"I'm so sorry", Mom whispered near my ear before kissing me on my temple, and we broke away from the hug and I forced a polite smile on my face before kissing Dylan fully on the cheek and gave him back

"I have to go", I whispered quietly and Dylan frowned in disappointment when he saw me staring to back away from and a hand pulled me back to see Dad looking down at me

"Layla, you don't have to go, please"

"There is nothing left for me here", I shrugged my shoulders a little, a sob threatening to bust out from my lips

"There is", Mom cupped the side of my face. "We are here, your family"

"Please don't make it difficult for me", I gently pulled myself from his grip and walked away. Dylan started crying hysterically as I continued walking, and I covered my ears with my wrists so that I didn't hear his piercing cry any more and I didn't look back.

I was leaving a part of me behind

I got to the car and the driver was already waiting for me with the door open. It was Harry, he was the driver taking me home, I didn't even know.

"Harry, what are you doing here?", I asked him when I reached where he was standing

"Mr Kingsley asked me to make sure you got back home safely", he smiled wholeheartedly at me and I couldn't help but to smile back at him. There was something in his eyes that made me feel like he was feeling sorry for me. He knew and couldn't even hide it, but he tried to make sure that I felt as comfortable as possible. I wrapped my arms around his waist and placed my head on his chest.

"Thank you", I said, and he tensed up, probably taken by surprise, but he hugged me back

"Anything for you, my dear"

We broke away from the hug, and he guided me into the car. My father was sleeping peacefully in the back seat, leaning on the door careful not to hurt his shoulder with his arm in an arm sling. I covered my hands with his. I don't know why, but I wasn't even angry or mad at him, I was just disappointed. He is still my father, Daniel saga or not.

I looked out of the window as we broke off, reminding me of my wedding day, I was leaving from the new place I called home, and back where I have begun. It hurt but it was for the best. They had to understand....