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Chapter 15:

Apollo POV

Rushing to the dock, as I reach the entrance I get a call from Dmitri and immediately answer

"Dmitri, have you found them?"

"No, so we'll head over to the docks" and with that, we hung up, we couldn't still exchange words as we knew this bitch was crazy and we had to get moving

I park far enough so that they don't see me and as I walk deeper into the dock, I see a black SUV. I then hear voices and the scene in front of me leaves me speechless and fucking angry, I'm going to kill Stacey... I look over as she is speaking to what sounds like a man's voice. Curiously I slowly move over to get a better view but his voice from court gives him away and I don't even need to take a step forward... so these two monsters were sleeping together and clearly plotting together as well, but I focus my attention back to them and my heart breaks as I hear the love of my life begging for Pen to go.

In a sick revenge plot I guess, they literally had two cages hanging on either side, which had Kat in one and Pen in the other...but Penelope was rather quiet and I felt a knot in my stomach as I saw Kat's bruised face and arms, she must've put up a fight.

Focusing once more, I see a shining object in Justin's hand – is that a gun? fuck, I need back up right away, where are the fucking police? Kat keeps begging for their lives and the more she speaks the more restless I get

"Please, please Justin....Stacey....I'll give you whatever you want just let Penelope go, she has nothing to do with any of this mess.." the tears pouring down her face. Stacey smirks at Justin, they kiss (sick fuckers) and he nods at her and before I can even guess what that means, she presses a button and Penelope's cage drops a few centimetres...

"No!! No! Penelope!" Kat's voice is hoarse as she screams loudly while they must've drugged Penelope so heavily that even that loud bang from the drop did nothing to wake her up. Kat clinging to the bars of the cage "Please...let her go, I'll do anything please..." she is shaking as she cries and continuously looks over at Penelope, still unmoving.

Stacey then finally walks over "Well...one of you has to drop sooner or later and take a swim..." Kat looks at her "Fine, let me drop, just let her go please..." Stacey turns to Justin who looks slightly conflicted and Stacey turns to him "Babe...come on, one of them has to go anyway right? Remember how this fat bitch ruined your life, your job, your reputation..." he then looks back up at Kat with a smirk "This is all because of you, you fat bitch! We could've avoided all of this if you and your little asshole boyfriend didn't ruin my life!" he gets so visibly upset and grabs the remote from Stacey's hand, pushing on the button but she stops him just as Kat is hovering halfway between Pen and the water and my heart drops. Justin looks at her questioningly "I want him to see her die, I want him to suffer" I can't take this shit anymore and deciding not to wait for backup anymore, I walk out from where I'm standing and Kat's eyes grow larger and frightened.

Stacey turns around when she notices Kat's expression and she smirks at me, meanwhile, Justin immediately rises his gun at me and I raise my hands up "I'm who you want, let them go" and Justin walks up to me pointing the gun in my back, Kat screaming at him to let me go

"Shut up, bitch!" she quietens down with her hand over her mouth and he leads me to stand in the middle of Kat and Pen. Stacey walks up in front of me and waves the remote

"You were so quick in choosing that fat bitch over me...so surely, you can make another choice, can't you?" I see Penelope start to finally wake up and she looks visibly confused and scared as she starts crying

"Pen, honey, Penelope...look at me sweetie, you'll be fine..." Kat tries to calm her down and focuses all her attention on Pen when Justin fires a shot into the air "Shut up! All of you, shut up!" as if realizing something he turns his attention to Stacey who is watching me intently

"Stacey...babe, do you- are you...are you still in love with this asshole?" she walks towards him but he stops her by pointing the gun at her, his eyes now filled with malice

"You fucking whore, you're all the fucking same!"

Everything happened so quickly yet so slowly as if in slow motion...

Justin shot at Stacey, and I used this as a distraction to hit the gun from his hand as I managed to knock him down, I hear movement from behind me and see Stacey, with blood gushing from her torso, reach for the remote "If I can't have you, nobody will" and as she presses the button a loud splash is heard but then I feel someone grab my leg and pull me down, landing on my front. Getting back up, we both jump for the gun and a loud shot rings out...

As if everything stopped, Justin stiffens only for red to start covering his shirt as he drops to the floor while the cops start rushing in, trying to get Penelope down and checking if Stacey still has a pulse. "I need help over here!" I shout as I run towards the water and jump in. I see Kat already unconscious and try to open the gate but the lock doesn't budge. A few seconds later, there's a policeman in the water trying to help me open the cage but it doesn't budge. He goes above water to shout for help and a cutter I assume but I can't wait any longer and I knock my body against the cage door in hopes of getting it open and when the chain gets loose, the lock is still keeping it from opening up enough to get her out. Luckily the policemen arrive with the cutters and after a few minutes, the door is open.

I don't think twice as I rush to get her out of there. Once above water, they help me remove her from the water and the paramedics rush over. She is visibly pale and blue from the cold of the water and Penelope rushes over as well "Kat..." she sobs and I grab her into my arms as they are pumping her lungs for air "Come on baby, breath..." and on the third pump, she coughs up water and they insert an IV. I go to her and grab her hand, kissing it "You're going to be already baby..." I hold her hand in the ambulance all the way to the hospital while Chris and Dmitri, who arrived a few minutes after, took Penelope home to shower and rest with the promise of visiting once Kat was feeling better.

The nurses had to do my check-up while I was sitting in Kat's room as I refused to leave her side ever again. The police also came during that time to let me know that Justin was dead but Stacey was on life support for now as the bullet hit a vital organ but she was still breathing. Am I an asshole for hoping that both of them would've just disappeared forever?

It's been 12 hours and Kat hasn't woken up yet. The nurses kept coming around to check up on her and reassuring me that her body was just recovering and needed the rest. I woke up to a hand squeezing mine and when I looked up and saw Kat squinting her eyes open, I jumped up and called one of the nurses who came to check on her. My eyes never left her once, we thanked the nurse as she left.

"Is it over?" Kat's shaky, whispering voice breaks me from my thoughts and I grab her into my arms as I feel her whimper against my chest. I place a kiss on her head and hold her tighter "Yes, baby...it's finally over" I feel the relief in her body as she relaxes and cries for a few moments while I keep holding on to her, reminding her that I am here, supporting her.

Soon after, she fades into a deep sleep again, the stress and emotions finally leaving her body and she looks much more at peace. The next day, she woke up looking well rested and as we were eating she looks at my arm and frowns "Babe..." she lightly touches my arm but I just smile at her and I would gladly break any bones in my body for her. "I'm fine! It's just a little fracture, doc says I'll be fine in a few weeks" she squints at me but I kiss her quickly and she smiles at me, continuing with our conversation.

As she is now allowed visitors: Pen, Chris and Dmitri all came to visit her and while they were chatting about new clients, Pen's studying etc. I nudged for Dmitri to follow me outside and I close the door as we walk further along down the passage, out of earshot.

"Any updates?" he looks at me and takes out his phone,

"So the firm has just won their new case, we're looking for new recruits and the new offices are coming along, as well as the new branch in Dubai" I nod and ask "and Stacey?" he puts the phone away

"She's still on the machine but I've heard the nurses say they have basically almost declared her brain dead but the family does not want to shut off the machines". We remain silent for a moment, letting the information sink in as it all still felt like a scene from a movie...

"Ah! Did you uh, bring it?" he smiles back at me and reaches into his pocket, giving me a quizzical look "Are you sure about doing this now?" I nod and put my good arm on his shoulder

"D, if there's one thing I've been taught through all this is that life is too short and this feels right to me, just me and her and this moment. I've been wanting to do this for a while now so now is as good as any time..." he pulls me in for a hug and wishes me luck. We spend a few more minutes chatting before they all have to leave as visiting hours are over. While Kat is napping, I quickly make my way out to see how everything was coming along and an hour later, I head back to her room. She is standing over at the window looking out at the sunset, as I approach her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. She leans into me and we watch the sunset.

When the sun is gone and the moon is high in the sky I turn her around "Walk with me?" I grab her hand, intertwining our fingers and she looks at me "Everything ok?" I nod, the nervous feeling starting to creep in when we finally walk towards the nurses' room and the candles begin lining the way. She 'wows' and comments on how pretty it is every 5 seconds which calms me down a bit. When we finally reach the end, there is a bunch of roses and I hand it to her.

"Aww, Apollo...thank you, this is so sweet" we kiss before I take the flowers from her, put them down, and grab both her hands

"Kat..." her eyes looks at me with so much love "Apollo..." she giggles

"Kat, I love you. I've loved you from the moment I laid eyes on my Greek goddess. You are my everything and there is nothing that I wouldn't do for you, baby. I want to have one-night stands with you forever" she slaps my arm lightly and laughs at the reference to how we first met

"Kat..." her hands clasped over her mouth as I reach into my pocket and pull out the velvet box, popping it open and revealing the ring. Tears start trailing down her face as I get onto one knee.

"Katherine Ellis, would you make me the luckiest man in the world and be my wife?" she nods

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes Apollo!" in our hospital clothes with the goofiest grins and laughs, I stand and place the ring on her finger, spinning her around and kissing her when applause is heard from the door as the nurses are crowded at the entrance, Kat turning and hiding her face in my neck.

Pen, Chris and Dmitri bust through the door with congratulations and everyone in the hospital spends the night celebrating with some good food and dance, man was that an experience... After the festivities were done, we headed back to the room and cuddled on the bed, talking but I could see Kat's attention was on the ring as every time she looked over at her hand, a smile would crawl onto her face. as she was drowsing off after an exciting night I kissed her forehead and imagined the life I was about to start with my wife...

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Well, that's it folks. How do we feel about the way things ended?

Comment below if you want an epilogue or If you're happy with the ending as is?

As always, love you for reading! Thank you for coming along on this ride and stay tuned for a maybe epilogue depending on the comments...

xx

Naah wait I can't leave ya'll without a lil. suthing something... he so fiiine damn!