Axel stared at his father for one good minute. "What do you mean, she's gone?"

"Axel, she was..." He was about to tell him that she was murdered but stopped himself before Axel does something stupid. "She died... In an accident"

Axel's jaw clenched as he glared at his father like he wanted to murder him. "Bullshit! You did this, didn't you? You lied to me! You never wanted her to be back in my life, so, YOU DECIDED TO PUT ON A SHOW!"

Dominic shook his head. "Axel... No---"

"Let me see her face then!" Saying that Axel strode towards the casket but Dominic stopped him by grabbing him by his arm.

"No," he shook his head frantically. "You don't want to remember her like that! You'll never be able to get that sight out of your mind"

After the dead body was cleared, they took off all the bandages for the embalming process. Her face was nothing but skin sewed together with only one eye intact. Her lips, nose, all facial features were destroyed by six bullets. They had washed her hair and made them presentable. They dressed her in new clean clothes that were provided by Dominic.

He didn't want Axel to see her like that.

Axel laughed. "Why? Are you afraid, I'll call your bluff?"

He pulled his arm out of Dominic's grip and walked towards the casket. "Open it!" He ordered one of the guards. They looked at Dominic for permission; he shook his head in negative.

Axel glared at his father and then at the guards. "What did you fill it with? Fucking rocks?"

"Axel, let go," Dominic said

"OPEN THIS FUCKING CASKET BEFORE I DESTROY IT!" saying that, Axel kicked the casket.

"AXEL!" Dominic shouted

"Fucking. Open. It!" Axel gritted through his teeth.

Dominic nodded towards the guard and they crouched down to unlock it. Dominic held Charlotte in his arms and closed her eyes with his hand.

Axel stood tall beside the casket as they slowly opened it. Her face was covered but he saw a red beautiful tendril sticking out of it, his stomach churned with fear. Mustering up courage, he pulled off the covers.

His eyes went wide as terror overtook his face. He fell to the ground, landing on his rear, and crawled back hysterically. "No! No! No! That's not Chloe! THAT'S NOT FUCKING CHLOE!"

The guards immediately closed the casket. Dominic gulped, watching his son. He knew it was just the beginning. "I'm sorry, Axel"

Axel glared at his father with venomous, hateful eyes. "You killed her!" He stood up slowly and walked towards his father.

Charlotte stepped back afraid of her brother. Dominic tried to hold Axel but he pushed him back harshly. "YOU FUCKING KILLED HER!" He grabbed Dominic by his collar. "You killed her, you fucking murderer!"

"Axel, just listen to me!"

Axel overpowered his father and threw him on the ground. He got over him and mindlessly started to throw punches. "You killed her! You killed her! You killed her! You killed her!"

The guards pulled him away from Dominic. They held him in a tight grip as he tried to get out of it. "You killed Chloe! You killed her!" He shrieked, veins popped out of his neck and forehead, tears stained his face.

He fought with all the guards for half an hour until he couldn't anymore. Slowly, his punches lost their power as he slumped to the ground.

He cried like he wasn't a day over five... He collapsed on the floor, dejected, swollen with emotions and realizations of his fate. He laid there with a sense of loss so powerful that his muscles wouldn’t respond to commands. Slowly, his body went numb as his eyes rolled back and he completely lost consciousness.

Dominic rushed towards his son and he pulled him over his lap. He slapped his face lightly. "Axel? AXEL?! Charlotte call the doctor"

Charlotte was rooted to her spot and she cried hysterically. "W-what?"

"CHARLOTTE, CALL THE FUCKING DOCTOR!"

Chloe strolled back and forth in her room. Her hand was on her stomach. She sharp pain flashed through her lower abdomen and she bent forwards.

"Ugh... What's wrong with you, baby?" She asked

Roxy came in with a tray full of food. "What's wrong, Chlo?"

"I don't know..." She hissed. "It's hurting so much..."

"How far are you along?" She asked

"Twenty-eight weeks" Chloe mumbled, rubbing her stomach.

Roxy snorted. "How much is that?"

Chloe sighed. "Six and a half months"

"You want me to call Maxim? He can take you to the doctor"

Chloe cringed, her last few encounters with Maxim have been nothing but horrible. He took her to the doctor a few times and always annoyed her with stupid questions.

"Aah!" Chloe sat down on the bed holding her stomach.

"And that's my queue to call Maxim" she ran outside.

Chloe felt something wet between her legs, her eyes widened. She touched the inside of her thighs and realized her water had broke.

"No, it's early for that..." She whispered to herself.

Alarmed, she laid on the bed, shaking, trembling in an odd rhythm from the pain. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about what had happened to her child. Suddenly, she remembered the day she woke up drenched in her own blood.

"Please, be alive... Please" she breathed out

Roxy entered with Maxim following behind. He picked Chloe up in his arms and walked to his car.

"You're a pain in the ass," he said to Chloe

Chloe looked at him wide-eyed. "Seriously, you want to do this right now!" She shrieked.

"Stop screaming in my ear!"

"I'm in pain what am I supposed to do?!" She yelled out

"Just--- just keep your mouth shut!"

Roxy opened the car door as Maxim gently place her in the car. They arrived at the hospital and Maxim gently pulled her out. Roxy followed them in closely.

The doctor took Chloe to the emergency room as Maxim and Roxy waited outside.

Chloe was perspiring, her hands were clammy, the pain intensified with each passing second.

"She's going into early labor," the nurse said to the doctor.

"No" Chloe shook her head. "I'm only twenty-eight weeks along, I can't give b-birth," she said, writhing in pain.

Suddenly, the dull, bland, hospital room’s walls felt like they were closing in on her. Her breaths came out short and weak as darkness slowly covered her eyes. The last thing she heard was the panicked voices of the nurses and the doctors.

She gained consciousness again with sharp, piercing pain shooting through her lower body.

"Doctor! She's awake"

"Mrs. Hayes, do you remember the breathing exercises?" The doctor asked

Chloe cried out in pain, her mind failed to understand anything. With each passing second, with each contraction, Chloe's writhed with pain. She squeezed her eyes shut and cried. She needed him... She needed Axel... She wanted him by her side... Tears rolled down the sides of her face.

She was alone...

She had no one by her side to hold her hand...

She had no one to tell her that it's going to be alright...

For thirteen excruciating hours, she laid on the hospital bed, her entire being burning with pain. She had more than six contractions per hour. As a contraction would pass, she'd get a moment or two in between to breathe out in relief.

"Okay, Mrs. Hayes, it's time to push," the doctor told her.

With a guttural squeak, Chloe pushed with all her might. Her face twisted with pain, sweat covered her entire body. She felt a burning, searing pain as her flesh stretched.

"She's crowning"

"One more push, Mrs. Hayes"

Chloe gripped the sheets and pushed using all her might. Due to being so tiny in size, the baby easily slid into the hands of the doctor.

"It's a girl!" The doctor announced as fragile, little, almost inaudible cries fell on Chloe's ears. She smiled through her distress.

The doctors talked among themselves as Chloe waited for them to give her daughter to her. They wrapped her daughter in a cloth as the nurse immediately took her out of the operation theatre with one doctor following behind.

"What's wrong? Where are they taking her?" Chloe asked frantically. "I wanna see her! I wanna see my daughter!"

"Mrs. Hayes, you need to calm down. It's premature birth, we had to take her to the NICU. We're gonna do a full body checkup before we can hand her to you"

"What's wrong with my baby?" Chloe cried, completely forgetting about her pain. "Is she alright?! Please let me see her, please!"

She screamed and tried to get up but the doctors held her down. She needed to recover herself first.

After watching the mounted television for so long, Maxim rolled his neck to loosen the kink. He paid all bills. The nurse smiled and thanked him, she was afraid of him as he had yelled at her earlier. The nurse asked him if he wanted to be with his wife to which he very rudely replied, "Fuck, no!"

He filled out all the forms but stopped when it was time to write the name of the father. He remembered that Chloe had called him Axel when she was afraid and she also kept calling him in the state of unconscious.

As Maxim didn't know his full name, he only wrote in the empty space and moved on to fill the rest of the forms.

The nurse frowned. "You're not the father of your wife's child?" She asked instead of minding her own business.

Her questions pissed Maxim off. "We had a threesome, the other guy got her pregnant!" He snapped

The nurse's eyes widened as she continued to type all the information he has given her into the hospital records.

He went back and sat outside Chloe's hospital room. The guy beside him sneezed constantly, it irked Maxim as he glared at him disgustingly. The guy awkwardly smiled at Maxim and then smeared his hand on his pant leg.

Losing his patience, he strode straight into Chloe's room. He was about to say something but stopped himself as he saw her asleep peacefully.

While he was waiting outside for hours on that uncomfortable chair, here she was. Sleeping peacefully. Glaring, he stepped towards her.

Placing his palms beside her on the bed, he leaned over and watched her. She looked angelic in her sleep. Almost like a child. He rolled his eyes annoyedly.

He sighed and sat down on the couch. He took off his shoes and jacket and relaxed on the couch.

He texted all the details to Andrew and kept using his cellphone until he drifted off into deep sleep.