Chapter 6 - The Final Reckoning
"Sarah?" Ryan’s voice turned to absolute ice. He stepped in front of me, shielding me and the open door of Hope's room. "What the hell are you doing here? You're under a restraining order."
"A restraining order?" Sarah laughed, a high-pitched, hysterical sound that drew the attention of a nurse at the nearby station. "You think a piece of paper is going to stop me, Ryan? You ruined me! My father's firm is bankrupt because you pulled the merger! My reputation in this city is dead! All because of her and that little brat!"
She pointed a trembling, manicured finger toward the room where Hope lay sleeping.
"Security!" the nurse at the station yelled, picking up her phone. "We need security in Pediatric Wing B, immediately!"
Sarah didn't seem to care. She reached into her coat pocket, her eyes wild and bloodshot. "If I can't have my life back, Ryan, then you don't get to have yours. You don't get to play the happy little family!"
She pulled her hand out of her pocket. My heart stopped.
She was holding a heavy glass bottle filled with a clear, sloshing liquid.
"Is that... acid?" my mother gasped, running up the hallway from the cafeteria, dropping her coffee cups.
"Get back!" Ryan roared.
But Sarah was already lunging forward, unscrewing the cap with a manic grin. She aimed the bottle directly at my face.
In that split second, time seemed to slow down. I closed my eyes, bracing for the burning pain, preparing to shield my face.
But the pain never came.
Instead, I heard a heavy, dull thud, followed by a sharp scream of agony from Sarah.
I opened my eyes.
Ryan had thrown himself directly into Sarah’s path. The clear liquid had splashed across his right shoulder and chest, the expensive fabric of his coat immediately smoking and disintegrating as the acid hissed against his skin.
He didn't let out a single cry. With a raw, primal strength, he grabbed Sarah's wrists, twisting them until she dropped the bottle, which shattered harmlessly against the linoleum floor. He pinned her against the wall just as four heavy security guards rushed around the corner, tackling her to the ground and pulling her arms behind her back.
"Get off me! Get off me!" Sarah shrieked as she was handcuffed, her face smeared with mascara and tears. "He ruined me! He deserves to burn!"
They dragged her away, her screams fading down the long hospital corridor.
But I wasn't looking at her.
"Ryan!" I screamed, dropping to my knees beside him.
He had collapsed against the wall, his face contorted in intense, agonizing pain. The acid had eaten through his shirt, leaving angry, bubbling red chemical burns across his shoulder and the side of his neck.
"I'm... I'm okay," Ryan gasped, his breathing shallow, his gray eyes trying to find mine. "Is... is Hope okay? Did any of it get on you?"
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"No," I sobbed, tears streaming down my face as I grabbed a nearby sterile sheet from a medical cart and gently pressed it against his burns to neutralize the chemical. "No, Ryan, you saved us. Oh my god, you’re hurt so bad."
"I don't care," Ryan whispered, a small, painful smile touching his lips before his eyes rolled back and he slumped into my arms, unconscious.
