CHAPTER 96 – CROSSED THE LINE
They arrived at the hospital less than twenty minutes later and Calista was rushed to the ER on a stretcher. Chase and Mackenzie remained by her side every step of the way, not leaving her for a single second. While Chase held her right hand and stood by her right, Mackenzie held on to her left hand.
She still had tears in her eyes, and despite the huge brown blanket worn over her shoulders, shook violently with cold. While she was being examinded by the doctor for any external injuries or after effects of the shock, Mackenzie could no longer hold back the tears in her eyes.
Sure, Calista was with them now, but what if…what if they had failed? What if she had been taken away? What if something bad had happened?
Her father always said having a child means having your heart on legs. She fully understood his words now.
Chase noticed this and put his hand over her shoulder. He pulled her closer to himself and rubbed his nose against the skin of her neck, soothing her, calming her.
He took her right hand in his left and intertwined their knuckles. Mackenzie’s tears did not stop flowing, but this time, they were for joy. Deep down, she knew that she had a man she could always count on.
“You don’t have to cry anymore, sunshine.” Chase muttered. He turned to face her and cupped her cheeks with his large palms. At the mention of the name only he called her, Mackenzie coughed out a short laugh, and Chase smiled.
“That’s more like it.” He spoke softly, wiping her tears off her cheeks with his callous, large thumb.
“I love you so much, you know that, right?” Mackenzie blurted out, staring into his eyes with her tear glazed ones. Chase’s eyes widened in that instant. His heart swelled with joy, and he…he was utterly speechless.
Mackenzie found herself giggling like a young teenage girl. She looked away from him, feeling the heat in her stomach rise in her cheeks. She could tell in that very moment, that she was as red as a fresh fucking tomato.
“I mean, you should know that, I thought I told…” The rest of her words were stuck in her throat when he pulled her into his arms and embraced her.
Hot, sultry, passionate, these were just words to them. Nothing…nothing composed by man and thrown into the book called “the dictionary” could explain everything they felt as they clung to each other at that moment. Only one word was near; heaven, and all the bliss that accompanied it.
Mackenzie’s phone vibrated in the pocket of her trousers, and she wriggled free from his hold, biting her lower lip gently when Chase smirked, and reached for her phone.
It was Felicity. She looked up at Chase.
“I’ve got to take this.”
Chase replied with a nod and turned to the doctor and Calista, while Mackenzie turned her back to them to answer the call.
“Felicity?”
“Hey! I saw the news! I’m on my way to Axford Medical right now! Charlotte would have been there too, but she’s held up at a client’s meeting. I’m so…I’m so happy you found her, Kenzie.”
From the tone of her voice, Mackenzie could tell her friend had been crying. Felicity had always been a sweetheart, it was no wonder why they were best friends.
“How did you know we would be at Axford Medical though?” She couldn’t help but ask.
“Are you kidding me?” Felicity spat out.
“I know your man.” She continued.
Mackenzie found herself laughing, while blushing at the thought that Chase was her man. She turned around to see him kissing all over Calista’s face. The butterflies in her stomach were let lose on a ceremonious dance.
“Yes, I guess you can call him that.”
Felicity ended the call a few seconds later, and Mackenzie returned to stand beside Chase.
The doctor stood up straight and turned to the couple.
“She is doing fine. There have been no signs of internal bleeding, and the results of her head scan would be here in a couple of hours, so if you could wait for a while…”
“Can we go see grandpa? He is here in the hospital, right?” Calista cut in.
Mackenzie and Chase exchanged glances, before smiling down at her.
“Of course.”
Chase stretched both his hands to her and picked her up from the bed. Calista smiled and locked her fingers behind his neck.
“Let’s go see grandpa.”
~~
Richard Axford squeezed his remote control on his palm as he glared at the television screen. Somehow, the news of Calista’s kidnap and rescue had been published all over the news, and he was glad, because he got to see the action firsthand. And he also got the opportunity to see Eleanor’s handwriting all over it.
It could only be her who would be heartless enough to come up with something like that. Jeffrey wasn’t smart enough, and Selene didn’t have the balls. Eleanor was the one with the balls, the brains, and an empty chest.
He had known of her attempts to swindle and defraud both he and Chase of Axford Conglomerate a long time ago. Most of the partners she trusted in her shady deals owed him their loyalty, all of which they showed in full. He had enough evidence to pin her down; files, video and audio recording, and he had wanted to do it in silence. But since she had chosen the hard way out, she was going to be dished the hard way out.
Without a single penny from him.
He turned towards his door when the door slid open, and found Chase, Calista, Cameron and Mackenzie entering into his ward.
“Grandpa!” From her father’s shoulder, Calista cried out, esctatic, and reached for him. Richard sat up straight, his eyes beamed with the tears of happiness that gathered in them. He spread his arms wide and Chase placed Calista on his body. Cameron struggled to climb up to his bed, and Mackenzie helped him up.Content is © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.
Richard pulled both his grand children to him. The news of the fire, the live footage of Calista’s extraction, all of it had put so much fear in him. He had not been able to call Chase because the doctors had kept his phone away from him, knowing him and the nature of heart condition.
No matter how many times he kissed both their foreheads, even though he could sniff in the mild citrus scent of their hair, they did not seem real to him. To know that he was holding them in his arms even after everything that had happened to them today made him want to cry from sheer relief.
Chase’s phone rang in that moment, and he excused himself to answer the call, seeing it was Nora.
“Mr. Axford!” Nora called out at the other end of line, exasperated. Chase narrowed his eyes on nothing in particular, and frowned.
“Tell me you have good news for me, Nora.”
“Trust me, Mr. Axford, it’s as good as it gets. We caught the man who ditched the car. James Lowe, just as you expected. He was quick to confess to a lot of things and call names immediately our lawyers promised him lesser jail time.”
Chase’s scowl deepened. He would have wanted the bastard to be hung the old fashioned way, but getting the names of the mastermind behind this was by far a better deal.
“And?”
“I made sure to tape the session. I would send the video to you right now…”
Chase heard a beep on his phone and knew it was the incoming message. His heart felt like ice.
“Alright, Nora. I’ll see you…”
“One more thing, Mr. Axford.”
Chase heaved a sigh.
“What is it, Nora?”
“An ambulance picked up West not quite long ago, sent him to Axford Medical…”
Chase winced, standing straight, and clutched his phone tighter.
“What did you just say?”
“It seemed like he was tailing a car that was tailing you and got caught. At least, that’s what he said with bruised lips when the men found him.”
“Why didn’t he call me?”
“Perhaps because he couldn’t? I’m sure he was just trying to help.”
Chase nodded. She was right. West had always been an odd man, but his heart was always in the right place.
“Get back to finding just how many people are in on this. I want every name, no matter how little they contributed, including the person who set the school on fire. Everybody has to go down.” Chase spat out, and Nora replied, “on it, sir.”
With that, he ended the call and returned to his father’s ward to find him cuddling Calista and Cameron, singing sweet songs in their ears, while the both of them closed their eyes to sleep. He could tell they were very tired, especially Calista.
Immediately she saw him, Mackenzie got up from the couch she had been resting on. Her keen eyes looked over his expression.
“Is everything okay?”
Chase did not reply. Instead, he held out his phone screen for her and played the audio recording Nora sent to him. His phone’s volume was loud enough for Richard to hear, even while putting the kids to sleep.
“It was all Eleanor, damn it. She told me the plan was clean cut. My dear son also promised me a fortune. I mean, who says no to a fortune…” The recording ended with a malicious laughter, and Mackenzie collapsed into the couch with her heart in her hands, anger boiling in the pit of her stomach.
Richard pressed his eyelids shut, grinding his jaw.
Chase frowned. He was enraged, but he didn’t want anyone crying for the snake of a woman, she did not deserve this.
“You don’t need to trouble your mind, father. We just need to make her pay, and as fast as possible.”
“Send that tape recording to the police.” Richard breathed out, turning to look at Chase.
The pain in his heart was unimaginable. He had hoped, deep down, that he would be wrong. He did not want to believe the woman he had kept underneath his roof for so long was capable of such…evil.
She had crossed the line when she touched his grandkids.
“I want her out of my house, and out of my life in chains. Get my lawyers too.” He was going to make sure she’s left with nothing for daring to touch his grandkids.
Chase’s scowl dissolved as he sucked in a deep breath.
“Father…”
“I’m kicking her son out as well and stripping him of everything that comes with being an Axford. Those ungrateful bastards.” He cursed underneath his breath, before looking down at Calista and Cameron once more.