Chapter 23: Pain and Anger

Kira was walking down the street getting to her car when she felt that someone was following her. She turned, but she didn't see anybody. "Hello?" She called. No answer, so Kira just brushed it off and got ready to get into her car when someone grabbed her from behind. "LET ME GO!" She shouted. She tried to flip the guy onto his back, but then she felt three more pairs of arms grab her. "NO! STOP! HELP!" She shouted. However, Kira's whole world went black.

Conner had just placed Christopher to bed. He looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost 9:00, Kira was late and it worried him. Kira was never late to come home before. Just then, the phone rang. "Hello," he answered.

"Is this Conner McKnight?" The caller asked.

"Yes," Conner replied.

"This is Dr. Fredrickson calling from Reefside Hospital. We just had Kira McKnight be brought to the emergency room. Is she your wife?"

"Yes. What's going on?"

"Mr. McKnight, your wife was on her way to her car when she was attacked from behind. A witness found her unconscious in an alley. I would insist you come down here."

"I'll be there."

Conner hung the phone up and then he called his mom to come watch the kids while he went to the hospital.

When Conner arrived at the hospital, his leg was just starting to heal, so he had to be cautious around the knee. The doctor walked over to him. "Conner McKnight?" He asked.

"That's me, are you Dr. Fredrickson?" Conner asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"What happened?" Conner asked.

"From what the witness told us that Kira told her was that she was going back to her car when she felt someone grab her from behind. She was trying to fight off her attacker when three more people grabbed her. She couldn't remember what happened afterwards."

Conner was in shock, but he knew who did this to Kira. "Can I see her?" He asked. Dr. Fredrickson nodded and then he led Conner to her room.

When Conner came to the room and his heart broke at her appearance.

She had a bandage on her head, her left eye was swollen shut, her right cheek had a bandage on it, her left cheek was bruised, her bottom lip was swollen, and her arms were bruised up.

Conner walked over and sat next to the bed. he stroked her bruised cheek with tears in his eyes. "Why?" He whispered. Kira opened her good eye and saw Conner sitting there.

"Conner, what..." she trailed off.

The pain and the memories came back to her. "Oh, God!" She gasped. She started crying and Conner wrapped his arms around her. "I couldn't stop them, Conner," she sobbed. He ran circles on her back and tried to calm her down. He was trying to hold back his own tears. "I tried to fight them off, but they were too strong. I couldn't even scream loud enough. They crushed the air out of my lungs," she babbled.

"It's okay, Kira, it's all over now," he whispered.

"It was him, Conner, it was Justin," she added.

Conner felt his blood boil. He knew that Justin was going to do this. He just knew it.

Once Kira was asleep, Conner placed her back against her pillow and that was when he realized that everyone else was standing there. They could see the fire burning in his eyes. Kimberly knew that Conner's patience was done. "Conner, don't," she murmured.

"You can't stop me now, Kim," he told her.

He stormed out of the room.

Conner walked towards the field and saw Justin and his buddies in the field. He could tell they were celebrating. "JUSTIN!" He shouted. He slammed the gate shut. They all looked up to see Conner walking over to him.

"Hey, your wife was great, McKnight," he laughed.

Conner walked over and grabbed the front of his shirt. "I'm done playing nice, Justin. You touch her again and I'll kill you with my bare hands you sick bastard," he hissed.

"McKnight, it doesn't matter, I just enjoyed having some fun with that whore you call a wife," Justin taunted.

"THAT'S IT!" Conner shouted.

He lifted his fist and punched Justin right in the face. He watched as Justin fell to the ground. He flipped Justin onto his back and planted his foot into his chest. "Now tell me, what the hell do you want me to do to get you to stay the hell away from my family?" Conner snapped. Justin placed his hands on both sides of Conner's foot.

"You leave the team," Justin answered.

Conner felt pain shoot through his leg when he twisted his leg. "SHIT!" He shouted. Conner stumbled back holding his bad knee. Two of his buddies grabbed Conner's arms and Justin stood up while wiping the blood from his lip.

"Say goodnight, McKnight," he laughed.

Just then, cop cars surrounded the field. "LET HIM GO!" An officer shouted. Conner fell to the ground holding his leg. Tommy jumped over the fence and hurried towards Conner.

"Conner, are you okay?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Conner replied.

Justin glared at Conner as the cuffs were going to put on his wrists, but then, Justin spun around, grabbed a gun and pulled the trigger, the bullet was aiming right towards Tommy, knowing exactly what he was doing. "TOMMY!" Kimberly screamed. Conner's eyes widened and he quickly got in the way.

"CONNER!" The group shouted.

Tommy quickly grabbed Conner before he hit the ground. "GET AN AMBULANCE OVER HERE NOW!" Trent shouted. They all surrounded their friend and former team mate. Conner looked at his friends before his world went black.