Chapter 78

Carly was wheeled into surgery as soon as they arrived at the hospital; Dean had shot her on the left shoulder. Roman and Hope were at the house with several officers at that moment. The bodies of Officers Maxwell and Reid were being taken away to the morgue at that moment while Phoebe, found huddled at a corner of Olivia's room whining pitifully, was gently carried off to the vet by one of Roman's men. EJ was at the station, being interrogated by Steve and Rafe. The family was yet to be notified.

Bo, along with Abe hastily got up as soon as his sister and Lexie came out. The bullet was successfully extracted but Carly needed to be kept as quiet as possible; any more shocks or excitement could very likely cause her to miscarry.

'We're keeping her comfortable as possible,' Kayla went on. 'And she's been given a very mild sedative; with her pregnancy we can't administer painkillers. Come on Bo...' she walked over to Bo who was covering his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking. 'Don't do this to yourself, please don't.' She said, slipping her arms round him.

'What happened wasn't your fault,' Abe insisted, guessing quite correctly his friend was blaming himself and Lexie echoed the same thing, adding words of comfort.

How can they all stand there and say it's not my fault? Bo thought in anguish, his mind going back seventeen years ago...

Shooting pool with Roman at The Cheating Heart; Bo sullenly went over the fight he'd had with Carly just before she was paged by the hospital. Again it was about Nicky; the kid was obviously trying to cause trouble between them but Carly was far too naive to see it, as if moving to Shane and Kimberly's old house- just to make the kid happy- wasn't bad enough. Of course he was glad Carly found her son and he badly wanted to be a father-figure to the boy but Nicholas was too much like Lawrence; accustomed to having his way and he clearly wanted to drive them apart with his petty forms of manipulation. How he missed their old happy life on the boat; when it was just them and Shawn D.

Roman came back from answering a call at the bar. 'Bo, it's the hospital.'

He shot another ball into the left pocket, not looking up. 'I don't want to talk to Carly right now.' He said coldly.

'Bo,' his brother's tone was very serious. 'Something's happened to Carly.'

Hadn't he learned anything from that terrible day? How could he have allowed his anger prevent him from getting home early? Carly attacked in their house and Olivia abducted... his last words to her had been words of anger and condemnation and he'd basically shunned Carly at the station that day. How can he possibly face her?

'Bo, you need to pull yourself together,' Kayla's compassionate yet firm voice broke into his thoughts. 'Carly needs you right now and breaking down isn't going to help you find Olivia. Come on... enough.'

Carly, her left arm in a sling, opened her eyes when Bo entered the room. 'Sailor...' she whispered, her good arm weakly reaching out to him.

Bo immediately enveloped his wife in his arms. 'I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, princess...' his voice shook, as he touched her face, planting kisses on her cheek and mouth. 'It's my fault... I should've been there and the way I acted at the station...'

'It's okay...'

'How could I have left you both alone?' Bo cried, holding Carly's face between his hands. 'How could I've been so stupid...!'

'Bo, stop it... stop it right now.' Carly said with effort, her bound shoulder hurting her. 'You had no way of knowing... and I won't listen to you blaming yourself.' Tears poured down her cheeks as she nestled against him.

'It was Dean...' she began. 'He came in with someone else, they were in Salem P.D uniform... they said they were Maxwell and Reid's relief...'

Bo stroked her hair. 'Go on, princess.'

Carly closed her eyes, reliving the scenario in her mind before slowly narrating what happened.

'He hit Olivia...' she whispered, beginning to cry and Bo consoled her, keeping his arms round her. 'His partner held a gun to my head and told her not to fight back or he'll kill me.'

Bo's mind flashed to the broken lamp in his daughter's bedroom, imagining the scene... Olivia had clearly defended herself until Dean's partner had arrived with Carly; forcing her to back down. She did exactly what he would've done.

'What else do you remember, princess?' he asked.

'He shot me, Dean... not his partner.' Carly shook her head. 'I must have passed out then... I don't remember anything else.'

Bo was already swearing vengeance on Dean as he listened to Carly. That bastard was going to pay for this, he will personally see to it; he will kill him... his partner too. He'll also rescue his daughter and ask for her forgiveness. He closed his eyes tightly, full of remorse over his anger towards her.

'Please, find Olivia... Bo; before they hurt her...'

'I promise; princess. And I'll make them both pay.' He kissed her forehead.

'Since it was the same man who kidnapped Ciara...' Carly said, holding on to Bo. 'He's going to ask for a ransom, won't he?'

'That's definitely the greedy bastard's plan... no doubt he'll be sending a message anytime soon.' Bo however felt a stab of fear. Dean kidnapping Ciara hadn't only been about money, part of the reason was because out of hatred for Hope for being promoted over him... spite and revenge. And Dean had killed his accomplices, shot Justin and would've killed Ciara and Hope if it wasn't for Justin's quick thinking. How did he know about Olivia being an heiress in the first place, she kept a very low profile and never talked about her wealth; Carly as well. Was it only about money or he wanted to get back at him this time... by killing Olivia? Dean was psychotic... he would surely do it if he wasn't stopped. And who was his partner?

'Princess, do you remember anything Dean or his partner said before you passed out?' he asked, wanting her to rest like Kayla said she must, but he needed to know anything that could be of help.

Carly frowned thoughtfully, feeling rather tired but struggled to think. 'The other man yelled at him... I can't remember what he said... Dean yelled back...' she closed her eyes and Bo rubbed her head as he waited.

'He said something about leaving you a message... that you were not to mess with him this time. Bo, the stalking... it was to trick us... it was Olivia he was after the whole time...'

'I figured as much, Dean Hartman was always a cunning son of a bitch.' Bo gritted his teeth.

'I'm tired...' Carly whispered.

'Yeah... you need to rest, princess.' Bo kissed her, tucking the sheet round her. 'But you're going to have to describe Dean's accomplice to our sketch artist. You remember what he looked like, right?'

Carly nodded, clutching Bo's hand. 'Whatever they ask... I'll pay it... I'll pay anything to get her back... please get our little girl back.' She pleaded tearfully.

As she spoke, Roman and Hope entered the room. Roman leaned over to kiss Carly on the cheek, while Hope patted her good arm. 'How do you feel?' she asked quietly.

Carly could only nod.

'We found this in Olivia's bathroom; under the sink. Have you seen this before?' Hope held something up.

Bo stared at the automatic in the plastic evidence bag, unable to believe his eyes. What more about his daughter didn't he know about?

They turned at the sound of Carly's low voice. 'It's Lawrence's.'

'Are you sure, princess?' Bo asked sharply.

'I've seen that gun many times to know it's his; she must've brought it back with her from Alamainia.' Carly shook her head, her eyes glistening with tears. 'My poor, stubborn girl... she just couldn't let go the need to protect me. Please find her... bring our girl back, Bo. Find her before those animals do something terrible to her, promise me.'

Bo soothed her, stroking her hair as the sedative finally kicked in and she drifted off to a much needed sleep. Lexie poked her head in.

'You guys...' she said warningly and they quietly left the room.

::::::::::

Olivia had no idea where she was; the room was dark and very cold. Wearing just a pair of Capri jeans and a tank top, her feet bare she felt very chilly. And very, very angry... remembering how her mother was shot in front of her. If only she'd had the chance to shoot those two bastards! Was her mother alright... were the babies safe? What did those men want with her? She struggled against her bonds; she was tied to a chair and very tightly. Her abductors had no intention of making it easy for her to escape.

The door opened and she blinked painfully as the man who entered turned on the light.

'Hi there.' he said, not smiling. Olivia glared at him, having no way of knowing he thought she looked very beautiful in spite of the black eye and few bruises and scratches on her face; her large green eyes glinting with anger. When she'd come to on their arrival, she'd fought like a tigress and Dean had hit her, more viciously than before.

'Sorry about the rough treatment, Miss Alamain but you'll have to keep that temper down if you want less of it.'

'My name's Brady; kindly remember that.' was Olivia's cold response. 'Lawrence Alamain was not my father.'

'He was your legal father,' Patrick continued, 'and you inherited his estate as well as your aunt Vivian's. After all... your brother was killed in Iraq, wasn't he? So there was no one else except you to get all that money. Which we want, a lot of it.'

'Not if you're both dead first.'

Patrick raised his eyebrows.

'I swear on my brother's grave, you'll both be dead.' Olivia savagely promised, her bound hands balled into fists. 'For what you did to my mother, I'll make you both pay, even if I die doing it.'

'Kinda getting ahead of yourself, aren't you little girl?' Patrick chuckled humourlessly. 'I'm pretty sure your mum's being taken care of right now.'

'You obviously don't know me at all then,' Olivia snapped. 'But let me tell you right now... you and your partner... have every reason to fear me.'

Patrick felt chilled by the venomous words and expression on the girl's face. It was like Bo Brady was the one looking at him.