Part 2
Part 2
“No,” Oliver whispered.
The answer hit Julian harder than he expected.
“I—I tried,” the little boy stammered. “But my hands were shaking. I saw your name first. I thought... I thought if I called you, you'd know how to fix Mommy.”
Julian closed his eyes for half a second as another red light trapped him behind a line of cars.
His seven-year-old son had believed his father could save the world.
The cruel truth was that Julian hadn't even known where the child lived until sixty seconds ago.
“You did the right thing,” Julian said, forcing calm into his voice. “Now we're going to call 911 together, okay?”
“I don't want to hang up.”
“You don't have to.”
Julian tapped the emergency call button through his car's system, merging the calls while weaving carefully through traffic.
The dispatcher answered immediately.
“911. What's your emergency?”
“My ex-wife has collapsed,” Julian said. “Possible head injury, possible stroke. My seven-year-old son is with her alone.”
The dispatcher took the address while Julian repeated every detail Oliver had given him.
“She complained about a severe headache,” he said. “Collapsed while cooking. Hit her head on the counter. She's unconscious.”
“Units are already being dispatched,” the operator replied. “Stay on the line.”
Already.
Julian blinked.
“How?”
A tiny voice answered before the dispatcher could.
“I pushed the red button after I called you.”
Oliver sounded almost apologetic.
“I thought maybe... maybe phones could call two people.”
Julian's throat tightened.
The child had somehow managed to trigger emergency services after mistakenly calling his father.
Seven years old.
Alone.
Terrified.
And still thinking.
“Oliver,” the dispatcher said gently, “I need you to go to your mommy. Can you tell me if she's breathing?”
There was silence.
Then the soft sound of little footsteps.
Julian gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
“She's breathing,” Oliver whispered.
“Is she awake?”
“No.”
“Can you touch her shoulder?”
A pause.
“I did.”
“Did she move?”
“No.”
Julian's pulse hammered inside his ears.
The dispatcher continued calmly.
“Oliver, listen carefully. Is your mommy lying on her back or her side?”
“Her back.”
“Good. Don't move her head. Just stay beside her.”
Julian wanted to scream.
Instead, he watched another traffic light turn red.
Another minute.
Another eternity.
As he accelerated through an opening in traffic, memories crashed into him one after another.
Vivian standing outside culinary school graduation, holding cheap grocery-store flowers because neither of them could afford roses.
Vivian eating burned experiments at two in the morning and insisting they tasted incredible.
Vivian rubbing his shoulders before every competition.
"You'll be famous someday."
Then success had arrived.
First one restaurant.
Then television appearances.
Magazine covers.
Investors.
Awards.
Longer hours.
Missed birthdays.
Canceled anniversaries.
Promises postponed until next month.
Then next year.
Until one rainy Tuesday, Vivian quietly placed divorce papers on the kitchen table.
"I don't need more money," she'd said.
"I need my husband."
Julian had answered without looking up from restaurant plans.
"I'm doing this for us."
She had smiled sadly.
"No.
You're doing it without us."
He'd signed.
Believing custody schedules could replace fatherhood.
Believing there would always be time later.
Now later was bleeding on a kitchen floor.
“Daddy?”
Oliver's voice pulled him back.
“Yes?”
“Why won't Mommy wake up?”
Julian swallowed.
“I don't know yet.”
“Is it because she's tired?”
“I hope so.”
“She's always tired.”
Those four words landed like stones.
She's always tired.
Julian imagined Vivian working double shifts after the divorce.
Packing lunches.
Helping with homework.
Paying rent.
Cooking Wednesday spaghetti because it stretched across two meals.
Doing everything while he obsessed over stars in restaurant guides.
“When was the last time she slept?” Julian asked carefully.
“I don't know.”
Oliver sniffled.
“She drinks coffee at night.”
The dispatcher interrupted.
“Oliver, do you see the front door?”
“Yes.”
“When the firefighters knock, I need you to unlock it.”
“I can't.”
“Why not?”
“The top lock is too high.”
Julian cursed under his breath.
Vivian had installed extra security.
To keep them safe.
From strangers.
Including, unintentionally, the rescue team.
The dispatcher stayed composed.
“That's okay. They'll come another way.”
Seconds later Oliver gasped.
“I hear sirens!”
Julian exhaled for what felt like the first time in ten minutes.
Then everything changed.
“They're here!” Oliver cried.
A loud pounding echoed through the phone.
“Seattle Fire Department!”
“Open the door!”
“I can't!” Oliver yelled.
More pounding.
“Can anyone unlock it?”
“No!”
Julian's heart stopped.
Another voice shouted outside.
“We're forcing entry!”
A tremendous crash exploded through the speaker.
Wood splintered.
Oliver screamed.
“It's okay!” someone yelled. “We're here!”
Boots thundered across the apartment.
“Female, approximately thirty-four!”
“Unresponsive!”
“Large occipital laceration!”
“Blood pressure dropping!”
“We need ALS now!”
Julian drove faster.
Too fast.
His Tesla shot through an intersection just as another vehicle entered from the left.
A horn screamed.
Metal flashed.
Julian jerked the wheel violently.
The car spun halfway across wet pavement before slamming into the curb.
The airbag exploded into his chest with bone-rattling force.
Everything went white.
For several endless seconds he couldn't hear anything except ringing.
Then—
“Daddy?”
Oliver.
Still on the phone.
“Daddy, are you coming?”
Julian wiped blood from above his eyebrow.
The windshield was shattered.
Smoke drifted from beneath the hood.
People were already running toward his car.
But none of that mattered.
He forced the crumpled driver's door open.
His left shoulder screamed in pain.
He stumbled onto the street, grabbed the phone from the seat, and started running.
“I’m coming, buddy,” he rasped.
“I don't care if I have to crawl.”
May you like
Two blocks away, the flashing lights of ambulances painted the Seattle skyline red and blue.
And inside one of those ambulances, the woman he had once promised to love forever had just gone into cardiac arrest.
