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Standing on the sidewalk next to Jake, both of us need a moment before we get in the car to drive back to the club to start looking for fresh clues as to where they would have taken her. I shake my head to dislodge my thoughts and look up and down the street.
That is when I see her. Molly. My angel. Barely standing, with Jasmine holding her up. I blink, looking for half a second before I push past Jake and run like a man possessed. I reach her just in time to catch her as she falls, and she falls right into my arms where she belongs.
***
32
MOLLY
Having been visiting this hospital for weeks now with gran, the irony is not lost on me that I am now the one lying in a hospital bed with monitors beeping, constantly keeping me awake.
Although the familiarity does offer me some comfort, I am still somewhat dazed and confused trying to pull together my memories of how I got here. My private room, the same one Stephen was in, is adorned with flowers. The room is big and bright and smells amazing due to the copious amount of roses that decorate the perimeter. White roses. It actually looks like a florist, and I have a small inkling of who may have turned it into one. My eyes are taking a while to adjust, but when I look at my hand, I see a sleeping, rumpled body sitting in an armchair next to me, clenching my hand in both of his.
He is snoring, has a dark shadow of hair along his jawline, dark circles rim his eyes, and this is the first time I have seen his suit ruffled. Drowsy from whatever medication they have given me, I try to slowly take my hand from his, without waking him, because my other hand is in a cast, and I really need to itch my nose. I manage to slide it half-way out of his grasp before he stirs, and his eyes flick open looking straight at me. In an instant, he is up, standing, towering over me; concern, love, admiration all etched into his face.
“I’m okay,” I croak out roughly, since I haven’t used my voice in a little while and my throat is dry from lack of any liquids. He moves swiftly across the room and fills up a glass with water, and I take the chance to scratch my nose, noticing that it is much bigger than I remember. At that point, I feel a dull, thudding pain thrumming throughout not only my face, but my hand and most of the rest of my body. I have a feeling without the medication the doctor’s obviously have me on, I would be in a lot more pain.
Walking back to the bed, Stephen looks at me. “You’re a bit swollen in the face, angel, but you will be better soon.” He helps me sip the water, the cool liquid quenching my throat, but I cough because my cheek hurts, and drinking is painful.
“Take it easy, baby, you’re pretty banged up,” he says gently as he sits the glass down on a nearby table.
“What happened?” I ask genuinely, because I can remember snippets, but I don’t have the full story and would like him to fill in the blanks.
“Byron is a known conman, not a doctor.” My eyes widen but he continues, “He was working with Chief Justice John Macintyre, the old guy who had Jasmine in the club that night you came to rescue her. Together, they were leaders in a human trafficking syndicate that kidnapped girls and women and sold them to rich, powerful men, mainly based out of Eastern Europe and Asia.”
“Oh my god,” I whisper quietly in disbelief. A conman? A trafficking syndicate? Am I in an episode of some TV crime drama right now? This doesn’t happen to normal girls like me.
“We found your location through Jake and his connections who could monitor the dark web, but when we got to the apartment, you weren’t there. But Melanie was, she was working with them and provided them information on my business which is what prompted them to kidnap you.” He looks down, defeated. He takes another breath and continues, “We haven’t found John or Byron - both of them must have suspected we were coming and left you and Jasmine beaten and broken in that apartment, preferring to save themselves rather than save you.”
I look at him, trying to take in all this information.
“Oh my god, Jasmine!” I say, panicking.
“She is okay. She was here in hospital but was discharged a few days ago. Kelly is assisting her, getting her some support, and has been with her during the police interviews.”
“How long have I been here?” I ask, looking around the room. I can see empty coffee cups filling the bin and a few magazines around.
“You have been here for a week. Your hand was badly broken, so you have had surgery and they placed metal rods in there. You will be bandaged for a while. You also had mild swelling on the brain where…” He clears his throat, and I can see he is struggling to continue. “Where they hit you and hurt you along with bruised ribs, bruised arms, and legs. You were extremely dehydrated because Byron and John practically left you to starve.”
I see his jaw tick, and I sit for a quiet moment, letting the information sink in. I can see that he is angry and hurting, not enjoying seeing me in hospital like this. His eyes flick to mine and I see pain.
“I did this to you, Molly. They knew that I was onto their illegal activities because Jake and I had been collating information on them for a while. They grabbed you to get back at me. To hurt me. I am the reason you are here, Molly. I am the reason you are beaten black and blue, it’s my fault…”
“It is not your fault!” I say angrily, demanding his attention.
“None of this is your fault. Only they are at fault. They are criminals; they are evil, sadistic, horrible men who will one day pay for what they did to not only me, but to Jasmine and every other woman they have taken. If it wasn’t for you, I would still be in that apartment. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be getting the best medical care possible, if it wasn’t for you, I would no longer be on this earth.”
I squeeze his hand, which is the most amount of movement I can do at the moment, but I really want to jump out of this bed and into his arms.
“Molly, I love you. You are everything to me. Everything. When you were missing, I didn’t know what to do, where to look, I was so angry. I was so scared,” Stephen whispers as he drops his head and his eyes close, visibly upset.
I look at him and smile. Softly I reply, “It is over now, you’ve got me back. I am here, all in one piece. It will be okay.”
He looks at me and smiles, a small grin but a smile just the same. I feel like I need to lighten the mood, because Stephen has a whole lot of pain and remorse on his shoulders right now. Teasingly I say, “Can I ask you a question?” he nods so I continue, “Now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?”
He looks right into my eyes with steely resolve and answers the question with no hesitation.
“I am going to keep you with me forever. You are mine, Molly, and I am never letting you go.”
