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After she was lying down, Lainie went to work on her dressing, removing the wet one.
“Let me see the drainage.” The doctor in Samantha wanted to see everything to make sure all was well.
“Listen, Samantha, you’re the patient. Let me do what I do, please.” Before Samantha could respond, Lainie had the dressing removed from her abdomen and in the trash. Samantha looked down and saw that the surgical site looked good. No signs of infection, and she let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “It looks great. If it continues, I don’t think there will be much scarring.”
Lainie finished her work and turned to wash her hands. Samantha hoped enough time had passed because she was hurting and just wanted to close her eyes. She’d never thought she’d be exhausted from just a bath, but she was.
“Samantha, why don’t you rest for a little bit while you wait for Derrick to come back with your dinner. You look like you’re about to pass out.” Bridget pulled her covers up so Samantha could get comfortable under them. “Do you think he will bring me some, ’cause it sounds great.” She winked at her.
“You’re right. I’m exhausted. I can’t thank you guys enough for coming and helping me. Thanks to you, I feel human for the first time since I was taken. You don’t have to stick around and watch me sleep. Derrick will be back soon, if you want to get home to your men.” She yawned.
“My man is here somewhere. He’s on call tonight, so I have no doubt I won’t be seeing him until sometime tomorrow.” Lainie sighed.
“No clue where my man is tonight. He doesn’t spend much time at home anymore,” Bridget mumbled. There was more to the story, but she was too tired to go there, so she filed it away to talk to Bridget about it later.
“Love you guys,” she said then sleep overtook her.
When she woke, something didn’t feel right. Her eyes fell on a face she hoped to never see again in her lifetime.
“John, what are you doing here?” She glanced around for her nurse call light, only to see it dangling over her side table out of reach along with her cell phone. This was not good.
“A disrespectful bitch to the end, aren’t you? I never gave you permission to call me by my first name, yet you seem to think it’s your right.” He glanced out the window.
“Well, isn’t it? I was your superior, after all.” She didn’t understand his fascination with titles. “Should I be calling you Dr. Michaels after you kidnapped me and had plans to rape and torture me? I’m pretty sure those things are against the Hippocratic oath.”
“You may have been lucky enough to get out of that cell, but there’s nobody to save you now. Even your nurse has stepped away.” His leering smile upped his creep factor.
“What are you planning to do? You can’t for one second think you’re going to get away with what you’ve done.”
“You’re the only witness to connect me to Kyle, and once you’re gone, there won’t be any way to prove I was a part of any of it. So, you see, I need to put you out of your misery. Seems like a win-win for me...I get freedom and never again have to see your fucking face.” He took a step toward her. She needed to keep him talking in hopes Derrick was on his way back.
“They know you were involved. Look around the hospital. Have you never noticed the cameras everywhere? There is no way you weren’t seen kidnapping me from here.”
Maybe, if she could make him see reason, he would take off rather than risk being caught again. That might have worked if he was capable of seeing reason. Past experience told her he never had been.
“I’m handling that. You think you’re the only one who has people? Please. You have no clue what is going on around you, not that it matters. You’re not going to live long enough to do anything about it anyway.” He walked up to her PCA, pulling a key from his pocket.
She knew immediately what he was planning, so while he was concentrating on the pump in front of him, she unhooked her IV tubing from where it went into her arm. He wasn’t as smart as he thought. She attempted to put the side rail on the opposite side of the bed down so she could get out of the bed, but that only drew his attention to her.
In her normal state, she had no doubt she could put up a great fight, but in her weakened condition, she didn’t stand a chance against him if it were only about physical strength. She needed to continue to outthink him if she was going to succeed.
“Did you really think I would just let you walk out of here?” He grabbed her by the arm, yanking her back to the center of the bed. He yanked her arm, showing she had unhooked her IV. “Well, you’re not as stupid as you look, are you? Not that it matters, ’cause you won’t be around too much longer anyway.”
Samantha did the only thing she could think of. She took a deep breath and screamed with everything she had in her.
He grabbed a pillow and put it over her face. Panicked, she tried to kick out of his hold while clawing at his hands, but her abdomen felt as if she had ripped open her incision.
She fought and screamed until she started to feel dizzy. How could nobody hear the commotion coming from her room? It made no sense. No matter how hard she battled for air, none was coming. In a matter of moments, she would pass out, and that would be the end.
* * *
Derrick ran through the motions at home as quickly as he could. His shower reminded him of when he was in the service and had only minutes to get ready. He didn’t feel right leaving Samantha even though he knew she needed time with her friends. She would continue to be in danger until that fucker John was found.
Thinking about what might have happened if they had arrived even minutes later was enough to make him want to hunt down Kyle in the jail ward of the hospital and beat the shit out of him all over again. He didn’t deserve to be breathing the same air as his beautiful Red.
He needed to calm the fuck down. He’d promised Samantha chicken carbonara, and he needed to get it done so he could get back to the hospital. Enough time had passed, she’d had the time with her girls, and now it was his turn.
Once he finished cooking, Derrick went back down the stairs and put the container he had filled in the front seat before moving around to the driver’s side. Before he could get his door open, someone called his name.
