Page 102 of Her Dom's Secret Past

I had no idea what this man had done, but I was kind of angry and kind of frightened. I looked at John. He smiled and spoke to Peter.

“We’ll see you this afternoon, Peter.”

Peter nodded and was about to leave the room when who barged in? None other than Ed Baines!

I screamed. Peter jumped in surprised, and John?

Well, John grabbed him. I imagined he knew it was someone I didn’t want to see. Pandemonium broke out as John and Peter rushed on Ed. The nursing staff were yelling and racing around and I was hyperventilating. It was then I realized he was on crutches, but John was shouting at the nurses to get the police as he manhandled a shouting Ed from the room. Peter follow John out. I could hear Ed screaming and yelling as they moved down the corridor.

“I only want to tell her I’m sorry. I read the papers. Let me go! Fuck! You’re hurting me, let me go!”

It seemed only moments before the place was swarming with police. I learned later that Peter and John had come to the hospital in a police car and two officers were outside with the vehicle. John came back inside, followed by a doctor. I was trying to breathe and ask questions at the same time. Holding my hands hard over my chest, I was convinced I was having a heart attack. The doctor took my pulse and ordered me to relax.

Yeah, as if that was going to happen!

Maybe I overreacted, but with what had happened to me, I kind of lost it. Finally, the doctor threatened to give me a sedative and keep me in hospital if I didn’t calm down.

That did the trick. There was no way I was going to stay in this place a minute longer than I had to. John had been talking quietly to me all the time, telling me I was safe. At last, I could breathe normally and the pain in my chest finally disappeared.

The hospital got back to a semblance of normalcy and the doctor began talking to me about my discharge. I honestly had no idea what he said but I could see John nodding his head and asking a few questions. The doc left and John smiled at me and kissed me gently again.

“It’sokay, my dearest. He’s gone. They’ll send him back to jail because he broke the conditions of his bail and the restraining order.”

“Why was he here? I don’t understand.”

“He kept saying he’d read you’d been hurt and where you were. Said he wanted to apologize and make sure you were okay.”

I shivered. “He’s really creepy.”

“That he is, but he won’t be bothering you ever again.”

I let John comfort me until one of the nursing staff came in and handed over my discharge papers.

“Your appointments for facial scans have been made and the dates are in the envelope, along with the report for your own doctor. This is the cream for your burns. The doctor wants you to put it on twice a day for the next week. There’s also the drops for your eyes. Use them for the rest of the week twice a day. This cream is for your bruising. It’s what we’ve been rubbing into them. It will soothe as well as help them heal faster. We’ve given you some painkillers and a script in case you need more, but my suggestion would be to only use them for the next couple of nights then after that only when you really have to. Stick to paracetamol. You’ve a two-day course of antibiotics.”

“Thank you.”

“Anabelle can go now?”

“Yes, we’ll have someone bring a chair around and take you downstairs.”

“Okay.”

John helped me dress and then a porter came to wheel me off into the sunset. John went ahead to bring his car to the entrance and helped me inside. I was thankful to finally be out of the hospital. I still hurt in so many places. My eye was swollen and half shut and it was very hard to walk with the stitches in my heel, the pain from my ribs and my bruised stomach, but I was never so happy to leave a place as that hospital, even though everyone there had been wonderful.

I almost cried again when we pulled into the drive and John parked on the top alongside the front door. He wanted to carry me inside, but I refused. I needed to walk, I needed to know I was back on my feet. Slowly and carefully, we walked inside. Okay, I hobbled. John walked beside me, taking most of my weight, and I made it all the way from the front door down to the main living room alongside the open-plan kitchen. I sank onto a settee in relief as John took the paperwork and medications and put them on the kitchen bench.

“Sweetheart, do you need anything?”

“No, just you.”

He came and sat alongside of me. Taking my hand, he kissed each fingertip.

“I’ve been very worried,hun, what happened?”

“In case you hadn’t guessed, that was my old boss. As soon as I rang and told them who we were up against, the Director put him on the first plane out. At the same time, he started a very intense investigation. There had to be a leak for someone…” John counted off on his fingers. “One—to know I was in Australia and, more importantly, two—that you and I were together.”

“Okay, and this Peter was at the meeting?”

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