“Oh, yeah. Well, he actually got away and then a few months later, I killed his brother when he shot me. I guess he wanted revenge for both.”

“But how did he know you were here and alive?”

“That, my dearest, is the million dollar question.” I could hear a huge amount of anger in his voice as he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be finding out.”

“I want to know what happened, but not now, not yet.”

“I understand. You know you have to tell the police everything.”

“Everything? Everything they did? Every…”

My tears filled my eyes, ready to pour out again, but John gave me a very soft kiss on my bruised and split lips.

“Yes, later, but I’ll be with you the whole time.”

“Promise?”

“Promise. I’m not letting you out of my sight ever again.”

I thought that may prove difficult in the future, but at the moment it was what I needed to hear. I didn’t want to be alone either. The other two came back in and the three men sat. People kept coming in, poking and prodding, taking notes, checking dials and screens. They kept asking me if I knew where I was and who the Prime Minister was. They didn’t seem to appreciate me saying he was anarsehole, but obviously I passed all the other tests.

Becky and Cass turned up.

“Charlie rang. Oh, Belle, are you okay? What did they do to you?” Becky cried.

“I’m okay, sort of.”

Cass was speaking with John and the other two and I heard Charlie telling them what my injuries were. Becky brushed my hair off my face with her hand. Everyone settled down again, but then Grant came in with another man.

“Anabelle, this is Derek. He’s going to check your facial injuries.”

John moved away so the doc could get closer. Derek bent forward, his face close to mine.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he said cheerfully, but didn’t seem the slightest bit sorry as he prodded my face, lifted each eyelid, and squeezed my nose. I was about to shout at him to stop when thankfully he stood up.

“I’ve studied all your scans and I think everything will heal nicely without surgery. There’s going to be more swelling and pain, but in a few weeks it should settle down. The break should be healed completely in a couple of months. I’ll need you to have a couple of follow up scans over the next few weeks to make sure it’s healing properly.”

“Okay.”

“You need to be careful blowing your nose and eating. Stick with softer foods for the first week, no biting into apples and such. The cuts on your lips and cheeks don’t require stitching. Anyway, they’ll heal quickly. I’ll get Grant here to put some reinforcedsteri-strips across the cut on your cheek. It will heal neatly. Leave them on until they fall off by themselves, and don’t get them wet.”

I gave a little sort of nod and he left. Grant took his place.

“I’ll get someone to clean up your and face then we can put the strips in place.”

“Thanks.”

He left too.

“I don’t want any more touching, I hurt,” I said with a sob. “Tell them no more.”

“Baby, I know, but you need to get better,” John told me.

“But they hurt me,” I whimpered.

Grant came back with a nurse in tow. Together, they inflicted more pain and punishment. By the time they’d finished cleaning my face, my feet, all my bruises, and my stomach, I was in tears again. I couldn’t believe how much I hurt, and I was a woman who got flogged hard during sex! Grant put somestrippythings on my face and a waterproof plaster on a long cut on my hip. He jabbed me with a needle, telling me it was a tetanus shot, and then he asked my visitors to leave for a moment.

“Anabelle, I’m going to put some antibiotic cream on the burns you have. It has an anesthetic in it as well. I don’t want them to get infected. We’ve given you some antibiotics intravenously because of the wounds and burns. This is going to sting for a moment, but then it should go numb.”