"When I heard you were in the hospital I was so disappointed. I failed. You see, Carrie, I seem to be failing at everything lately. David has me beat at every turn. Or so I thought."
He paused long enough to trace his fingers down across my cheek. A tear slipped silently from my eye and he caught it on the tip of his finger, holding it there as he pinned me to the bed. Realising that one of my hands was still free I inched my hand closer and closer to the little red button that lay on the covers beside me. If I could just reach it and press it without him noticing someone would have to come to my room. I would be safe.
I flinched and shut my eyes as he clenched his fist tightly, crushing the tear in his large grip. I was certain that he was going to finish what he had started. My own memories were still hazy but the more time I spent in his company the clearer they were becoming.
"If I had killed you when I had originally planned, Carrie, David would have felt guilty. It would have hurt him, there is no doubt about that. But now. If I bide my time, take my time and make my plans and kill you when I'm good and ready, it will hurt David a great deal more. He wants to protect you. I don't really understand it myself, I've never had the overwhelming urge to protect others..."
He stared off into the distance as though looking at something only he could see. "If I take you from him now—kill you when he is at his most vigilante, when every fibre of his being is striving to protect you—that's what will do the most damage to him. David is a proud, arrogant man, one could say. This would finish him."
My fingers closed around the small button and I began frantically pressing it. Faintly I could hear the buzzer sounding in the nurses’ station. Robert pressed his face in close to mine once more, nuzzling at my ear and grazing his teeth down along the line of my jaw.
"We could have some fun before I... Well, you know... It doesn't have to be all pain and suffering. I must admit to being quite intrigued as to what it is that David sees in you. You're not my type, but there is something about you..." He pressed his lips against my ear and I cringed away from his hot breath. "I'd be very interested in exploring what it is about you that David finds intriguing..."
The door opened and I caught sight of a small nurse bustling into the room. She pushed the usual medication trolley ahead of her. Her gaze was focused on the chart that lay across the top of the cart and she didn't see Robert immediately. But he saw her. I felt him stiffen, all of his relaxed bravado instantly disappearing, and the tension practically dripped off him.
"Now, Miss Grant, what appears to be the matter?"
I struggled in Robert's grip as the nurse turned her attention from the chart to me in the bed. Surprise and shock froze her to the spot. "What's going on!" she exclaimed.
Robert pressed his clammy lips to my forehead and kissed me, before springing away from the bed. The nurse turned to run, to escape and no doubt raise the alarm, but Robert knew he needed time to escape. Grabbing the small, dainty woman he slammed her head-first into the wall. Her body crumpled in a heap to the floor as he dashed from the room, leaving me struggling to get out of the bed and help the fallen nurse.
He hadn't even given her a chance to scream in surprise and the fact that she was lying on the floor so still sent panic trembling through me. He had tried to kill me once before. But what if my summoning help had caused him to kill someone completely innocent? Someone who had nothing to do with the situation. How would I ever reconcile that within myself?
Dropping to my knees I pressed my fingers against the woman's neck and was relieved to feel a pulse. I crawled to the door, the adrenaline still coursing through my body. Pulling it open, I tried to stand but instead slid out into the hall and collapsed back onto my knees.
"Help!" I found my voice just as I began to sob. The hall quickly became a hive of activity, with nurses, doctors, and orderlies quickly rushing to my aide, but I directed them to my room and the fallen woman. My sobs were threatening to overwhelm my voice, and my body had started to shake uncontrollably.
"Get, David... Please, get, David..." I wasn't sure if they understood my pleas for the only man who had ever made me feel safe in my life. I was picked up and carried to a separate room. The doctor examined me and asked questions in an attempt to figure out what had happened. But in my head the only thing I could think about was how I wanted David to come and hold me in his arms. I was certain that if he did, I would be safe.
Part of me knew how stupid it was to think that way. David hadn't protected me from Robert either time he had chosen to attack me. But it didn't stop me from being sure that if I could just feel David's arms around me, that nothing could ever touch me.
"Where is she?" The sound of his voice roused me from whatever shocked trance I was slipping into. He burst through the security men who had spent their time trying to question me, and swept me up into his arms.
I couldn't stop the tears, they rolled from my eyes, hot and heavy. The scent of David's cologne enveloped me in its warm, heady aroma and washed away the acrid smell of Robert that seemed determined to linger on my skin.
David wound his fingers into my dark hair and gently tilted my head back. His eyes were filled with pain and anguish and it hurt me to see him in such a state.
"I'm alright." I whispered the words but I knew he heard me. I could see the slight flinching of his eyes and I could imagine what he was thinking in his head. He was blaming himself. It was as clear to me as though he had announced it to the entire room.
"What happened?" David pressed his lips against mine in a soft, almost chaste kiss. It was filled with unformed words and unspoken emotion but for the first time I was with David, I understood his feelings for me. Words were not necessary for the feelings he held for me. I knew at some point he would tell me but it would be when he was ready and not a moment sooner. A thought popped into my head then. Perhaps he didn't even fully understand what he felt for me. It was possible. After everything that had happened, it wasn't impossible to think that David had not yet had time to fully figure out what he was feeling.
"I woke up and he was just there. I don't know how he got in. I presume he just walked in... But... At first I thought it might have been you. I knew it was too early but I never for a second thought it could ever be him. He gave me a fright..."
"I should have been there. I should never have left you alone... I just thought with the time that had passed and the fact that he had never attempted to come near you sooner... Well, I thought maybe he had fled the country... I should have known better..."