It was past midnight and Fiona slipped out of the bed as gently as she could. She had memorised the exact layout of the room so that she could leave the light off. The thin nightgown Emilie had given her clung to her body, where the patches of sweat were still wet from the exertion of getting up. She moved slow and tenderly to the door, and willing it to be quiet, she lifted the latch. There was a slight creak, making her freeze for a moment. She listened. The house was quiet.
Fiona moved out of the room into a small corridor. Its tiled floor was cold to her bare feet. With her eyes adjusting to the darkness, she could see the house layout. She remembered that everything was on one floor and that the bathroom was right next to her room on the left. She moved past it, stepping silently so she didn’t wake anyone.
Behind the first door, after the bathroom, she heard a man snoring. It was either Emilie’s husband, or Stan. Somehow she didn’t think Stan would snore. The next room was silent. She didn’t know if Stan was in there but she took extra care not to make a noise as she tiptoed past into the kitchen. Just after lunch, she had scouted the house out, when she surprised Emilie by taking her soup bowl back to the kitchen. It had been worth the effort as she discovered the kitchen was the only room that had a telephone.
Since her talk with Stan in the morning, she had worried about her parents and her friend, Caroline with her husband and children. They would know what had happened at the hospital and would be worried about her. More importantly, what if what happened to her, happened to them. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if any of them got hurt. She needed them to be safe. She needed to warn them.
Emilie had told her, at lunchtime, that Stan had gone out shortly after he and Fiona had chatted. That was hours ago and he hadn’t returned by the time they had all gone to bed.
Fiona was desperate to contact her family and Caroline. It would only be a short phone call; a quick word to tell them to go somewhere safe and she wouldn’t tell them where she was. The memory of what happened to Stacy was still vivid in her mind.
She paused in the kitchen doorway to rest. The telephone was hung on the wall by the back door at the far end. She moved across the floor, picked it up and listened. The ready-to-dial tone was clear and she tapped in the number for her parents. The phone clicked with each press. Then she heard it try to make a connection. The unobtainable tone came back to her.
A feeling of panic began to build in her stomach and she tried again. When she was half way through tapping in the number, she remembered she was in France. The international code, idiot, she thought to herself. Quickly she cleared the number and began to input it again.
‘Do you really want to get killed?’ Stan’s voice came from behind her.
Fiona jumped and dropped the phone; the last few numbers un-entered.
She turned round slowly. Most of his body was in shadow, except his face and the shiny barrel of a handgun.
‘I… I was worried about my parents and…’ She didn’t finish her sentence. The penetrating look he was giving her made her heart pound in fear. She tentatively bent down to retrieve the phone, her eyes still on him.
Stan’s movement was so quick. He was upon her before she realised it, pushing her body back against the wall. His gun arm across her chest. Fiona caught her breath at the pain and the force he was exerting on her body.
‘And what about Emilie and Andre, would you risk their lives too, after what they have done for you!’
Fiona saw the spittle on his lips and the glare of anger in his eyes.
First, she felt like crying, the guilt at what he was suggesting she’d done rising within her. Then came anger. How dare he stop her. She had a right to safe guard her parents. Stacy had made the mistake, not her! She brought up one of her legs and kneed him in his lower area, whilst simultaneously using the heal of her right hand on his chest to push him as hard as she could. Her unexpected action had surprised him, but only for a second before his arm forced her back harder into the wall.
His rough treatment of her brought up the rage she had subconsciously suppressed of being violated by the PI and his gorilla, and being helpless to do anything. In desperation she went for him. ‘I hate you, I hate you!’ she yelled, flailing at his face with her hands, and kicking out with her legs. Stan took everything she gave him until he suddenly pulled her into his body and held her tight. Exhaustion finally stopped her movements and her legs crumbled under her.
Stan gently eased them both to the kitchen floor, still holding her in his arms. Fiona could see the telephone close by, its digital face was blank and the unobtainable number was bleeping from the earpiece. Stan pushed the button to cancel it and she began to cry softly.
‘I… I wouldn’t have told them where I was. We would have been safe.’
‘You wouldn’t of had to. They could have just traced the call.’
Fiona gulped back the shock of his words. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered.
She felt his breath by her ear. ‘It’s okay.’
‘No. I am stupid. I put everyone at risk. But I… I was scared for my parents. I don’t want them to suffer what happened to me.’ Fiona croaked back a sob as fresh tears filled her eyes.
‘They won’t.’
She looked up into his face. His eyes were sparkling with amusement.
‘What do you mean?’ she sniffed.
He smiled. ‘They are safe and so is your friend, Caroline and her family.’
Fiona had her mouth open but no words came out.
Stan continued, ‘I realised, after our conversation, that your family and friends would be a worry for you, so I got some army buddies of mine to take care of it. That’s what I’ve been doing today.’
Fiona just stared at him. ‘They’re all safe?’
Stan nodded.
An overwhelming feeling of gratitude filled her. ‘Thank you, thank you so much.’ She let the tears slip down her cheeks.
Stan wiped them away with the side of his finger. ‘You’re a brave woman to take me on like that.’
Fiona snorted and smiled, ‘You only won because I’m not fully recovered yet.’
‘Really?’
‘Yep, really. But at the moment I need a lot of nurturing, so this is perfect.’ She snuggled into his chest. ‘If not a little hard on this floor.’
‘Well, we’ll have to do something about that, won’t we?’ Stan eased her away slightly and got up. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her back to her room and gently lowered her on to the bed.
Fiona kept her right arm around his neck so that he couldn’t pull away. ‘Stan, I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.’
‘You don’t need to apologise. If I had told you what I was doing, then you would not have tried calling your parents.’ He gently pulled her arm from him.
‘Please stay with me for a while.’ Fiona felt something inside she had never experienced before. A feeling that, for most of her life, had been hidden from her; a tenderness and warmth in her heart. Despite seeing Stan’s dark and dangerous side, she instinctively knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
He sat on the bed and pushed back her hair. She could feel his hesitation, so she reached up and brought his face to her. She kissed him with a passion that surprised herself and when she drew away, she saw a sparkle in his eyes and then he was kissing her; a powerful and deep kiss that touched her heart.