The previous night had been crazy, and Melissa felt sore everywhere. She walked outside, hailed a taxi, and went straight to a popular private hospital in New York.
After waiting for ten minutes, she was called into the examination room by Dr. Steele, who was a man in his fifties with glasses and a wart on the side of his nose.
"Miss Kennedy, your condition is quite serious, and you should have come here straight away," Dr. Steele said, frowning at her. "We'll have to watch for any signs of infection, but in the meantime, I'll send you for a CT scan."
"Thank you, Dr. Steele. I understand," she said, smiling and not at all worried about what the doctor had said. She stared at him and asked, "Doctor, what do you think caused this?"
He thought for a moment and said, "Maybe you were taking a bath, or having a swim, and you were accidentally scratched by something."
She slowly shook her head. "No. That's not right. Guess again."
"Umm…" Dr. Steele suspected that there might be something wrong with Melissa. He was a little embarrassed as he said, "Well, perhaps you used some sort of sex toy and were a little too… ah… strenuous."
"Still not right," she said, with a glimmer in her eyes. "Doctor, could this have happened when I slept with my boyfriend?"
"Don't be silly. How could that be possible?" he asked, smiling at her. "That definitely wouldn't cause something like this."
"Oh?" Melissa said, smiling faintly. She wasn't surprised in the slightest. She placed her hand on the zipper of her pants. "The CT scan might be inaccurate, so why don't you take a look for yourself?"
"Miss Kennedy, you shouldn't joke about something like that," Dr. Steele said. "The hospital has strict rules about that kind of thing…" He swallowed hard as he watched her start to open her pants.
She pulled her jeans down to her knees with such graceful movements that he couldn't look away. He was becoming extremely aroused.
"Doctor, would you like to examine me?" she asked coquettishly.
"Oh, yes," he said, completely focused on her body. He slowly reached out a hand toward her, and just as he was about to touch her skin, she snapped a few photos on her cell phone.
"What?" he spluttered. What was the girl doing?
"Don't panic," Melissa said with a sneer, pulling up her pants. "As long as you do what I tell you, I won't post these photos online." She smirked. "You know what would happen if these photos were made public."
Dr. Steele realized he had been tricked. What was he going to do? If anyone saw those photos, he would be ruined.
"Okay, what do you want from me?" he asked, gritting his teeth.
"Just one simple thing," she said. "Should anyone investigate my injuries, you need to say that they're a result of rough sex. Also, you need to say that it's likely I'm pregnant. With your reputation as an expert, it shouldn't be difficult to convince everyone." She was worried that Alex might send someone to investigate her story, so she had to make sure the doctor wouldn't contradict her.
"Fine," he reluctantly agreed. He had no choice. "Who are you trying to con? And how did you receive those injuries?"
"I'm not telling you who he is," she said. "And it's none of your business how I got hurt. Just remember what I told you to say if anyone asks." The fewer people who knew, the better. She didn't want to explain what had happened the previous night.
Melissa had thrown Alex onto the bed and taken off their clothes, but she had forgotten one very important thing. The drug she had used to knock him out had left him unresponsive. It had been impossible for her to have sex with him, so she couldn't get pregnant.
She had tried for half an hour, but then she had given up. Now she had to pretend that she had slept with Alex.
Melissa was no longer a virgin. To make Alex think it had been her first time, she had taken a cucumber covered with small thorns and used it to produce some blood.
To her relief, when Alex had seen the blood on the bedsheet, he seemed to believe that he had taken her virginity.
**
Alex called Ken Stokes and instructed him to find Debbie as quickly as possible.
When Sam Woodsworth received Ken's message, he sent people to search for Debbie while he stayed with Alex in the Azalea Guest House.
Sam looked at Alex's distressed expression, but he couldn't do anything to help, and that left him feeling uneasy and afraid.
Alex sat at a stone tablet in the luxurious courtyard of the guest house. The place was beautiful with its blue and white tiles, but he barely noticed it. He leaned his arm on the table and said nothing.
He sat there for hours. The trees stood tall and unmoving, and their leaves rustled in the breeze.
He wasn't in the right state of mind to appreciate his surroundings, and his mood grew steadily heavier. He clenched his fist tighter and tighter.
Around 6 pm, the sky began to darken. Black clouds covered the sky, and not a hint of blue remained. A few muffled rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance.
"Hurry! Get inside!" several voices urged from outside the courtyard, followed by many hurried footsteps.
Alex raised his head and saw Ken approaching with a few young men, who were dragging a slightly familiar-looking man along with them.
"What happened? Do you have news about Debbie?" Alex asked anxiously as he stood up.
"We haven't found Miss Stonehill yet," Ken said, lowering his head. "But I've sent everyone out to look for her, so we should find her soon."
"Useless!" Alex exclaimed, snapping under the pressure. He cursed angrily at Ken. "Why are you here? Go away! Get out and keep searching until you find her. All of you, get out of here!"
"Yes, Sir," Ken answered. "But Mr. Ambrose, I think you should speak to this man. His name is Lou, and he was the one who picked up Miss Stonehill at the airport. I didn't have time to interrogate him before I brought him here."
Alex's gaze quickly turned to Lou with such hatred in his eyes that everyone trembled in fear.
"You!" Alex recognized him. This was the man who had been about to molest Kelly at the gate of Preston University the day before. Things weren't looking good. He grabbed Lou's neck. "Speak!" he ordered. "Where did you take Debbie?"
"Sir, you're mistaken," Lou whined. "It wasn't me. I don't know what you're talking about!" He was scared to death, and there were so many angry people there. How could he possibly remember what Melissa wanted him to say?
"You're lying!" Ken slapped him. "If you don't tell me the truth right now, I promise I will make you regret being born. And then I'll start on your family."
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you the truth. I swear," Lou said nervously, intimidated by Ken. He quickly thought it through. With the state Alex was in, there was no doubt he would react violently if Lou told the truth, and then Lou would die. All he could do was follow Melissa's instructions and hope she would protect him.
"Yes, I lied," he said carefully, keeping his head down. "When I arrived at the airport, I saw Debbie, and she was really pretty. Then I heard her call her boyfriend Alex, so I pretended I was his friend to trick her into getting into my car."
Debbie had told Janice that one of Alex's friends was going to pick her up. But Alex didn't care about that. What he wanted to know was where Debbie was now and what Lou had done to her.
The sound of more hurried footsteps came from outside the yard. One of Ken's men walked in carrying a pink suitcase. Behind him were two men who were escorting Lou's wife.
Alex's eyes widened as he walked over and picked up the suitcase, recognizing it as Debbie's from the panda sticker on the side.
"Mr. Ambrose, we found this in Lou's bedroom closet," one of the men said. "And his wife looked quite flustered, so we brought her here as well."
"Tell me what happened," Alex demanded, glaring at Lou. "Where did you take her? Where is she now?" He opened the suitcase and took out a black book. There was a lock on the cover, but he applied a little pressure, and it popped open.
"I drove Debbie to the Pavilion Hotel," Lou said, trembling with fear.
As Alex listened, he opened the book and discovered it was Debbie's diary.
April 2nd. I jumped into Ramsey Lake, and I thought that I was going to die. But a boy had followed me there, and he saved me. Then we ate together, and it felt so good to have someone to share that with.
April 13th. I don't understand why Alex stole Mr. Morgan's money. I hate him, but I can't let him go. I have to leave school to work and pay off his debt. But as long as he's okay, it's much more important than me going to school.
April 25th. Harmony Island. I just found out that Alex didn't lie to me. His family's wealth is more than I could ever have imagined, and now I feel like I'm not worthy of him at all. I must try my best to be independent and not be a burden to him.
Everything that had happened was recorded in the diary. Alex had thought that he understood Debbie, but seeing this, he was learning something new. In their relationship, she had never felt that she was good enough.
"Silly girl, why would you think that?" he muttered, his heart aching. He skipped over many of the pages and went straight to the entry where she went to Chicago.