Chapter-5

Kara’s POV.

"Ms. Hatchett, I have got to ask you a question, and I'd really appreciate it if you answered me honestly. For your own wellbeing," the nurse who was treating my hand said, and I looked at her in puzzlement. 

"Yes, of course."

The nurse looked nervous. Although I was at the same hospital I went to for my ankle, the nurse was different.

"According to your record which we had to look at, you were here this morning for a serious wound, and your nurse mentioned an altercation in the corridor," the nurse said. "And now you're here again. So, Ms. Hatchett, I really have to ask you this. How is your home situation? Is your husband rough on you?" 

"What?!" I was taken aback. "I’m not married; Derrick’s not my husband." 

The nurse looked sad. "Well, hon, you came to the hospital twice a day, and you’re wounded with bruises on your wrist like someone grabbed it hard. That man seemed familiar with you and given his conduct...well, you really need to say something so we can get you out of this situation. This looks like domestic violence to me. I promise that we can protect you and get the police involved to keep him away, even if he claims to love you."

After everything I've been facing, the nurse's care felt like a breath of fresh air. This stranger who'd known me for mere minutes cared for me more than my husband did. I smiled at her, grateful to my core.

If the contract hadn’t been in place, I'd have left Derrick a long time ago. But Derrick really didn't mean to injure me like this, I was certain. He looked shocked enough when I started to bleed. We didn't need to make things messier than it was, not when the contract was about to expire.  

"I know that it looks fishy, but I assure you that these wounds aren't from a domestic violence situation. This is my first time coming to the hospital in years, to be honest," I assured her. "Derrick’s not my husband or my boyfriend. Even if his temper is nasty, I’m completely safe. This is an accident." 

The nurse looked skeptical, but before she could press, my phone message alert rang out. 

I took it out and nearly locked it back when I saw that the message was from Jade. But then again, I was curious as to what she had to say without Derrick being around, so I opened the message. 

That was a mistake. The message consisted of a photo of her neck, proudly showing off a very fresh hickey and a question right below it. 

"Derrick is so rough! Is this the kind of things girls like, because I really don’t" followed by a frowny face. 

Was I surprised? No. I was suspecting something like this would happen. How could I not, given how they were acting? I couldn’t even hate Jade for this, because she didn’t know Derrick was married. She was a bad person, but I doubted if she’d go as far as to break up a marriage. Derrick was the one being unfaithful to me.

As if to contradict my words, a moment later, the door to the room I was in burst open and in walked Derrick, fuming, followed by his PA who was trying and failing to stop him. 

"You!" he snarled as soon as he saw me, and I braced myself for a confrontation. "Who do you think you are, ignoring my calls? Clearly, you're not dead, so what excuse do you have for not taking my calls? Are you trying to make me look like an idiot in public?"

With that, he rushed forward, yanked my hand, and pulled me up. It was the same hand he grabbed before, and pressing on the bruises hurt. I cried out immediately. 

"Stay away from her!" my nurse cried out and shoved Derrick away from me, with enough force to make him stumble back. Immediately, she stepped in front of me, blocking me from him. "Get the hell out of this room right now, or I'm calling the security and the police on you, you abusive cheater!"

“What lies are you spreading about me now?” Derrick growled at me.

"Okay, okay, can we all calm down here?" Derrick's PA decided to intervene then before Derrick could dig himself into a hole. "I'm certain this is all the huge misunderstanding. Mr. Whitney is merely concerned about the safety of his friend here who left her home after an injury without even notifying anyone and refused to take his calls. They are not in a relationship, they’re just friends. Everything’s okay!"

"Oh, yeah?" the nurse snarled. "I wonder why she wasn't taking his calls and letting him know where she is, given how he acted when he saw her."

"You know nothing about me or Kara," Derrick replied. "Your job is to treat her, and it looks like you've done, so why don't you move away so I can take her home? I will sue this hospital if you get in my way, see if I won't. My lawyers won't let you get away with it."

That threat made me angry. 

"Oh, you want me to come home with you?" I asked him, my tone mocking. "Why? Can't you survive a night without your personal maid at your back and call?" 

"Stop talking nonsense, Kara," Derrick snapped. "I don't see you as a servant, no matter how much you want to claim victimhood in this. Don't you dare turn this on me like that!" 

"Not a servant? Not a servant?!" I gaped at him. "You literally just ordered me to cook for you and your little girlfriend when I was injured. Me, who was already injured! You ordered me to cook. Then, you pushed me away to step on glass when I refused!"

"What-no-she's not my girlfriend!" Derrick denied, as if that was the most important part of my accusation.

My nurse was seething by then, minutes away from calling the police. Her hand was hovering over her pant pocket where her phone was jutting out. 

"Not your girlfriend? Then I suppose you go around giving hickeys to all your female friends," I replied, hearing the mocking tone of my voice grow cold. I just about had it with this man. The contract was near it's end anyway, so screw him and Jade.  "If I'm on the way to your true love, happily ever after, I'll do us both a favor and divorce you the moment you say yes!"