Strictly Business

Strictly Business: Chapter 22

Hi,

The muse paid a visit and I had some spare time so guess what? Another chapter for my awesome readers!! The readership for my story is slowly growing and I'm so happy. Thanks and a big wave to all my readers old and new. Please continue to support this story by reading, voting, commenting or telling your friends about it.

xoxo

daydreamerzz

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The corridor seemed never-ending. The doors at the far end mocked her as they kept inching away. Elizabeth ran down the corridor, people and things flew past her in a blur.

They found him.

She could not begin to describe how those three words made her feel. But this good news came with an equally bad one. Shane's hurt and it looks bad. They had sent him to the nearest hospital immediately and now all of them are rushing over.

Elizabeth arrived at the entrance of the operating theatre breathlessly. Mason, Joanne, Simmons and Lucy were right behind her. Detective Reese was speaking to one of his officers. "Where is he? Is he alright?" Elizabeth asked urgently.

Detective Reese dismissed his officer. "He's in the operating theatre now. We found him in one of the old abandoned warehouses by the docks. He looks like he had taken a brutal beating and he was stabbed in his abdomen. He'd lost a lot of blood so the doctors are doing an emergency transfusion now."

Elizabeth reeled and felt Mason and Joanne steadying her. Her insides went cold even as she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Do you have any idea who did this?" she asked.

"Trust me Mrs Preston, I have every man on my team on this case. We will spare no effort in catching the culprits." Detective Reese assured her.

She sat down heavily on the plastic seats outside the operating table. The red 'OPERATION' sign glowed menacingly above the doors. Joanne and Lucy sat beside her, putting their arms around her reassuringly. Lucy started a silent prayer. Simmons and Mason paced the floor.

After what seemed like forever, the red sign finally went off and the doors of the operating theatre opened. The presiding surgeon, Dr Richmond, stepped out with the Prestons' family doctor, Dr Fields. All of them rushed forward.

"He's fine," Dr Richmond declared before they could ask. "It was very fortunate the knife missed the vital organs so his life is not in danger. He'd lost a lot of blood and his left arm's fractured. He also broke a couple of ribs. The wound on his head is not serious but we'll like to keep him for a couple of days just to make sure. He's strong, I have confidence he can make a full recovery."

Relief coursed through the whole group. "He's still under anesthesia now, we just need to wait for him to wake up. It might take some time." Dr Fields added.

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Elizabeth stared at Shane's pale face, unwilling to look away for a minute. She had barely slept for an entire day and a migraine as usual was building up at the right side of her head but she ignored it. Her parents had arrived shortly after Shane was transferred to a private ward and William rushed home from an overseas conference he was attending. All of them had stayed anxiously by Shane's bedside, waiting for him to wake. Elizabeth started to shoo them home as the night grew late and Shane showed no sign of coming out from the anesthesia. She remained behind despite everyone's protests. Elizabeth knew that Shane is not in danger anymore but she couldn't rest until she saw him awake again. Simmons and Lucy came by in the morning with some toiletries for her.