Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
After sending a message off to Michaela, he got to work cleaning the scratches on her hands. The entire time, she didn’t even stir.
That definitely didn’t seem normal.
After her hands were wrapped, he sent a message to one of his guys. Hopefully, the cops had taken away Roberta and his guy could go in and get Lily’s handbag and medication.
Soon after, he got an alert that Michaela was at the gate. After checking the camera, he opened the gate.
He wasn’t even sure if Lily had taken note of the security measures around the cabin. The fact that she’d taken off running was indication that she probably hadn’t. What she couldn’t know was that she wouldn’t have gotten much further before she reached the fence he’d had installed.
Which had cameras and alarms all the way along it.
It was up for debate whether the security measures he’d installed were to keep her safe or to keep her in.
It was a bit of both.
He met Michaela at the door. “Thanks for coming.”
Michaela shrugged. “That’s what you pay me for.”
It was and he paid her well.
“Where’s the patient?” she asked.
“In here, she’s asleep. Which seems odd.”
“Not used to women falling asleep in your presence, huh?” she asked dryly.
No, he wasn’t.
They walked into the living area, and Michaela moved over to where Lily was lying. She stared down at her for a long moment.
“She’s pale. How long has she been sleeping?”
“About forty minutes. She tried to run off and fell over. I carried her back here, and she just sort of slipped off into a deep sleep.”
“She hasn’t stirred? She must be exhausted.”
“Yeah. She’s been under a bit of stress these last few hours.” Probably even longer, given her mother.
Michaela set her bag down.
He pulled a stool over for her to sit on, and she took hold of Lily’s wrist, taking her pulse.
“Pulse is good. I’m just going to run a few tests. What’s with the bandages on her hands?”
“She scratched them, then when she ran off, she fell in the dirt. So I cleaned and bandaged them.”
“She scratched them herself? Does she do that sort of thing often?”
“Not that I’m aware of.” It annoyed him that he didn’t know her well enough to determine if she’d been hurting herself all along and hiding it. “I’ve never seen any visible signs.”
“Right. That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t do it in secret and hide it. She could need a therapist.”
He knew that. He needed to do some research.
“I know.”
Michaela nodded and didn’t say anything more. That was what he liked about her, she knew when to stop talking.
She took Lily’s blood pressure. And while she stirred slightly, she didn’t open her eyes.
Michaela’s frown deepened. “Do you know if she’s on any medication?”
“Yeah, she keeps saying that she needs her pills. She’s worried she’ll hurt me if she doesn’t have them. She said that her nervous system gets overloaded and she lashes out. However, she doesn’t seem to know what she’s taking and she often looks blank and out of it.”
“She doesn’t have the pills on her, then?” Michaela asked.
“No, Gareth is trying to get hold of them.”
“Right, I want to be informed as soon as you know what they are. She’s pale and her blood pressure’s very low. I want to take some blood, but not while she’s sleeping and could wake up suddenly.”
“Just do it,” he commanded. “I’ll hold her arm down.”
The older woman frowned up at him, but she knew better than to protest.
He was the boss, after all.
So she got the needle ready, and he held Lily’s arm as she took blood. Lily let out a soft whimper, but she didn’t wake up.
“Okay, let’s look under the bandages at her scratches,” Michaela said once she was finished. “She got dirt on the wounds?”
He nodded as she checked Lily’s hands.
“Keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t get infected. Make sure you clean and re-bandage them. I think she’s also underweight. Her lips are dry, and her skin doesn’t really bounce back when pinched, which means she could be dehydrated too. Infection could get hold of her easily. So you need to keep an eye on that. There isn’t much more I can offer without the results of the blood tests and knowing what medication she’s on. Hopefully she’s just exhausted and needs the sleep, but if the sleep goes on for too long, then she may need to go to the hospital.”
His first reaction was to say ‘no hospital,’ but if that was what she needed, then he had to provide it, because nothing could happen to Lily.
So he nodded. “I’ll keep a close eye on her.”
“I’m sure you will. Just be careful with her. She seems fragile. And if she’s hurting herself, she will need some trained help.”
He walked with her to the door just as his phone beeped.