The other woman

Hearing his voice

"How are you feeling?"

Alex gave him a tired but grateful smile, glad to have Christian here because the last thing that she wanted was to be on her own. "I should be asking you that," she replied, her voice still hoarse.

"Nonsense, it's just my face and my ego that's bruised and it's nothing compared to what you've been through." He took hold of her hand and briefly examined where two IV lines were going in on the back of it - one to fight any infection she might have from her various wounds and the other for hydration. She still looked weak, dirty and exhausted but at least she was alive. No doubt once she'd regained a bit more strength she'd be taken to a washroom to be cleaned up.

"Any word on Soren?"

"No, I'm afraid not," he gently placed her hand back down on the bed but still kept hold of it.

"I've killed him, haven't I." She choked as she began to get upset, fresh tears making more streaks in the grime on her face. "I'll have got out of one prison only to be sent straight to another."

He shuffled in his seat, reaching out with his other hand to tenderly stroke her forehead and cheek while quietly shushing her, "it won't come to that, I won't let it and let's be honest, it's no more than he deserves." He sighed and shook his head sorrowfully before adding, "I feel like this is all my fault."

"I don't blame you for any of this, not at all. You rescued me, if it wasn't for you then I'd still be trapped in that barn."

"But if it wasn't for me then Soren wouldn't have found you. I wish that I'd never agreed to help him search for you."

"Soren can be very persuasive when he wants to be, he knows how to get what he wants. I bet you had no idea of what he's capable of, he sold you a sob story, right?" She asked bitterly.

"We met in my hotel in Amsterdam, in the bar. We got talking, had a few drinks and yeah, he got emotional talking about you," he started to recall the evening where he'd agreed to help, the worst decision he'd ever made in hindsight. "He said you'd argued and that you'd left him, he just wanted a second chance, said he wanted to make things right but he only knew that you lived in Switzerland and worked for Sebastian. I offered to help him when I went back to Zürich and he jumped at the chance. We swapped numbers and the rest..." he sighed, feeling incredibly guilty as he looked at Alex's beautiful but bruised and wounded face, "I remember him sending me a picture of you and I could immediately see why he was so desperate to find you. The day we met in the restaurant, when you were there with Sebastian and his family, I called him the moment you'd left and agreed to follow you and keep an eye on you. I sent him the details of your address and how you left a key in the plant pot near the door when you went out running. I feel terrible and so ashamed. I led him right to your door."

"But you didn't know what kind of monster he was...is," she corrected herself, as far as she was aware Soren wasn't dead yet.

"And if I'd known then I'd never have offered to help him, I'd have steered well clear."

Knowing that he was in the same hospital as her made her shiver and she lifted her gaze to the ceiling, wishing that she knew what his prognosis was. "We're not the first people he's conned into thinking he's a nice guy and we probably won't be the last - unless he's dead."

"Let's think positive, shall we?"

"I still stabbed him with a pitchfork," she moaned, "he'll want the police to throw the book at me whether he lives or dies."

"We'll cross that bridge if or when we get to it, the police know what he's put you through and they will know it's self defence and like I said, I'll back you up on that, one hundred percent. You're the victim here, not him."