The Publisher's Dream (bwwm)

Chapter Twenty One

'Poison...Poison...dehydration, liver failure, lungs...dried up. we'll try our best, needs prayers' "Stop it stop it." Abel shook his head to clear his mind,  he didn't want to believe the doctor. Damn doctors, they never spoke English words and always found a way to confuse their patients. Abel guessed it was for their fun. Bits and bits of what Dr.Kane said came to his mind. If he hadn't been his family doctor for years, he would have rushed Samantha out of there. What was he going to tell her guardians? Uncle Ian? Shit. He had to call Ian immediately,  things were going to get ugly for sure.

"Abel," Noah's voice echoed in the hospital hallway. Abel looked up at his friend who was running followed by Nanny who was being held by Emmy. When Noah reached him, he broke down. He had nothing to be ashamed of, he needed the comfort, "It's gonna be okay, man." Noah said to his friend as they held eachother, both men had tears streaming down their faces.

"Dr.Kane said poison Noah, poison." Abel said and three gasps followed.

"Poison, how, could it be food poisoning?" Emmy asked in shock, she was trying to calm a fragile Nanny, "Sam doesn't eat food anywhere else. If she isn't at mine, she's at your place or hers." The group looked at eachother in silence, "Unless she went out alone recently. " Emmy gasped after a short silence, "Jennifer."

This caught the men's attention, "Jennifer?" They asked in unison, "How do you know her?" Noah asked.

"She's the woman Sam has been going out with this week, Jenny, you know her? Today I was supposed to join them but when I came to your place to pick Sam, I found Nanny and Noah coming here."

"Do you have a picture of her?" Noah asked throwing a worried glance towards Abel.

"Yeah, two days ago Sam sent me a pictrue of them two when they were having a pedicure." She fished out her phone and even Nanny stood up to check.

"Fuck." Noah shouted and pushed his hands through his hair. He turned to see Abel but he was nowhere to be found, "Where's Abel?" They all turned to see the last of him disappearing out the door. Noah cursed again and ran after his friend.

"That woman has killed my son." Nanny cried as she collapsed in the nearest seat.

"Nanny, Abel's alive." Emmy assured her.

"No my dear, as long as Samantha is unconscious,  Abel will never survive. He survived the first, he can't survive this." Nanny explained.

"Oh God, what do we do now, Nanny? Who is Jennifer? Do they know her?" Emmy asked her eyes starting to water.

"Jennifer Lombardi. The woman who almost made Abel run crazy, and now she's back to torment us." Nanny leant back and closed her eyes, "All we have to do is wait my dear, we wait."

******

"Abel wait, where are you going?" Noah asked his friend as he reached the hospital parking lot.

"I'm going to kill that bitch." Abel muttered as he frantically searched for his car. "No wonder she had stopped her visits to my office, she was planning all this."

"Dude, you can't drive. Listen to me, I'll drive," Noah said, "Sam needs you alive man, don't do something we will all regret."

"I've nothing else to lose," Abel muttered as he sat in the car, "Even if Sam survives, I'll never forgive myself. I was very careless, I didn't even care for her safety. I should have known Jennifer would have something up her sleeve."

"It's not your fault." Noah assured him, "We are going to the police to get a search warrant, I'm sure we will find something on Jennifer. "

They drove in silence, Abels mind wondered back to a few hours ago when he had found Sam on the bathroom floor. He had never experienced that kind of pain before when he had seen her lying on the floor in that vulnerable state. At that moment he would have done anything to save her, even if it meant giving his life. She had been covering her face and her body was breaking with sobs, then she had started convulsing. He hadn't hesitated, he had gotten the nearest shirt and put it on her then had carried her and had rushed to the hospital. Dr.Kane had taken one look at her and his face had paled. "What has she been eating?" Had been his first question and Abel had looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean? She hasn't even eaten breakfast." He had growled.

"This is not about what she ate Today Abel, thelse are all signs of poisoning." Dr.Kane had said as they put oxygen on Sam and plugged tubes in her nose and mouth.

Abel had looked on in shock even as Dr.Kane had told him to follow him to the office, he had followed like a zombie.

"We are here." Noah's voice roused him from his thoughts. They got out of the car and entered the police station. They talked to the District Commisioner who gave them a couple of police men to follow them to Jennifer's place. Noah called Emmy on their way, "Emmy, did you call Jennifer?"

"No Noah, I didn't have the time to tell her anything."

"Good, don't. Text me her address and update us on Sam's situation." He hung up and concentrated on the road. Few seconds later, Emmys message arrived and Noah informed the police.

******

Jennifer looked at her watch, almost midday. She scowled,  these skunks didn't know how to keep time, they had agreed at 10am for godsake. She went to the kitchen to make something just in case they come. Her doorbell rang and she sighed in relief, finally. She couldn't wait for the week to end so she can go relax for awhile on some island. She reached the door and opened only to be met by a paper with some written words.

"Miss Jennifer Lombardi?" The tall dark skinned guy asked and Jennifer nodded confused. There were two more, all wearing police uniforms. wait, police? "Seattle Police Department," The man continued, "This is a search warrant and we are gonna ask you to come with us to the station." He nodded to one of the officers who put cuffs on her and led her to the police car. Her steps faltered when she saw Abel and that Noah standing beside the police car.

"What is going on?" She asked Abel but her heart was drumming fast against her chest, had her medicine finally worked?

"You bitch." Abel surged forward but was held back by Noah.

"Abel hold it, let the police handle this. " Noah held him back.

"Oh you better pray Samantha gets better or else you'll never live to see the bright of day." Abel growled and Jennifer's eyes widened as the police led her to another car.

So the medicine had worked, very effective indeed. But wait, how had they found out? That stupid doctor had assured her no one would know it was poison. She had to see Samantha, she wanted to see what the medicine had done to her. Maybe she had just fainted. She sighed and leant back in the police car seat. Why was she suddenly feeling guilty? Wasn't she fighting for what belonged to her? She had never seen that wild, desperate look in Abels eyes. Gosh, what had she done?

Regrets? really?
Anyway, this is where I get confused, you can't hate the characters you've created. It's like God, He can't hate His own people, right?

Somewhere in His heart , it doesn't matter what you've done. He will have a soft spot for you.

Catch you later in the next chapter.