I blocked her escape but my mouth was hanging open in surprise. "I never did that, you're lying!"
She lifted the phone and shoved it in my face. The message was there plain to see. The message I had sent to Richard telling him to drop dead was gone. She skirted past me as I made a grab for my phone but she was off and running down the hall.
Stephanie had warned me but this seemed completely over the top. David knew me, he knew I would never do something like that. I followed her out into the hall and came face to face with David. Lucia stood by his side the phone held in her hand. I could tell from the look on David's face that he had at least heard part of the conversation.
"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on here?" His voice was low and dangerous. A tone of voice I had only heard him reserve for people he didn't like or didn't trust.
"David, I can explain." I pleaded with him but the look on his face had grown harder.
"She's lying! You know I would never go back to him or even entertain the idea for a second."
"And yet here the message is... Plenty of messages from him too..." Lucia's voice was filled with cruelty. She was enjoying this far too much.
David spun on his heel and stalked back down the corridor.
"David! Wait!" I raced down the hall after him.
He turned and the look he gave me was so cold, so hurt that it stopped me dead in my tracks.
"I need some time. I need to be alone." He turned and moved down the hall. Lucia followed him, throwing a triumphant look over her shoulder as she went.
My heart froze in my chest. He believed her over me. He believed someone else over me... It didn't sound right. The words repeated over and over in my head as I made my way back into the bedroom and plonked down dejectedly on the edge of the bed. The edge of the bed that I had shared with David mere hours before.
I couldn't cry, the tears wouldn't come. I was sure it was because my whole being was in shock over what had just happened. He had believed her over me.
But had he really? He hadn't said that he believed her. But I could tell from the look on his face that he was confused by what was going on. If I went after him I was certain that I could make him see that it was all untrue. That Lucia had spent her time trying to tear us apart. Surely if he loved me he would see the truth of the situation. Wouldn't he?
Standing I made my way into the hall. I jogged to the door and back out into the main area of the house. I could hear the rest of the people laughing and chatting in the living room. I knew it wasn't where David would go. He wouldn't go back in there, not if he wanted to be alone.
Hurrying to the kitchen there was no sign of him but when I peered out the window I could see him sitting on the seat beside the lake. Lucia sat beside him, I could see her blonde hair blowing in the wind that had come up since the afternoon.
Making my way to the little room that was filled with skates, boots, and coats I tugged on a coat and my snow boots. Pulling the door open the cold air immediately hit me, stealing the air from my lungs. My eyes began to water as I climbed down the steps and made my way across the icy ground to where they both sat on the bench.
There was something odd about the way they sat together. But from where I stood I couldn't make out what it was. I drew closer as the wind whipped my hair across my face obscuring my view for a moment.
When I pulled my hair from my eyes I froze. My heart shattering into a thousand pieces as I realised that Lucia was draped across David's lap. Their faces were joined together and I knew they were caught in a passionate embrace.
David pushed Lucia back and away from his body. The look on his face registering with me as one of shock and surprise but I assumed it was because he had caught sight of me.
I gasped as they both turned to look at me. Turning, I started to run. My sight blinded by the wind and the tears that were cascading down my cheeks. As quickly as they fell they seemed to freeze on my cheeks, leaving little icy droplets on my skin.
"Carrie, it's not how it looks! Lucia kissed me! She means nothing to me! I was showing her the ring I had gotten you when she kissed me!"
He was gaining on me, I could hear his breathing and the crunch of his steps in the icy snow growing closer. I changed direction, running blind. All I wanted to do was get away.
My feet slid on the ice but I kept running.
"Carrie! No!" David's voice rang out like a shot in the night.
My balance disappeared and I found myself crashing towards the ground. As I fell I had one split second to look around and realise that I had in fact run out onto the ice. I hit the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of me. My head impacted with the cold hard ground and stars exploded behind my vision.
I was vaguely aware of David's voice as he came to a stop beside me, but the world grew dark and I didn't know anything else of his betrayal.
***
Waking in the hospital I stared around at the stark white room surrounding me. I remembered running out onto the ice and I remembered David kissing Lucia... That memory lanced through me causing me to wince. It hurt worse than the pain in my head.
"You're awake!" David came into view, his face creased with worry as he stood over me. He put his hand on mine and instinctively I pulled away.
"Carrie, please..." There was something in his voice and the way he looked at me that made me stop. I stared up into his face. The face of the man I loved. The face of the man who had broken my heart. I didn't understand how it had all gone so horribly wrong.
"Why?" I croaked out, my voice was terribly hoarse and it made my head ache even more.
"I swear I didn't kiss her. I went outside to think and she followed me... She was saying all these things about you, how you didn't deserve me and how you had betrayed me... I didn't think it was possible. Not after what had happened with Richard, but she had your phone and the messages... I was hurt... I had planned something special and then all of this happened..."
"So you kissed her to get back at me, to hurt me?"
David shook his head vehemently. "No, I didn't. I pulled the ring out and she leaned over and kissed me. I pushed her away immediately and then suddenly you were there and you were running... I chased after you but you ran out onto the ice and well..." David looked sad, his eyes filled with remorse and pain as he looked down at me in the bed.
His hand was still on the edge of the bed and I found myself brushing my fingers against his. I had no reason to doubt him. I had seen firsthand what Lucia was trying to do. Hell she had even tried to frame me... It wasn't a stretch to imagine that she had thrown herself at David.
"I didn't send Richard that message." I added.
David nodded, "I know... If I had known Lucia was going to behave this way I would never have come up here... We were friends and I thought that was how it would stay... I didn't kiss her I swear!"
I nodded, tears filling my eyes. He was sincere and I knew when he was lying, now was not that time. David seemed so relieved, he released a deep breath and dropped to one knee beside the bed.
I pushed myself up further in the bed and stared at him suspiciously. "What are you doing?" I asked.
David's eyes were once more filled with worry and apprehension. He pulled a small box from his pocket and took my hand in his.
"I had planned to do this at a more romantic location but seeing as we seem to end up in the hospital more and more often, I thought I should do it here... I couldn't bear to lose you. The thought of never having you in my life or ever losing you is far too painful to even contemplate. So I want to make it official."
My eyes opened wide in shock and surprise as he opened the box. The ring sparkled, catching the stark white hospital light. The diamond was bigger than anything I had ever seen before, but it was beautiful and without even realising it I was crying.
"I wanted to do it over a romantic dinner and I had planned everything out for up at the Chalet... But... Miss Carrie Grant, will you do me the greatest honour by consenting to become my w
ife?"
His eyes were filled with worry and hope. As I stared from him to the ring, David licked his lips nervously. It was the first time since we had been together that I had ever see him behave nervously.
"Yes..." The word hung there between us. Neither one of us moved and for a moment I wasn't sure if I had said the word out loud or not. "Yes..." I repeated again, louder this time.
David's eyes widened in shock, as though he hadn't truly believed that I had given him the answer that he wanted.
"You mean it?" He answered, a grin breaking out across his face.
I smiled back at him through my tears. They had begun to flow faster and as David pulled the ring from the box and slipped it onto my finger I stared up at him in wonderment. It felt like a dream. That I was sleeping and at any moment I would awake and it would all fade away.
David hopped onto his feet and wrapped his arms around me. His lips crushed down on mine and I closed my eyes, giving over to the sensation of being in his arms. He drew back from and stared down into my eyes.
"I promise to make you happy every single day of my life. And to love you forever."
I grinned up at him, words failing me as David pressed his lips to mine once more.
"If you want I can ask you again when you get out of hospital?" He asked, holding my hands tightly in his.
I shook my head and glanced down at the ring glistening on my finger. "No, it’s perfect as it is."
David kissed me once more before standing. "You need to rest, love. The sooner you recover, the sooner you get out and we can celebrate properly." He smiled at me, the slow predatory curl of his lips that I had come to recognise as sheer desire.
Settling back against the pillows I traced my fingers across the ring on my finger. David moved to the door and gave me one last lingering look before stepping out into the hall. Closing my eyes I let the wave of exhaustion wash over me. If it was a dream I didn't want to wake up from it. But I wanted to recover. I knew what David would do to me once I did and I for one couldn't wait for it happen.
Catching sight of my cell phone on the locker beside the bed I picked it up and scrolled through the messages. The one Lucia had sent was still in the phone and I deleted it. But one unread message caught my eye. My heart sank as I thought that Richard had replied to Lucia’s hoax. Instead it was a reply to the drop dead message I had sent him the morning we had left for the Chalet.
You’ll pay bitch. Mark my words. You’ll be sorry.
Reading the message sent shivers down my spine. I didn’t honestly believe he was capable of anything. But the fact that he felt he could threaten me was creepy enough. Switching the phone off I placed it back on the table and lay back against the pillows. I let my eyes drift shut. Now was not the time to be thinking of Richard. Not after what David had just asked me. My fingers rolled across the ring just to make sure it was still there.
I drifted off to sleep as I felt the ring on my finger. I was his... Utterly and completely and soon everyone else would see what I shared with him. They would see that we were together and that I was his, for always.
#
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At the Billionaire's Pleasure Christmas Stocking Page 5
