Saving Her Read online

  Running From The Past

  Saving Her (Book 1)

  Evelyn White

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 – All rights Reserved

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  About The Author

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  Prologue

  Hannah Preston was on mission impossible, getting away from Mark Little, a powerful drug dealer who had been her captor for many years. Panic and haste become her undoing when she gets involved in a car crash that injures her, and causes her to undergo surgery.

  Steven Kane, her attending doctor, is the handsome man who sees past her obvious incapacitation and recognizes the life she’s trying to run away from, a life he’s also managed to escape. He promises to help her. Hannah is determined to escape from the hospital ward because Mark will find her. He does find her but Steven sneaks her out of the hospital to a safer place.

  Similar pasts, a drive to help her and an unexplainable desire to keep her with him causes him to take risks that he shouldn’t take. She likes him too and it’s for that reason that despite what they share, Hannah makes a run for it. Does she make it away from Mark? And how far does she get before her feelings for Steven get in the way?

  Chapter One

  Escape

  Hannah couldn’t stop looking back. She drove around the roundabout, never reducing speed as she swung into the 14th and skidded slightly on the snowy road, hoping to cut around the traffic so she’d have a free way into the interstate. But even as she pushed down the throttle and her Sedan complained with chesty groans before moving any faster, she glanced backward, looking for anything that told her he was on to her.

  It isn’t possible. I gave him double the doze he normally takes.

  But fear is a slave driver and Hannah knew it was only fear, pure, irrational, intimate fear that made her so jumpy. Mark had surprised her more than once. He’d caught her making attempts to escape and made her pay.

  “There’s no escaping me.”

  Hannah believed it. But here she was, many kilometers away from his sleeping ass and about to drive into the interstate.

  “Keep driving till the tank runs empty,” she repeated to herself.

  She didn’t care if the car stopped at Alaska. She just needed to be as far away from him as possible. Mark Little was a virus, a problem that had appeared like a solution to solve another problem but had gradually started to choke her. Now she was expunging her life of him, or more accurately, expunging herself out of his life.

  The interstate was just at the end of the road. There was an intercept a few blocks away. Hannah saw it but she wasn’t sure she’d slow down. She couldn’t give Mark any inch. She kept driving and did slow down when she got to the intercept but she looked back three times for extra measure before accelerating again.

  The snow fell heavily, wetting the road so Hannah was tempted to slow down. She didn’t though. The interstate, her freedom, was just a few seconds away. She drove harder, gunning for the interstate like it was a finishing line so that she didn’t see the garbage truck start to back out of a compound. When she did, it was much too late to subtly evade it.

  “Christ,” she screamed, swinging the steering wheel to the left so that her Sedan barely made it away from the sturdy back of the truck.

  Her car was now in the opposing traffic lane and she had to swing back to avoid a stream of headlamps in that lane. Her return swing was too hard and her car skidded on the snowy floors, pushing over the short curb and breaking the metal barrier. She tried to turn it back but the car was on free motion now and seemed to be gunning for the inside of what looked like a park.

  There are children there.

  Hannah couldn’t stop it quickly enough. She turned the car towards a huge tree. The last thing she heard was her scream.

  ****

  “Make sure she …”

  Hannah tried to make out what else was said but it was like her brain only opened up for that moment, the rest of the words were lost in a sea of unreadable signals. She was still in the darkness, still struggling with the nothingness to let go of her. She tried again, tried to tune in and make everything clearer and now she had more success. She heard the beep of a machine. She heard feet shuffling but voices, no voices.

  Where am I?

  She tried to remember what happened last but the only thing she remembered was seeing a huge tree with a thick trunk. She turned in the bed and was then surprised to be alert enough to realize she had just turned in the bed. She tried to turn again but this time there was a sharp bite from the top of her head. The pain gripped her and banged like a headache during a major hangover but it lasted only a few seconds before dissipating into nothing but leaving enough of a footprint for Hannah to never try turning sharply again.

  She heard another dragging sound and this time she felt her eyelids start to part. The light bleached and blinded, taking away all possible interpretation of her blurry sight for the first few moments. Then she started to make them out. There was a person in blue who had his or her back turned to her. The person straightened up and the form told Hannah the person was a woman. Her eyes took note of the ECG machine, the drip up on the stand, the numerous tubes that were connected to her body.

  A hospital, I’m in a hospital. What the hell happened?

  She swallowed and her throat was so dry, it almost hurt. She didn’t repeat it. Instead she waited patiently for the nurse to finish up whatever it was that made her turn her back to her. When the woman turned back to her, Hannah made sure her wide open eyes were staring back at her.

  “Holy,” the nurse exclaimed, before placing a hand on her busty chest.

  Hannah wasn’t sure she had good use of words yet. She tried to sit up but the nurse immediately placed two hands on her shoulders, telling her to keep resting.

  “Wait here while I go get the doctor,” the nurse said.

  Hannah wasn’t sure she had a choice. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, trying in futility to understand how she got here. She couldn’t remember anything. There were only two things she could recollect, the big tree and the fear that haunted her before she saw the tree.

  “Miss Preston, you’re awake,” a voice said cheerfully from the door.

  Hannah didn’t turn too sharply, instead allowing the person to walk into her field of vision before turning gently so she saw him. He was a doctor, had to be because of his blue hospital shrubs and bookish looks, but Hannah doubted because he was a bit too handsome to be a doctor. The glasses he kept on his brown chiseled face fit despite looking l
ike it didn’t deserve to be there. She couldn’t tell the color of his eyes but his hair was a curly black mass that fell to both sides with a split in the middle. He wasn’t too tall, just a few inches above 6 feet and had a lanky build that meant he didn’t kill himself in the gym.

  “Hello Miss Preston, we were wondering when you were finally going to wake up.”

  Miss Preston. That would be me, right?

  He walked to the machines giving off different colors of lights and nodded as he read from their screens. Then he walked to her and sat on a stool just beside her bed.

  “Can you remember anything at all?” he asked her.

  Hannah couldn’t tell why she fixated on it but she did see it, his bobbing Adam’s apple.

  “A tree, a huge tree,” Hannah managed to reply after tearing her eyes away.

  “And what else?” he asked her, before bending to place the cold end of his stethoscope on her chest.

  It was then Hannah noticed that she was in the flimsy blue hospital gown and had nothing beneath. The doctor though didn’t seem to notice that.

  The fear, I remember the fear.

  Hannah shook her head.

  “Where is this?” Hannah asked.

  “Healing Cove Memorial hospital.”

  “Okay, where is that?”

  “Seattle,” the doctor replied with a slight chuckle.

  Seattle. Seattle. It doesn’t ring a bell.

  “Is this Seattle like a city still in the US?” Hannah asked.

  “Yes, Miss Preston, you’re still very well in the US,” he replied proudly.

  Something about that response didn’t sit well. Hannah felt the alarm start to return, choking and pressing down till she felt she could do nothing but struggle.

  “Is something wrong, Miss Preston? You don’t look so good,” the doctor observed.

  Seattle, Seattle, Seattle! Seattle, Washington.

  I’m still in Washington. No.

  “Miss Preston,” the doctor said, shaking her shoulder gently.

  “How did I get here?”

  “We were hoping to find that out from you. You crashed your car into a tree and had to be rushed here because of injuries to your head.”

  “My head?” Hannah said before lifting her free hand to her head.

  She met nothing on it. It was bare and her fingers scraped along her scalp, tiny sharp strands grazing the tip of her fingers.

  “My hair,” she exclaimed.

  “That should be the least of your worries, Miss Preston. You’re fine now though we’ve removed the debris that was stuck in there.”

  “Stuck in my head?”

  Hannah sat up and ran her fingers along her scalp, feeling the plaster where it was pasted along her scalp.

  “I was hoping we’d be lucky enough to avoid amnesia with you but it seems that’s the case now, even though it looks to be a rather mild one.”

  “Amnesia, like missing memory, right?”

  The doctor nodded, and looked pleased that she knew this that he spoke off.

  “What of my stuff?”

  “Not a lot was found with you, just a bag containing toiletries, a whole lot of cash, a credit card and a passport. Oh, yes, we found a note too.”

  “A note?”

  “Yes, signed to someone called …”

  The doctor looked back at the nurse for help and she was quick to tell him.

  “Mark,” she stated.

  “Yes, Mark, someone named Mark,” the doctor replied turning back to face Hannah.

  Mark, Mark. No, Mark. I forgot to drop off the note.

  “I need to get out of here now and you have to help me,” Hannah said, gripping the doctor’s wrist as she said it.

  ****

  Steven laughed. She said it with all seriousness but she had to be joking because she was in no state to go anywhere. He pushed his glasses up and rubbed his eyes, feeling the first nudges of fatigue that morning. He’d been here since last night and thought he was about to have another calm, lazy night in Healing Cove Memorial. In fact, he’d been falling asleep when he heard the call over the speakers. Miss Hannah Preston was the emergency.

  It wasn’t until after he’d gone through the surgery, managing to get a piece of metal and other small picks from her skull, without complications, that he finally noticed how beautiful she was. Yes, she was thin, a bit too much on the gauntly side, but the bone structure of her face couldn’t be missed. Her lips were full despite her lack of plumpness, but even with her head scraped, and completely at sleep, she dropped his jaw open. She had a slightly heavy bust too on her slim, close to 6 foot frame.

  Now she was behaving just weirdly.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he answered, almost pushing her back into the bed.

  “No, you don’t understand, Dr …”

  “Kane, Dr. Steven Kane.”

  She was already sitting up before he finished speaking. She gripped his arm harder, her eyes dilating with the fear. Steven saw that whatever it was that alarmed her, she believed it dangerous enough for it to scare her.

  “You have to let me go. I can’t believe I’m still in Washington.”

  “I don’t understand. Does it matter where you are?”

  “Nothing matters more, Dr. Kane.”

  Steven looked back at Nurse O’Neil. She only shrugged, giving him no clue on what to do. He turned back to the patient still gripping his hand. He looked closer, paying more attention to more than her beauty. She was young, couldn’t be more than 25. And he wouldn’t lie to himself about the small dots he’d seen along her veins while he was working on her. She was a drug user, that was why she was a bit too thin. He could never leave someone struggling with drug abuse, never. But he had to finish up his rounds. Other patients were waiting.

  “Even if I can help you, not right now. I’ve got to check on the other patients.”

  “He’ll find me. He always does.”

  “Who’ll find you?” he asked her, taking her palm into his.

  She looked up into his eyes and pulled her hands away before looking away with a shake of her head. She didn’t trust him. It was obvious.

  “I’m going to leave this place, whether you help me or not.”

  Steven had so many objections to her declaration but he also knew the best way to convince a panicky person was not to threaten.

  “I’ll be back in less than an hour. Can you at least wait an hour?”

  Nurse O’Neil whispered something behind him that he didn’t catch and didn’t bother to ask because he knew it wouldn’t be in support of his last request.

  “One hour?” Hannah asked, bringing her eyes back to his.

  Her eyes were a soft hazel, and cast a gaze so mild, Steven wasn’t sure they could possibly hold a frown.

  “Yes, one hour.”

  “Alright, Docky. I’ve given you one hour.”

  Steven nodded and patted her on the arm. He gently pushed her back into the bed so she was lying down before walking out with Nurse O’Neil.

  “Shouldn’t we call the cops?” the nurse said, immediately the door closed to a shut.

  “She’s waiting for us to pull a move like that. You do that and we don’t get to see her again.”

  She didn’t look convinced.

  “Are you sure?” she asked him.

  Steven had been at this exact stage once in his life. He was surer about this than he was about anything. Calling the cops was the worst thing they could do.

  “Yes, I’m sure. I’ll handle this.”

  The nurse shrugged and continued with him on his ward round. This wasn’t going to be her mess to clean up.

  Chapter Two

  Fraternizing

  Hannah saw the door as it opened gently and she continued to pretend to sleep while her fingers gripped the syringe in her fist even tighter. First, she saw the black shoes.

  Mark never wears black shoes.

  When she saw the blue scrubs and smiling face, she felt more at ease. He strolled
easily into the room, lifting the temperature a couple of degrees with just his presence and air. If he wasn’t a doctor, he wouldn’t have done bad as a model or in Hollywood. Hannah could imagine herself screaming her lungs out over him if he was a superstar actor.

  “I was expecting you to get the cops,” Hannah said, sitting up.

  “I was expecting you to expect that,” he replied with a smile that sparkled before moving to take a seat right opposite her.

  He didn’t have the sharp cheekbones that immediately caught attention, or that chiseled jaw that everyone was always gushing over but he did have a sculpted face and sharp features that eased into each other to produce wholesome handsomeness. His calm easy demeanor only made him more ingratiating.

  “Where’s the nurse?”

  “She’s gone home. I should be on my way too.”

  “So why are you here?”

  He didn’t reply. He just dropped a palm on her free hand, while his grey eyes locked on to hers. Hannah instantly felt bad for the syringe with a cocked needle she had hidden beneath the hospital gown. She brought it out and noticed that he didn’t even flinch. He just took it from her, took off the needle and covered it before throwing the syringe in the bin.

  “He must be a very bad man.”

  Hannah nodded. He was.

  “He’ll be searching for me by now.”

  “Will he find you?” he asked, moving his back to rest on the chair so he looked like he was relaxing.

  His body language screamed the opposite. He was anything but relaxed.

  “If I continue to stay here, he will. He has contacts. If you call the police, he’ll be here as soon as they are.”

  “Why is he looking for you?”

  Hannah swallowed. She couldn’t possibly tell him that. But why was Mark looking for her? Was there a true reason why he just wanted her? Maybe there was but it was hidden under years and years of cohabitation, oppression and fear. He was used to having her. That was the only reason why he wanted her.

  “When will I be able to get out of here?” Hannah asked, choosing to deflect his question with another of hers.