Master of Lust

Chapter - 149

The ICU was a mess. The floor was covered with blood and glass, IV stands lay broken, and the machines were blood-soaked and beeping. The man who had tried to kill Emily lay dead on the floor, a pair of forceps sticking out of his eye. Emily was still on the bed, unconscious but alive, thanks to Rick's quick action. She also had a certain glow on her skin.

The cops had arrived, along with the hospital staff and doctors. They had sealed off the room, were investigating the scene and had taken statements from Rick, Olivia, Rick's father, and the nurse, who had all been injured in the fight. Doctors and nurses were treating their wounds and moved them to the waiting area just outside the ICU.

Olivia demanded that she wouldn't be separated from Emily for even a second, and no one was in the mood to argue with a stubborn Olivia. They could see Emily through the window, but the cops didn't allow them to go near her.

Olivia sat on a chair, looking at Rick's father. He was sitting on the opposite end of the waiting room, looking at the floor. Nurses loomed over them both, bandaging their wounds. There was tension in the air and silence.

Olivia didn't know how to explain what had happened or why she had followed them. She didn't know how to tell him the truth or if he would believe her. A wave of guilt and regret, mixed with fear and confusion, swarmed her.

It was all her fault. Everything. She never should have let Rick drive her home that day. She never should have succumbed to Rick's charms. She wished she could undo it all, but she knew it was too late.

Meanwhile, Rick's father was lost in his own ocean of emotions, ranging from shock and anger to pain and disappointment. He couldn't believe what he had seen. He couldn't believe that Rick and Olivia were just in the throes of exploring each other, dancing on the edge of passion. And probably they would have gone much further had he not barged in. How long had this been going on?

How long was he kept in the dark? He wished he could forget it all, but he knew it was impossible.

Unable drown in his thoughts any longer, Rick's father stood up suddenly, and made his way to Rick.

Rick's attention shifted between Olivia and his father as he took both their anxious expressions, and landed on his dad as he walked towards him. Nurses and doctors fussed around him, cleaning his wounds, and stitching up his cuts.

When Olivia expressed her wishes to stay close to Emily, he too put his foot down, saying he wasn't going anywhere. He had kept a close watch on his dad's reaction to that, but received nothing but impassiveness.

Rick father looked on as a doctor was bandaging Rick's thigh. A blood bag, and an IV drip were attached to his arm. Multiple bloodied rags lay on the floor surrounding Rick, and his shirt was torn open to prod at his sides.

Rick's father had escaped with just a couple of butterfly stitches for the cut on his cheek. Rick, on the other hand, sported a big bandage over his broken nose, and also a black eye thanks to it. Blood had dripped onto the floor, below the chair where he sat. Most of it coming from his leg where he'd been stabbed.

When the last nurse left Rick, saying she will fetch him some electrolytes to drink, Rick's father moved forward. He reached his son and put a hand on his shoulder. "Rick, are you alright?"

Rick looked at his father and nodded. "I am fine, dad. I will be okay. What about you?"

"I am alright. It's just a cut." His father shrugged.

"No concussion, I hope."

His father shook his head. "No. No concussions. Just a bit..." But Rick's father could not say any further than this.

Rick nodded. "Good. That's good." He stared at his father expectantly, waiting for him to bring the topic up. If his father wanted answers, then he just had to ask the right questions.

Rick's father opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it, and retracted his hand from Rick's shoulder.

Olivia, sensing the rising awkwardness between the two, joined them, standing opposite to Rick's father. He wouldn't look her in the eye, and her shoulders sagged even more.

Guilt over weighed Olivia. Rick's father had been nothing but kind and generous to her and Emily, and to thank him, what had she done? She slept with his son. What of woman did that make her in his eyes?

Rick's father seemed to come to an agreement within himself and turned to leave, but Rick caught his wrist, forcing him to stop.

"Dad," he said. "About what you saw—"

"Are you Rick?" a uniformed officer stood in front of him, a condescending sneer overtaking most of his features.

"Yes, that's me," Rick said.

"You're coming with us to the station," he said, and rested his hands on his belt.

"And why's that?" Rick asked calmly, not making any move to get up.

"You'll know it when you get there," the officer spat and reached for Rick's arm.

Rick's father stepped in between and forced the officer to back up. "He's not in a condition to go anywhere. Wait for a few days, or if you want, you can perform your interrogation right here."

"Fine by me." The officer turned towards the ICU room door and yelled. "Yo, Jones. Wanna slam the charges on this punk?"

A hefty officer who clearly ate too much and moved too less joined the group. "Why not I'd be glad too, Jenkins. We're looking at murder, attempt to murder and damage to hospital property."

Jenkins, facing the trio, jabbed a thumb in Jones' direction. "Hear that? That's give us more than enough grounds to drag him to the precinct."

Rick's father was the one to speak up. "It's called self defence. That killer was trying to kill Emily. And he would have if Rick didn't intervene. Also, attempt to murder? What attempt?"

Jenkins was the one to reply. "He injected the patient with a serum of some kind. If the hospital staff didn't reach her in time, she would've a one way ticket to upstairs."

Olivia interjected. "That wasn't Rick! It was that horrible man. He wanted to kill Emily. Rick was the one who saved her. How can you just dump all these false charges on him?"

"Bullshit," Jenkins' spat, moving closer to Rick and got in his face. "He's lying."

"We have spoken to the doctors. They said they found puncture wounds on that girl's arm. This bastard—"

"Enough, officers!" Rick's father yelled, silencing all in the room. He rarely ever raised his voice, but on the rare occasion he did, everyone better made sure to pay full attention. He shoved Jenkins back, and stepped between the officers and Rick.

"My son is not a murderer. He is a good person and a law abiding citizen. That man on the floor there tried to kill Emily for reasons we are still not aware of." Check for new content on m-vl-em-pyr

"Rick did all he could to prevent him from hurting Emily. When it turned into a fight, my son had no choice but to defend himself. In that process, the man was killed. My son is innocent. Do you hear me?" Rick's father desperately tried to make the police officers understand.

But they clearly didn't care. Jones slammed Rick's father instead, "Shut up, old man. You don't know anything. You're just trying to protect your son, because you're supposed to."

Olivia, who had been silent until then, couldn't take it anymore. She faced the officers, her eyes blazing. "Enough. Enough of this nonsense. You have no evidence, no proof, no motive, nothing. You're just harassing us, because you have nothing better to do.

You're wasting our time, and yours. You have no right to keep us here, to accuse us of something we didn't do. You have no case, and you know it."

Rick, who had been listening to the whole exchange, decided to speak up before his dad or Olivia said something and got themselves arrested. "Alright, enough. You have no grounds to detain us. You have no probable cause, no warrant and all the evidence points to an act of self defence. You have violated our constitutional rights, our human rights and our civil rights.

So before you speak up, I would advice you to rethink your words. You get me?"

"Look, you punk—"

"Don't make me sue you, officer." Rick turned his sharpened glare to Jones, who just didn't know when to shut up. "I have the time and money to take this to court. And I will win. But I don't think you will be so lucky."

The officers looked at him, stunned. Rick didn't look any threatening with half his face bandaged, but if he was confident enough to threaten armed officers, then he was capable enough to see his threat through. They grumbled, but left them with a promise to visit again once Rick was better.

Rick slumped back into the chair, and leaned his head back against the wall. All the pain medication they had given him were making him sleepy, but he needed to talk to his father before he passed out. He forced himself to open his eyes and called out for his dad just as he turned to leave. "Dad. What you saw… Me and Olivia... Mrs Clarke—"

"You don't have to explain anything. It's your life and it none of my business. True... I am a bit fuzzy in the head. But..."

"I trust you enough to take care of it. This is not something I want to have a part in. Just keep Greg in mind when you make plans to take this… this whatever is going between you two... This relationship I don't see a future ahead." With that, Rick's father left the waiting room and the door closed with a soft click.

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[A/N: I believe the story is going at a fine pace. Do you want me to speed up?]