Love For Hire

The air ambulance arrived shortly, and Nicholas was moved from the palace to the hospital in town. Kinsley joined him in the
helicopter. She did not want him to go alone. His parents would be driven in and meet them there.
When they reached the hospital, Kinsley was at his side as the staff moved Nicholas to a private room. It worried Kinsley that he
never woke, never stirred once during the transfer. His complexion was flush, almost white, and he was perspiring like he’d run a
marathon in the sweltering heart. As she waited for the nurse, Kinsley placed her hand on his forehead and frowned with
concern. He was very hot to the touch.
A nurse came in, and Kinsley stepped aside to allow her to do her job. The woman took all his vital signs, as Kinsley suspected
Nicholas had a very high fever. The nurse gave him something intravenously to help with the fever. After an hour, the doctor
came in and examined Nicholas once more. Prying his eyes open and flashing light in both, then checking his reflexes by
running the tip of his pen along the bottoms of Nicholas’ feet to see if he would flinch. He did not, and Dr. Horton’s frown grew.
“Nicholas is completely unresponsive,” Dr. Horton told her.
“What does that mean?” Kinsley asked.
“He is in a coma.”
Knisley’s heart almost stopped. “Coma?” She gasped in horror. “Radiation therapy can do that?”
“No, this is not a result of the therapy,” he assured her. “It is something else. It is possible the disease is progressing.”
“The therapy was supposed to combat the progression, not speed it up.”
“It is a rare disorder. We know very little about it, and really any and all treatment is just guesswork at best,” he said as he
recovered Nicholas’ feet with the bottom of the blanket. “He has no reflexes when I touch his feet. It concerns me if he does
come out of this coma, he may no longer be ambulatory.”
“You mean...”
“If he becomes well enough to leave the hospital, he will do so in a wheelchair.”
Her heart sank. That news was going to devastate Nicholas. She loved this man, but part of her almost hoped he did not wake
up. It might be kinder to just let him go peacefully in his sleep. She was so conflicted.

When Naya and Samuel arrived, Dr. Horton filled them in on their son’s present condition. Naya sat down in the nearest chair
and sobbed. The doctor promised to do his best to wake Nicholas. He was running every test he could think of, and if he had to,
he would run them all twice until he found out what had caused Nicholas’ heath to degrade so quickly.
They all sat with Nicholas for hours. Late into the evening, Teegan and Matthew arrived to check on how their brother was doing.
Kinsley looked at Matthew, unable to hide the suspicion on her face. She could not sit here with this man. She was going to go
get a drink from the vending machine. She would not leave Nicholas alone with Matthew, but with the rest of the family in the
room, she believed he would be safe.
She stood up from her chair. “I am going to raid the vending machine. Would you like anything?” She asked Naya. The woman
shook her head no.
Kinsley walked down to the end of the wall, where the vending machines were next to the fire stairwell. She was looking over the
selection when Matthew walked over and stood next to her. He smiled at her, and she tried to ignore him. “How are you doing?”
He asked.
“Given my fiancé may die before we get married... I am fine.”
“You know you should not put this crap in your body. It is full of preservatives and other chemicals,” he said with a concern she
did not think was genuine. “Why do not we go down to the cafeteria and find you something healthier to feed to my niece or
nephew. I will buy.”
She looked at the junk in the machine. Maybe he was right. Maybe she should eat something better. She was hungry, after all. “I
will get my own meal; thank you,” she said, heading for the stairwell. It was closer than walking back to the elevator. Kinsley
pushed the door open and stepped into the stairwell. She let the door swing shut behind her, but then Matthew caught it before it
closed and stepped into the stairwell with her. “Really, I do not need you to tag along,” she snapped at him as she turned to
confront him.
Suddenly Matthew offered her a cruel smile that made her blood run cold, and then both his hands came up, and Matthew
shoved Kinsley hard. She fell backwards. Kinsley reached for the railing, but she missed it. Landing on her back Kinsley rolled
feet overhead as she hit every step on her way down the stairs.
When she reached the landing, she was in great pain. Her head hurt, and she felt dizzy. Kinsley looked up to see Matthew
coming down the stairs. She tried to get on her feet so she could run, but she was having trouble getting up. Matthew reached

the landing, and as she was hunched over, attempting to get on her feet, Matthew kicked her in the stomach and shoved her
again, sending Kinsley down the next flight of stairs.
Hitting her head, Kinsley lay on the landing, groaning in pain. Through her blurry haze of pain, she could see Matthew coming
down the stairs. As he reached her, Matthew bent over and grabbed Kinsley by the shirt, lifting her to her feet. Then he threw her
down the next flight. Kinsley hit her head again, and now blood dripped in her eyes. She could barely see as Matthew came
down the stairs and stood next to her. She could not move. She did not have the ability to move. She looked up to see him
looking down at her. Matthew pulled back his foot and kicked her in the face, and everything went black.
***
Matthew stood over Kinsley’s motionless body. He was hoping the fall would have killed her. He leaned over to place his fingers
to her throat, hoping to find no pulse. Before he could check, he heard the sound of the stairwell door below them open.
Someone was coming, and he could not be caught standing over the body. He looked at Kinsley and then rushed back up the
stairs. Hopefully, she was dead. If not, he would finish the job later.
Matthew stopped a few flights up when he heard whoever had entered the stairwell find Kinsley. They could hear two voices.
Matthew looked over the edge but could not see them. “Quick, call a nurse. I think she is still alive,” one of them said, and
Matthew frowned. He needed a plan-B.