Love For Hire

Matthew asked the staff at the nurses’ station where he might find Kinsley. The nurse pointed out the cubical at the end. He
made his way over to the section where he found Kinsley lying in a bed hooked up to machines. She was still out of it. Matthew
pulled the hospital curtain closed, cutting them off from sight. He walked over to the bedside and looked down at his brother’s
fiancée.
Even though he had succeeded in disposing of the child that threatened his throne, he still had to deal with Kinsley. He could not
afford to allow her to wake up and tell his parents he had thrown her down the stairs. He had diplomatic immunity, so he was not
worried about American law enforcement. However, his father might have him ceased and flown back to Kustium, where he
would likely stand trial for attempted murder and treason. He was not going to put to death because Nicholas’ little pet whore did
not break her neck when she fell.
“Oh, Kinsley, you have become a rather annoying thorn in my side,” he whispered as he pulled back a part of the curtain
between the cubical to see if anyone was in the next bed. Seeing it was empty, he picked up the pillow and let the curtain fall
shut. He stood next to the bed and held the edges of the pillow in both hands. “Time to put you out of my misery.”
Matthew placed the pillow firmly over Kinsley’s face. Smothering her nose and mouth, cutting off her air.
***
Kinsley’s eyes opened when she felt something cover her face. Someone had placed a pillow over her face. She jerked with
panic when she could not breathe. Kinsley thrashed around her legs, kicking, her arms flailing. She was trying to get the pillow
off her, but she could not budge it. She struck her attacker with her casted arm. The pain was great, but she had to fend him off
before he killed her. Her good hand was clawing at him. She tried pushing the attacker away and scratching his hand and
forearms.
“Son of a bitch!” she heard him swear when she scratched him. She knew she had hurt him, but he refused to let up. Kinsley
could hear the machines she was hooked up to beeping. The more panicked she became, the faster the beeping became until it
set off an alarm. “Shit!” He knew he was in trouble.
Kinsley could hear the hospital staff come running and a woman screaming for security.
Her attacker dropped the pillow, and Kinsley pushed it off her face in time to see Matthew bust past security and make a run for
it. The guards chased after him, and two nurses rushed to her bed, checking Kinsley’s vitals and making sure there was no
serious damage done.

Her arm throbbed, and the cast had broken from hitting Matthew with it. Her oxygen levels improved, and her pulse slowed to
normal once more. The nurse told Kinsley they would remove the broken cast, x-ray the arm again to be sure she did not do
more damage, and then recast it.
As the nurse was removing the broken cast, security returned to her bedside, telling her that Matthew had gotten away. They
were calling the police and would post a guard next to her cubical in case Matthew decided to come back and make another
attempt. Kinsley asked the guards to go upstairs and see if they could find Nicholas’ family and let them know where she was,
what happened, and that she was going to be ok. They had to be worried, and she wanted to tell them about Matthew before
they found out through the police.
Within thirty minutes, Naya and Samuel arrived at her bedside. Naya was in tears, and she walked right up to Kinsley and
hugged her, sobbing about how sorry she was that Kinsley had been wounded at the hands of her son. “Oh, child, I am so sorry.
I had no idea what he was up to.”
“Where is he?” Samuel demanded.
“Security said he got away,” Kinsley told him.
“When we find him, he will pay,” Samuel shook his head with anger. “I am willing to bet Matthew is behind Nicholas’ poisoning.
He was trying to eliminate the competition for the throne,” Samuel sighed heavily, rubbing his hands over his face as he took a
seat on a plastic chair the nurse had brought in for visitors. “I have no heir. Matthew committed treason. Nicholas is going to die,
and the baby will never be.”
Kinsley sat up a little straighter at that. “What do you mean the baby will never be?” Kinsley asked as the Nurse who was casting
her arm seemed to tense up.
“Has no one told you?” Naya asked.
“Told me what?”
They all looked at the nurse. “It is not my place to say. The doctors are the ones that gives out new.”
“Tell me now!” Kinsley barked.
The nurse offered her a sympathetic smile. “I am sorry when you were found you were hemorrhaging. Test show that when you
fell down the stairs, you triggered a miscarriage. I am sorry the baby is gone.”

Kinsley could not breathe. She felt the sting of tears in her eyes. Though she had only known about the baby for a brief time, it
still felt like she was dying on the inside. Matthew might have failed in his attempt on her life, but he had succeeded in removing
her child from his way. She hoped the police caught up to Matthew and that he would be killed while trying to escape. Kinsley
had disliked a lot of people, but for the first time in her life, she actually hated someone.
Kinsley closed her eyes, trying not to break down. She opened her eyes and looked at Naya. “Has Nicholas woken up yet?”
“No,” Naya told her. “But if it is ok with the doctor, once your arm is taken care of, we will get you a wheelchair, and you can
come upstairs and be at his bedside.
It was another hour before she was cleared to leave. The nurse helped Kinsley into a wheelchair, and Samuel took control of
steering her chair. An orderly offered to push Kinsley so that the King did not have to lower himself, but Samuel insisted he would
do it, saying it was the least he could do after his son had wronged her so grievously.
When they reached Nicholas’ room, Samuel parked her chair next to the bed so she could hold his hand with her good one.
Shortly after, Dr. Horton arrived, having heard the news about the attempt on Kinsley’s life. Samuel informed Dr. Horton about
Matthew, and then the conversation turned to Nicholas’ possible recovery. Now that they knew why Nicholas was so ill, they
wanted to know if there was anything the medical staff could do to help him.
“Well, now that we know what the problem is, there are a few things we can try,” Dr. Horton said. “First of all, we beef up the
guards on this door, make sure he has no further expositor to the poison. We will give him something for his heart to help prevent
it from failing due to the damage. We will put him on a constant mineral supplement drip. That will help prevent the risk of a
potentially fatal heart arrhythmia. We will run some tests and see what kind of kidney function he has. He may eventually require
a transplant...
“As of a more immediate course of action, Nicholas is going to require a blood transfusion. We need to remove the tainted blood
and introduce healthy blood. We can try chelation therapy also. That is where we introduce drugs like Dimercaptosuccinic Acid
and Dimercaprol, which helps by isolating the arsenic in his blood from the blood proteins. Another option is bowel irrigation. We
introduce a special solution into the gastrointestinal tract, flushing out the contents of the system. The irrigation removes traces
of arsenic and prevents it from being further absorbed into the body.”
Dr. Horton went quiet for a moment.
“None of this is a definite cure. Considering the levels of arsenic in his system and the length of time he was being poisoned, a
lot of the damage is already done. There is a very real possibility that nothing will help, and he dies anyway. Given his already

compromised immune system, I’d say he has maybe a 30% chance of surviving this. You should prepare yourself, say your
goodbye; he might not be with us much longer.”
Kinsley looked up to see the pain in Samuel’s eyes as his wife sobbed in the chair next to her. Samuel took a calming breath and
then looked at Dr. Horton. “You do what you must,” Dr. Horton agreed and left the room to relay treatment orders to his
staff.