Warning: The author has noted that this contains strong language.
Background
Lisa gets a plane to London and seeks out Richard, a young lawyer she had met. Having been raped by Nick the night before, Richard insists that Lisa see a doctor, where she discovers she's pregnant.
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Lisa started to stir, and sleepily looked over towards Richard. He wasn't there - and Nick had taken his place. It was like waking up from a nightmare, only to find out that the horrors of the dream were in fact reality.
Nick saw her head move from the side of his eye, and looked over at her with a tortured smile.
“I'm sorry, Lisa, I know this is a bit drastic, but you shouldn’t have left without saying good-bye. I had to find a way to talk to you, and this was the only option you left me with.”
Drastic wasn't the word. It was terrifying. Now that she knew what he was capable of, Lisa didn't want to be anywhere near him. As she tried to work out what to say, she looked down at her stomach and felt surprisingly protective towards the life she hadn't even known existed up until a few short hours before. If Nick knew, he would probably kill her.
“Where are you taking me, Nick?” she asked as calmly as she could. She hoped he couldn't detect the terror in her voice, because that would make him feel even more in control than he already was. The abuse she had received from her drunken mother had taught her to think on her feet when faced with a deranged and bitter mind. She had talked Nick around before; she just prayed she could do it again.
He looked back at her, and smiled cynically before his eyes went back to the traffic in front of them.
“I don't know, Lisa. Where do you want to go?”
It was as though they were out for a drive in the country. Nick was acting as though nothing had happened, which made the whole situation even more frighteningly surreal. Perhaps he hadn't found out that she'd been in his safe, and he didn’t know that she knew what he had done? Reassured with that possibility, she felt a little calmer.
“How did you know where I was, Nick?” she asked, playing for time while she desperately tried to think of something that might make him stop the car, enabling her escape.
“It wasn't that hard, Lisa. When I found out you were on the plane to Gatwick this morning, I hired a private plane and followed you, while Malcolm, the guy who met you off the helicopter on Saturday, tailed you into London. All I had to do was ring his mobile when I landed, pick up a hire car, and meet him outside that office you went into. It was fairly easy, actually - why? Did you think I would let you disappear out of my life for a second time, and not try to get you back? You should know me better than that, Lisa. You know how much I love you.”
She stared at the side of his face and saw a nerve twitching in his jaw. He looked insane. Feeling her gaze boring into him, Nick turned to her again, taking his eyes off the road.
“So, who is the guy you went to see, Lisa? Why do you need a lawyer - and why were you headed for Chelmsford with him?”
How could she explain to Nick that Richard was the only person she knew who could help her expose him for trying to kill Alan without putting both their lives in danger?
“He's just a friend, Nick - I met him at a party,” she answered, already defensive in case Richard was added to his hit list. Now that she knew what Nick was capable of, she certainly didn’t want to antagonise him, or give him any more targets to focus his jealousy on.
His mouth had set in a grim line, and Lisa waited for a response to her answer. Nick changed gear and overtook two cars in one go, making Lisa stiffen with fear and grab the door handle.
“You can't just take someone's car and hijack me, Nick. For God's sake, slow down - you're terrifying me...” she cried. The Speedo hit ninety.
“Just promise me that you'll come back to the Island, and I'll turn round and go back to the garage with your boyfriend's car, Lisa, It's up to you,” he replied, as he prepared to overtake again.This time he overtook a car before a bend, pulling over just before they came face to face with a lorry coming towards them. Nick swerved and managed to avoid it, but Lisa couldn't take anymore.
“Stop it, Nick - you're going to kill us both!” She cried hysterically.
Nick seemed to ignore her, and negotiated a bend at sixty miles an hour, making the tyres squeal as they fought to hold the road. Then, almost as abruptly as he had raped her the night before, Nick brought the car to a screeching halt in a lay-by half a mile after the bend.
The silence surrounded them, and the only thing Lisa felt she could hear was her heart beating loudly in her chest. After a second or two, Nick turned to look at her, his eyes pleading.
“I want you to come back with me, Lisa. I'll make it up to you, I promise. Please, please don't do this to me again. We can work this out, I know we can...”
Lisa remembered back to her mother and her generosity in the mornings after she'd been drunk and she'd abused her. She didn't doubt that he would. Like her mother, he naively thought that money could buy back her love.
“I don't want you to make it up to me, Nick. It's over,” she blurted out before she could stop herself. Nick took both of her hands in his and she could see the desperation in his eyes as he stared at her intently.
“It can never be over, Lisa. You promised me you would never leave me again. You know I can't live without you.”
Lisa looked down at her hands in his, and Nick followed her gaze. He noticed her engagement ring was missing, and looked at her suspiciously.
“Where is it, Lisa?” he asked, holding up her hand.
She didn't think before she answered him, but the second after she told him she'd left her engagement ring in his safe, Lisa realised that she had probably signed her own death warrant.
Nick was silent for a moment and he stared back at her, shaking his head slowly as the penny dropped.
“So you know, Lisa,” he said quietly, his eyes boring into the side of her face.
Lisa felt the tears running down her cheeks and nodded. Nick stretched over and put his hand up to the side of her face, forcing her to face him and look into his eyes.
“Then you're right, my darling Lisa. It really is over,” he said quietly, before he kissed her gently on the lips.
Lisa felt her body trembling as Nick sat back in his seat and turned the key in the ignition...
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Fortunately Richard’s mobile was still in his pocket so, as soon as he realised his car was missing with Lisa still inside it, he phoned the police. He couldn't give a damn about his car, but he knew, from what Lisa had told and shown him, there could only be one person who could have taken it. Richard cursed himself for not realising that Nick might have followed them, especially when he saw the abandoned hire car on the forecourt, the keys still in the ignition. It didn't take a genius to work out that, with what she knew now, Lisa was in terrible danger.
By the time the police turned up, there had already been reports of Nick's maniacal driving from other drivers who had called in on their mobiles, and Richard had visions of Lisa being killed. The only good news was that the police knew the make and registration of his car, and there weren't too many silver grey Porsches in the area.
Unable to hang around any longer, Richard jumped into Nick's hire car and set off down the road in the same direction as his car had been pointing. He knew it was futile, but he had to do something.
As Richard drove the car along the road Nick and Lisa had taken twenty minutes before, his mind was in turmoil. He knew how terrified Lisa must be, and he felt incredibly guilty because she had come to him for help, and one moment of stupidity on his part had put her life in danger. Just as Alan had done two months before, he took responsibility for the safety of a girl he had only met once.
After fifteen minutes driving along the winding road, Richard got stuck behind a line of traffic. He waited impatiently for ten minutes before the traffic started to move slowly, and when he reached the next corner he saw two policemen redirecting the traffic back in the direction from where it had come. Like many of the other drivers, he stopped and asked one of the policemen the reason why they were being turned back, only to be told that there was an accident up ahead…
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When Lisa saw the crash barrier coming towards them at over a hundred miles an hour, she braced herself for the impact, screaming at Nick to stop. It was too late. He had already decided to kill them both. After they crashed through the barrier, the car seemed to stop momentarily in the air like a bird on the wing, until the bonnet turned downwards and the ground came racing up to meet them. She screamed as she looked over at Nick and saw him staring straight ahead, a sad tight smile on his face…
..................
Richard ran along the road to where the police cars and ambulances were gathered with several people from the various emergency services. They were all looking over a steep embankment. A policeman came towards him as he got nearer, and asked if he could help him, thinking he might be yet another inquisitive member of the public.
Richard bent over and put his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath before he asked the officer if he could confirm whether it was a silver grey Porsche that was involved in the accident. It was.
When Richard ran over to the edge of the road, his breath caught at the back of his throat when he saw what was left of his car lying twenty feet below. It was surrounded by firemen who were trying to cut through the twisted metal. The paramedics were lifting someone onto a stretcher a few feet away from the car, and he tried to make out who it was, but they were too far away for him to see. When he tried to climb over the twisted metal of the crash barrier so he could see more clearly, the police stopped him. He had to wait as the paramedics picked their way up the side of the hill with the stretcher. He recognised Nick's face immediately. He was not only alive, but conscious.
“What have you done to her, you bastard!” he shouted insanely at Nick, as they raised the stretcher to put him into one of the waiting ambulances. Nick stared back at him, his eyes glazed with pain.
“None of you can have her now...” he replied with a sick smile.
Richard tried to get to him, but the two policemen grabbed his arms and stopped him as the paramedics put the stretcher into the ambulance.
“You don't understand” he shouted at them hysterically. “That bastard took my car and deliberately drove it off the road. He knew what he was doing, he meant to kill Lisa!”
The policemen let go of his arms as the ambulance doors shut.
“I know you’re distressed, sir, but we’re doing everything we can to get your friend out. She’s still alive, but she’s trapped, so the boys are trying to cut her out without making her injuries any worse.
Richard ran back to the edge of the embankment again with renewed hope. He watched, his heart in his mouth, as the firemen sliced into his car with their cutting equipment, the sparks showing up clearly in the fading light like small sparklers.
The fact that Lisa was now in the same position that Alan had been in two months before because of Nick’s actions filled Richard with a bitter hatred. As a lawyer, his profession supposedly dictated that he remain impartial under normal circumstances, but he was incensed with a feeling of abhorrence at what Nick had done.
After what felt like an eternity, the other group of paramedics moved in and eventually Lisa's limp body was removed from the wreckage and placed on a stretcher. Even in the poor light, Richard could see traces of the bright red of her blood covering her clothes. If she was still alive, it would be a miracle…
Author Notes
Bonnet...hood
Lisa Collins...Main Character
Alan...A boy Lisa met whilst visiting her friend in Chelmsford.
Carla...Alan's girlfriend
Mike...Alan's friend and flatmate, who is tragically killed in Alan's car accident.
Fiona Collins...Lisa's mother
Donald Collins...Lisa's father
Scott Collins...Lisa's brother
Nick Corday...A multimillionaire who has fallen in love with Lisa.
Vikki Clark...Lisa's friend from Chelmsford.
Dave Wilson... Policeman
Eve Brookes...Police woman who befriends Lisa
Jack Turner... Alan's father
Kathy Turner...Alan's mother
Karen Turner...Alan's sister
Richard Clark...Vikki's wealthy cousin from London.
Amy...the girl who befriends Lisa when she arrives at the school.
Teddy, Veronique, Chloe and Linda...Lisa's new school friends.
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