Girl of Vengeance Read Online Free PDF Page B

She closed her eyes and began to pray. Once they started she couldn’t stop them. Every time. Her heart rate would increase, then chest pain, and unbearable fear in her body.
    She didn’t have to have a reason. She’d begun having them in Belgium more than twenty years ago, when Richard cruelly tormented her with words and threats, leaving her unbalanced and terrified.
    You know, he said once, it’s only a twelve - hour drive to Calella. And I’ve never met young Luis. What is he, thirteen now?
    You leave him alone!
    Then you behave, he had snarled back.
    The random cruelty he’d begun to visit on her had begun after he’d learned Carrie wasn’t his daughter. He didn’t need to make threats. He’d thoroughly cowed her with the hideous assault in February ’90, which had impregnated her with Alex and left her with lifelong scars.
    She stared at the door, beyond which the doctors were treating Jessica. She hated herself for not leaving him thirty years before. He’d threatened all along that he would hurt their children, that he would hurt her, that he would kill Luis. If she “misbehaved.” But now he’d done it anyway, and Jessica was in the hospital, and she had no one but herself and Richard to blame for it.
    The pain in her chest was worsening. It always did. The first time it happened, in 1991, she’d been rushed to the hospital, thinking she was having a heart attack. No , the doctors informed her. Nothing physically wrong with her at all. They suggested Paxil, a powerful antidepressant.
    She tried it, but it made her feel like bugs were moving under her skin. For the next twenty years she went through a series of different anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications. Her doctors were baffled.
    But she did remember, one day not long after Julia went off to college, Doctor Thornton spoke with her. No amount of medication will stop anxiety that’s well-founded in something in your life, Adelina. Is there something I need to know about?
    She behaved. She denied it, changed doctors and stayed terrified.
    She clutched her fist against her chest and whimpered. The pain was severe.
    “Mrs. Thompson—are you all right?”
    She looked up, tears in her eyes. It was a nurse. “Panic attack,” she whispered. “I’ve had them before. I normally take Ativan when I have one, but I don’t have any.”
    “Let’s take you down to an exam room,” the nurse said.
    “No! I need to stay near Jessica.”
    The nurse smiled. “Jessica’s going to be just fine. The doctor is actually on her way to see you now.”
    Hope suddenly flooded through her. “What? Really?” She shook so hard her teeth rattled against each other, and it seemed like an hour before the doctor appeared.
    “Mrs. Thompson? I’m Linda Gates, the chief of neurosurgery.”
    Neurosurgery. That’s what Carrie’s husband Ray had … before he died. She looked up. A tall woman with long blonde hair tied in a bun stood in front of her. She wore a white coat with blood stains on it. Adelina continued to shake.
    The surgeon continued. “So … first of all, your daughter is in recovery. She had a hemorrhagic stroke, not an obstructive one. That means blood was pouring into her brain when you arrived at the hospital. Once we clearly identified that, she went immediately into surgery. I was right down the hall at the time she was brought in. We cleared out most of the blood and repaired the damaged vessel.”
    “She’ll fully recover?” Adelina asked.
    “It’s too soon to tell, Mrs. Thompson. Your daughter had a life-threatening stroke. I understand she was a regular crystal meth user?”
    Adelina nodded. Ashamed. “Yes.”
    “I’m so sorry,” Doctor Gates said. “That’s heartbreaking.” She reached out and touched Adelina’s shoulder. “Panic attack?” she asked.
    Adelina nodded, quickly. Tears rolled down her face.
    “She said she’s had them before,” the nurse said. “And she takes Ativan.”
    “Well. You don’t have any here