Lies & Secrets

By Crystal Steadman

Lies & Secrets is about a woman named Camilla that is in an abusive relationship. She wants out but she knows her husband will find and kill her before he would ever let her go, but one fateful night Allan threw Camilla down a flight of stairs and left her for dead. She knew that was her escape so she ran.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9781312643796

Crystal Steadman

Crystal Steadman is an American Author. She started writing books at the age of 15, but she didn't publish her first book until she was well into her 30's. Crystal writes romance novels, but she is starting to dip her toes in other genres.

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Prologue

 You stupid bitch, you thought getting pregnant would make it okay for you to be lazy with your chores and your body? Alan yells at me because I did not want to go to his work party tonight. And of course, the house is never good enough for him. The floors are good enough to eat off, but they are never clean enough for my husband. I never thought he would use my pregnancy against me. I’m about 3 months along and he has been so good since he found out he was going to be a father. Brings me roses every day and gets up in the middle of the night just to check if I’m okay when I’m sick, are when I’m craving something crazy in the middle of the night he would run out and grab it. He had become the Alan I knew in high school and fell madly in love with. 

The Alan that has been my husband for the last five years is back. He has a big promotion hanging on the line, so I get why he is so crazy right now. I’m just tired and don’t understand why I must attend some office party. He normally doesn’t want me at those parties, so why now. 

 I’m sorry Alan; I’m not feeling very well today. I didn’t figure you would want me to embarrass you on one of your biggest days. 

 Do you really think I’m that damn stupid Camilla? I know you don’t want to go because you want to bring your damn boyfriend over tonight, while I’m trying to make a better life for the two of us and the baby. 

Alan, I don’t have a boyfriend. I never have and I never will. No matter what, you’re my guy. I try to calm him down because when he gets like this, I normally end up in the bed for three days from his hands and I don’t want to risk anything happening to the baby. I may not want to bring an innocent child into this life, but I want nothing happening to my baby. 

 The look in Alan’s eyes is very scary. 

 Run! Camilla, my head is screaming at me.

But I couldn’t make my legs move fast enough before Alan grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking me back into him. 

 Where are you going, bitch? Did you really think you could talk to me like that and get away with it? He spits out. 

No, Alan I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking. I know you’re stressed out. Let me get dressed and we’ll go. I’m sorry, I’m being a little grumpy. I guess it’s the pregnancy hormones. I tell him, hoping he will let me go. 

Alan snorts. You really think I’m a dumb son of a bitch! Don’t you he ask? Turning me around to face him, He punched me in the face before I know what’s coming. 

 I almost fall backwards, but Alan catches me and holds me up just enough to kick me in the middle of my stomach. I fall to the ground. 

 No, Alan the baby! I yell, clutching my stomach. 

 Do you really think I care about some other bastards child? Alan yells at me, with a shit-eating grin on his face. Did you really think I was going to raise someone else’s baby? He ask. Kicking me one more time in the stomach for good measure. 

I don’t know what you are talking about, Alan; I cried out. 

 No, you wouldn’t, because you are too stupid to think I had you followed every time you left the house. I saw you go to that house every day; I also know you never quit the hospital. You have been working there for the past five years. After I told you to quit after we got married. I let you have that one because you were still home every night when I walked through the door, with dinner on the table. 

 Alan, that person’s house I go to every morning before work is a patient. It’s a little nine-year-old boy that has cancer. I try to explain to him, but he’s not having any of it. He takes me by the hair, dragging me out of the bedroom into the hall. 

 Alan, please stop, I beg! 

 Please! Alan, stop! He taunts. 

Once in the hall, Alan drags me to the top of the stairs, picking me up by my hair. Smiling his evil smile. 

 I know what’s about to come next is going to be terrible, but I can’t stop it. 

 He picks his foot up as high as it will go and looks me square in the face. Bye bitch he says smirking then kicks me in the stomach. 

 I tumble backwards down the stairs. 

 I have two choice’s here: show him I am still alive and risk him doing worse to me to make sure I’m dead, or I can act dead. 

I chose the latter. 

Alan walks down the stairs and bends over me. Now you have a reason not to go to the party with me, you dumb, selfish bitch. 

 I lay there while Alan walks out the door. I know right away something is wrong with the baby, so I call my friend Kim. 

Kim comes right away, taking me to the hospital. 

 Please let us get you out of this place. Gracie, a nurse I work with, says once we are in the emergency room. 

 And just how do you plan on getting me out of here without him knowing? I hiss. 

 He kicked you down a flight of stairs? Kim asks. And he didn’t stop to see if you were breathing before he bolted out the front door. 

 I know, I say, hanging my head. 

 So, it’s easy Cam. I came over to see how you and the baby were doing, and I found you at the bottom of your steps unresponsive. You were already gone by the time the Paramedics got you to the hospital. 

 I mole it over. 

Do you really think we can pull it off I ask, eyeing both my friends? 

Yes, we do! They say at the same time. 

 How do we get a doctor to go along with faking my death? 

Leave that to me, Gracie says. Kim, just get her the Hell out of here tonight.

Not a problem.

Chapter 1

Camilla

 It’s been a couple of weeks since I made it to a little town in Florida called Ocala. It’s pretty and peaceful here. 

 I’ve made sure there have been no signs of Alan coming after me. 

 I’m going through my savings fast with the motel and food cost. 

 They had my funeral already. I think it’s safe to say I can find a job at the local hospital preferably and try to move on with my life. I have changed my look all together. My hair’s cut in a pixie style and dyed red. It’s not my typical style, and I’m not wearing my eyeglasses anymore. I have gone back to my contacts. Oh, and my eye color is back to its same gray instead of the blue Alan insisted on. Once I mole it over in my head, I jump in the shower and then put on my best suit, getting ready to put applications in at some hospitals. A hospital back home saved my life, so I’m hoping one here will do the same just differently. 

 While I’m sitting down eating my breakfast, I get my phone out and search for hospitals in the area. There are two, so I’ll go to the library and print out my resume after I’m done eating. 

 As I get up to throw my trash away, I’m not paying any attention and I run right into this handsome guy, but he is very scary looking with tattoos up and down both arms, eyes that look like glass and he has muscles for days. Somehow, he has one of those faces that’s like a boy. 

 I cringe, knowing he’s going to get super pissed off at me for spilling my coffee all over the front of us both. 

 Damn! He says, grabbing my arm to steady me. 

 I’m sorry about that ma’am, I didn’t see you coming. I was looking back and wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Did I hurt you? He asked. 

 I just look at him, shocked that he’s not yelling at me, telling me how stupid I am for not watching where I was going. Instead, he is apologizing to me. 

 Ma’am are you okay? He asks again, alarmed. 

 I clear my throat um yes sorry, yes, I’m okay. I’m so sorry I ruined your shirt. I can give you some money to have it dry cleaned. 

 He smiles at me and oh. My. God, what a smile. 

Stop that, you’re married and just got away from an abusive marriage. And here you are thinking about another man. 

 No, ma’am that will not be necessary, he says, bringing me back to earth. I have about 10 of them in my patrol car for this type of reason he says. 

Patrol car? 

 You’re a cop, I ask? 

 Yes, ma’am. Have been for the last fifteen years. He says, looking at me weird, like I’m up to something no good and he knows it. 

 If you’ll excuse me, I need to clean myself up; I say in a whisper and hightail it straight to the bathroom. 

 Breathe Camilla! You are fine! He has no clue you just ran away from your abusive husband in the middle of the night. Besides, it’s not a crime to leave your husband, right? 

 I rub my hands over my face, trying to shut my brain off so I can get through today with no breakdowns. I step out of the bathroom, hoping the officer is gone by now. But of course, no such luck. He is sitting with a group of men at one of the round tables, looking towards the bathroom, so he sees me as soon as I walk out. But he just gives me a thumbs up. 

I shake my head yes, grateful that’s the only contact we have. 

 About ten minutes later, I’m sitting in the library printing out a couple of copies of my resume. It’s been a long time since I have been in a library. It would be nice to establish myself in this little town, so why not start with a library card and a few books? I had to leave my collection behind. 

 An hour and three books later, I’m finally heading to ORM hospital. Once I park, I check my hair and makeup. Then I give myself a pep talk on how I’m a strong, confident, independent woman. 

 When I step out of the truck, I feel good about this. It’s time to take my life back, starting now. Walking into the hospital, I quickly find the nurse’s station. I plaster a smile on my face and walk up to the desk and ask to speak to someone I could leave my resume with. 

 You must’ve seen the ad in the paper? Mrs. Tammy, the desk nurse, asks with a smile. Boy, that was quick. We just put it out this morning. 

 Someone’s looking down on me today, I think to myself. 

 Actually, I’m new to town and was trying my luck at leaving some resumes at different hospitals and you were my first stop. 

 Well? Ms.? 

 Camilla. 

 Well Ms. Camilla, you are in luck, my dear. Will you have a seat for me, and I will get the hiring nurse right quick. 

 Whoa! Is this really happening? Five minutes later, nurse Tammy comes out with a tall slim older woman that looks like she was beautiful, back in her day. 

 Hello, I’m head nurse Dorothy. The older lady introduces herself. Walk with me? I’d like to interview you, but we’ll have to walk and talk. Today is very busy. 

 Sure! 

 So, I assume you have your RN license. 

 Yes, ma’am for about eight years now. 

 Have you been practicing these last eight years? And if so, was it in a hospital atmosphere or in a doctor’s office? 

 A hospital, but I don’t see where that matters. An RN is an RN no matter the atmosphere. 

 Dorothy laughs. No, I don’t guess it would matter if you were applying for a nurse’s job, but this is a head nurse’s position. 

 It’s um what! I was just applying for an RN position. I know nothing about running a hospital. You wouldn’t want to hire someone with my lack of experience. 

 Nurse Dorothy just laughs at me. Let’s just get through this interview and see how it goes, and then I will decide if I want to hire someone with more experience or not. 

Okay, you’re the boss! I thought to myself. 

Our patient chart and database run off iCloud now. So, the head nurse will always have an iPad in her hand. That gives her an idea of what triage is open and which ones have patients in them. Also, an idea of which patient needs to be seen by a doctor or nurse. Nurse Dorothy says. Now what I am going to do is have a doctor come over, and we are going to do a little role playing. I’m going to tell the doctor which triage has a patient in it that hasn’t been addressed and why the patient is here. I’m going to let you watch me do all of it, then I’m going to have you do the same thing. Then we will have a fake emergency and see how you handle the pressure. 

 Are you ready she asked? 

 No, no, I am not. I am scared shitless, can’t you see? 

 Yes, ma’am I’m ready. I say with more confidence than I’m feeling. Doctor Phillips, can you help us out real fast? Nurse Dorothy asked a young doctor.

Sure thing, anything for my favorite person here, Doctor Phillips tells Nurse Dorothy. 

Okay, so I’m going to tell Doctor Phillips about this patient in triage 3. We have a pregnant woman in triage 3. She’s three months along. Came in complaining of stomach pains. She was sure it was just gas, but she wanted to be on the safe side. She was brought back by nurse Olivia about 3 minutes ago. Nurse Olivia should have all your notes ready for you to go into the room and examine the patient. Now doctor Phillips will get together with nurse Olivia, gather all the info she needs, then they will go into the room. I will mark on the board that I have pulled up that the doctor is on her way to see the patient. Once the doctor’s finished seeing that patient, she will mark off as she’s done with the patient. Then you will look at the doctor’s notes and see the doctor’s instructions for that patient. Then you will get the discharge papers ready for that patient and give it to the nurse that helped the doctor with that room so the nurse can take it in to the patient and explain everything to them. I will show you how to do all of that if you’re hired. 

We went through all of it with Doctor Phillips again. This time it is my turn to shine, and I do what I do best. 

Doctor Phillips, you have a patient in triage 4. The patient is a 3-year-old boy with a fever of 102.2 and has a cough. Nurse Jasmine brought the patient back. Patient has been back in the room for about 5 minutes and nurse Jasmine should have all your notes ready to go for you. That was good and detailed Nurse Dorothy says.

 Thank you! 

 Okay, now for the real test nurse, Dorothy said. Then talks into a headset having a set of paramedics bring on the gurney. Two paramedics rush in with a patient on a gurney. 

 Okay, you have worked in the ER for eight years. You can do this. 

 Just like that, my training kicks in, and I ran around the nurse’s counter. What do you have for me? I ask the paramedics.

A 16-year-old male shot in the abdomen BP 98 over 20, pulse 48, respiration 20.

I look at the iPad real fast and find the critical triage because I’m sure every hospital is different but nope; it’s triage one. You’ll take him to triage one. Nurse Stella, you will be with Doctor Omar stat.

That was good, Nurse Dorothy commented. That went on for about another hour. Once I walked out the door, I had the head nursing position. I am on cloud nine and I just want to call my best friend in the world, but I don’t know if it’s safe or not. I have a new number now, so even if Alan had Kim’s phone bugged, he wouldn’t know it was me. 

Get it together Camilla, you are dead. Why would he have Kim’s phone bugged? 

 Kim, Gracie, and possibly a doctor, are the only people that know what I have done. It’s easier this way, that way my family will not have to lie to Alan when he calls them and tells them I died. They will grieve right along with him and when the time is right, I will call my momma and daddy. I’ll try to explain to them why I faked my death and hope they can forgive me for not telling them, making them suffer for a loss that isn’t true. I give in and call Kim and tell her the good news on the way back to the hotel. Girl, it looks like things are looking up for you already. Your girl told you not to worry now, didn’t I. Yes, you did. God, I miss you. Maybe once I get a place and get settled in, you can come for vacation, and like it so much that you move here with me. 

Kim laughs. Maybe, girl maybe. 

 Kim is single. She has her occasional dates, but she likes the freedom too much to settle down, that and her job keeps her very busy. That’s why I was forbidden to see or talk to her while married to Alan, but what he felled to realize is no matter how much he pushed