Dark Desires - Prologue

Wakefield Cove, California - Three years earlier

Pain. Unbearable pain coursed through her body as the woman regained consciousness. For a few seconds, Kathryn Wakefield, Katy to her friends, didn't know where she was or how she got there; then her mind cleared. She was lying at the bottom of the staircase in the grand foyer of the house she shared with her husband, Richard. He and her friend, Tracy Coleman, were standing at the top of the stairs looking down at her.

Richard's face was red with rage. The normally cool Tracy looked terrified. It was clear she hadn't expected Richard's violent reaction. She was scared to death, but at this moment, Katy hated the beautiful brunette and didn't give a damn how she felt.

"I think you may have killed her, Richard! I'm calling 911!" Tracy yelled. Her voice was hoarse from screaming and her face was white from fear. She started to scream again; she started getting hysterical. "Get hold yourself, Tracy!" Richard said loudly. "You're not calling anyone until we get our stories straight."

The tall, sandy haired man glared at his mistress with a sneer on his face. Tracy backed up and put her fist up to her mouth to stop herself from screaming again. Taking a few deep breaths, she forced herself to be calm. In a tremulous voice she said, "Richard, look at her. She's hurt bad. If we don't call someone now, she'll die."

Richard Dumont walked slowly down the stairs and stood over Katy, glaring at her. He didn't lift a finger to help her. "Help, me, Richard. Please!" she pleaded in a weak voice, but her husband just stared down at her; his eyes were seething with anger and self-righteousness. Seeing his wife's battered and broken body didn't seem to bother him at all. In fact, his brown eyes were indifferent to her plight. "See what you made me do, Katy? This is all your fault!" He turned on his heel and walked into his study.

Katy tried to get up, but she couldn't move her left leg. It was laying at an awkward angle; she knew it was broken. She was a doctor and didn't have to see the bone sticking out through her flesh to know the break was a bad one. Her head hurt where it struck the last step before she finally went sprawling on the hard tile floor.

Katy managed to move her hand to her head and felt a large lump; she could feel wetness too. She saw that her fingers were covered in blood as she brought them down in front of her eyes. Her face hurt bad; it was swollen. Richard had punched her hard in the face several times. It was hard to move her lips to speak; she wondered if Richard had broken her jaw.

Katy was reeling with the pain. She found it hard to draw in a breath because her ribs hurt so much. At least one of them must be cracked, and I think I may have a concussion, too. she thought. She tried to grab the mahogany newel post to pull herself up, but a fresh surge of agony made her nauseous and dizzy. Her blood pressure dropped swiftly making her feel even more woozy, but the pain began to fade as darkness blessedly claimed her. She blacked out again.

Katy was unconscious for almost twenty four hours when she woke up around one o'clock the next afternoon. She was in a hospital bed in St. Claire's General Hospital. Katy knew the hospital well: she worked the late shift in the ER. Her father, Dr. John Dumont, was the hospital administrator, and she had practically grown up in this place.

Katy made a small sound and opened her eyes. The sunlight shining through the window blinded her for a moment and made her wince. Every part of her body felt ached, but it was not as bad as the day before. When she looked down, she could see her left leg was in a cast and in traction over the bed. Her head, face and ribs were bandaged too.

Her mother, Helen Dumont, was sitting in a chair next to her bed. She had been crying; her eyes were red and puffy, and she was clearly exhausted. Katy guessed that her mother had spent the night in her room. Her father, Dr. James Dumont, was standing at the end of the bed reading her patient chart.

"John, she's waking up!" Her mother gave a happy cry. Helen took her daughter's hand in hers, and Katy grasped it weakly. Despite her husband's earlier assurances that everything would be all right, she was beginning to wonder if her daughter was ever going wake up. John Dumont moved to the side of the bed and began to examine his daughter. Relief shown in his black eyes. "I told you she's going to be all right, Helen. You can stop worrying now." he said quietly.

At fifty-five, Helen Dumont was a tall woman with honey blonde hair and gray eyes. She worked out regularly and had a trim figure and good complexion. She wasn't a vain woman, but she worked hard to keep herself looking good for her husband who insisted on it. She seemed to be the perfect wife for the town's second most prominent citizen, and he was determined that she stayed that way. Most people didn't know how she hated her life.

To most people, Dr. John Dumont was a charming and charismatic man. To the female population of Wakefield Cove, he gave new meaning to the words, "Tall, dark and handsome." At fifty-eight her father was one of the most attractive men in town, and he sure as hell knew it. He had the fit, hard body of a much younger man, and he also worked hard to keep it that way. In the last couple of years, his jet black hair started to gray slightly at the temples. This, along with his perpetually tanned good looks, gave him a sophisticated and distinguished look. His intelligent black eyes were framed with long dark lashes that captivated the ladies.

It wasn't his looks that mattered, though: John Dumont projected an aura of self-confidence, kindness, humor and concern for his patients. He had gained the respect and trust of most of the citizens of Wakefield Cove, including James Wakefield, Richard's father. Katy knew her father didn't deserve that respect or trust; inside, he didn't give a damn about his patients, or anyone else for that matter. John Dumont was a selfish, arrogant and violent man, and he had a vicious temper.

Helen Dumont didn't seem convinced by her husband's words. She still looked worried and frightened. "Are you sure she will be okay, John? I don't believe a word Richard said. I think he beat her up. We've got to keep him away from her."

"Don't be ridiculous, Helen. Richard would never hurt Katy." her father replied belligerently. He seemed genuinely shocked and angry at his wife's suggestion.

"I'm not surprised." Katy thought. Since she was fifteen years old, her relationship with her father had been tense and combative. That was the summer she discovered that the man she idolized was a serial adulterer and a wife beater.

Katy had been swimming in their large backyard pool when she decided to take a shower and change. She was going to call a girlfriend and ask her over to spend the night. As she was walking down the hallway toward her bedroom, she heard her parents arguing loudly inside their own bedroom.

"I'm not putting up with this anymore, John. I've had enough of your cheating. I'm leaving, and I am taking Katy with me." Helen Dumont's voice was soft, but it was firm. It carried clearly through the partially opened double door that led to the master bedroom. Katy couldn't see her parents, but she heard a crash and the sound of glass breaking. Her mother screamed at the same time that Katy heard several thumps.

She started to enter the bedroom, but the door flew open wide and her father stormed out with his fists clenched. Katy ran into the room; her mother was on the floor holding her hand over her right eye. Her right cheek had a big bruise and her lip was swollen and bleeding.

Katy hurried to her mother's side and helped her up on the bed. Her mother was crying loudly, so she put her arms around her and rocker her back and forth. The sound of a car door slamming made them both jump a little. Going to the window, Katy could see her father's sports car pulling down the driveway toward the front gate. It was moving fast; too fast.

Katy walked back to the bed. "What happened, mom?" she asked as she sat down beside her mother. Helen continued to cry silently for a while, but after a few minutes she started talking and couldn't stop. The story she told made Katy sick to her stomach. Katy didn't want to believe her father was cheating on her mother. She didn't want to believe that her father had been beating her mother for years.

John Dumont was a respected physician; he knew exactly where and how hard to hit someone without leaving a bruise. Until that night he had been successful in hiding his abuse, but her mother's swollen eye was proof of his actions. Helen Dumont was embarrassed as she confessed to her daughter that her husband usually waited until Katy was in bed fast asleep before he took his rage out on her. His rages could be triggered by anything: a bad day at the hospital, a lost tennis match, a disappointment of any sort. That night, his rage at being confronted by his normally passive wife was too much for him to control.

Throughout her childhood, Katy had seen many telltale signs of her mother's abuse at the hands of her father. Although they were not close, Katy loved her father and deliberately closed her eyes to what she didn't want to see. That night she realized the truth could no longer be ignored. Katy was angered and shocked by her father's actions, but she was angrier at herself for being so willfully blind.

"You should divorce him!" Katy said firmly. She hated to see her mother hurting the way she was.

"You don't understand, Katy. I've begged him for a divorce many times, but he keeps threatening to take you away from me for good. I've even told him that I don't want any of his money, but he won't let me go. He doesn't love me, and he's told me that many times, but he thinks a divorce would be bad for his reputation."

"Mom, you can't keep letting him hit you like this. Call the police and file a report. I will back you up." Katy insisted.

"Katy, no one in this town will ever believe that Dr. John Dumont beats his wife. Everyone thinks he is a saint. There will be no divorce until he is good and ready." Helen Dumont wearily replied.

Later that night, fifteen year old Katy confronted her father in his study. Katy might look like her mother, but when riled, she had her father's fierce temper. John Dumont slapped his daughter's face hard and told her to get out. Katy left the room, but not before she called her father a wife beater and a coward. Their relationship was never the same after that. Over the years, the more she learned about her father, the less she liked him.

John Dumont was a prominent citizen of Wakefield Cove, a tiny hamlet on the coast of Northern California. Everybody in town liked and respected the doctor who ran Wakefield General, but they didn't know him the way his family did. Even after Katy confronted him, he still was verbally abusive to her mother He did his best to tear down her self esteem, and it worked. Helen Dumont was an alcoholic. She hid it well, but she had been sent to rehab clinics out of state on three separate occasions during the last ten years.

At his daughter's bedside, John Dumont finished his examination and looked over at his wife. There was anger and disgust on his face. "She's a whore, Helen! She's disgraced us! What will everyone think? I'll never forgive her for what she's done!"

Her father's words cut Katy to the core. She didn't know what to expect, but she didn't expect this. "What?" she started to say.

"John!" Helen Dumont said in a shocked voice. "We only know what Richard said. Let's hear from her what happened."

"I don't need to hear any of her lies! Richard is a good man and a good husband; she doesn't deserve him! Richard and Tracy said they found her in their bed with Dan Tolbert. Richard said Katy got hurt when she tried to stop Dan from running away. She wanted him to confront Richard, but Tolbert was too scared. What else do we need to know?"

"I don't believe that, John. If you had ever taken the time to get to know her, you wouldn't believe it either!" Helen's soft voice defended her youngest child.

John Dumont stated at the both of them with disbelief in his eyes. "She's caused enough trouble, Helen. I never want to see her again. That is final!" He turned and walked out the door.