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Now on with the chapter…
He's Gone - Part 5.
"Clarisse... bunny," the Queen's father said weakly as the paramedics prepared to lift his trolly into the back of the ambulance.
"Yes, père, I'm here," Clarisse said as she hurried over to him and gently took hold of his frail hand in hers. "I'm not leaving you."
"Clarisse, you can't tra-,"
"To hell with protocol, Rupert," Clarisse snapped frustratedly, interrupting her husband as she turned to him stood with their younger son, his wife, and her best friend. "I'm travelling to the hospital with my père, and you or anyone else can't stop me."
Nodding in acknowledgement and knowing he had already lost that battle, Rupert averted his gaze to Andre, "Andre, you travel with them," he said and looked back at his wife as one of the paramedics held onto her hand and helped her into the back of the ambulance with her father.
"Of course, your highness," Andre said and bowed his head before walking towards the ambulance.
"And you," Rupert said, looking towards Peter and Stephen, "travel behind in the car and make sure she doesn't leave your sight once you reach the hospital. Understood?"
"Your highness," Stephen bowed his head in acknowledgement before walking towards the car parked on the drive with Peter.
"Rupert, are you coming?" Clarisse asked from the back of the ambulance.
"You go on ahead with your father and Andre," Rupert replied while moving to stand at the back of the ambulance and looked up at her. "And I promise I will be following behind in one of the cars with Philippe, Helen and Sabrina."
"Ok," Clarisse nodded and watched on as the paramedic closed the back of the ambulance.
After watching the ambulance drive away with a police escort and Stephen and Peter following in the car behind, Rupert, Philippe, Helen and Sabrina all watched as Pierre's limousine pulled up next to them. "What's happened?" Pierre asked, quickly climbing from the back of his car before his driver had chance to get out and open his door for him. "We saw a police car leaving the entrance when we were coming up the road and now an ambulance too."
"It's a long story, I'll explain on the way to the hospital," Rupert said and looked to René, his sons bodyguard, who was now stood next to him by the car. "We need to go to the hospital."
"Right away, your highness," bowed René as the King looked to his wife's best friend still stood beside Philippe and Helen.
"You all go on and I'll meet you there," Sabrina said, "I'm going to grab Clarisse a change of clothes first and follow behind."
"Ok, and yes a change of clothes would be good, she's going to need them," Rupert nodded as he walked over to stand in front of Sabrina. "I understand that Joseph has gone to London with Harry today?"
"Yes he has," Sabrina nodded.
"Ok," Rupert nodded and thought a moment, "can you call and please inform him what's happened, before he sees it all on the news."
"Of course," Sabrina nodded, "what do you want me to tell him?"
"Tell him that there was an incident involving Clarisse and that her father has been rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack," Rupert said while averting his gaze across the drive towards the palace a moment, thinking what else she could tell him before looking back to her. "But tell him not to come, not yet at least anyway. The press are watching us for the slightest slip after what happened at the weekend, and now with this it'll be even worse."
"But he's going to want to be here for mother, father, you know that," Philippe said and watched as his father looked to him and nodded.
"I know, but it's a tricky situation," Rupert said and looked from him to Sabrina. "Tell him that I will call him personally with news later on and that he must understand the reasons why I have asked him to stay away."
"Of course, I'll tell him," Sabrina said and nodded.
"Thank you," Rupert said.
Stepping from the lift on the floor where her best friends father had been taken, Sabrina slowly made her way towards the crowd down the long white corridor. Clarisse was stood alone with her arms folded, staring through the window of one of the rooms on the ward. Philippe and Helen were sitting in the chairs directly behind his mother, and his brother was stood beside him with his back pressed against the wall, head tipped back and eyes closed.
There were police officers lingering about and two Royal guards stood either end of the area they all were. Protecting them as ordered. Ironically, Sabrina wondered that if they had done their job in the first place, would they even be there now. "I'm here," she said as she approached her best friend standing at the window and watched as she turned her head to look at her, "sorry it took me so long, how is he doing?"
"They are just running some tests now," Clarisse said as she looked back into the room at her father lying on the bed being hooked up to a monitor. "They said, because he hit his head in the fall, that once he's stable enough they are going to take him for a MRI scan."
"Ok," Sabrina said while looking through the window herself for the briefest of moments before looking back at her friend and studied her a moment, "and what about you, how are you?"
Staring at her father, Clarisse smoothed one of her hands up and down her arm while contemplating what she could say, but really she didn't know what to tell her. She was, of course, heartbroken and a complete mess. "I'm okay," she found herself saying, even though they both knew it was a lie.
"Alright," Sabrina said and nodded knowingly, not wanting to push her. "I brought a change of clothes for you."
"Oh yes, thank you," Clarisse nodded as she unfolded her arms and glanced down at herself. It was only then, when she thought about it, that she realised the back of her skirt was soaked through with the water from the vase that had been knocked over in the struggle she'd had with the prime minister earlier on, and the front of it, along with her blouse, was covered in dry blood. "Oh god, I didn't... I was so worried about my père that I didn't even realise..." she said quietly while looking back up at Sabrina and put her hands up to frame her face.
"It's okay," Sabrina said softly and stepped closer to her, wrapping her arm around her back as she sensed her friends sudden distress, "I have all you need here, so shall we go to the toilets to get you cleaned up and changed?"
"Ok," Clarisse nodded and turned to her friend as Rupert made his way towards them with a female doctor and two female police officers.
"Clarisse," he said softly, coming to a stop next to them and put his hand out onto her back as she looked up at him, "this is officer Leroy, officer Bonnet, and doctor LaRue, they would like to talk to you."
"Hello your majesty," the doctor said gently, "I have been requested to perform an examination and log any injuries that you have sustained for the official police report."
"And once that has finished, your majesty," officer Leroy began gently as they all looked at her, "and if you are feeling up to it of course, my colleague and I, would like to sit with you to take your statement in regards to what happened," she said while glancing to her colleague standing beside her before looking back to the Queen.
"But, I…" Clarisse said and shook her head slightly while looking from them to her husband.
"I know that you are feeling apprehensive about leaving père, but I will come and find you if there is any news, or any change," Rupert said softly, "I promise."
"And we can stop at any time your majesty," said officer Bonnet. "I know it's distressing, after everything that has happened today, but it's very important that we get your statement as quickly as we can, while it's still fresh in your mind."
Knowing how important it is to give her side of earlier events, she nodded. "I understand," she said and looked to her husband, "can I talk to you first, please, in private?" She asked and looked to the police officers and the doctor. "Is that okay?"
"Of course," doctor LaRue said and nodded. "You can use one of the empty rooms along the corridor if you would prefer," the doctor offered while gesturing down the corridor.
"Yes, thank you," the King said while looking at her then back to his wife as they began to walk away from them to find an empty room. And finding one a moment later, Rupert shut the door behind them and turned to Clarisse as she stood in the middle of the room with her back to him. "Clarisse," he said softly and slowly stepped closer to her. "I know you are worried, but we need to do this to get that man locked up for what he done to not only your father, but to you too."
"We can't," Clarisse said while folding her arms round herself and slowly turned round to face her husband.
"What do you mean, we can't?" Rupert asked and watched as she looked away with a shake of her head. "Clarisse he hurt you, he…" he said, averting his gaze down to the bruises now appearing on her jaw and neck, before looking back up to her face, "he needs to be punished."
"But he knows too much," Clarisse said as she looked back up at him. "He knows that we have been in an open marriage, he knows about Joseph and I, he knows that he left too, and he knows that it was me on the balcony with Joseph, Rupert it was him who set it up. He arranged for the photos to be taken at the lake house."
"What?" Rupert said in surprise and watched as Clarisse looked down between them. "But how?"
"I don't know," Clarisse said tearfully, her gaze remaining down on the floor. "The only explanation that I can come up with is that someone on the inside, someone we trusted has informed him, and I'm worried that if I do go ahead with all this, my statement and examination for evidence against him, he will tell them all he knows and we will be back to square one." She said and finally looked back up at him. "And I don't know if I can jeopardise going ahead now we escaped it at the weekend."
"I can understand that, but it will be okay," Rupert said as he stepped closer to her and put his hands up onto the tops of her arms before quickly removing them again as she winced, as if in pain. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, I just have a bit of pain in my shoulder from when I fell to the floor," she said and put her arm up across her body, placing her hand on her shoulder and gently rubbed it.
"Okay," he said and studied her a moment before continuing, "but listen, you tell them everything that he done to you, and to your père," he said as she looked up at him in surprise, "leaving out the Joseph part of course, and if he does tell them everything he knows then no one will believe him anyway. He's disgraced himself for what he's done today, they will all see it as a further attack on us, for attention, and it will go against him for what they'll see as lying."
"What if they don't see it that way," Clarisse asked as she lifted her gaze to meet her husbands and searched his eyes, "what if they believe him? We will be ruined."
"It won't come to that, I promise," Rupert said and stepped closer to her, carefully wrapping his arms around her shoulders as she turned her head to the side and rested it against his chest. "Just like I promise that we are going to find whoever else is behind this."