Cora rushed to the cab, she was late. Anthony was expecting her home. She promised him to cook dinner. She looked at her watch. In 30 minutes he would be home.
The car got stuck in traffic, it was rush hour in London. Cora leaned forward and said to the driver. "Can you let me out here? I will take the underground."
"As long as you pay what you own me, I can let you out anywhere."
Cora paid him, got out and ran into the station. She nearly got squashed by the closing doors. It was busy in the tube, they were standing nose to nose. The warm weather outside didn't improve the odour in the car. Cora tried to breathe shallowly, the smell made her nauseous.
She ran the last part to his home, when she put her key in the lock, the door was opened abruptly and Anthony was standing in the doorway.
"You are late!"
Cora got chills due to his tone.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. "You promised me dinner." He said, with a low voice.
Cora shook his hand off and took her shoes off. "I am sorry. I will start immediately." She tried to pass him. The hallway was small and he was blocking her entry. "Can you let me pass?"
"You promised." Anthony said again. "You broke your promise."
Cora put on a soft voice. "I am really sorry. I will make it up to you."
"You will? And how do you think you can make it up to me?"
Cora got scared by his tone, she shrunk and got quiet.
Anthony grabbed her wrists again and pushed her against the wall. "I am sick and tired of you not having me as your priority."
Cora didn't move. "But you are my priority." She tried.
"Don't lie." Anthony shouted. "I am not and have never been. Your work and promotions are more important. You don't care that I need to go to the gym and need food early in the evening."
"It's just, it's busy at the moment at work. I prepared everything. You could have started yourself?" He was still pinning her to the wall. Suddenly she felt his flat hand against her cheek. It left a burning sensation. In shock she raised her hand and touched her cheek. With big eyes she looked up at Anthony.
"This is a warning. Don't try me again."
Cora shook her head. She couldn't believe he had hit her. He was always rough with her, but he had never hit her. "Anthony, I said I am sorry."
Abrupt he let go of her hand, turned around and walked away.
"Do you want me to cook now, or did you already eat something?"
Suddenly he turned around. "How dare you!" His eyes were dark, when he looked at her. "How dare you."
Before Cora realised it, his fist landed on her cheekbone. She tried to hide away. She raised her arms to protect her face. Anthony directed his fist to her chest. she cringed in pain and lowered her arms, that moment Anthony hit her on her sleep.
Cora's vision got blurry and dark.
"Don't leave the knives on the edge of the worktop please." Robert said, while cleaning up the knives. "John, is the mise en place ready?"
"Almost. We only need to prepare the onions and then we are ready for the next serving."
"Good, do you have a minute? I want to make changes to the menu." Robert asked John.
"I will finish the mise en place, the menu looks good. I will place the order this afternoon." John walked into the kitchen and grabbed the container with onions. The same second he yelled out loud.
Robert rushed into the kitchen and saw John sitting on the ground, his hands around his leg. Blood was gushing out. When he looked better, he saw a knife sticking out. "JIMMY! I told you to clean up the knives. Why were they out again."
William was already trying to stop the bleeding. "He needs to go to AE, immediately."
"I have my car here. We are going right now, John can you walk?"
With difficulty John got up, he leaned heavily on Robert, but managed to get in the car.
Robert rushed to the hospital.
Robert was sitting in the waiting area, John was rushed inside and probably needed an operation.
While he was waiting a young woman was helped on a chair. Her face was swollen and she moved very slowly.
"I will be back soon." The nurse said to the woman.
Robert looked at her and wondered what happened. She looked horrible. The nurse gave her a cup or water, but she lost grip and it fell to the floor. She tried to bend down, but winched in pain.
Robert rushed to her side and picked up the cup. "Can I bring you a new one?"
The woman clearly got spooked, but he saw her nod. He filled the cup again and gave it to her. "Here you go, miss."
She looked up and he saw, despite her swollen face, the bluest eyes he had ever seen.
"Ah, your friend arrived." The nurse said when she returned.
"No, sorry, I am not her friend. I just helped. We don't know each other. I am sorry." Robert got up. "I hope you will feel better soon." He said and walked back to his chair.
He saw the woman getting up with the help of the nurse. She stumbled next to the nurse. He felt sorry for her. He didn't know what happened. But her face looked horrible and he had spotted bruises on her chest.
"Mr. Crawley?" A different nurse said. "Mr. Bates is ready and can be taken home. He isn't allowed to stand on his leg for the next week. He got lucky, the knife missed his artery by just a millimetres.