"Michelle...?"
"Hey." Michelle smiled.
"What are you doing here? You do know that I'm getting out tomorrow, right?"
"I know, I just... I wanted to see you as soon as I could. I would've come yesterday when they released me from hospital but visiting hours were already over."
"But I've already had my visit for this month, how did you get them to let you see me?"
"I explained what had happened and got all angry and weepy. They said I could have five minutes."
"Alright, look... how are you?"
"I'm... I'm okay. I wasn't really treated that badly."
"Not treated that badly?! Michelle, Zoe said you had internal bleeding."
"I know, but that was just from when he was trying to stop me escaping. The rest of the time... well, I had an exercise bike and he even let me watch TV sometimes."
"Have the police caught up with this guy? Do they know who he is?"
"Yeah..." Michelle sighed. "Tony, it was Oliver."
Anger swelled up inside him almost instantaneously. "Oliver?! I should've known... Dammit, I should've guessed, we could've gotten you out of there!"
She shook her head. "Tony, it doesn't matter, it's over now..."
"Why did he do it? What did he think gave him the right to hold you captive like that?"
Michelle sighed again. "He didn't take it well when I... when I left him at the altar. He developed a lot of psychological problems and when he realized that you would be out of prison soon he just... he decided that you couldn't have me."
"That bastard..."
"Tony... he bumped into Zoe a few months ago. The police think that's what gave him the final push that he needed to do what he did. And she never told us that she'd seen him, because... because she's Zoe, and she didn't want to upset us by reminding us that he even existed."
"Oh no..." He could only imagine how Zoe must be kicking herself now, for something she couldn't have had any idea would happenÂ…
"I know... she feels so bad, and I can't seem to convince her that it wasn't her fault and that it wouldn't have made a difference even if she had told us. She won't even talk about it anymore, she's just focusing all her energy on getting things ready for when you come home tomorrow. Tony, you have to make her see that she's not to blame, she won't listen to me."
"Alright." Tony nodded. "I'll talk to her. It'll be fine, she probably just needs some time to process everything."
"Thank you."
Michelle looked off to the side. Following her gaze, Tony saw that the guard was gesturing at her.
"I have to go," she said.
Tony nodded.
She looked at him for a moment. "Tony?"
"Yeah?"
She smiled. "See you tomorrow."
Author's note: Yep, Joe's girl was right! Well done :)
Only the epilogue to go now.