by M A Comley
Ultimate Dilemma
Justice Again Book 2
M A Comley
Jeamel Publishing Limited
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author M A Comley
Published by Jeamel Publishing limited
Copyright © 2020 M A Comley
Digital Edition, License Notes
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Acknowledgments
Also by M A Comley
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
Keep in touch with the author
Acknowledgments
Thank you as always to my rock, Jean, I’d be lost without you in my life.
Special thanks as always go to @studioenp for their superb cover design expertise.
My heartfelt thanks go to my wonderful editor Emmy Ellis, my proofreaders Joseph, Barbara and Jacqueline for spotting all the lingering nits.
Thank you also to my amazing ARC group who help to keep me sane during this process.
To Mary, gone, but never forgotten. I hope you found the peace you were searching for my dear friend.
Also by M A Comley
Blind Justice (Novella)
Cruel Justice (Book #1)
Mortal Justice (Novella)
Impeding Justice (Book #2)
Final Justice (Book #3)
Foul Justice (Book #4)
Guaranteed Justice (Book #5)
Ultimate Justice (Book #6)
Virtual Justice (Book #7)
Hostile Justice (Book #8)
Tortured Justice (Book #9)
Rough Justice (Book #10)
Dubious Justice (Book #11)
Calculated Justice (Book #12)
Twisted Justice (Book #13)
Justice at Christmas (Short Story)
Justice at Christmas 2 (novella)
Prime Justice (Book #14)
Heroic Justice (Book #15)
Shameful Justice (Book #16)
Immoral Justice (Book #17)
Toxic Justice (Book #18)
Overdue Justice (Book #19)
Unfair Justice (a 10,000 word short story)
Irrational Justice (a 10,000 word short story)
Seeking Justice (a 15,000 word novella)
Caring For Justice (a 24,000 word novella)
Savage Justice (a 17,000 word novella Featuring THE UNICORN)
Gone In Seconds (Justice Again series #1)
Ultimate Dilemma (Justice Again series #2)
Clever Deception (co-written by Linda S Prather)
Tragic Deception (co-written by Linda S Prather)
Sinful Deception (co-written by Linda S Prather)
Forever Watching You (DI Miranda Carr thriller)
Wrong Place (DI Sally Parker thriller #1)
No Hiding Place (DI Sally Parker thriller #2)
Cold Case (DI Sally Parker thriller#3)
Deadly Encounter (DI Sally Parker thriller #4)
Lost Innocence (DI Sally Parker thriller #5)
Goodbye, My Precious Child (DI Sally Parker #6)
Web of Deceit (DI Sally Parker Novella with Tara Lyons)
The Missing Children (DI Kayli Bright #1)
Killer On The Run (DI Kayli Bright #2)
Hidden Agenda (DI Kayli Bright #3)
Murderous Betrayal (Kayli Bright #4)
Dying Breath (Kayli Bright #5)
Taken (Kayli Bright #6 coming March 2020)
The Hostage Takers (DI Kayli Bright Novella)
No Right to Kill (DI Sara Ramsey #1)
Killer Blow (DI Sara Ramsey #2)
The Dead Can’t Speak (DI Sara Ramsey #3)
Deluded (DI Sara Ramsey #4)
The Murder Pact (DI Sara Ramsey #5)
Twisted Revenge (DI Sara Ramsey #6)
The Lies She Told (DI Sara Ramsey #7)
For The Love Of… (DI Sara Ramsey #8)
Run For Your Life (DI Sara Ramsey #9)
Cold Mercy (DI Sara Ramsey #10) Coming Dec 2020
I Know The Truth (A psychological thriller)
The Caller (co-written with Tara Lyons)
Evil In Disguise – a novel based on True events
Deadly Act (Hero series novella)
Torn Apart (Hero series #1)
End Result (Hero series #2)
In Plain Sight (Hero Series #3)
Double Jeopardy (Hero Series #4)
Criminal Actions (Hero Series #5)
Regrets Mean Nothing (Hero #6)
Sole Intention (Intention series #1)
Grave Intention (Intention series #2)
Devious Intention (Intention #3)
Merry Widow (A Lorne Simpkins short story)
It’s A Dog’s Life (A Lorne Simpkins short story)
A Time To Heal (A Sweet Romance)
A Time For Change (A Sweet Romance)
High Spirits
The Temptation series (Romantic Suspense/New Adult Novellas)
Past Temptation
Lost Temptation
Cozy Mystery Series
Murder at the Wedding
Murder at the Hotel
Murder by the Sea
Tempting Christa (A billionaire romantic suspense co-authored by Tracie Delaney #1)
Avenging Christa (A billionaire romantic suspense co-authored by Tracie Delaney #2)
Prologue
Bone tired, Nadia removed her uniform and slipped on her jeans and T-shirt. The door opened, and in walked two of her colleagues. “Hi, Jane and Dawn, are you off home now as well?”
“I am,” Jane replied.
“No, I have to call in and see how Mum’s getting on. She had her hip operation last week and is suffering, so I said I’d go around there and have a look, make sure she’s healing properly,” Dawn said.
“That’s the trouble, we’re never really off duty, are we?”
“You can say that again, Nadia. Have you got any plans for the evening?” Jane asked.
She shook her head and smiled. “No, except to settle down with a nice glass of wine and an omelette. Then go to bed and get ready to start all over again tomorrow.”
“Go on, you might complain to us about the job but you love it really. What else would we do?”
Nadia contemplated the question for a few seconds before she responded, “Pass. I’m not one of those girls who could throw themselves at the mercy of a rich man. It would do my head in, sitting around preening myself all day, waiting for him to come home and take advantage of me.”
“You are funny. I bet there’d be certain fringe benefits to living a life like that,” Jane said, a twinkle in her eye. She’d recently broken up with her fella after living with him for over ten years.
“I suppose it depends what you want
out of life,” Nadia said thoughtfully.
Both women nodded.
“We’re going to have to go out on the town together soon, ladies, we obviously need to put the world to rights over a drink or two.” Dawn gave them both a cheeky wink.
“We’ll sort something out in the next few days. I think I’m working a few extra shifts this week, so it would have to be either next week or the week after.”
“We’ll get something organised. Enjoy your relaxing evening, Nadia.”
“Thanks, you, too. See you in the morning.”
She waved goodbye and left the locker room to begin the long walk through the hospital corridors down to the car park. There were fewer people around at this time of night. Visiting hours had finished long ago, and they were starting the graveyard shift as most of the staff called it. Anything after ten was deemed that, and it was already ten past by the time she stepped through the main entrance. Fortunately, she made it to the car without being side-tracked by any other members of staff.
Nadia crossed the road to the designated staff car park and pressed the key fob to open her Mini. It was a rust bucket but went well and had never let her down. She’d had her eye on a new car but there was no way she’d be able to afford the extortionate payments on a loan, not on her meagre wage, and there was no way she would ask her father to chip in. He’d made it perfectly clear years ago, that once she started earning money for a living she was on her own. That suited her. If she couldn’t afford something, she never bought it. She had no debts, and her bank balance had a couple of hundred sitting in it at the end of the month. Talking to her friends, not many of them could say that.
Most of her friends were sinking in a whirlpool of debt just so they had bragging rights to owning the latest cars and, in some cases, designer outfits. Not her. She was plain old Nadia, risk averse and happy to plod along in life.
The right man had failed to come her way. At twenty-eight, most women would be panicking about not having a band of gold on their finger, but not her. All right, she couldn’t say she enjoyed her life as it was, but she was better off than most women she knew. She had a roof over her head and a career she loved.
She drove towards home and turned up the radio when one of her favourite songs came on. She loved Michael Bolton, had even splashed out on a ticket to see him up in Birmingham a few years back on his sell-out tour of the UK.
The day’s anxieties drifted away during the drive. She was looking forward to opening the bottle of wine she’d spoken about with Dawn and Jane. Her father would be watching some action movie or other on Netflix in the lounge. That didn’t bother her. She’d rustle up her omelette and take it upstairs, eat it in her bedroom while catching up on the soaps she’d recorded that had aired earlier on in the evening.
The light was on in the lounge, and there was a gap in the curtain, one of her pet hates, and her blood boiled. Her father usually did that just to annoy her. She exited the car and made her way towards the house. She slotted her key in the lock. The TV was blaring as usual. She called out, but her father either ignored her intentionally or hadn’t heard above the din. After slipping off her shoes, she pushed open the lounge door. “Dad, do you have to… Dad, no, are you all right?”
Her father was lying on the floor, blood soaking into the cream carpet all around him. It was up the walls and all over the matching cream leather sofa. Tears stung her eyes, and her throat clogged up. Calm, keep calm. Do what you need to do to make sure he survives. She gently shook his shoulder and then tore off her jacket and pressed down on the gaping wound to his throat.
“Dad, please, stay with me.” She reached for her handbag and fished out her mobile to ring nine-nine-nine. “Yes, I need an ambulance at seven Rotherhide Close. It’s my father, he’s been attacked in our house… I’m a nurse, I’ve just finished my shift and found him like this. Get an ambulance, please hurry.”
“Don’t worry, one is on its way. You know what to do or do you need me to see you through the procedure?” the woman at the control centre asked.
“No. I know. Please hurry, he’s lost so much blood. Shit, he’s not going to make it.”
“Hang in there. The ambulance is a few minutes away.”
“Dad, they’re on their way. Don’t you dare fall asleep, you hear me?”
A few minutes later sirens wailed in the distance. She shifted her father’s head off her lap, opened the front door and urged the paramedics to hurry. She led the two men into the living room. They took over, assessed his vital signs and injected him with morphine.
“What’s your name, love?”
“It’s Nadia. I’m a nurse. I did what I could to stop the bleeding. Please, you have to save him.”
“He’s more comfortable now. We’ll take him to the hospital, they’ll be able to tend to his wounds better there. Do you want to come with us or stay here and talk to the police?”
“The police? No, I need to stay with Dad, he needs me, the police can wait.”
The paramedic with the brown hair nodded and asked his colleague to fetch the stretcher. The other man shot out of the room.
While he was gone, the paramedic with the brown hair asked, “What happened?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been on shift all day. He was like this when I got home. Will he make it? Look at all the blood he’s lost.” She pointed at the huge amount covering the sofa.
“We’ll have to wait and see. Stay positive, these things have a habit of working out for the best.”
“I wish I had your faith.”
“Has he spoken to you?”
“No.”
“Don’t worry. Let’s get him to the hospital and go from there. Do you need to call a member of your family?”
“I don’t want to worry my sister, not until I know the outcome. Oh God. Dad, please be all right.” She touched his cheek with a featherlight caress.
The paramedics lifted his unresponsive body onto the stretcher. Nadia hurriedly checked around the house, collected her bag, made sure her phone was inside and followed the men out to the ambulance.
“Do you want to hop in the back or bring your own car?”
“I’ll come with you, if that’s okay?”
“Of course. Jump in.” Her hand shook as she reached out for her father’s gnarled fingers. Arthritis had set in a few years ago. He was only fifty-five but had worked with his hands all his life. He was a carpenter for a local sawmill.
“Dad, Dad, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”
He groaned, but his eyes remained closed, a pained expression twisting his features. Her heart felt heavy. She wished she could rid him of the pain.
The ambulance got under way and started up its siren once more. The noise blocked out any further attempt of Nadia speaking to her father.
Her sister’s face drifted into her mind. She’d be distraught by the news if he didn’t pull through. Stop thinking that way, of course he’s going to make it. But all that blood…can he really survive losing that amount?
The voices in her head went back and forth until the ambulance drew to a halt outside Accident and Emergency. Her father was whisked through the corridors, the paramedic giving the awaiting doctor and nurses the facts about his vital signs.
“Nadia, what are you doing here?” Maureen, the nurse, asked.
“He’s my dad, please, do your best for him.”
“Oh my…of course we will. You’d better wait in the family room. Let the doctor give him the once-over, he’ll come and see you soon.”
Nadia stopped dead. “Can’t I go with him?” She reached out a shaking hand.
“No, you know you can’t. The doctor will drop by and see you soon,” Maureen insisted.
Nadia stood and watched her colleagues push her father up the corridor. Hopelessness descended and cast a cloud over her. Her shoulders slouched, and she made her way to the family room at the end of the hallway. It had recently been brightly painted to help ease the waiting families’ doom
and gloom.
She picked up a magazine to distract herself, flipping through the pages. None of it registered. Her mind lay elsewhere, with her father. What will I do if he dies? She mentally kicked herself for asking the question.
She glanced at her watch numerous times over the next thirty minutes or so, until the doctor finally came to give her the news she’d been waiting for.
“Nadia, you don’t know me, I’m Doctor Morgan. I’m going to give it to you straight. Your father is a very ill man. To be honest, we’re unsure whether he’ll make it or not. We’re in the process of giving him a blood transfusion. Does he have any illnesses we should know about that could possibly hamper his recovery?”
“No, nothing, he’s always been fairly fit.”
“I see. Well, that should make his recovery straightforward then. He’ll be going down to surgery to repair the damage to his neck soon.”
“Thank you, Doctor. What you’re really saying is not to count my chickens just yet, right?”
“Correct. I always err on the side of caution. You’d do well to do the same, for now. You don’t need me to tell you he’s in safe hands. Try and get some rest. Would you rather go home and we’ll call you with an update?”
“No, I’m going nowhere, not until I know he’s going to be all right.”
The doctor left the room. She collapsed into the chair and covered her face with her hands, unable to hold back the river of tears that flowed for the next ten minutes. Her fighting spirit deserted her for the time being. Once her tears had dried up, she thrust back her shoulders and turned her gloomy thoughts to more positive ones, promising only to look on the brighter side of the predicament she and her father found themselves in.