Charmaine got the number to Raymond’s room from the nurses’ station and raced towards it.  She pushed the door open and saw him lying on the bed.  His head was bandaged around the forehead and he appeared to be sleeping.  Frankie was sitting on a chair beside the bed and looked up when she entered.  “How is he?” she asked hoarsely going to stand by Raymond’s side.

Frankie pinched the bride of his nose and stood up with a somber expression on his face.  “He was hit on the back of the head.  He’s still unconscious.  The doctor doesn’t know when he’ll wake up.”

Charmaine’s eyes began to water as she stared down at Raymond.  Tenderly she lifted her hand and caressed the smoothness of his cheek.  “Ray?  It’s me.  Who did this to him?” she asked Frankie.

“I wish I knew.  I got a call from the hospital telling me that Raymond was here,” Frankie told her.  “When I asked the nurses and doctor who brought him in they didn’t know.  All they can tell me was that an anonymous call was made saying that someone was injured at Smashbox and for them to go immediately.  I don’t understand it myself.”

Charmaine looked at Frankie and said tersely, “I’m going to place a trace on that call.  Most likely whoever made the call would be able to give us some answers to what happened to Raymond.  I’ll send some people over to Smashbox and see if they can find anything that would be helpful.”

“With you on it I’m sure we would get to the bottom real soon,” Frankie said with a confident smile.  After a moment he asked softly, “Can I ask you something?”

Charmaine nodded but kept her eyes on Raymond.

“Are you in love with my brother?” Frankie asked blatantly.

Charmaine closed her eyes and nodded her head vigorously.  In an aching whisper she said, “I didn’t realize how much he means to me until now.  I was afraid of my feelings for him and I don’t want to hurt Steven.  But nothing matters now.  I just want him to be alright.”

Frankie watched Charmaine as she took a hold of Raymond’s hand and brought it to rub against her cheek.  He saw the tears sliding down her face and turned to look at Raymond.  Charmaine’s head was bent as she wiped at her tears but Frankie saw the grin forming on Raymond’s face and cleared his throat loudly.  “I’m going to find the doctor.  Excuse me.”  He hurried out of the room.

Charmaine lifted her eyes to look at Raymond and noted the grin on his face.  She was positive it wasn’t there before.  She dropped his hand immediately and stared incredulously at him.  “You can stop pretending.  I know you’re awake,” she hissed.

Raymond opened his eyes fully to look at her.  “I knew it!  I knew you had feelings for me but I never knew it ran that deep,” he said with arrogance and his smile widen.

Infuriated by his little charade, Charmaine scoffed, “I can’t believe you would pretend to be hurt just to get a confession from me.  Are you satisfied with my reaction?  Does it make you happy knowing that you could affect me this way?”

Seeing the b anger on her face, Raymond realized that he went too far.  He leaped out of bed and tried to hold her but she swatted his hands away.  “I’m sorry,” he said softly.  “I know I shouldn’t have done this but there was no other way.”  Looking down at her with love shining in his eyes he said tenderly, “And you’re absolutely right.  I’m extremely happy that I could affect you this way because that’s how you affect me.  Don’t you know that I did all this because of one thing.”  After a slight pause he said, “I don’t know how or when it happened but I’ve fallen madly in love you.”

Charmaine stared at him as the anger drained from her.  She didn’t have the strength to resist him anymore nor did she want to.  His power over her was strong and unbreakable.  No matter how hard she fought it she can no longer deny it.  Looking into his smoldering eyes and the tigerish smile that played on his lips, she knew that being with him is what she wanted.  It was as simple as that.  curved into a sweet smile and her eyes locked on his.

Raymond saw her features soften and knew that she has given up the fight against him.  With a gentle smile he brought his hands up to caress her face, his thumbs brushing lightly over her lips.  He lowered his mouth, “I love you,” he whispered then planted a velvety sweet kiss on her lips.

Although the kiss was simple and quick, to Charmaine it meant an understanding between them, a future together and most important, his promise of love.  She slid her arms around his waist and hugged him.

Raymond chuckled and wrapped his arms around her.  He inhaled the flowery fragrance of her hair and murmured, “Now that I have you I’m never ever going to let you go.”

“Ahem,” Frankie said loudly and watched with amusement as a red-faced Charmaine quickly broke away from Raymond’s embrace.  “I see that you two have worked out your differences.”

Raymond smiled happily and placed an arm around Charmaine’s shoulders.  “I am a lucky guy.”

Frankie shook his head and pointed out, “You got your head bashed not long ago so I wouldn’t call yourself lucky.”

Astounded, Charmaine turned to look at Raymond, “You mean you really got hit in the head?”

Raymond nodded and told her everything that he could remember leading up to the injury.  He finished off by saying, “I never got the chance to see what was in the draw.”

“I’m going to arrest Kenneth Ma right now,” Charmaine stated with anger then turned to head out the door.

“Wait,” Raymond said, “Although I was a bit dizzy at the time but I remember clearly that Kenneth was standing in front of me.  He was blocking me from opening the draw.  If he was standing in front of me how could he have hit me from behind?”

“There must have been another person in the room,” Charmaine rationalized.  Looking at Raymond she asked, “Who could it be?”