Worm into You

CHAPTER I

"Can't you do anything right? I know your sister would have done a better job at this."

Natalie huffed in annoyance as she sighed.

She looked at the phone in her hand and glanced at the clock. It was a quarter and a half past one and she still had nothing to show from her efforts. Usually, her mother would be so understanding of her predicament, but now she grimaced at the way her own mother shot down her proposition.

"Look, mom. I'm kinda in a bind right now. I can't send you any more as I don't have the money really."

All she asked was for her mother to cut down on her expenses. She can barely scrape by even with her work as the doctor here at the clinic. There were too many broken people, too many for her to fix, and she took her oath very seriously.

Constance was still ranting, her voice echoing tangibly in her ear. She had to see her patients. She still had a few, according to her appointment book which Selena, her secretary, had left behind before going back to her station outside. She called her mother during a pause from the chaos when she opened one of the letters on her desk and found a bill from the bank for her mother's overuse of her credit card.

Natalie sighed again. Ever since her father died, her mother has lost all rhyme and reason. When Natalie was a college student, Constance would demand exorbitant amounts of money from Natalie every month to pay for her mother's personal expenses. Rebecca would give in to their mother's demand even if she could barely scrape by as an accountant for a small company owned by the McCulleys. Aside from the fact that she had to fund Natalie's education, she had to pay for her own needs and see to their mother's. That's why it came as no surprise that when Rebecca announced that she was getting married, Natalie knew that she would finally be relieved of the burden of taking care of the family. It was in their father's will, a clause that was placed so that their mother could not misuse the hard-earned money that his work had before his daughters could be financially stable.

According to the will, in the event of his death, his money, the house and all of his assets will be frozen until the time comes when one of his daughters will be married, then his house and a few hundred dollars will be given to his wife. The rest of his assets will be equally divided between his daughters. This made Constance very angry. She had expected that she would receive all of her husband's money. She did marry him for that sole purpose, but it seemed like Thomas knew of her money-grabbing nature. In his letter to his daughters, which was attached to the will, he also revealed that he was aware that his wife was also having an illicit love affair with one of his clients. If given the opportunity, he would have divorced his wife, but he was thinking that if he did that, she would be his daughters' problem. He knew that his daughters did not do anything to deserve such a harpy for a mother and, in a way, he was grateful to Constance for giving birth to his two angels. So giving this to his wife should be enough to let her daughters live in peace.

Of course, it was expected that Constance would retaliate. She made every opportunity to put men in Rebecca and Natalie's way whenever they had family dinners, just so that they could decide on the perfect husband material. At first, Rebecca was enraged, since Natalie was only nineteen and she was just starting her life as a college student. Rebecca bore the lot of her mother's enthusiastic list of suitors but they were unsuccessful in holding her interest.

Natalie grinned inwardly as her mother continued to rant. She knew her sister well. She had already decided to marry when Natalie had opened her own clinic. Since their town doesn't have a nearby hospital, the sisters saved up from their part-time work for enough capital to have their clinic built. Of course, the three stooges were also there to help them out.

Natalie's smile wavered as she remembered those three boys: Bryce, Malcolm and Kyle. Better not open that can of worms.

"Malcolm called me yesterday."

Natalie straightened in her seat as her mother mentioned one of the boys. Speak of the devil and it shall appear.

"What did he want, mother?" Natalie asked gingerly. Malcolm used to be her closest friend, her loving confidant and partner in crime. That all changed on prom night.

"He wanted to know where you are. Seemed eager to see you. Why don't you marry him? or Bryce or that Kyle boy? You know that they want to marry you." Constance suddenly wheedled.

Natalie rubbed her forehead. She was not in the mood to rehash with those boys even after all these years. They had set the time limit and they made a pact. She knew that those boys were relentless. They were just biding their time until she was ready. She knew of their intentions too, hence the fallout during their prom. The last time that she had any contact with them was during high school. After the fallout, they each chose different colleges that were far away from one another. Rebecca remained their closest link as she was the fiance of Bryce's cousin. None of them had any contact with each other and she preferred it that way. She'd rather stay unknown and unrepresented than be with any of them. But her thoughts wandered and her hand unconsciously rubbed her right cheek. How could she forget?

Shaking her head, she turned her head towards the clock.

"I'd rather you did not tell them where I am." Natalie breathed out. That was the only thing she was grateful for. Even if her mother kept asking her for money, Constance honored her daughter's wish. When she asked if her mother could do her a favor by not telling the boys where she would be living, Constance resisted at first. She knew that her youngest would grow into a very beautiful woman, so getting her married off would be a piece of cake, since three were already nearby. But then she thought if her daughter got mad at her, then she would have no way to get her money. So she chose the lesser of two evils. The boys would randomly call home and look for Natalie but Constance would tell them that her daughter was unavailable to talk or had been busy with other things. She even went so far as to say that her daughter was dating someone else. Of course, the boys never believed her, knowing her tendency to lie to get what she wanted. When they heard that Natalie was planning to open a clinic nearby, they sent the money to Rebecca and inquired about the whereabouts of the clinic but her sister did not reveal anything. Natalie had told her about what had happened to them. She fully supported her sister's decision to stay incognito, which made the succeeding years peaceful and uneventful. She wanted to pay them back for the money she owed but the clinic was barely surviving. A lot of her patients were penniless, so she had to look for sponsors. Soon, they would have to cut corners or she would have to do what her mother had been nagging for her to do. To go to a bigger hospital.

She bit her lip as she contemplated what to do, her mother still ranting in the background.

The door suddenly opened and a harassed-looking Selena came through, her frantic eyes searching until they landed onto Natalie's.

"Thank God you're still here."

Natalie frowned, her hand automatically covering the mouthpiece.

"What is it?" Natalie asked, with her eyebrows arched in inquiry.

"We have an emergency, Dr. Nievens."

Natalie's frown deepened. Selena knew the protocol. Since this is a small town clinic, they do not have the facilities to do intensive surgeries. The best that they could do was to patch them up and send them to Mercy General Hospital, which was a few miles from here. Her staff should have done it by now. What the heck were they doing?

"I don't - "

Before she could finish her sentence, her secretary was shoved into the room with a g*n. Natalie's breath hitched. Their town rarely had any problems with criminals as they do not bother to go to this very, almost empty, town. There was nothing to steal and no one was really that rich. Everyone knew Natalie as the doctor from another planet, since none of the more professional doctors would think of working here.

"Are you the doctor here?" A tall dark-haired man demanded, his eyes hidden by dark glasses and his g*n pointed to Selena's mid section. Natalie pushed down her fear. She ended the call to her mother and dragged Selena behind her. The gunman looked at them uninterestedly but pointed the g*n towards Natalie. She figured that if they needed a doctor then they wouldn't kill her outright. Using herself as a human shield was not ideal, but it would have to do. She liked Selena and knew that she was still a little young to be traumatized like this.

"Yes, I am. Who are you and what do you want?" She demanded, her voice cracking a bit.

The man gestured to another man standing by the door. This one was bald and burly. He looked like he could break her bones.

"Take them."

"No. Leave my secretary out of this. I am the one that you want." Natalie pushed the other man with little to no effect. The man staggered a bit before clamping his big hands onto her upper arm.

"Fine. Come along. We need your help." The man with the g*n said before turning from them. The burly man pulled Natalie from the room, her determined gaze looking at Selena, her message clear. Her secretary visibly gulped before picking up the doctor's discarded phone. Natalie had the police on speed dial since the police department have their annual checkups in the same clinic. Sgt. Harris would come to their aid, at least Natalie hoped so.

Her hopes were soon dashed as she saw dozens of dark-suited men loitering there in her main lobby and in the corridors, each nodding soberly as the guy with the g*n passed them. She would have to take note of their faces if she was planning on reporting them to Jim. If she survives this, she would gladly do everything her mother would ask.

A frantic woman appeared from the door at the end of the corridor. Natalie frowned. Where was her nurse, Hazel Ruiz? Although looking at the woman, she looked vaguely familiar.

"Are you the doctor?" Without giving Natalie the chance to reply, the woman also pulled her into the room.

Natalie gawked at what she saw.

Her patients were huddling in a corner, terrified of the men wearing black shades and black suits. The men were looking at them dispassionately, their concern was focused on the man lying down on the hospital bed while Hazel frantically pulled machines and tubes nearby. Hazel paused in her movements, her almond eyes lighting up with relief on seeing Natalie.

"Oh my goodness. Thank God you're still here."

Natalie's instincts kicked in. She shrugged off the man's arm and pushed at the woman lightly. She took off her stethoscope from the rack and approached the bed, only to stop in horrified fascination at seeing the person lying down on the bed.

"He has a gunshot wound on the left shoulder, it went through. He also received stab wounds to the chest and stomach. Blood pressure is spiking." Hazel muttered mechanically, her attention solely focused on putting on the IV line.

Her voice jolted Natalie awake. Picking up the scissors, she went forward to cut off the shirt and assess the damage. She briefly glanced at the man's face, Kyle McCulley's pale and drawn face.

What the heck happened?