Falling for Him 4 (Rachel and Peter in Love) by Jessica Gray Page B

wanted her to leave.”
    David watched as Lara grew quiet, a sense of unease causing him to lower his voice, “Lara, tell me what happened next.”
    Lara sighed, “I was driving around a corner. I watched Peter step out into the street and I floored the gas pedal. I was so jealous, it was like I was seeing everything through this red filter.
    I remember realizing that I was going to hit them, and I swerved the car at the last moment. But I wasn’t fast enough. I hit Peter and knocked Rachel to the ground. I was so shocked that I hadn’t been able to avoid hitting him, I gunned the engine and drove off.
    I wanted to go back and see if he was okay, but I was afraid to see the censure in his eyes.” Lara huffed out a derisive laugh. “I didn’t realize I had nothing to worry about. Peter lost all memory of the accident and much of his past.
    When he arrived at the hospital, they called the office for some administrative stuff and the secretary in turn asked me to notify his family in the states, and that’s when I realized what I’d done. He was seriously injured and it was all my fault.”
    Lara chanced a glance at David’s face, cringing when she saw the censure in his eyes before he hid it behind a professional mask. “I thought about telling someone, but I was afraid of what the police might do. I was a foreigner in their country and I was afraid to tell the truth.”
    ***
    David couldn’t think of anything to say when she finished speaking. In fact, he was completely shocked. By all intents and purposes, she had attempted to kill both Peter and his girlfriend. This was by far the most serious crime anyone had ever admitted to him, and he was torn. As her doctor, he was not supposed to tell anyone what had been told him in confidence.
    But what Lara had done was a se vere crime, and there were serious consequences for hit-and-run drivers. He wasn’t sure what the penalty was in Spain, but they tended to be much more strict than the U.S., so it would most definitely include some prison time.
    “The guilt has been eating me up . I think that’s what finally drove me to climb on top of that building. I didn’t see any other way out. The guilt and shame was always there, and I couldn’t get away from it.”
    David took a breath to gather his thoughts. Oh my god, this much worse than I thought! What am I supposed to do? Should I turn her in to the authorities? He fought to remember the advice of his professor at med school, when he took a class about psychiatry for prisoners. You’re psychiatrists, not law-enforcement, your job is to help your patients, not to judge. If you can help them deal, you might even be able to prevent further crimes.
    He needed to muster all his professionalism to be able to say; “Lara, the fact that you feel guilty about what you did is a good start.”
    “But how do I get rid of it?” Lara asked, a plea in her voice .
    He hoped she wouldn’t have another breakdown and frantically search for words that might calm her down. “You said you tried to swerve at the last minute, which tells me you didn’t intend to kill or injure Peter and his girlfriend. But now we have to deal with the fact that your actions, intentional or not, did cause injury and suffering to Peter.”
    Lara nodded her head, a tear slipping from her eye and running down her cheek. She reached up to wipe it away before asking, “How do I do that?”
    “The only way to get rid of the guilt is to come clean about what happened.”
    “You mean, go to the police in Spain and tell them everything?” Lara asked in a horrified whisper. “I don’t know if I can do that!“
    David shook his head, “No, that doesn’t make much sense. I’m not an expert here, but you’d have to fly back to Spain. There would be a trial; Peter would have to fly back to Spain as well. No, that doesn’t make much sense.”
    “So what then? Are you suggesting I tell the local authorities what I did?”
    David had found his confidence