Escaping to the CEO

Chapter 12

Cassandra's POV

The last thing I remember was being tackled to the ground. I woke up with my left side packed with gauze and tape. It hurts to move, it hurts to breathe. The smell of sterilization and bleach wafted through the obnoxiously blinding white room. I was alone here. The sound of a beeping machine was off in the distance behind me. I looked around my hands without moving my head too much. There was a remote. I slowly tilted the remote up and there was a picture of a nurse on the top button in red.

I pushed it and three nurses came running in within seconds of me pushing the button.

"How can we help you, Mrs. Genovese?"

"Where am I? What happened?"

My voice was scratchy and it hurt to talk. One of them went to the sink and filled up a cup of water and put a straw in it. She helped me drink it as they answered my questions.

"You're at UMass Hospital in Worcester. You were in a bad shooting at a restaurant. You were life flights here. We were the closest hospital that could handle the damage from the shooting."

"How long have I been out?"

"About a week. You had to have extensive life-saving surgery. Now that you're awake, we can have the doctor come in and check on you."

"The man I was at the restaurant with?"

"We unfortunately don't have any information on him."

"My cousin Michael Genovese? Can you give him a call for me please? His number is in my phone somewhere."

One of the nurses walked over and pulled out a bag with my belongings and handed me the phone. It was dead. Ugg.

"Do any of you have a phone charger? My Phones dead."

"We have one at the nurses' station. How about I charge it to you and bring it back in an hour?"

"Sounds good. I'm going to close my eyes for a few days. Just wake me when you come back?"

"Of course."

My shoulder was lightly shaking back and forth. I slowly opened my eyes to see the smiling face of the nurse.

"Your phone has been ringing since we turned it on to check the battery level."

"Who is it?"

"Someone named Anna, another named Michael and a third Eric."

She handed me my phone and just had the phone in my hand Eric was calling.

"Carrie? Carrie you there?"

"Eric? Are you OK?"

"I should be the one asking you that. Where are you?"

"UMass uhhh"

"Worcester dear."

"Thanks."

"I'm at UMass Worcester. The nurses said I was life-fighting here."

"I'm on my way. I'll be there as soon as I can. I'll have Anna and Michael with me."

"OK, I'll see you soon."

The nurse helped me sit up and propped the pillows up behind me. My side was hurting badly.

"Oh, I think it's time for your medicine. I'm going to go get that for you and I'll order you some food too."

"Thank you."

She came back a few moments later and handed me a small cup with pills in it and a cup of water. I thanked her again. She just smiled at me and nodded her head as she left again.

I picked up the remote and started mindlessly scrolling through the channels. I landed on a TV show about six friends. I never really had the chance to watch TV growing up. If we did, it was either the news or a religious channel.

I must have fallen asleep again because when I woke up, Eric was sitting next to me, his hand holding mine. Michael was pacing at the end of my bed and Anna was vigorously texting someone.

"What's going on?"

"You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Sore but OK."

I reached my hand to cup Eric's face. He leaned into my palm and nuzzled it, kissing the inside before turning his eyes back to me. His face had thick stubble, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"What happened? Why didn't you know where I was?"

"I was also shot and sent to a Hospital in Rutland. Mine wasn't as serious. However, I still had to go through surgery to have it removed. By the time I woke up in recovery and I asked where you were, no one knew. I've been searching everywhere for you. I called every hospital in Vermont hoping you were still in the state."

"Carrie, I called the doctor. He'll be here soon. We're going to find out when you can be discharged or at least transferred home."

"Thank you, Michael."

"It's nothing."

"No seriously, Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Anna, who are you texting so fiercely over there?"

"Your face was shown on video getting into the ambulance on the stretcher. It was shown all across the country. I'm trying to get the video taken down."

The doctor came in and asked to speak with me privately. I told him this is my family, and it's OK to speak to me in front of them.

He told me the extent of the surgery and how I almost died on the table. He asked about certain injuries to my chest. I was about to explain it was from my ex-husband when Michael chimed in that the situation has been taken care of and the broken bones won't be continuing. The doctor nodded, seeming to accept his answer as true. He said he wanted to keep me for a day or two in the morning now that I was awake and alert, but as long as everything goes well, I should be all set to be discharged.

I was discharged a few days later, and we decided to drive back. They wanted to show me some sights that I could see from the highways. I got to see the Polar Soda Bear who waves at cars as they pass on 290. I got to see the building in a city called Springfield that looks like a basketball. The Connecticut river we passed over that a few times. We stopped at an Irish restaurant for dinner. We got back to our town somewhere close to one in the morning.

"Anna take tomorrow off."

"You got it boss."

"CD?"

"hmm?"

I was so tired from everything, my eyes were closing and words were the farthest thing from my brain.

"I'll pick you up around noon. We have something to discuss."

"o..... ::yawn:: K"

"Get some sleep my love."

He kissed me on my forehead before taking his leave. Michael had things to take care of in Worcester, so he stayed behind with some of his men.

I opted to shower first. The feel of the hot water running down my body felt so good. The tension that my body was holding onto let go, and I almost fell asleep standing up. I changed into my pajamas and curled up in my bed. Soon as my head hit the pillow, I passed out.

Morning came too quickly, or at least to me too quickly. I rolled over and saw the time ten thirty. The numbers were blazing red at me. I slowly rolled out of bed and grabbed clothes for a shower. My side was throbbing, but luckily everything was healing well. I just needed to take things slow.

I dressed in some leggings and a loose button-up dress shirt since pulling stuff over my head was almost impossible. I slid on some cute ballet flats and my red leather jacket. I made my way down the stairs and made myself a cup of coffee. Anna was nowhere in sight. She must still be sleeping.

At noon on the dot I heard knocking at the door. There was Eric smiling at me.

"Ready?"

"Yeah let's go."

He took my hand as we walked down the couple of steps and helped me into his car. He was still sore too, from what I could see. We drove for almost ten minutes when we pulled into a long driveway.

"What's up here? I didn't see a sign at the end of the road."

"My home."

We pulled up in front of the most gorgeous log cabin I had ever seen. It was huge with at least two, maybe three floors, a huge wrap-around porch with rocking chairs and a fairly large pond in the back. I was still staring when Eric opened my door and unbuckled me. He helped me to stand and was pointing out the cool architecture of the property. I was only half listening as I was so enveloped by the beauty of the home.

We walked in, and he helped me sit on his leather couch. He handed me a bottle of water and started the fireplace. It was getting colder out and even though it was warm in the house, I still had a chill running through my body. He sat next to me. And pulled me closer to him. I couldn't resist. I loved this man with all my heart. Had loved him he was my everything up until he disappeared.

"Lunch will be ready soon."

"What are we having?"

"Lasagna your favorite."

"It's been awhile since I've had a good lasagna. So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, a couple of things. So let's start with the easy. I want to offer you a job in my company. I need someone to help with filing paperwork and being a pretty face for the company. Pay is sixty grand a year to start and comes with full benefits. What do you say?"

"Um, that sounds amazing. I feel like I'd be taking advantage though."

"No, you'd be doing me a huge favor. I need someone I can trust and you being beautiful helps a lot."

"Um ok then Yes."

"Great. What's the other thing you wanted to talk with me about?

"A man Joe hired... He was at the Hospital. He was there to kidnap you and bring you back to Joe. He's hellbent on bringing you back to him. Michael and his men, too, cared about the man. But we don't know what information Joe may have about you."

"I... um... woah... What should I do?"

"Well, I can only think of a safe option without going down there with a bunch of Michael's men to keep you safe.

"Oh? WHat's that?"

"Move in with me?"