CHAPTER |1O
953 Words
Aiden's POV
The day had started badly and only became worse.
From morning until evening, I moved from one meeting room to another without real rest. Lawyers, financial advisers, department heads, and investors all wanted answers about the Hayden Group lawsuit, and none of them came with simple solutions.
Every table held papers, every screen showed numbers, every voice carried pressure. By late afternoon, my patience was gone.
One of the legal advisers was still explaining possible settlement figures when I cut him off.
"Enough. I already understand the risk."
He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "Sir, we still need your final approval before tomorrow morning."
"You will have it before midnight."
That ended the discussion.
When the room emptied, I stayed seated for a moment, rubbing my forehead. My eyes burned from staring at reports all day.
I had barely eaten lunch. The memory of breakfast with Liam and Ava crossed my mind briefly.
Ava's teacher too.
She had said Ava kept talking about Amarahh even now, that stayed in my head more than it should have. I stood, gathered the remaining documents, and finally stepped out of the conference room.
The hallway outside my office floor was almost empty because most of the staff had gone home.
Only a few lights remained on.
Luke, my assistant after Ethan had gone to handle another branch matter, stood near the elevator waiting with a folder in his hand.
The moment he saw me, I knew something was wrong. His face changed immediately. He looked pale and too tense.
I stopped walking. "What is it?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it again like he did not know how to begin.
That alone made my chest tighten. "Luke."
His voice came out low. "Sir... Marcus called several times."
I frowned. "Why did you not interrupt the meeting?"
"You were with the legal team."
"What happened?"
He swallowed hard. "Miss Ava has been hospitalized."
For a second I heard nothing else. The folder slipped from my hand and hit the floor.
"What?"
"Marcus said it happened at home. Something she ate triggered a reaction."
I did not wait for the rest. I moved before he finished speaking. The elevator felt too slow.
By the time I reached the car park, my hands were already shaking.
The drive to the hospital was blurred by red lights and traffic that felt unbearable.
Every second became too long, and my mind refused to calm. All I could hear was one sentence repeating Ava is hospitalized in the same building, the same smell, the same fear.
By the time I reached the hospital entrance, my heartbeat was too loud in my ears.
I stepped out before the driver fully stopped. Marcus was already near the entrance. So were two members of the house staff and the chef stood further behind looking destroyed.
Everyone looked panicked.
Marcus saw me first. "Sir."
"Where is she?"
"On the second floor they treated her immediately."
I looked toward the hospital doors and froze for one moment, my feet refused to move. That corridor that smells of that white light.
It came back too quickly to my wife on a hospital bed. The doctors were moving around Vanessa crying. Liam screamed because nobody answered him.
My own voice broke while they covered her body.
I stood still, Marcus noticed. "Sir?"
But I could not move, the memory had taken over completely when I saw Amarahh.
She was near the wall beside the reception area, eyes swollen, face wet with tears, hands trembling badly.
She looked worse than everyone else the moment she saw me, she straightened immediately.
"I am sorry," she said before I could speak.
Her voice broke completely. "I am so sorry."
Something inside me reacted strangely to that because she looked genuinely shattered. Not defensive, not trying to explain herself first.
Just broken.
I walked toward her slowly. "What happened?"
Her tears came harder. "I made food for her. She was eating. I didn't know peanuts were mixed there."
Her breathing shook. "She started choking. Marcus came. They rushed her here. I-"
She covered her mouth briefly because she could barely continue. "I should have checked better."
Marcus added quietly, "The chef confirmed the garnish mistake, sir. Emergency treatment was quick."
But my eyes remained on Amarahh. She looked like she had blamed herself every second since arriving here.
For one second, relief came before anger relief because Ava was alive because people were standing, speaking, not crying the way they cried years ago.
That relief came so strongly it almost weakened my knees.
Without thinking, Amarahh stepped closer, maybe because she saw that moment on my face.
Maybe because she thought I might collapse. Her hand touched my arm lightly, which broke the moment.
I pulled my arm away immediately, harder than necessary. "Do not."
My voice came out cold again and her hand dropped instantly. I looked away from her and the guilt on her face remained, but I could not deal with that now.
Not here.
Not while standing in another hospital trying not to hear old voices in my head.
I turned toward Marcus. "Which room?"
"Second floor ward six."
This time I forced myself forward. Every step felt heavy, but I took them anyway.
I passed the nurse station and passed two doctors speaking quietly. And finally reached the ward door. My hand stayed on the handle for one second before opening it.
Inside, Ava lay on the hospital bed, small and pale, with an oxygen line near her face.
Sleeping alive was all I saw at first.
Alive.
And for the first time since Luke spoke outside the office, I breathed properly again.
- Writer
