The Disabled CEO is Mine

Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

Keira’s POV

I lingered around the lobby, waiting expectantly for the nurse to come out of Jasper’s room. I looked down the corridor and nearly gave up ever seeing the lady again until I saw her coming out of another room on the wing.

“Nurse?” I called out to her as she approached the reception desk.

She looked at me questioningly before her eyes lit up with recognition. “Something you did must have riled him up but he’s okay now. He’s probably asleep. The pain meds could make even the most coordinated of men very cranky,” she said with a kind smile.

“He’s going to be fine, right?” I asked, searching her eyes for the reassurance I needed.

“Yes, ma’am. Mr. Hawthorne would be alright. You just try and be careful with his meals next time,” she advised with a friendly pat on my arm before turning to leave. My face felt hot with embarrassment. Of course, Jasper would have told her already that it was me whose mistake nearly cost him his life. I let out a tired sigh and turned towards the exit.

Maybe I wanted someone to tell me ‘you’ll be fine’. Maybe it was my own well-being I was afraid for, and not Jasper’s. But at least worrying about him gave me something to think about other than the sorry state of my life. Besides, I genuinely cared about him for a reason I couldn’t quite name.

I walked out of the hospital building, scanning the area for any signs of the car that had chauffeured myself and my mother-in-law to see Jasper. It felt weird thinking about her as that, especially because she wasn’t exactly any cozier to me than her son was. To her, I was a pawn on her chessboard—a wildcard she had to throw in to save her son’s inheritance.

“Over here, ma’am,” I heard a voice call out to me from the side. I turned to find the driver standing beside the passenger side of the car, looking very formal in his crisp attire. He held the door to the backseat open for me as I approached.

“Where’s mother?” I asked upon noticing the car was empty.

“She had her driver come pick her up, ma’am. She mentioned something about having ‘important business to settle at home’,” he explained with a polite bow as he gently closed the door after me.

He'd barely steered the car out of the hospital and onto the main road when my phone rang from my purse. ‘Tessa’, the caller ID read. Why was my stepsister calling me out of the blues? It still felt strange thinking of her as anything but my own blood but after learning the truth, it all began to make sense. Everything clicked right away; the low-key hostility from the woman I called mother; Tessa’s indifference to anything that mattered to me; and ultimately, my father’s decision to pay a blind eye to everything and pretend it was alright.

“Hello. Tessa?”

“Oh my God, Keira. Just where have you had you phone this whole time. We’ve been trying to reach you all morning,” she said, her voice dripping with urgency. Something didn’t feel right.

“Slow down, Tessa. What are you saying? I’ve had my phone with me all morning and I can assure you this is the first time I’m getting a call from you or anyone else. What’s the matter? Where’s dad?” I launched into a fit of anxiety inside the car.

“He’s here with me… we’re at the hospital. Your grandfather… he… The doctors say it’s pretty bad… Get here as soon as you can,” Tessa’s voice broke through her sentences and I could hardly make out anything she was saying. But I knew I had to go and see my grandfather as soon as possible.

“Jerry, right?” I looked up at the driver.

“Yes, ma’am,” he nodded, meeting my gaze in the rearview mirror.

“Please take me to Wilson Memorial Hospital and be as fast you can,” I said breathlessly to him. He nodded in understanding and changed the course of our direction at the next turn.

The car had hardly come to a stop in the hospital’s parking lot before I jumped down, clutching my purse in one hand while simultaneously dialing Tessa’s number on my phone with the other. I flew like a gazelle up the sidewalk, taking the stairs to the main entrance two at a time. I could have easily been an Olympic athlete at the rate I was going. I expertly spun around a moving gurney, ignoring the disapproving reprimands of the medical personnel moving it.

Tessa’s phone kept ringing into voicemail and my heart fell deeper down a very dark ditch with every click of the tone at the end of the automated voice.

I ran up to the reception desk to speak with the nurse there when I spotted Tessa coming from the corner.

“Where the hell did you leave your phone? I’ve been trying to reach you since I arrived. Where’s he? Take me,” I said with a note of urgency in my voice. I couldn’t lose my grandfather. He was the only real bit of family I had left—the only connection I had to my mother. My eyes welled up with tears.

I turned around to find Tessa standing in place with a hand over her mouth as she tried to suppress a laugh. I looked at her in confusion. What was so funny?

“What’s the meaning of this, Tessa? Take me to my grandfather!” I said, impatience creeping into my voice.

“Hey. Watch the tone, please,” Tessa said with a roll of her eyes. She suddenly burst into a fit of laughter.

“But you should see your face right now, Keira. Very funny. I should take pictures,” she said and pulled out her phone.

“I don’t understand. Tessa, where’s my grandfather?” I asked in uncertainty.

“Oh, he’s fine alright. The doctor said he has a little surgery cardiac arrest scarce following the whole operation thingy but he’s all good now,” she said before resuming her laughter.

“Okay, Tessa, if this is some kind of joke, you better stop it. What are you saying? What happened to him?” I queried.

‘’I’m saying I only pranked you into coming here. Your grandfather isn’t dead. At least not yet,” she laughed. “Seems your marriage to the crippled psycho bought him a little more time on earth,” she said, and laughed at her own joke.

“Very funny, Tessa. Very funny,” I said, trying to calm down my breathing now that everything was alright.

“But wait. A cardiac arrest scare? When did this happen?” I asked in sudden realization.

“Last night,” Tessa answered with a casual shrug of her shoulders. It was clear this was all some sick joke to her.

I fought hard to keep my emotions in check. “And no one thought it was important enough to let me know?”

“Okay. You’re overreacting and this fight is clearly between you and your father. Not me. I wouldn’t have come here if he didn’t drag me along with him to work anyway,” she said with a little pout of her lips.

“Unbelievable. Just take me to see him, please,” I finally said in exasperation.

“Okay, whatever. It’s this way,” Tessa said with a sassy roll of her eyes as she led me down a corridor.

The sight of my grandfather unconscious in a room full of beeping machines made my eyes well up with tears. He’d always said I looked so much like my mother and this had confused me in the past because I had no idea he was speaking of my birth mother. He’d known all along.

“Keira,” I heard my father’s voice from the side of the room. I’d been too overwhelmed with emotions to notice his presence initially. Our gazes locked and I could spot a hint of guilt glinting in his eyes. He looked away first.

“The doctor just stepped out. They say he’s responding well to treatment now, all thanks to the surgery. Thanks to you,” he said patronizingly.

“I told her that already,” Tessa said from behind me and I could imagine her rolling her eyes as she spoke.

I let my anxiety drop some more after he confirmed Tessa’s words from earlier. My grandfather looked so pale and weak, nearly lifeless as he lay on the bed, but I held on to the hope that he was going to live through it. I walked over to my grandfather’s side and picked up his frail hand.

“Where’s she?” I asked after a moment of silence. My father knew at once who I was asking after—my stepmother.

“She umm.. she had to go dress shopping for this charity dinner we got invited to. The money from the Hawthornes was enough to convince our investors that we had enough ground capital of our own so we’d be doing business with them and this event is only like a welcoming party of some sort,” my father explained.

“Good for you,” I said and wiped my tears. My phone beeped inside my purse and I took it out. Jasper’s mother was calling.

“Hello?” I answered uncertainly.

“Come over to my house… right away,” she stated blankly and ended the call. I was left wondering what she wanted to see me for.