Her Suspected Billionaire

Chapter 34

Alice opened her eyes in a bit of a daze and closed it again as the harsh light shone into it. She counted to ten and then reopened it very slowly. She kept it open slightly for it to adjust to the lighting, before opening it wider. The medication she was given had really knocked her out. She hadn’t even gotten up to use the toilet as she normally did at night. The sting in her back and the pain in her waist and arms were completely gone. Her headache was also gone. All she felt now were pangs of hunger and she chuckled when her stomach growled, as if trying to let her know what it thought she didn’t already know. The clock on the wall opposite her read 4:52a.m. A few more hours and she’d be free to go. The doctor had said she would be discharged today if they saw no other need to keep her.

As she lay in bed reflecting on all that had happened the night before, a wave of relief washed over her. Finally she could live her life without worrying about any one stalking. She wouldn’t be afraid or worried about anybody hurting her friends any longer.

​A gentle snore from the end of her room startled her and she turned in the direction of the sound. Evan lay sprawled out on the sofa, with his jacket draped over his chest. His shoes sat in front of the sofa, properly arranged and he still had his socks on. Alice had completely forgotten that he was with her. She watched the rise and fall of his chest and liked how his hair appeared while he slept. So this was how the prim and proper Mr. Evan Sterling slept. He looked so vulnerable that if he wasn’t her boss, she’d go over and pinch his nose till he woke up, just for the fun of it. Was he still her boss though, she wondered. She didn’t know if she still wanted to go back to work at Sterling Industries. Evan may have played a huge role in saving her life today, but he was still as conceited as she had seen him a few minutes before everything happened.

Evan turned over just then to face and kept on sleeping. His lips parted slightly as he continued to snore gently and Alice felt her heart flutter. Why was he looking cuter while asleep?

​His cellphone vibrated inside his pocket and Evan woke up with a slight jump. Alice quickly shut her and pretended she was still asleep. There was no way she was going to be caught staring at her former boss sleeping.

​He got the vibrating phone out of his pocket and turned off the alarm. As he turned his neck, he realized he had been sleeping in an awkward position and his neck hurt a great deal. He got up from the sofa, put on his shoes before he began stretching his arms and legs and bent over to touch his toes. Alice opened her eyes slightly to see what he was doing that was making him move so much. He had his hands on his hips now and he was turning in the left and right directions sharply, till a loud snap sounded out from his body like a bone had cracked. Alice let out a small gasp and shut her eyes back immediately. The crack sound had startled her.

​Evan heard her gasp and stopped stretching to look at her. He c****d his head to the side as he stared. He didn’t take his eyes off his face until Alice, thinking he had gone back to sleep or out of the room, opened her eyes. On seeing him staring at her, her eyeballs widened and she shut her eyes back immediately. Evan let out a smug smile.

“Good morning, Miss James,” he greeted her walking closer to the bed. Alice turned over and tossed the blanket over her head. Evan gently stood by the bed till she turned to face him again.

“Morning, Evan,” Alice replied him, chuckling awkwardly.

“How long have you been awake?” he asked her. Alice looked around her and gave a little shrug.

“I didn’t exactly check the time.”

“Really?” Evan asked again, with that smug smile back on his face. He walked over to the chair beside the table top refrigerator in the room and carried the chair that sat beside it. He placed the chair by Alice’s bedside and sat on it.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“Yes, actually. Much better. I’m glad they brought me here even though I kept insisting I was fine.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Thank you, Mr. Sterling for…”

“Evan, please,” he cut in.

“Oh, yes. Sorry. Thank you, Evan. For running over when I messaged you and for upgrading my room. It’s my first time in a private room in a hospital,” she said, with a little laugh.

“It’s the least I could do. You’ve been through a lot tonight. I just had to do my bit to make sure you were comfortable and you felt safe.”

“Thank you.”

“Enough with the thanking, Alice. It’s all good,” Evan said, throwing his head back and laughing.

Alice looked at him as he laughed. Here in this hospital room right now, Evan looked, seemed and acted normal to her. She was feeling at peace with him now and was glad he had stayed. Sheila would have fussed over her without getting some shut eye, despite being involved seriously in what went down as well. Her brows furrowed as she thought of Sheila.

“Is everything okay?” Evan asked her, as he noticed she looked kind of worried about something.

“I’m thinking about Sheila. Just wondering if she went home or if she went to Steven’s house. She needs a lot of rest as well and not…” she answered, stopped abruptly and giggled mischievously.

“Oh my God,” Evan said, covering his face with his hands, on realizing what Alice meant. Was he really sitting here laughing at jokes his sick secretary was making?

“She’ll be fine, Alice. Right now, you have the right to worry about only yourself.”

“Yeah, guess so. I’m just glad this is all over though.” Evan went quiet for a moment. He thought she was going to break into tears but when he looked at her and her eyes weren’t wet, he spoke again.

“May I ask what exactly happened that led to the events that unfolded tonight?” Alice turned her face to look at him and rolled her eyes.

“Do you always speak so formally, Evan?” He looked taken aback by her question and she laughed when she saw his expression.

“All you had to ask was ‘what really happened? Why was that sicko stalking you?’ You just sounded like you were writing a formal letter,” Alice explained, still laughing.

“Does that mean you’re not going to tell me?” Evan asked again, after she had stopped laughing.

“Ask nicely and maybe I will.”

“You mean, ask informally. Because I did ask nicely,” he informed her, smiling. Alice raised her brows, as she realized he was right. He did ask nicely.

“Alright, I’ll tell you. But only because you asked nicely.”

​Within the next hour, Evan sat put while Alice narrated how she had met Clinton and how he’d become her boss at the former place she worked at. She told him of the first time he’d tried to hit on her and how she’d dodged his advances for months. She had reported him severally to Human Resources, but Clinton had a large influence in the company and without proper evidence, no one there took her allegations serious and said she was just looking for a way to get Clinton fired and arrested for no reason. Until the day he’d tried to force himself on her right there in his office and she’d hit him.

“So no actions were taken by the HR department even after he was reported?” Evan asked. He sounded shocked. Alice shook her head.

“None. They said I was lying because I was the only one who had complained of such.”

​She went on to tell Evan about how she had been fired after she hit him and was told she should consider herself lucky that Clinton Clark was not pressing charges for assault.

“They said I ought to be grateful. Then, Sheila hooked me up with Sterling Industries…”

“Actually, I think it was Steven. He was the one who knew I needed a replacement for my secretary who’d walked out on me without warning,” Evan interrupted. “And I’m guessing he heard about it from my sister. He’s good friends with Rebecca,” he continued.

“Well, I’m not surprised she balled. There’s only so much one can take, Evan,” Alice said with a smirk.

“Believe when I say it, Alice. The reason you left and the reason she left are completely different. I am very sure of it.”

“Why’d she leave?”

“We’re not talking about her right now, are we? We’re talking about you.”

​Alice looked at him for a while and knew she could not get him to talk if he didn’t want to, so she did not push it. She had a feeling she would eventually hear about it. She continued telling him about the stalking, the creepy photos sent, the chat with edy649, and her and her friends having to wear body cameras and microphones to be ready for any surprises. When she was done talking, her eyes were tearing. Talking about it to Evan and remembering all the details had just sort of dawned on her that all these had happened to her, that she had been through this because of Clinton. Evan let the quietness go on for a while before he spoke again.

“I am so sorry that you went through all that, Alice. I really am. And I’m sorry I was such an insensitive boss while you were going through such a rough time.”

“At least you weren’t a boss trying to molest me,” Alice said, fiddling with her nails.

“Still, I should have figured something didn’t add up and reached out and tried to help or something…” Evan was saying.

“You’re helping now, Evan,” Alice cut in, looking at him. “And that’s enough. The fact that we just had a disagreement but you were there as soon as you got my message was more help than you think. And the fact that you’re spending the night with me in a hospital so my friends can get some rest is so much more help than I could ask for. Thank you.”

​Evan smiled and nodded.

“So… does that mean you’ll come back to work after your sick leave?”

Alice rolled her eyes while laughing gently.

“Way to ruin the moment, Evan Sterling,” she teased. Evan laughed too.

“I’m not sick. And I do still need a job. So yeah, I guess I’ll come back after I’m discharged from here…”

“No. You are sick on my watch. This whole stuff has been traumatic, I can tell, and I need not just your body, but your mind to recover as well before you resume. Even if you need to see a therapist, Sterling Industries be happy to foot the bill as part of your staff development and… Why are you staring at me like that?”

“You’re sounding too nice to be my boss. Are you an alien? What’d you do with my boss?” Alice asked, bursting into laughter. Evan smiled at her. Hearing her laughter within these hours they had been talking had been refreshing.

“I do mean everything I’ve been saying. You are placed on a sick leave. I’ll have a letter drafted to that effect when I call into work later in the day.”

“What about the meeting with Think Tank, the Spanish company? I still need to work on that proposal and set up the meeting.”

“Edith can handle it.”

“No, I’ll handle it. She can’t speak Spanish. Neither of you can. So it will be best I’m with you when you meet with them.”

“If you insist, who am I to object?”

“How long is my sick leave?”

“A month.”

“A month?!” Alice exclaimed, starting Evan. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. She had not had that much time away from work in a very long time.

“Maybe I should be falling ill regularly,” she teased. Evan chuckled.

“Don’t push your luck,” he advised, making her burst into another fit of laughter.

“Of course I won’t. Was just teasing you,” she replied him and yawned. Evan stood up from the chair.

“Guess you need some sleep before the nurses come in to see you,” he noticed.

“All that talking has made me tired and drowsy.”

“I agree. Sleep a bit. They might come in anytime soon,” he said, walking back to the couch. “I’ve got some emails to respond, by the way.” Alice nodded without saying anything.

​Her eyes shut in a calm and dreamless sleep as Evan settled on the couch and got out his phone to attend to his mails.