He Left Me Waiting, I Left Him Forever

Chapter 4

The cold liquid flowed slowly into my veins through the IV, and as the antihistamines started to do their work, the tight, suffocating feeling in my throat finally began to ease and recede.

I opened my eyes weakly, and the first thing that greeted me was the luxurious, ornate ceiling of the VIP penthouse suite at St. Mary's Hospital.

Leon Sterling was sitting on the leather sofa beside my bed, flipping through a stack of documents.

He was dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, with sharp, defined brows and a straight, prominent nose, and there was something about his entire presence that radiated a cold, distant aloofness.

He was the youngest top financial magnate in the industry, and he also happened to be the largest investor in my company.

"You are awake," he said, closing the file and bringing a glass of water to my lips.

"Mr. Sterling, thank you so much," I said as I used his support to sit up, my voice still hoarse and rough. "If you had not shown up exactly when you did, I might not have made it."

"It was nothing," Leon replied in a flat, even tone. "I would much prefer not to lose my chief financial advisor to a cheap piece of cake in her own apartment, since that would certainly not reflect well on next quarter's earnings report."

I let out a bitter laugh and was just about to say something when a sudden commotion erupted from outside the hospital room. "Let us in," I heard Arthur's voice demanding from outside. "My sister is having a panic attack, and she needs a proper place to rest. I am willing to pay double, so get her a VIP room right now.

Before anyone could stop him, the door was shoved open roughly, and Arthur walked in with Leah leaning against him, looking so frail.

When his eyes landed on me propped up in the hospital bed, he stopped short as he said, "Vivienne, what are you doing here?"

For the briefest moment, something that looked like pain flashed in his eyes when he took in how weak and fragile I truly was, but it was quickly buried beneath his usual pride and arrogance, and then his gaze swept across the room until it settled on the commanding figure seated on the sofa, and whatever shock he felt at seeing Leon was swiftly replaced by impatience.

He turned back to me with a scoff and demanded, "Are you seriously still not done with this? You followed me and Leah all the way to the hospital just to pressure me into apologizing, and you even got yourself a VIP room to play the victim?"

I looked back at him with cold eyes, and I did not even have the energy to explain myself, because there was simply no point, so I said, "Get out."

"You want me to get out?" Arthur looked as if he had just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world, striding right up to the side of my bed and declaring, "Vivienne, do not push it. Leah is already shaken from that outburst you had back at your apartment, and she needs absolute peace and quiet."

Then, he pointed at the bed I was lying in and, with that infuriating sense of entitlement, ordered, "Since you are out of danger now, why are you not answering your phone? Leah was frightened just now, and this room is much better for her to calm down. You can move to a regular ward. The medical care there is exactly the same."

I looked at Arthur standing before me and could not help but feel the sheer absurdity of it. Because of the nut cake he had practically forced down my throat, I almost died from anaphylactic shock, and yet he had not offered a single word of concern, only demanding that someone who had just been pulled back from the brink of death should give up her room for a woman who was clearly only pretending to be sick.

I leaned back against the pillow and said, in a voice as flat and calm as if he meant nothing to me anymore, "Arthur, is your head filled with cement? I am paying for this room out of my own pocket, so what right do you have to tell me to hand it over?"

"Stop trying to throw your money around," Arthur said with an irritated wave of his hand. "I will write you a check later and double whatever this room costs you, and that will be the end of it. Leah is frail, and could you at least act like a grown woman and cut her some slack, especially since she has always thought of you as family?"

Leah, who had been leaning against the doorframe, let out a couple of weak coughs and said, "Arthur, forget it. If Vivienne does not want to give up the room, then do not force her. I can just find a chair in the hallway and sit there for a while. I am used to being the one who never really belongs anywhere anyway."

Arthur immediately softened, hurried over to steady her, and then turned back to fix me with a hard, angry stare. "Vivienne, I am telling you this for the last time, move to another room right now."

The man who had been sitting quietly on the sofa through the entire exchange, Leon, suddenly let out a low laugh, and it was the kind of laugh that carried no warmth whatsoever, only a cold, intimidating presence that filled the room. "It seems the security at St. Mary's could use some serious upgrading," he said, "if they are allowing just about anyone to wander into the penthouse suite."

Leon rose from his seat, and his tall, six-foot-three frame instantly cast a long shadow across the room, but he did not so much as glance at Arthur, only tilting his head slightly to murmur something in a low voice to the assistant standing beside him.

"Yes, sir. I will call the hospital director right away," the assistant said, and he had already pulled out his phone and started dialing.

Arthur's face went pale in an instant. "Who... who exactly are you?"

Leon gave him a brief, cold glance and said in that same flat, unruffled tone, "David, please show this gentleman out. If he gives you any trouble, contact the police and file charges for trespassing and harassment."

Four tall security guards who had been waiting outside the door stepped in without a moment's hesitation, grabbed Arthur firmly by both arms, and started dragging him out without a single wasted word.

"Arthur!" Leah screamed, her voice rising in sheer panic.

Arthur's furious shouts of "Let go of me. I will sue all of you!" echoed down the corridor before slowly fading into silence.

The room fell quiet once again.

Leon settled back into the sofa, his tone as casual as if he were commenting on the weather, and asked, "If you are still not satisfied, I do not mind having my legal team step in."

I picked up my phone from the bedside table, glanced at the screen, and said, "No, it is not worth wasting another second on someone like that."

Arthur sent me a long, rambling text message.

Arthur: Vivienne, you have really let me down. You were never this mean before. Leah is in a very fragile emotional state right now, so I am taking her to Kingsbridge for a change of scenery and to see a therapist. You should calm down too and stop throwing these little tantrums.

I read through each of his messages as they came in, one after another, and I could not help the bitter laugh that rose up inside me. Then I replied.

Vivienne: The wedding is off.

After sending it, I pulled the SIM card out of my phone and dropped it into the trash can beside the bed without a second thought.

Then, I turned to Leon and said, "Mr. Sterling, about that lead position on the Westbrook merger case you mentioned before, I will take it. I can fly out to Castleton tomorrow."