ESTELLE
“So you married that man.” My father didn’t even take a seat, but I was surprised he came to my office instead of shouting through the phone. The last time he was here, he wanted to take the seat from me by force.
“He has a name, Dad.”
“I know who he is.”
“No, you don’t.” Oddly, I didn’t even care, no matter how many ounces of anger he had in his words. “What you know is what you want to know. That’s biased, Dad. Give him a chance. And I’m pregnant.”
He snapped his head. Anger and disgust plastered all over his face. “Are you out of your mind? Let me guess, his?”
“I love him. And, of course, he’s the father. And he wants this child, too.”
“Of course, he wants. That’s what he wants, to take control of you. He always wants to be the good guy. He steps up to that place when things go wrong and wants to be your hero.”
“You get all wrong, Dad. He’s not like that.”
“Are you sure about that? He came to the rescue when you were on that island. He pretended to save your company when he did all the escalation to let the stockholders panic selling. Then he came buying my share and Tyrion by using Striker Cade. Do you think that’s not his plan all along? Do you think I didn’t know that?”
“He saved my company from Tyrion taking hold of it. He saved my seat and prevented Klayton from marrying me and taking control of Star LLC. But that’s what you want to happen because I wasn’t the boy you wanted. And it’s my fault that I have a girl part than a boy.”
“At least you’re not stupid marrying him without signing the tight prenup, are you?”
I looked away and swallowed. I completely forgot about a prenup.
“Oh, no.” His anger-fueled voice still buzzed in my air. I could hear the huge disappointment in his voice. “Aren’t you the stupidest, ignorant, and naive I’ve ever known? You just lost all your money, your assets, and everything I worked hard for! For what? For an opportunist boy like him? You are clearly out of your mind, Estelle. What did he feed you that you’re acting so stupid like this?”
I took a deep breath and briefly closed my eyes before I rose from my chair. “First, don’t call me stupid. And don’t call my husband an opportunist. Yeah, I’m still young and have a lot to learn, but don’t ever call me ignorant. Second, what do you mean by you work hard for? Who do you think you used the name to apply for your fancy golf club? What company do you sell to have friends? Now that you’re not the shareholder, does Tyrion still talk to you? Or he left you because you don’t have Star LLC at your grasp anymore.”
“Stop!”
I didn’t, and I wouldn’t. “You didn’t believe in my passion, remember? So you sold me to Weston instead. Now I’m finally free from you and Tyrion’s tyranny, and I am still the bad guy? Yeah, maybe the prenup agreement slipped my mind, but I will prove to you that my husband is not after my money. In fact, he has his own, and Osmium is at the top of the game. Now, if you have nothing good to say, leave this office and never return until you learn your place. And I swear to you, Star LLC will be bigger than your CTEC.”
I sat back down. My nerves were still everywhere, out of control. I was done with his bullshit. I would not let him belittle me whenever he felt like it. He may be my father, but I deserved respect. If he could not give that to me, I didn’t need his toxic masculinity in my life.
He didn’t say a word but left my office.
I let go of a shaky breath before I picked up the phone when it didn’t stop ringing. “Yeah.”
“Mrs. Linden.” That was Lynx. He sounded breathless.
“Would it be terrible if you called me Estelle?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but this is an emergency call. Boss is rushed to the hospital.”
“What? Why? What happened?” I was already standing, bracing my hand against my desk.
“Q will be in your office in a moment to take you to the hospital.”
“What happened, Lynx?”
“I’m not sure, ma’am. I’m driving to the hospital at this moment.”
“Then who’s with him?”
“A friend.”
“A friend? Aren’t you supposed to be with him?” When Qamar came inside, I told Lynx, “Don’t answer that. I will ask you later.”
The ride to the hospital was still puzzling me. I was getting anxious and worried at the same time. I didn’t have much of a clue. My guess was his chest.
Linden was being him, never listened, and thought he could have a bullfight with death. When I told him to rest, he took a shower and wore his suit instead. I guessed we both were stubborn people.
Lynx was already there when we arrived. “He’s in the emergency.”
“What’s his status?” Qamar asked.
“I don’t know, mate. He just coughed, and suddenly he couldn’t breathe.”
“What?” Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. I was terrified.
“No. No, Estelle. Breathe. You can’t do this right now.” He held me and shook me.
“Let me go. I wanna see my husband.” I walked past them even if I felt disoriented, and with the sounds and alarms buzzing in my ears, I was like walking in slow motion.
“He’s here.” I could barely hear Lynx.
I lid the curtain open.
“You can’t be here, ma’am,” The woman in a scrub suit told me.
“I wanna see my husband.”
She looked at me as if I was crazy. “You’re probably in the wrong bed.”
I looked at the bed and saw Linden with a mask on, chest exposed, and attached with probes. Even if they covered his head, I knew it was my husband. “That’s my husband. Gabriel Rembrandt Linden.”
“Your husband has two wives.” The nurse with a name tag, Dannie’s mockery pissed me off.
“I’m his only wife. Thank you very much.”
“Then who is she? Who came with the patient? She said she’s the wife.”
I froze in my place to see who was beside Linden. I stared at her for seconds and couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t even tell her to get the fuck away from my husband. What I felt right now was probably what Linden was feeling. I felt my chest was shattered, and I couldn’t breathe.
“What proof do you want?” I showed my ring. “Skyla?” Finally, that bitch looked at me. “Skyla, right? You can stop pretending now and stay away from my husband.”
“I was not pretending. I just wanna help Gabe.” Her voice was tremulous and unsure.
“Why are you even with Gabriel? What do you want from him?”
“Look, ladies. Whatever is going on that is not our business. Our concern is this patient. You can get out of this room and let us do our job. You can settle your issue outside this hospital. Right now, the patient doesn’t need both of you but his doctors.”
“Is he gonna be okay?”
“A portion of his right lung collapsed due to his previous injury. We need to insert the needle to remove the excess air. We’ll update you after we’re done with the procedure.”
“Thank you, doctor. Please, do whatever you can. I don’t care how much it costs.” I went to Linden’s side once that bitch left. I held his hand, but maybe they put him under sedation or strong painkillers. “Hey, baby. I’m here. Just stay strong because you still have to pay for this.”
I left the room and found Lynx and his men in the waiting room.
“What did they say?” Lynx asked first.
“You and I need to talk.” I looked at Lynx before I talked to everyone. I guessed we were sharing the same emotions today. They all looked under-stressed. “He has partial lung collapse on the right side. The doctor said they will insert the needle to remove the air.”
“He’s gonna be okay, right?” Qamar asked.
I saw Skyla walking away. “Wait.” I walked away from them, even if they were still calling my name.
I caught Skyla outside the hospital. “Skyla?”
She didn’t stop or pretend not to hear me.
“Skyla, will you stop?”
She did. So she heard me the first time I called her. “What do you want?”
“Why did you pretend to be his wife?” My heart was still ached. Honestly, I was mad at her, but I wanted to know her intention.
“I just wanted to help, and I wanna be with him.” If I could read her right now, I thought she still had feelings for my husband.
“Why are you with him when he—”
“Would you rather wish I wasn’t?”
“He has an assistant. He could call for help or hit his panic button. What do you want with Gabriel?” I insisted.
“I didn’t even know he was dating someone or married.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I was getting pissed the longer I talked to her. She showed no guilt.
“He loved me.”
“But you broke his heart. You slept with another man.”
“Is that what he told you?” she replied with a frown.
“Isn’t that the truth? I maybe believe that he loved you once, and you loved him, but it wasn’t enough for you to be faithful.”
“I was sexually assaulted.”
A gasp escaped my lips. My eyes widened in horror.
“I still love Gabe, but as friends, as an ex-boyfriend. I wanted to tell him what happened, but my mother didn’t trust me. So I just let everyone know that someone knocked me up, which may be less painful to him.”
I didn’t know I cried until it tickled my jaw. I wiped it away. “I’m sorry.”
“Of course you are. You’re rich, and you’d never experienced what I did.”
“That’s what he knew. He’s mad at you for breaking his heart. You can’t keep him believing in that lie. You need to tell him. It’s for his closure and yours, and I promise you, I will do everything I can to help you catch that man.”
“Why do you think I went to see him?”
“Then we’ll work together.” I took a step close to her and held her hand. “Please?”