The love of a Mr. CEO

I quietly tiptoed to the bedside and took a seat in the chair, intertwining my fingers with his as I rested my head against the edge of his bed. I began humming the tune of a song, my mind replaying the events of tonight and how everything went sideways towards the end. A strangled cough followed my a groan brought me out of my daydreaming as I snapped my head towards my father.

“What happened” he groggily asked.

“You were jumped my a few men and was stabbed by one of them” I filled him in, sitting forward in my seat. “Do you remember who those guys were?”

“I was too busy trying not to get stabbed to get a good look at any of their faces but I’m sure Ivan can identify them”

I shifted my body to face him as I began. “What did they want with them two of you anyway?”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“I’m assuming they followed me to keep me from revealing the identity of the person sending the letters to Ivan and once they saw that I was with him they decided to get rid of the both of us, thankfully they failed” he explained, sliding up into a seated position with a bit of a struggle.

“Mind sharing this mystery person’s name with me” I inquired slightly hopeful to get some answers even if they weren’t from Ivan himself.

“You saw what happened tonight, do you really think I’d put you in harms way like that”

“I’m a grown adult, I can handle it”

“Well I won’t be able to handle loosing you for real this time so it’s gonna be a no for now” he told me, his expression pained at the sheer thought of loosing me forever. I huffed in annoyance, crossing my arms to show my disappointment, a laugh bubbling from his chest at my child-like behavior.

A knock sounded from the door, followed by Ivan peaking his head in asking for permission to enter the room.

“No” I said at the same time as my father invited him in. I whipped my head to my father, glaring at him as he sheepishly shrugged his shoulders. Ivan ignored my answer and came in, shutting the door behind him as he turned his attention to me. I observed as he grazed his eyes up and down my body to assure himself that I was fine, I let out a humorless chuckle at his actions.

“If you truly cared about my well being, you wouldn’t have left me during the one time I needed you the most” I angrily spat watching as my words visibly pierced him, his expression portraying the hurt he felt. His expression showed how sorry he was but right now I wasn’t in exactly in a forgiving mood, so I turned away from him.

“I was at the precinct giving a statement on what happened and giving them the photos I took of the guys that attacked us since they were gone before any police arrived at the scene” he explained trying to get me to understand the reason behind his absence.

“Are they content with the information you gave them or will I have to give a statement as well” my father’s voice breaking the apparent tension between us.

“They want you to give one as well since you were also present during the attack but they agreed to wait until tomorrow to stop by and get it to give you some time to rest”

They continued to talk about the incident very vaguely and I assumed it had something to do with the fact that I was there. Getting fed up with their secrecy, I got out of my seat and walked out of the room ignoring their voices calling my name.

My eyes began to fill up with tears once more as I took a stroll through the halls of the hospital, my steps faltering as I heard muffled voices around the corner. I slowly inched forward to get a quick peak around the corner, my heart stopping at what I saw. My heart stopped as I took in the sight, pulling my head back and gripping the wall for support. I used my mouth to muffle the sobs coming out of my mouth as I stumbled to get back to my father and Ivan to tell them who I saw.

Bursting through the doors, I immediately let the sobs break out as I mustered enough courage to speak the next words “It’s my mother isn’t it, the one who’s been sending the notes and the one who sent the men after you”

I watched threw teary eyes as they both nodded simultaneously, staggering back as if the confirmation blew a hole threw my chest. I slid down the wall and began sobbing uncontrollably into my knees as the sheer impact of what she had down weighed me down.

“If it’s any comfort, she’s going to pay for what she did by spending the rest of her life in jail” my father comforted.

“Let her burn in hell for all I care” I angrily snapped, using the back of my arm to wipe the tears from my face.

The room filled with a tense silence as the three of us silently contemplated the new revelation. Every few moments or so, I could feel Ivan’s gaze at me but whenever I tried making eye contact with him, he’d avert his gaze. It went on like this for a while longer, him sneaking glances at me while I tried to catch him in the act until a thought peaked my interest.

“I’m not sure how important this is but I saw her in the hallway talking to a man not too long ago”

“I highly doubt she’s bold enough to try something else in a hospital but I should alert the police” Ivan spoke, as he pulled out his phone to make the call. Once he was connected with someone, he stepped out into the hall to continue the call in private.

I let out a long sigh, the events of the day slowly taking its toll on my mind as I leaned my head against the wall to stay awake. The mere thought of my mother, the woman who raised me after my father walked out on us and the woman who made sure I didn’t succumb to the darkness, spending who knows how long in jail made me want to hurl into the nearest bucket. I ran through every memory I could remember of my childhood to figure out where exactly the needle snapped and she lost her marbles but I came up blank.

“Don’t waste your energy trying to figure out when she became like this because I’ve known her since we were in college and I still can’t find an answer.” My father paused to shift his body to face me before continuing. “Part of me thinks that this was who she was all along and it only took so long for me to see her for who she really was but the other part of me, the one still in love with her has hope that their is another reason that we don’t know yet”

I replayed what he had said in my head for the next few minutes trying to convince myself to stay hopeful but that was cut short when the door was opened once more. I paid no attention to who it was thinking it was Ivan, until the person stood in my line of sight only to reveal that it was her, my mother.

“What the hell are you doing in here” I spat heatedly, rushing to stand in between her and my father.

“Oh mija, is that anyway to speak to your mother” she questioned in a motherly voice, trying to hide her true intentions from us. I observed her tensely, trying to piece together some information just by her stance and her facial expressions but I came up empty.

“If you won’t tell me what you’re doing here then at least tell me why you sent men to attack Ivan and Alejandro” I countered still seeking some sort of clue as to what her stake in all of this was.

“Well to be completely honest, I never planned for it to get this far but your father and playtoy are too damn stubborn to listen to reason.” She began, taking a seat in the chair closest to her as she examined her nail polish. “I sent numerous warnings to both your father and Ivan to do as I say unless they wanted to pay the consequences but just like you, they’re stubborn to a fault”

“What did you warn them about” I urged inching closer to her.

“I told Ivan countless times to stay away from you and my family but that man doesn’t know when to let go. Your eagerness for me to tell you this must only mean that he kept it from you so I guess he’s destroying his relationship without my assistance. After all, what is a relationship without trust and communication?” she mocked, the end of her speech geared towards Alejandro.