CHAPTER TWELVE #2
“Fourth floor. Go through those doors and down all the way, hook a left and those elevators will take you to the waiting room. Flag a nurse down and she’ll be able to help answer your questions.
” The old woman hands over two badges that say ‘family’, and tells us to place them where the staff can see them.
“Thank you,” Olivia says, taking the badges and snagging my arm to get me moving. “You’d think the hospital would be a little more secure than taking the word of people and handing over badges without fully checking the people out,” she mumbles.
“This is all my fault,” I say once we’ve reached the elevators and are ascending to the fourth floor. Olivia has fastened the badge to my white shirt and is typing on her phone. My hands are raking through my short hair as panic sets in.
“This isn’t your fault, you didn’t tell Linley to do this so you couldn’t have known what was going to happen.” She pauses for a second from texting and looks up at me. “Right?” Olivia gives me an eye that says I better tell her if she needs to be the one representing me.
“Of course I didn’t tell her to do this. I haven’t even seen her in weeks,” I demand, feeling heated that she’d suggest that.
The doors open and we walk into a stark white area with nurses crowded around a desk writing or on the phone.
“Excuse me, we were told to ask about Everly Bryant up here.” Olivia takes over again.
The nurse checks our badges before typing something on the computer.
“Ms. Bryant is still in surgery, but I’ll notify them that family has arrived.”
“Thank you.”
“Follow me and I’ll lead you to the family waiting room, so they’ll know where to give updates.”
We walk down another long hallway and into a room with plastic chairs that line the wall. A few sofas are placed in the center facing in different directions lined up with the televisions on the wall.
“I’ve got to make a few phone calls but—” Olivia says after I find a seat, but the door opens and a man comes in wearing scrubs and a colored hair cap.
“Mr. Bryant, I’m Julian, one of the nurses helping with your wife.
” He shakes my hand, and I don’t correct him.
“Sir, your wife suffered a great amount of trauma to her left upper and lower arm along with her wrist, hand and fingers. Dr. Brewer has had to go in and put a metal plate in on her forearm along with some screws to stabilize the bone—”
“What about her head?”
“She’s stable and has been cleared by the neurologist for surgery but we’ll know more about her head injury once she’s in recovery and awake.
” Oh God, that bitch hurt her so bad! “Her arm is broken in several places along with some fractures, but Dr. Brewer is working to set those bones. She’ll be in a bit of discomfort for a while but that is to be expected given the trauma she’s been through. ”
“But she’s going to make it?”
For the first time since I was eleven years old, I feel out of control and that the world is trying to take everything from me again.
In the short amount of time that Everly has come into my life, I feel like I have something to lose again.
My heart drops to my stomach at the realization, and I can’t help but return to that small boy who cried for days as he was carted away and taken to a strange place that was unfamiliar.
“We have every indication that she’ll pull through, yes.
” He nods and my heart finally starts to beat steady again.
“We also have a plastic surgeon working on her to stitch up the areas that were damaged when she sustained blows to the face from the object that broke the skin. He is working to make sure that minimal scarring is present once the healing is done.”
“Thank you,” I manage to squeeze out; my voice sounds so far away.
“Also, Everly’s father, Tommy, has been notified and should be here shortly. He is listed as the next of kin, and not a husband, in her charts. You’ll need to get with Mrs. Bryant about changing that once she is awake so that you are contacted first,” Julian informs me.
He leaves shortly after and tells us that he’ll be in later with another update, if the doctor thinks it might take longer than what was predicted. Knowing it might be a while, Olivia and I take a seat on the sofa, and process everything that has happened in the last hour or so.
My phone buzzes and I see Alex calling from the office. Great, what else could happen to me today.
“Mr. Thorne, I’ve had four calls from the police station and seven calls from Ms. Blaire Hutchins, all calling in reference to Linley Lewis.
I’ve told them all that you’d been called out of the office on an emergency, but I’m not sure how you’d like me to proceed.
The news outlets are starting to inquire now that a story has hit the gossip line. ”
Shit, this is such a mess. Linley is a client we represent and have for over the last year, but how can I when she’s the one who put my angel in the hospital?
“I have let the police station know that we no longer represent Linley Lewis and have given a few colleagues messages if they’d like to represent her,” Olivia tells Alex after she stole my phone from my hands.
“Thanks Alex and as far as Ms. Hutchins is concerned, send her to Levi and he’ll take her messages. ”
Olivia hangs up, handing me my phone back and then starts typing away on her phone once again.
“We no longer represent Linley?” I asked.
“Yes, as of,” Olivia turns her wrist over and checks her watch.
“Fifty-two minutes ago.” She must see the bewilderment on my face as she continues.
“As soon as my source told me that Everly was the victim, I started the process of finding her other representation. I had Kimberly draw up a formal termination document, signed it, emailed it and had her send a copy to Linley’s house through the post office and then a copy over to HR. ”
“Huh,” When in the hell did she have time to do all this when I’m just now getting up to speed on everything that’s happened?
“Lincoln, I did what you would’ve done for me if I was in this situation.
I’ve seen the way you are since meeting Everly and there wasn’t a moment of hesitation when I found out she’d been the one hurt.
It did cross my mind to send your father her contact information but I wasn’t sure if that would make it even messier. ”
“You’re right, how would it have looked if my father was representing a woman who put his future daughter-in-law in the hospital.
” Something warms my heart a little talking about making Everly a permanent fixture in my family, but I shake those thoughts wanting to focus on right this moment.
“This is an all-around conflict of interest nightmare.”
We sit there forever, waiting for someone to come in and give an update, as my phone blows up with news alerts from the media.
JEALOUS LOVER?
~LA Media~
IT SEEMS THAT SUPERMODEL LINLEY LEWIS HAS FOUND HERSELF IN A BIT OF A PICKLE. OUR SOURCES SAY THAT SHE WAS ARRESTED THIS MORNING AFTER TRYING TO KILL A FORMER LOVER’S NEW GIRLFRIEND…
MODELING BEHAVIOR?
~Cali Tribune~
Supermodel Linley Lewis has been arrested and is being held in the LA County Jail.
Witnesses say they watched as she was being handcuffed and escorted out of a spa in the downtown area, with blood splattered all over her.
Our sources say that it involves High-Profile Attorney Lincoln Thorne and his new girlfriend.
The happy couple has been seen all over LA recently…
The articles keep coming, as interest in Linley Lewis continues to trend on the media outlets. It makes me sick and I want nothing more than to have our PR team set the record straight, but I want to wait and focus on Everly and making sure she’s going to be okay.
Blaire has been blowing up my phone for the last hour, leaving long messages but I ignore them all. Right now, I can’t deal with anything other than Everly. She is my main focus and that is all I want to think about.
The door opens and a large man fills the doorway. He doesn’t have any hospital attire on and from the look on his face that is trained on me, he must be Everly’s dad, Tommy Bryant.
From what Everly has told me about her dad, it fits him to a ‘T’.
He’s about my height but broader than a barn.
He definitely fits the military man style with his short, almost buzz cut hair and not a wrinkle on his clothes.
For a man of his age, he still looks like he works out hard every day; there’s not an inch of fat on him.
Definitely not someone I’d want to go around with in the ring.
From what I remember Everly saying, Tommy Bryant does a lot of work for the government on a consultant level. She doesn’t even know all the things he does but it involves being a ghost on some jobs. He’ll go without contact for months at times.
“Imagine my surprise when I arrive at the hospital and find out from the nursing station that my daughter is out of surgery and being placed in recovery.” A knot loosens in my stomach when I hear that Everly is out of surgery. Thank God!
I go to stand to introduce myself, and Olivia follows suit putting her phone away.
“Also imagine said nurse saying that my daughter’s husband and attorney are waiting down the hall, if I’d like to alert them of her progress.”
“Mr. Bryant, I’m Lincoln Thorne, Everly’s boyfriend and this is Olivia Blackwater, my business partner and friend.”
“I know who you are; I’ve read all the articles on the way here. But the question is what are you doing here telling everyone that you’re married to my daughter?” He demands and it takes everything for me to stay polite and not pummel this man after the day I’ve had.
“I knew that they’d only give me updates on her if—” I start but I’m cut off.