Chapter 22
Eric
I’m pacing back and forth. I feel like I’ve been here for days. I’m surprised I haven’t worn a permanent hole in the floor. I hear a commotion and Joy, Earl, and Buck come running into the emergency room waiting area.
“Oh, God! How is she?” Joy says as she throws her arms around me. I stop moving and slowly return her hug, realizing she needs comforting just like I do. Her arms tighten around me, making me even more aware that the woman I want in my arms isn’t there.
“She’s in surgery. They had to set her femur with some screws and a plate. It nicked a vein when it broke. She lost a lot of blood, but they think she’ll be alright,” I say quietly, repeating what the doctor just told me five minutes ago.
“Thank God!” Joy cries out as Earl peels her off me and she clings to him.
“She’s a stubborn one. She’ll be just fine,” Buck assures me as he claps me on the back, but I can see the worried look on his face. He’s worried about her.
I swallow and nod as I sit and put my head in my hands. Being here, in the hospital, the helicopter ride, all of it is too much. It’s like Tori all over again. In the moment, I didn’t process anything. I was too fixated on getting Ariana out from under the tractor. And then I was focused on making sure we got here as soon as possible. I remember with Tori a doctor had mentioned this concept of the Golden Hour, that if emergency patients can get to them within an hour of their injury, then they tend to do better or get better results. Tori had not been able to get there that quickly. Now that the initial shock has worn off, all I can do is remember the worst day of my life. The feelings of hopelessness. The pain of knowing that was the last time I would be able to talk to the love of my life. The universe can’t possibly be this cruel. It can’t give me a second chance at love with Ariana and then just rip it away, can it?
I feel the seat next to me sink as someone sits. It’s Kingsley. He must have just arrived.
“She’s going to be fine,” he states as he looks at me. “It’s not like Tori.” He looks so sad. This has to be hard for him. He wasn’t there when Tori fell. It was just Tori and I hiking. And hell, he was just a kid, but I remember his face when I got back home. I remember how sad he was, how devasted he was.
She had said so many things in those last few minutes I saw her alive. She made me make so many promises. Watching over him was just one of those promises.
I breathe in deeply and the antiseptic hospital smell fills my nostrils. I don’t know if I can be here. I couldn’t protect her today. I couldn’t stop the tractor. I saw it tipping and then…it was horrible to watch.
My thoughts are interrupted by a bellowing voice coming from the reception desk.
“I want to see my daughter now!” the man yells, and before he turns, I know two things for sure, that is Ariana’s father, and he is James Titan.
What. The. Fuck?
It can’t be. She’s Ariana Harlow. I mean, I know James Titan has a daughter. I’ve heard that somewhere, maybe from my friend Adam Wellington? But Ariana? No. There must be some other woman here.
“Sir. You’ll have to wait with everyone else,” the woman says, completely unphased. She motions to us.
“Do you know who I am?” James hisses, his face growing redder by the second.
The woman gives him a pointed look as if to say, “I don’t care if you are the ruler of the free world. Go sit down.”
“I’m on this hospital’s board. You will go find my daughter now if you like having a job,” he roars.
The woman gives him a deadpan look and turns, yelling, “Pauline, I have a…” She pauses and turns back to him, raising a single, well-sculpted eyebrow. And from the smirk on her face, I can tell she’s enjoying this moment.
“James Titan,” he says, his jaw clenching so much that I’m almost surprised he hasn’t crushed all of his teeth.
“James Titan here!” she yells back at a woman I can’t see because a door is blocking my view.
An older woman walks out and looks at James. “Sir, I need you to take a seat. I will personally go check on your daughter, but having you”—she looks behind him at what appear to be his bodyguards—“and your entourage back there are not going to help things. Our staff need to be undisturbed, so they can concentrate on providing her the very best care.”
She disappears before he can answer.
And then he’s walking toward me. His company has offered to buy my property, but I’ve never met the man nor spoken to him. I’ve been dealing with a real estate attorney on his staff who sends me endless letters and emails. However, the second he sees me, it’s very clear that he knows who I am.
I stand and he walks up to me. I’m not normally thankful for my height, but today I am. James Titan is not a small man, but I still tower over him by at least two inches.
He’s still a good-looking man for his age. And his suit tells me he likes to look powerful.
“What happened?” he asks without even introducing himself.
I sense Buck and Earl stand next to me. They are as old if not older than James, but I know both of them would kick his rich ass if he so much as touched a hair on my head. Hell, even Joy is standing alongside Kingsley. We must look a sight. All of us are covered in mud and dirt. I can only imagine what the other patrons of the emergency room think at this moment. We probably look like some sort of country folk standoff against the mob.
I take a deep breath, remembering that my family has billions also. That a billion dollars sits in my own trust fund. James Titan has nothing on me.
I hold out my hand to him. He stares at it and then back at me, making no attempt to shake it. “Are you going to tell me, or do I need to speak with the police?” he asks, his jaw flexing again. Jesus, this man is surly as fuck. I get he’s worried, but he could at least have manners.
“I’m Eric Windsor, sir. I take it Ariana is your daughter?” I ask the obvious question. As a million questions dance through my head, like, why did she lie to me about who she was?
“Yes. I hear she’s been slumming it at your little farm that I plan to purchase,” he says as he gives me a pointed look.
Now it’s my jaw that clenches. I decide to ignore his comment, if for nothing else, for Ariana’s sake. “Ariana is my social media marketing manager,” I state. “She decided to take our tractor out and misjudged a ditch. She flipped it and pinned her leg beneath it. The doctor just came out a bit ago and said she needed surgery. She has a broken femur and they have to repair an artery. She’s in surgery and they are supposed to send someone to get us soon so we can wait for her outside the surgical ward.”
His face starts to turn red again. “Why the hell was Ariana driving farm equipment? She can barely drive a car,” he says, his voice rising with each word.
“Sir, Ariana can drive a car, a manual car, and a tractor. She’s very competent. If she hadn’t been in a part of the farm where she’s never driven before, I’m confident she wouldn’t have flipped the tractor. It was an accident. It could have happened to any of us. It’s muddy out there.” I motion to my clothes. “We’ve had some rain recently.”
“Well, you can leave. She won’t be returning to your little country property where you play farmer. She has a position at my company,” he states. “Had I known what she was up to sooner, we would have come to collect her weeks ago.” I’m about to ask who “we” is, but then a woman who looks like she’s ready to attend a luncheon at a country club comes bustling into the ER as if she owns the place. Clearly, she’s with James Titan.
“Oh, good, you beat me here. How is she?” the woman asks. Her smile is tight and it’s almost as if it pains her to be here.
“Kimberly, she’s in surgery,” he says and for the first time I sense the smallest amount of concern in his voice.
“Oh dear. I do hope she’s alright. I just wish I had learned of this earlier so we could have avoided such a terrible accident,” she says as she glances at me with disgust. I already hate her, and she hasn’t even acknowledged me yet.
But before that can happen, a woman in scrubs walks out. “Mr. Titan?” she asks.
“Yes,” he replies as she steps toward her.
“I’m here to escort you to the surgery ward. Ariana’s surgery should be wrapping up soon. The doctor can debrief you shortly,” she says.
We all step forward, but then she turns to us. “I’m sorry, are you family too?”
“No,” I reply. “I’m her boss. This is a work-related incident.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, but only family can be back in the surgery ward. I can have Miss Titan contact you once she’s able,” she says as she turns and walks briskly through a set of double doors with Titan and Kimberly in tow.
James turns at the door and looks at me. “I didn’t care about your little farm one way or another. It was merely going to be an investment property. But now, I’ll make sure it’s mine by the end of the month,” he sneers and then walks through the door. I watch him through the small glass window as he hurries down a corridor. Part of me wants to run after him and beat the crap out of him, but I’m suddenly wondering if I should leave. Ariana doesn’t need me. I’m a blubbering mess. I’m having flashbacks and my farm is clearly about to be taken over by her father if he has his way. She needs someone who can be there for her, and who isn’t afraid to commit to her. I’m not sure that’s me. I’m not like James Titan. I’d do anything to protect her, but James…well, he’s the type of man that could literally move a mountain to protect her. I can’t imagine she wants anything less than that in a man. The sudden realization I can’t be the man she needs washes over me. She’s better off without me.
“Let’s go,” I say to my friends.
“What?” Joy asks.
“No. We can wait here,” Buck states.
Earl claps me on the back. “I’m sure she’ll call once she wakes up from surgery.”
Kingsley steps in front of me. “Don’t let that asshat cloud your judgment. He’s a jerk.”
“No, it’s better this way. I’m sure she’ll reach out when she can. Her father has things under control,” I state as I start toward the door.
“Why the heck did she say her name was Ariana Harlow?” Joy ponders.
“I don’t know, Joy. I don’t know,” I manage as we walk to her minivan and all pile inside. It pains me to leave her like this. I don’t want to leave her at all. My protective instincts tell me to run up the stairs and find her, to make them let me see her, but that nagging voice in the back of my head keeps telling me not to, to let this be the end of things. At least then I don’t have to break her heart later, when I get scared and can’t commit. Maybe this is for the best.