Page 38 of The CEO

I tried to nod, but it hurt too much. I would very much like something to take away the pain. “That would be wonderful.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, honey. Don’t worry. You’ll be feeling right as rain soon enough.”

I wasn’t so sure about that.

After about ten minutes, a man in his late fifties walked in with a kind smile on his face. His hair was completely gray, but he was good-looking for his age.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Pria Wang.” That was easy.

He asked a series of questions that I answered. “Can you tell me what happened to you tonight?”

Not so easy. “I was mugged, and I fought back. He…” I gulped at what he’d tried to do. I hoped he wasn’t successful. “I think he wanted to rape me. I blacked out when he had me pinned to the ground. Did he…”

“We’ll have to do a rape kit to be one hundred percent sure since you were unconscious. We’re waiting for CT to open up and we’ll get you scanned before we put a cast on your arm. Besides a broken arm, you have multiple contusions to your face and some bruised ribs. It may not seem like it but you’re very lucky.”

Lucky. It sure didn’t feel like it.

“It will probably be another twenty to thirty minutes before someone will come in to take you down. I’ll have the nurse bring you some pain meds before you’re moved. Is there anyone that you’d like us to call for you?” He wrote something in his chart while he continued to smile kindly at me.

“Is my sweatshirt here? I had my phone in it.”

The nurse who I hadn’t noticed was still in the room went over to a bag that sat in the corner of the room and fished out my sweatshirt. I closed my eyes praying my phone was still inside my zip up pocket. She patted around and then smiled when she hit something. “Looks like you were lucky. He didn’t steal your phone.”

I couldn’t imagine all the people who came through their doors after being mugged and even worse. Even though I didn’t think I was lucky, they did, and I’d take their word on it.

She brought my phone to me and patted my hand. “If you need anything all you have to do is hit the red button. I’ll be back in a few minutes with some medicine that will make you feel better.”

“Thanks,” I responded looking down at my phone. Not one missed call or text. I didn’t want to call and have to deal with my dad, but I knew I needed to somehow get in contact with King.

Not knowing when I’d be able to leave, I sent an email to King’s secretary letting her know that he needed to find someone else to take the dogs out in the morning and probably for the rest of the day since I was in the hospital. I hoped I’d be released sometime tomorrow. I hated hospitals. I’d spent too much time in one when my mom had cancer. The only thing I knew as I waited for my CT was thateverythinghurt, and my arm was broken. Even if I got out the next day there would be no way I could walk the dogs unless it was one at a time and probably not even then.

Fuck my life.

CHAPTER TWENTY

kingston

Tappingthe toe of my leather shoe, I waited in the VIP lounge for my flight to be called. When I headed for the airport, I had no idea how long I would have to wait. Now I was regretting not waiting until the next day. I’d blocked Pria’s phone calls after the fifth time she called, and to get my mind off her, I decided to start answering emails. I’d been so distracted throughout the day, I’d barely gotten any work done.

My phone pinged with another email. It was a never-ending cycle of emails that came in day and night. If my secretary was even remotely competent, I would have had her answering some of them, but I didn’t trust her, so I had to answer all of them. Some days it felt like all I did was answer email after email. After this week, I needed to find a new secretary. If I wasn’t pissed at Pria, I would have asked her to find me the perfect secretary. I finished responding to Whitmore, letting him know I would be meeting someone at Sun Heights tomorrow and hit send. Looking at my emails I saw the latest one that had come in was flagged by my secretary. I knew it was important if she flagged it since she’d yet to do so.

She’d forwarded me an email from Pria stating I needed to find someone else to take care of the dogs tonight and tomorrow. What the fuck! I thought I could trust her to stay with them and they’d be safe. I continued reading only to drop my phone when it said she was in the hospital. What had happened?

I emailed Cindy or Sandy or whatever her name was and had her email Pria back to ask what hospital she was at and to text me the name of the hospital as soon as she found out. Her time was short at the company. While she had flagged the email, it would have been prudent for her to call me to make sure I knew about Pria and the dogs. I could have been in California by the time I saw the email and too far away to be of any help. Once I hit send, I popped up from my seat and made my way out front to where the taxis waited. I only hoped there was one available. I didn’t want to have to wait for an Uber. Luck wasn’t on my side. I wasn’t sure how there were no taxis out front at JFK, but it was like God was pissed at me for leaving without talking to Pria.

My phone beeped with a text from Sandy letting me know Pria was at Mount Sinai. For a moment I felt bad that I’d never learned her name and thought I should learn it, but did I really need to if I was going to replace her as soon as I possibly could?

I ordered an Uber and hated that it would take me almost an hour to get to Pria. Had Sarah pulled her down again? The email hadn’t mentioned anything being wrong with any of the dogs. I called the front desk at my building and asked for someone to check on the dogs and to make sure they were okay. I could hear the confusion in George’s tone, but he assured me they’d be checked on.

No matter how hard I tried to work as my driver and I made our way from the airport to the hospital, I couldn’t stop thinking about Pria. Maybe she twisted her ankle while out on a walk. It couldn’t be serious. It didn’t matter how mad I was at Pria for lying to me, I wanted to check on her to make sure she was okay.I ended up staring out at the city as we made our way to the hospital.

Once the hospital came into view, I had my briefcase in hand and was ready to jump out of the car. Luckily, I hadn’t checked my suitcase, otherwise, it would be on its way to California right now instead of sitting beside me.

The moment the car stopped, I was out of the car and on a mission to find Pria. Luckily, I found someone who could help me. She was scowling at her computer screen when I approached.

“Excuse me could you tell me where I can find Pria Wang? I was informed she checked in earlier tonight.”

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