The Billionaire and His PA novel Chapter 84

The ride to the hospital was tense and silent. Felix divided his attention between the road and checking on Cassie who was wringing her hand anxiously while absentmindedly staring out of the window. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease as he watched her. At the backseat, Eliza sat silently – which was more than odd for her – with her hands on her knees in a fruitless effort to prevent blood from getting on the car’s fancy interior. It took them less than ten minutes to get to the hospital but it felt like an eternity. When they finally arrived, they first thing that they noticed was that the hospital was so small, it was basically a clinic. It was an early Saturday morning in December and multiple cars were already present in the parking lot belonging to people who had hurt themselves doing something stupid while drunk the previous Friday night, people that had gotten into accidents on the slippery roads, people who had fallen through thin ice while skating and every other category of hospital patients.

“Just let us out here and come find us.” Eliza grunted after Felix had gone through the entire parking lot twice and still hadn’t found a place to park.

Cassie slipped out of the car and Eliza followed after her with far less finesse, accidentally kneeing Felix in the face as she struggled to get out of the car. “If you can’t find any parking space in the hospital, you can try somewhere else, maybe the shopping mall that we passed. And don’t worry, I’ll watch over your girlfriend and try not to tell her any embarrassing stories about you. The key word being try.” She said in an effort to lighten the mood. She nudged Cassie who tugged Felix’s jacket tighter over her body and together the two of them walked toward the entrance of the hospital.

“Isabel picked the worst day to get shot.” Eliza stated as soon as she and Cassie steeped into the clinic’s busy emergency room.

Just like any other hospital, the place smelt of antiseptic and due to the number of people present, the smell of blood and perspiration were also heavy in the air. The hospital was already at full capacity with staff running around, trying to handle the influx of patients and comfort friends and family. They could hear the muffled sounds of machines beeping and the occasional anguished patient crying out in pain.

An orderly walking past them paused her speed walking to take in Eliza’s bloodied body. “Are you okay, darling?”

She waved her off. “Yep. Fun fact; none of this is mine.” She said gesturing to the blood that soiled her.

The duo approached the front desk where a tired looking woman sat behind a computer punching furiously at the keys. She looked up from the computer’s screen and offered a thin smile at them. “Good morning. How can I help you?”

It seemed Felix was not the only Callahan capable of changing tones as Eliza stepped forward, abandoned the cool and sarcastic tone she had been using all night and addressed the woman behind the desk with a curt and professional voice. “We’re looking for Isabel Gomez. She was brought in by an ambulance less than thirty minutes ago because of a gunshot wound to her torso.”

The receptionist looked at them sympathetically. “I’m sorry but I can’t give any information without proper identification.”

“That’s not a problem.” Eliza said as she brought out her wallet from her back pocket, slid out her driver’s license from it and held it up for the receptionist to see so that she wouldn’t have to touch the bloodied object.

The receptionist inspected the license carefully before turning back to her computer.

Unable to take the silence Cassie leaned in closer. “Is she okay?”

The receptionist hesitated for a moment. “Isabel was brought in in critical condition and she’s currently undergoing surgery in the trauma bay. I’m sorry but that’s all the information I can give you.”

Cassie deflated. She knew that gunshots were serious but she had been hoping for better news.

“I’d advise that you contact her family members.”

“She doesn’t have any family.” Cassie mumbled.

“Oh. I see.” The receptionist said. “Well it says here that she was accompanied in the ambulance by her boyfriend, a Daniel Henderson. He’s probably in the waiting room at the moment. That’s down the hall to your left.”

Eliza started to leave but Cassie held her back by the elbow. “My boyfriend is on his way. He’s probably still looking for parking space. His name is Felix Callahan. If you see him, please tell him where we are.” She needed somebody that was just detached enough from her situation that would be able to properly comfort her. Eliza who was basically a stranger to the both of them was too detached from the situation, and Daniel was too attached to the situation and would be just as shaken as she was.

The receptionist nodded in understanding.

The two women followed the receptionist’s instructions, easily finding the waiting room as they did so. They were immediately struck by the sterile and clinical atmosphere. The walls were painted in a blinding shade of white and the fluorescent lights overhead cast a harsh glow on the room giving it the illusion of daytime. The smell of blood and perspiration was less there but the antiseptic smell still lingered, now accompanied by a floral air freshener. A vending machine stood in a corner of the room, slowly accepting a crisp bill inserted by a freckled teenager. The chairs were arranged in neat rows, some along the sides of the walls and others in-between the room backing themselves. Informative medical posters about proper nutritional habits, good dental care and fetal developmental stages were pasted on the walls. The only decorative item in the room was a potted plastic tree. A mother seated next to the plastic tree, talking into her phone with hushed tones kept having to pry the plastic leaves out of her toddler’s grubby fingers. Friends and family members alike sat in the waiting room, all of them in various stages of grief, shock, elation, uncertainty and anxiety.