Of course.
I hung up. “She’s ignoring me.” When Brey glared at me, I figured I would do a check. “Alice, ask Gloria why Vick’s not here.”
Alice responded a moment later. “Gloria is coming to your office now.”
“Why …” I started to grumble but then Gloria strode in. “Gloria, I didn’t ask—”
“Victory’s in the hospital.” She cut me off with four words that shot fear as cold as absolute zero dry ice into my veins.
I shot up from my desk. “What?” My feet wouldn’t move; my body wouldn’t cooperate. Brey was already heading out the office with her phone to her ear.
Gloria marched up to me and forcefully grabbed my elbow. “Move,” she commanded. “Your driver’s out front.”
“I’m supposed to fly out to …” I blanked, not knowing for once in my life where I was supposed to be going for work.
“None of it matters.” She dragged me to the elevators and jackhammered the down button. “She’ll need you there when she wakes up.”
“Wakes up?” The words jarred me, my autopilot screeched to a halt. “What the hell happened? Is she okay?”
“Her mother didn’t give many details. She’s passed out. They’re monitoring vitals and running tests.”
I left Gloria with instructions to cancel appointments indefinitely and manage the team. Jerome went double the speed limit when I told him. She’d impacted his life just like she had my office, my family, my business, everything.
She touched it and it glittered—that was the brilliance of Victory Blakely. An enigma of a woman so in love with the world, I thought her sheltered to believe in all that goodness. But her approach to life had grown on me. I began to find her naivete refreshing.
Now, her outlook on life was striking, blinding, and shockingly beautiful. Like the amount of pressure that creates a diamond, she’d been put in extreme circumstances. She came out shining so damn vividly, the world took notice.
The world wanted every ounce of the light she gave, but I’d seen that light drained. I saw the way she persistently gave it out, even when she was sapped of energy, emptied of all power.
I wondered when she’d get a break, if she’d ever get one.
I wondered if the fact that she might not was my fault.
I jumped from the vehicle before Jerome could bring it to a full stop and ran into the hospital. After finding her room, I shoved open the door.
Her parents sat on one side of the bed. Harvey perched on the couch in the corner. Brey and Jax arrived a few minutes later, holding hands. We watched my Pix sleep, a bruise and a couple stitches on her forehead. An IV was in her left arm and a heart monitor beeped on her right.
The room was quiet except for the sound of the machines operating. Her hair was matted around her face and dark shadows encircled her eyes. In the white hospital gown, she looked small.
Helpless.
Void of life.
I cleared my throat, trying to clear away the fear too. “What happened?”
Her mother’s eyes didn’t leave her daughter’s face. She whispered, “Something to do with her heart. They think it caused her to falter on the sidewalk and a vehicle hit her. I …” She choked on her words. “We weren’t safe enough.”
Her husband hushed her and told her nobody was at fault.
She whispered something about medication and diet.
Brey whispered softly to Jax and then went to stand by Vick’s mother. She said a few things and listened. Brey relayed the information, “The car grazed her.” Then she shook her head a bit as her eyes started to glisten. “Well, she looked dazed according to the person who called 911. The driver must have not been paying attention. The doctors are running tests.”
“She woke up for a few minutes. She remembers a little,” Vick’s mother whispered. “They sedated her though. Her heartbeat is irregular.”
The woman broke down again.
Jax’s phone rang and he took the call, face grim. When he handed it to me, I shook my head. “I’m not taking work calls.”