“I’m not sure I understand,” I replied, leaning forward on my seat, chasing away these unwanted thoughts and remorse.
“Hardings Holdings gave you a significant investment,” he repeated before pressing his lips into a fine line, showing his disapproval. I just wasn’t sure what he disapproved of. Was it my lack of attention or the involvement of an American? Knowing how stuck up this man was, it was probably both.
“He did. He knows a good project—” I stopped and turned toward the glass wall when I saw Marie run back to her desk, reaching for the phone.
She was a fifty-seven-year-old woman I’d never seen moving faster than a brisk walk during a fire drill.
“I—”
“Shhh!” I raised a finger to stop Brown as I tensed up, feeling dread settle in my stomach as Marie rushed to Ava’s desk to grab her bag. She rummaged through it before getting Ava’s phone out and putting it to her ear.
I stood up and she turned toward me, her face ghostly white, and I moved without even thinking.
“What’s happening?” I barked, somehow disguising my apprehension.
She looked at me with wide eyes, like a deer caught in headlights. “Yes, the emergency services are on the way. The Royal London, I assume—”
“Where is Ava?” I bellowed, not even bothering to hide my agitation anymore.
She let the phone drop from her hand and pointed a shaky finger toward the narrow corridor, just as the elevator opened to three of my staff and the building’s nurse.
“The toilet, Sir, I don’t think—”
I didn’t give a fuck what she or anyone else thought as I made my way to the bathroom, all but pushing people out of my way to get to her.
When I saw her lying on the floor unconscious with some blood on the white tiles, I felt what real fear was like for the first time in my life. A fear so deep and unadulterated that it made the moment last both a second and an hour at the same time. It was a revelation, an instant of clarity that I wasn’t sure I could ever describe or even fully understand, despite living through it.
I was losing her. I was losing her and our child and that was not acceptable. I didn’t even realize I had moved until I was kneeling on the floor, holding her unconscious body half-propped up against me.
“Ava, sweetheart, please, don’t do this,” I begged, kissing her forehead, indifferent to the eyes that were on me.
I rested my hand on the side of her throat and was pleased to feel a pulse.
“Sir—”
“What?” I barked, glaring up at the HR director while holding Ava tighter against me.
“The paramedics are here.” She added just as they rushed in with a stretcher.
“She’s pregnant,” I said as they gently took her from my grip to put her on the stretcher.
I heard a gasp from the onlookers as the paramedic nodded.
“Take her to Portland Hospital.”
“Sir, that is a private—”
“Cost is not an issue! She’s carrying my child!” I pointed at the door. “Take her there now, or I swear to God…”
One of the paramedics placed an oxygen mask on her face and started to wheel her out.
“I’ll join you there soon. Tell her she is with Hugo St-John,” I shouted after them as they entered the elevator. I turned toward the little group of women whispering among themselves. “What are you still doing here? You better have disappeared from this floor before I walk back into my office, or you’ll get your P45’s.”
They all ran and took the door to the stairs, except for Marie who had wrapped her arms around herself, blinking fast through her tears. I opened my mouth to give her an encouraging word of some sort but closed it again. I had nothing.
Walking back into my office to retrieve my things, I was stopped by Brown and his two goons.
“We have to push the meeting to another time,” I offered as I passed them to get in the room.