Mr. CEO(56)

I run as fast as my legs can carry me to the sidewalk, shoving shouting reporters out of the way. I look up, frantically breathing and our eyes meet. Logan gets out and walks straight toward me, pulling me into the limo with him and slamming the door shut. Andrew’s already pulling away with screeching tires by the time I’m able to catch my breath and sit up.

“Why did you do that?” I shake my head, practically screaming at him with tears in my eyes. My heart’s still pounding. This is bad, it’s so f*cking bad.

“No one’s going to talk to you like that.” His voice is weak.

“This isn’t good,” I say and take in a slow breath, closing my eyes, trying to calm down.

When Logan doesn’t respond, I open my eyes and lean forward, peering at him with concern. It’s the first time that I really take a good look at him. His knuckles are bruised and cut, and there’s dried blood from his hands up to his arm. It’s all over his shirt. I finally reach his face, and my heart stops beating. His eyes seem distant, something… something’s wrong. “Logan?”

It takes him a moment to register that I'm talking to him. Logan tries to say something, but his words are unintelligible to my ears and his body sways.

“Logan?” I ask again, panicked now and gripping his shoulders and then head, trying to get him to look at me.

His eyes rolling into the back of his head, Logan collapses against the seat. Oh my God. No! “Logan!” I scream, shaking him and refusing to believe this is real. He’s unresponsive. I press my hand against his throat.

“What’s going on?” Andrew asks with concern.

I scream, “He needs a hospital! Now!”





Chapter 32





Logan





The constant beep, beep, beep from the machine is giving me a f*cking headache. I stare at it. The blue and red lines are moving rhythmically across the screen. My back is stiff from being in this f*cking hospital bed. The sheets they have are thin and scratchy. My shirt’s ripped down the front. They couldn’t f*cking unbutton it fast enough.

I’m pissed. I don’t want to be here.

I’m not ready.

“Mr. Parker?” Doctor Wallace says. I take a deep breath and turn to face him on my right. I school my expression so I don’t take the anger out on him. It’s not his fault.

It’s no one’s fault. It just is what it is.

“We need to move this to radiation. It’s now stage four non-Hodgkin lymphoma.”

I smile weakly and let my head fall to the side.

“The intravenous didn’t work then, I take it?” I’ve been getting intravenous chemotherapy with rituximab every other month for almost two years. At first it was just the pills. Then oral chemo and steroids to reduce the swelling in my spleen and prepare my body for chemotherapy.

I was hoping intravenous every other month would be enough. After all, money can buy the best doctors and good health. Can’t it? Apparently not.

“I’m sorry Logan, it’s time that we move to the next step. The scan shows that it’s moving from the bone, which can be painful.”

I huff a humorless laugh. Painful doesn’t begin to describe what I felt on that stage. It was like someone stabbing me in my calf, straight to the bone over and over again.

The anger was just barely enough to keep me from acting on the pain. Chadwick Patterson is going to go down for what he did to my Rose. He had the f*cking audacity to show up to the conference. That motherf*cker. Smashing in his face isn’t anywhere close to justice.

I look down at my hand for the first time since I woke up. An IV is sticking out from the back of it, with a thick piece of tape holding it in place.

As I flex my hand it moves slightly, and it’s irritating as f*ck. There are small cuts on my knuckles that are raw and bruised. Good. I hope his face looks even worse.

“The radiation is only for twenty-one days and it’s user-friendly, so to speak.” I look back up to the good doctor and feel slightly sympathetic that I’ve been ignoring him.

“You’ll remain relatively pain free, just tired constantly, and you shouldn’t lose your hair,” he continues.

“Do I have a choice?” I ask. I don’t want radiation. My grandfather died the day they started radiation. He was fine up until then. The slight pain in his chest was the only indication that anything was wrong. I see it as a sign. I don’t want it.

“If you want to kill it and live,” he says and I look him in the eyes while he gives me a grave expression, “then no, you don’t.”

I nod my head solemnly, giving in to the inevitable.

A small knock at the door takes the doctor’s attention.

He opens it and reveals Charlotte, my Rose. So fragile and beautiful. Yet something I shouldn’t hold.

Guilt presses against my chest as I stare into her glassy eyes. Her cheeks are red and tearstained.

Doctor Wallace turns to face me, standing in the doorway to prevent her from coming in farther. “Mr. Park-”

“Yes, let her in.” I won’t deny her.

She lets out a small sob as she walks into the room.

“Logan,” she says and her voice cracks.

“I’m sorry, Rose.” She puts a small hand over mine. “I should have told you.”