He Made An Exception For Her But Never For Me Chapter 02
The next morning, at Manhattan General Hospital.
“Mrs. Bosworth, your brother has severe internal hemorrhaging that has progressed into acute respiratory failure.”
The attending physician held the critical-condition notice in his hand, his tone grave.
“Every ECMO machine at our hospital is currently in use.”
“In all of New York City, the only one available right now is at Reinhardt Medical Center.”
Reinhardt Medical Center. It was owned by Adrian Bosworth.
My brother, Ethan Callahan, had been seriously injured because he was trying to save me.
He was the only family I had left in this world.
I looked through the glass doors of the ICU.
My seven-year-old niece, Lily, was huddled in the corner of the hallway, trembling all over, her sobs coming in choked, uneven waves. Her tiny shoulders jerked with every breath. Her small hand gripped the door handle so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.
I pulled out the American Express Centurion, the Amex Black Card that symbolized my status as Mrs. Bosworth, and dialed the private line of the director of Reinhardt Medical Center.
“Prepare the ECMO and a VIP suite. The ambulance will arrive in ten minutes.”
But ten minutes later, the ambulance was blocked in the underground parking garage of the hospital.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Bosworth.”
The director’s voice on the phone was strained with cold sweat.
“The Penthouse VIP ICU Suite on the top floor was just commandeered by Mr. Bosworth.”
I pushed open the glass doors.
I saw Adrian.
He was holding a warm, damp cloth, wiping the girl’s fingers one by one as she lay in the hospital bed.
And in the very bed that should have been saving my brother’s life, Chloe Lawson lay quietly asleep.
Beside her sat the most advanced vital-signs monitor in the country.
The numbers on the screen were as steady as those of any healthy person. That machine, at her bedside, was nothing but a grotesque waste.
“Adrian Bosworth.”
I pushed open the inner door.
“Give up the suite. I’m begging you.”
Adrian’s hand paused mid-motion.
He turned around, his brow drawing tight.
“How did you get in here?”
His voice dropped low, laced with warning.
“Get out. Chloe just took her sedative. She’s finally asleep.”
“I said give up the suite!”
My eyes were red, and I was staring hard at that blood-dripping red [∞] above his head.
“My brother is critically injured and unconscious!”
“His lungs are failing. If he doesn’t get on that ECMO in ten minutes, he will die!”
Adrian looked at me. There was only cool assessment in his gaze.
“You invented a brother on the brink of death, just to force Chloe out of this suite?”
He let out a cold laugh.
“Last night, you said on the phone that you had been in a car accident.”
“But when I saw you, you were standing at the billing window without a scratch. Today, you tell me someone else is dying.”
“Adrian Bosworth, I was standing in front of you last night with blood running down my face. Were you blind?”
He looked at my bandaged forehead.
“If your car accident had really been that severe, you’d be lying in a bed right now.”
“Not standing here shouting at me with your lungs full of air.”
“Adrian…”
Chloe had been startled awake by my voice.
Her face had gone deathly pale, and she cringed deeper into the covers, tears rolling down in fat, heavy drops.
“Is Sophia… angry with me? I’m so sorry, I won’t stay here anymore.”
“I’ll give the bed to Sophia’s brother. I’ll leave right now.”
She was crying.
And at the same time, she was reaching to peel off the electrode patches on the back of her hand.
“Chloe, don’t move.”
Adrian’s expression changed instantly.
He pressed her hand down. And when he turned to look at me again…
“Where is security? Get Mrs. Bosworth out of here.”
“Adrian Bosworth! You can’t do this!”
“That is my only brother! His daughter is only seven years old!”
I lunged forward, trying to grab his sleeve.
He pushed me back with his other hand.
Adrian saw the fresh blood seeping down my face, and his fingers curled instinctively.
But he did not move.
Because at that moment, Chloe had wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Adrian, I’m so scared…”
Adrian pulled his gaze away and turned around.
He held Chloe against him, his back to me, and delivered his final verdict.
“Take her out. Don’t let her use her tantrums to hold Chloe’s illness hostage.”
Several security guards stepped forward and dragged me out of the room.
The moment I was pulled into the elevator, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
It was the attending physician from Manhattan General.
I answered and pressed speaker.
The doctor’s voice was tired and heavy with regret.
“Mrs. Bosworth, I’m so sorry.”
“Your brother couldn’t hold on. Just now, his heart stopped.”
“The family has already gone in to say goodbye. Please accept our deepest condolences. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.”
I leaned against the metal wall of the elevator car and, quite suddenly, let out a soft laugh.
Then the tears came.
The brother who had wrenched the steering wheel to save me, who had taken the fatal impact for me with his own body, was gone.
Because a girl had lost her cat and needed a quiet place to sleep.
From that moment forward, I understood something with absolute clarity. Adrian Bosworth as a man…
Along with the love, obedience, and endless waiting I had given him for three years, had all become one enormous, cruel joke.
I would never want any of it again.