Sarah had already been in surgery for two hours. I sat anxiously in the waiting room for any sign of some news. My sister Gwen had come to join me and brought me a change of clothes—some jeans and a sweatshirt. Everything, thank God, was okay with Ben, who was not told anything of what had gone down tonight. There was no need for him to know. Not now. Not ever. The only thing that weighed on my mind was how I was going to break the news to him if Sarah didn’t pull through. At the thought, I shuddered and felt bile rise to my throat.
I had told everything there was to know to my sister. That Cassandra was Sarah’s boss. And that she’d earlier threatened me at my office. Gwen was totally shocked. The police had found two items of interest in her handbag. The gun was bad enough, but it was the other item that had shaken me. A letter from a very respected law firm taking her on as a client in an effort to win full custody of Ben. Gwen knew the firm well. One of the top ones, they were as cutthroat as they come and known for their scare tactics.
“Do you think Sarah knew about the letter?” Gwen inquired as we continued to await news about Sarah.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged, growing more worried by the minute. Why was it taking so long?
Before Gwen could say another word, the doors to the waiting room swung open and a doctor came through them. Silver haired, he wore his mask above his head and was still in his scrubs. An expression of worry was etched deep on his weary face. I leapt up from my chair.
“Is she going to be okay?” Still sitting, Gwen gripped my hand.
The doctor flipped his steel-rimmed glasses atop his mask. We shared a short stretch of silence as a sickening feeling swept over me. Gwen tightened her grip, knowing the inevitable as well as I did.
“She’s—”
“Fuck no!” I cried out, cutting him off, my hand flying to my face. “Goddammit!”
“Please, Mr. Golden, calm down. She’s hanging on by a thread. She’s lost a tremendous amount of blood. While her blood pressure has stabilized, we haven’t been able to stop the internal bleeding. She’s hemorrhaging.”
I was at a loss for words. Thank goodness, my sister could think for both of us.
“What about a transfusion?”
The doctor brushed away the beads of sweat on his brow. “There’s a problem. She has a very rare blood type. AB-negative. And we currently don’t have any available here. The staff is calling around to other hospitals and blood banks, and we’re actively looking for a donor.”
Still holding my hand, Gwen stood up. “Doctor, I’m AB-negative. Tell me where to go.”
Too overwhelmed for words, I hugged my sister. She may have just given me the best gift ever.
Hope.
Sarah
Somewhere, there’s a place for us. The words and melody of the poignant West Side Story song filled the air. We had found our place. Our peace. We were dancing in our heavenly garden of clouds. At last, Ari and I were together, with no one to come between us. Glued together as if we had danced this way forever. As if we were one.
“Oh, Saarah,” he whispered in my ear.
My name. That voice. My eyelids fluttered open. The room was dimly lit, but even the modicum of light hurt my eyes. Slowly, my eyes adjusted. Blurriness gave way to clarity. He was hovering over me, that dazzling dimpled smile spread across his gorgeous face. He was alive!
“Ari!” It took every ounce of my strength to say his name. My throat was sore, and my tongue was stuck to the roof of my parched mouth.
He gently took my hand in his. “Oh, baby, it’s so good to have you back.”
His touch brought awareness into my being. I took in my surroundings. I was in a hospital room. A stunning suite. Similar to Lauren’s. Magnificent arrangements of fragrant flowers were everywhere. There were also lots of get-well cards, the largest a charming hand-drawn one from Ari’s son, Ben. A beeping machine with a lot of wires and tubes was hooked up to me. My hand was bandaged and there was also a wrap on my foot. I hurt all over.
Suddenly, the memories of the traumatic events that had brought me here bombarded me. My body attempted to bolt into a sitting position, but I could barely lift my head or shoulders. I winced in pain as tears flooded my eyes.
Ari held me in his arms and slowly lowered me back down to my pillows.
“Water,” I murmured, my voice a rasp.
Ari grabbed a cup off my nightstand and held it for me as I thirstily sipped its cold, refreshing contents through a straw. When I was done, he tenderly brushed my hair off my forehead. It hung loose, cascading over my shoulders.
“Saarah, you’ve got to stay calm. You lost a lot of blood.”
“How long have I been here?” My voice was still weak, but the water had given me the strength to talk.
“Three days. The doctors didn’t think you’d make it. Thank God, my sister Gwen has the same rare blood type as you. They were able to give you a transfusion.”
My heart swelled with emotion. Gwen had saved my life. We were blood-sisters now.
“I need to thank her.”
Ari smiled again. “She came by earlier. She’ll be back tomorrow.”
Before I could utter another word, a sudden sharp pain shot through my chest up to my left shoulder. With a gasp, I clapped my hand above my heart. Beneath my hospital gown, I could feel a large, thick bandage. My stab wound. The horrific memory sent a chill through me. Ari’s face darkened.
“Thank God, he missed your heart by an inch.”
Spike. The image of him hovering over me with his wretched eyes conjured in my mind and then—splat!—the sound of the razor-sharp blade ripping through my flesh resounded in my ear. A shiver rippled through me as I relived the moment with Catherine cackling with victory as I bled helplessly to death. Oh, the agony! The madness! A wave of nausea washed over me.
Alarm flickered in Ari’s eyes. “Baby, are you okay?”
Tears trickled down my face. “I don’t know. I hurt everywhere and I’m confused.”
“Oh, Saarah. My wounded warrior.” Ari tenderly brushed away my tears. My head throbbed from the questions that were pounding inside it.
“How did you know to come to my apartment?”
“When I returned to my seat after my acceptance speech and you weren’t there, I was concerned. I went to look for you and bumped into Ike Abrams, a friend of mine. He told me that he had seen his head of boys’ toys mingling at our table. I put two and two together and an emergency alarm went off in my head. I realized that your boss, Catherine Sinclair, and my ex-wife, Cassandra, were one and the same person.”
I listened without interrupting as he continued.
“Earlier in the day she had come to my office and threatened me.”
“Before I showed up?”
“Yes. I didn’t tell you. Maybe I should have. I just didn’t want to worry you or spoil our evening. I was totally shocked to see her at the gala, but she’d been invited by Ike who bought a table.”
“I didn’t know she’d be there either.” Fate.
He frowned. “Saarah, why didn’t you tell me that my ex-wife was your boss?”
I bowed my head and then met his eyes again, fighting back tears. “I was afraid of losing you. And if she took away Ben from you, which she threatened to do, it would be all my fault. I would never forgive myself. Never.”
I swallowed hard while he processed my words.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered as tears began to spill. “I hope you understand.”
His expression softened while he stroked my hair. “Oh my beautiful princess, there’s nothing to be sorry about and it would have never been your fault. Cassandra’s psychotic…as sick as they come.”
Tenderly brushing away my tears, Ari continued to fill me in. “I had a hunch you went home and a gut feeling your life was in danger. I knew the psycho bitch was capable of anything to hurt us both. So, I split from the gala and ran to your apartment. I kept calling your landline, but you didn’t pick up.”
“You ran all the way
to my apartment in the pouring rain?”
“Sprinted is more like it. I almost got killed a couple of times by some cabs.”
“Why didn’t you have Andre take you?”
“It would have taken too long with the Friday night traffic and inclement weather.”
My suspicion was confirmed. “So it was you who kept buzzing and buzzing my apartment.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I was going crazy.”
“So, how did you get into my building?”
“Mrs. Blumberg.”
God bless good old Mrs. Blumberg.
“I couldn’t climb up the stairs to your apartment fast enough. And when I heard the fucking bitch’s voice coming from inside it, my adrenaline went into overdrive. I kicked down the door.”
My beloved action hero. Lois Lane had Superman. But I had Trainman. My very own Power Ranger.
A small smile crossed my lips as he clasped my hands again in his. My gaze stayed on him as his eyes grew watery and his voice wavered.
“Oh, Saarah, when I saw you lying in that pool of blood, I thought I was dying too. I knew right then that I could never live without you.”
I was reliving the moment…my Trainman hovering over me, his lone tear falling onto my cheek like a drop of holy water. His heartfelt words echoed in my head, “Don’t leave me, Saarah. I love you.” And at that moment, I loved him more than I had ever loved anyone before.
“Oh, Ari,” I said softly. Overcome with emotion, I burst into tears and began to sob. The sobs wracked my body and hurt my chest.
My beautiful hero comforted me in his strong, loving arms. “Please don’t cry. I’m never going to leave you, Saarah.”
Oh, how he said my name! A sorrowful, passionate whisper. But there was still reality. The words of the letter that Cassandra showed me in the ladies’ room sliced my heart in half. The emotional pain rivaled the physical pain of the slash across my chest.
“But Cassandra will take Ben away from you,” I choked.
“She’s dead,” he said, his voice dry ice.
I jolted with shock. Cassandra was dead?
“Andre showed up just in the nick of time and shot her. She died instantly.”
That must have been the explosion I heard. I was right. Andre must have been a Navy SEAL. Or a trained sniper.
“What about Spike?”
“He’s dead too. In self-defense, Andre finished him off. He spared me from doing it myself. There was no way that piece of shit was going to rot away in prison on my tax dollar. Or ever have the opportunity to hurt you again.”
As I processed everything, Ari gazed into my eyes. The look on his face was intense, loving, and all-encompassing “Oh, my beautiful princess, I have always loved you. From the minute I saw you months ago at 30th Street Station. I knew that tall, pretty girl who bounced around in her combat boots and wept as she sketched in her notebook was different. And when I made contact with your soulful brown eyes on the train, something inside me changed. My scars began to fade. And then Ben fell in love with you as I did. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t stop wanting you in my bed to hold and cherish. To make love to and wake up to.”
I was melting.
“And now there is no one to keep us apart.”
“There’s only been you, my love.”
“What do you mean?”
For some odd reason, the time felt right to tell him. He needed to know; I needed to unload. I sucked in a painful, nervous breath.
“Ari, I was a virgin when I met you on the train.”
Blinking hard, he looked taken aback. My heart quivered, afraid he was going to be mad at me for never having told him. But then his face softened and a smile flickered on his lips. His eyes held me captive.
“Then you’re mine, princess. Only mine. And you’re only going to be mine. From now until forever.”
My heart hammered as he got down on one knee and held my hands. “Saarah, will you marry me?”
My mouth fell open. I was frozen with shock.
He gazed at me longingly.
“Yes,” I finally said, my voice a breathy whisper.
His gorgeous face lit up. From his shirt pocket, he pulled out a small black velvet box. He opened it. Inside, was a sparkling diamond ring, the emerald-shaped stone flanked by two small baguettes. The diamond was a fraction of the one Taylor gave Lauren, but it was beautiful. In fact, it was the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen.
“My father gave my mother this ring. She wants you to have it.”
Tears were pouring down my face. I was a mess. A total blubbering hot mess.
Slowly, he lowered the ring onto my finger. Then he lifted my hand to his lips. Oh, those lips!
He moved to the edge of the bed and slowly raised me into his arms. “Am I hurting you?”
I shook my head. My pain had dulled. Love could hurt. And love could heal.
“I never want to hurt you, Saarah.” He moved his lips to mine and consumed them. The kiss was all-encompassing and passionate. I was tingling all over and wanted more, but knew, in my condition, that wasn’t going to happen.
Not letting go of my lips, he lowered me back down and then climbed into the bed under the covers, stretching his long legs out parallel to mine. My head rested on his chest. We were squeezed together, but I relished the warmth of his body next to mine.
A stern looking nurse walked into the room. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Ari in bed with me. “Mr. Golden, visiting hours are over.”
“Go away,” growled Ari.
I stifled a laugh as the shocked nurse fled the room.
“I’m staying here tonight, my beautiful princess.” He turned off the light. “Sweet dreams, Saarah.”
My heart overflowed with joy. My beautiful Trainman was going to spend the night with me! In my bed for the first time. I’d better get used to this. Smiling, I drifted off.
Sarah
I spent ten days in the hospital until Ari convinced my medical team to send me home—to my new home, his Park Avenue apartment. He set up around-the-clock nursing care and daily visits by his concierge doctor, but it was Ari who nursed me back to health. In addition to my almost fatal stab wound which had required thirty stitches (the same number Ari’s had required) I had suffered two broken ribs, a badly sprained ankle, and was bruised all over. A saint, he took two weeks off from work. The first week I was still so weak he carried me everywhere, even to the bathroom. I rarely left his bed and he rarely left my side. I was the first woman to sleep in his plush king-size bed. It was his first purchase after his divorce from Cassandra—a means to cleanse himself of her. Though I could only sleep in one position on my back, it was the most wonderful bed I’d ever slept in. Yet, as delicious as the fluffy down duvet, Egyptian cotton sheets, and the memory foam mattress were, nothing compared to having Ari by my side, sharing it with me.
Spending so much time together, we really got to know each other. While our courtship had been short, it felt like a lifetime. The more I learned about him, the more I loved him. Every day, he fed me, bathed me, and sent me flowers. He also changed my dressings and made sure I took all my medications—a cocktail of antibiotics and painkillers—regularly. Ben made me lots of adorable get-well cards and played with Jo-Jo the cat, who moved in with us. The cat had no problem adjusting to his new Park Avenue digs.
By the second week, I was a lot stronger and able to put pressure on my foot. Clutching Ari with one arm and a crutch in the other, I could make it back and forth from our bed to the living room couch; I joked it felt like running a marathon given how big the apartment was. We watched old episodes of Power Rangers, and laughed at all the silly monsters. I told him I was secretly in love with the Green Ranger when I was growing up and that I still was. At this confession, the green with jealousy monster reared its ugly head, and controlling my laughter, partly because it hurt to laugh, I had to tell my possessive, controlling fiancé that he was my Green Ranger. I was rewarded with a superhero kiss, the first of many.
/>
Feeling better and better with each day, I was itching to get back to work, but Ari wouldn’t have it. I was also itching to have Ari’s body, but he wouldn’t let me have that either. He felt I was still in no condition for him to consume me. He was wrong. The only solace I had was that I knew it was as hard for him as it was for me. His constant hard-on was an ongoing reminder. We weren’t allowed to touch each other because he felt we would get carried away—that he would maul me or I’d be the death of him. Hence, the only pussy he played with was Jo-Jo. It only made me want him more.
I wanted to get outside, but that wasn’t happening either. Well, I suppose if one had to be holed up somewhere, Ari’s magnificent Park Avenue penthouse wasn’t a bad place to be. Lauren, who had made a speedy recovery after being released from the hospital, came to visit. She brought me dozens of bridal magazines from around the world, and we thumbed through them together looking for the perfect wedding dress. Despite her broken engagement, she was genuinely happy that I was marrying Ari. Miss Know-it-All had called it—that we would end up together.
“Where are you going to register?” she asked as we flipped through a French magazine. “Bloomie’s has the best china and housewares department.”
I told her that Ari and I had everything we needed. Instead of gifts, we were asking friends, family members, and well-wishers to make a donation to Meds Without Borders. Lauren rolled her eyes. I was glad to hear she was back in therapy for her bipolar disorder and her addiction to bad boys. Of course, she already had crush on her therapist, who was one of New York’s hottest bachelors. I never told her that Taylor had hit on me. Sometimes, what you don’t know won’t hurt you. Other times, it can change your life.
Mrs. Blumberg also stopped by and brought me some of her freshly baked rugelach as well as some homemade chicken soup. I told her how beholden I was to her that fateful night, and she told me she prayed that I would make it through. She was going to miss not having me as a neighbor, but I promised that I would see her regularly. And I meant it. She asked me how my mother was doing and I told her well. To my utter surprise and happiness, she was allowed to continue her experimental drug treatment. Ari had called her while I was in the hospital and told her about everything that had happened to me, assuring her that her warrior princess was all right. Once I was up for it, I called her daily. She promised she’d be out of the hospital for my wedding come hell or high water. She was overjoyed that I was marrying Ari and couldn’t wait to meet him. I told her that when I was fully recovered we would both come to visit her at the hospital. The feeling was mutual—I couldn’t wait for her to meet my future husband or for him to meet my wonderful mom. For the first time, I had the feeling that my mom was going to beat the beast that had tried to devour her. Just like me, she was a warrior.
TRAINWRECK 2: An Alpha Billionaire Romance Inspired by a True Event Page 13