The nurse jumped into action settling a strong yet soothing hand at Maddie's back, she instructed the red-head. "You have to calm down, Maddie. Breathe deep, that's it, through the nose and out the mouth. Good girl, slowly now, in and out... in and out." Maddie's torso rose and fell to the nurse's directive voice. She closed her eyes and tried to reign in her panic. "Very good, you're doing great. Just relax and keep breathing." Her hand ran soothing circles across Maddie's back until she could breathe properly.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Maddie, your child was born extremely premature and unhealthy, it's a wonder she even survived as long as she did. She was taken to NICU, the intensive care unit here designed for the sole purpose of seeing to the care of premature babies. Yours is probably one of the worse cases they've seen."
"But, she'll be okay right? She has to be okay! Her grandfather is a very rich man; he won't care if you get the most expansive of doctors to take care of her, just as long as she's taken care of and comes through okay. So she'll be fine...sh…she has to be..."
The nurse shook her head as if to dispute her claim. "As much as I would like to say that she will be okay, I don't believe in patronizing patients. The chances of your child making it through the night are very slim. She's been put in an incubator to keep her warm; it'll also decrease the chances of her getting an infection. The primary nurse is doing her best to get your daughter healthy again. But the chances of that happening aren't very likely I'm afraid. "
"I want to see her---" she peered at the nurse, finally noticing her nametag. Gwen, it read. "Gwen, I need to see my daughter."
"I'm sorry, but you can't."
Maddie glared at her through her tears. "What do you mean I can't? I want to see my daughter."
She shook her head, "I'm sorry but you are not allowed." She said firmly, reaching out to check the I-V on her arm.
"Don't touch me!" Maddie violently pulled her hand away managing to only aggravate the situation further as the clear adhesive dressing holding her ivy stub in place popped out of her skin. "I'm sorry, Maddie, but I've been put under strict restriction not to allow you near your child until said otherwise." Gwen worked to staunch the blood that now flowed from Maddie's skin by removing the existing bandage and reapplying another one beneath the small gauze she'd used to stop the blood.
"By who? Who the hell has the fucking right?"
"Mr. Grayson for one and its Hospital policy. Your situation is very delicate right now and allowing you near your child would only complicate matters."
Hysteria was quickly rearing its ugly head and Maddie was facing it head on. "How the hell would I complicate matters! Please I want to see my baby, I---I want to see if she's okay. Please, Gwen, she needs me..."
Gwen wasn't the least bit moved. Yes, the teenage girl was crying but her agony paled in comparison to the torture the small baby girl weighing no more than a few pound was going through. The poor unfortunate child was fighting for her chance to live, suffering and holding on to whatever dear life God was wishing for her to have. Despite that she was born to another irresponsible, self-absorbed and self-gratifying addict that couldn't be bothered to wean herself off of drugs until she was born.
Gwen had seen enough cases like these in the last fifteen years of working in her field to know people like Maddie Tate only cried because they were caught and felt sorry that they had gotten caught, not because they felt true and honest remorse for their mistakes. Gwen couldn't bring herself to feel sorrow for the red headed girl. This was another case of a child bringing another child into the world, to suffer unnecessarily for the mother's irresponsibility.
"I'm sorry, Maddie, but I can't let you see that baby. Besides, you are not in any condition to go traipsing about the ward. You need to get some rest. Your doctor is making his rounds and should be here soon."
Maddie made a grab for Gwen's wrist as she turned to leave. "Please...I'm begging you, please let me see her. I just want a glimpse, a little reassurance that she's really here. I--I know okay, I know I fucked up and I don't want pity, I just want to see her...t--touch her..." she released the blood halting grip she had around the nurse's wrist. "I need her..." She whispered brokenly.
People made mistakes, learned from them and hopefully moved on. This was what being human was all about. Mistakes could be learned from and forgiven. Gwen had made quite a few of her own in the entirety of her thirty nine years of life and she knew that without her mistakes she wouldn't have had half of the wisdom now in her possession or the relationships some of her mistakes had almost cost her.
She wasn't anyone special and so she figured, passing judgment on this girl, who she hardly knew a thing about except for her medical history, would be unjust. Although it was human nature to despise those who harmed others, especially the innocent, she knew it wasn't her place.
Let he without sin...
She reached over and sympathetically patted one of Maddie's slumped shoulders, she opened her mouth to speak but the sudden gruff voice vaguely familiar in tone halted her.
"Maybe you should've thought of that when you were pumping your veins full of drugs." Gwen and Maddie simultaneously looked up and one gasped as the other silently assessed the dark haired man standing at the threshold of the room.
For someone who was recovering from a gunshot wound, Nicholas Grayson looked pretty good.
His thick dark hair had grown longer over the past few weeks and now fell a little pass his hardened jaw line. His clothes consisted of a slate blue sweater set over a while colored shirt, the lapels smartly peeking over the sweater. And a pair of loose dark blue jeans that fell over white Reeboks.
The first time Gwen had seen him, she'd thought him handsome in a cold, aloof sort of way. It unnerved Gwen how apt he was in controlling his facial features. There was no emotion there and when she'd told him news of his daughter, he'd remained as thus, distant, stoic, completely unmoved. No teenager, no child even, should be that reserved.
Later, he'd gone on to tell Gwen and the rest of the staff how he’d wanted the entire situation handled. He'd asked that the events of his life remain private, no tabloids would get wind of this and if the story somehow leaked, he and his father would know who to come after first. Nicholas Grayson did intimidation well, especially when he had high powered attorneys on short-studded leashes at his beck and call.
"Good evening, Nicholas," Gwen greeted civilly and received a curt nod from the young man. She turned to Maddie and once again patted her shoulder. She did not envy her this visit. "Dr. Leonard will be in shortly, please try not to overexert yourself." Gwen didn't wait to see her patient's nod of understanding before she made herself scarce.
Maddie felt the weight of Nicholas's eyes boring into her, mercilessly condemning her. With only a gaze, Maddie was in tears. "You have to let me explain---"
"And exactly what is there to explain? Are you going to explain to me why you condemned our child to a life of hell? Or maybe give me the reason why you tried to sabotage the relationship I had with your friend? How about explaining to me how you thought your asinine and juvenile antics in blackmailing me into marrying you could've possibly worked?"
"I'm sorry, Nicky, I'm so sorry. I just wanted to be with you, I wanted us to be a family. Tony and everything happened so fast and he said he would help me and I fell for it, for him. I loved you, Nicky, so much that it was an obsession. I just wanted to be with you."
"Get a fucking grip! And face reality!" Maddie looked up, startled as she felt Nicholas's hands on her skin. Warm, strong hands roughly manacled around her wrists tugged her hands away from her face.
Stormy grey eyes glared back at her, the fury of a thousand angry typhoons glimmered in their impenetrable depths. "You're not the fucking victim here! Our daughter is! And she's fucking dying! Do you hear me? She's lying in that incubator, no bigger than two of my fists combined and she's fighting for her goddamned life! All because of you! You fucked up! You fucked up your life, my life, Ellie's life, and now this
innocent little baby who doesn't even deserve to have us as parents! She's too good...too fucking good to have us as parents!"
As if sudden the thought of being near her, looking at her, revolted him, Nicholas released her and staggered backwards.
Maddie sniffed, and kept her aching sobs to small hiccupping gasps that echoed in the silent room. She was so scared, the fear no longer her own, but for the innocent child she had helped bring into the world.
"Oh god..." She whimpered like a wounded animal as the gravity of the situation suddenly dawned on her and Maddie was struck dumb by the force with which it all arrived. "O-oh, g-god, please forgive me..." She gasped.
Nicholas watched her from his position at the foot of the bed. The emotions that flew across the tear stained face were grotesquely intriguing to watch. Kind of like how he imagined his own face had been when his father had first told him the news in the illustrious Grayson mansion where he’d been sent to 'recuperate' but was not allowed to leave unless given permission to do so. It had been his gilded prison for the last four weeks of his recovery.
His father had not permitted him any outside contact and had taken away his phone and bike (not that he had been in any condition to ride it). It wasn't until after the first two weeks that Nicholas had been well enough to come out of bed and demand an audience with the sneaky bastard.
"Do you mind telling me why I'm not allowed to leave the estates? And why the hell is it that dumb and dumber are now following me around?" Dumb and dumber also known as Vinny Valentino and Frankie Burns, were men who lacked the brain capacity to put two and two together, but had the Herculean brawn to knock you flat on your ass with just one punch. They trailed behind Nicholas now, giving him space when he approached the imposing red oak desk in Charles's home office.
"Good afternoon, son." Charles feigned pleasantness.
"Cut the shit and give back my phone and while you're at it I'd like the keys to my bike."
"Nice to see the color back in your cheeks; did the nurse put on the dressing?"
The reverberating clap of Nicholas's palms smacking against the polished surface of the desk caused Vinny and Frankie to jump at the suddenness of it. Nicholas leaned his body forward, his face within an arm's reach from his father's un-amused one. "Listen old man, I'm in no mood to play your sick Cat and Mouse games. You've never been bothered to give a damn about me or my life and we've both done just fine to the point, continue to do so and leave me the hell alone."
Sliver and silver clashed, the intensity of both gazes caused sparks to fly. "Frankie, Vinny, please excuse us. I’d like a word with my son." Charles ordered tersely; breaking eyes contact with his son, he busied himself with the scattered portfolios on her desk.
"You're wrong Nicholas," Charles mildly began. "We both have not fared well at all. Your knack for courting trouble wherever you go, as clearly proven by the three bullets they had had to fetch out of your entrails, has proven to me that you are incapable of taking care of yourself. And I now mean to rectify that." He paused for dramatic effect, no doubt waiting on Nicholas to ask what he planned.
"Go on father, drop the bomb, I know your itching to do so."
"Very well, as of yesterday you are no longer attending John Edgar. You will complete the rest of your academic year at Easton where you will get the marks needed for you to enroll in Princeton in the fall."
Nicholas laughed gut-wrenching humorless laughter that all but tore at the stitches at his abdomen. "Are we getting senile in our old age, father? Because surely, something must've fucked with your mind if you think I'm going to actually go with all this docilely, if at all."
Charles coolly regarded his son as he settled back in the leather comforts of the executive chair. As prideful and arrogant as his son was there was something or rather someone Charles has learned could bring him to heel and that was Ellie Holbrook. "I think you will see things my way soon enough. Take a look," Charles tossed a large manila envelope across the table.
Never let him see you sweat, was Nicholas's motto when it came to his father, because the instant Charles smelt fear he would strike like a shark out for blood and he would not stop until happily gorged. So, although trepidation inwardly arrested him, his outward appearance remained a blank canvas. He opened the envelope and reached inside to withdraw the contents. His eyes scanned the first sheet, and then flipped over the next one, then the one after that and so on and so on until he had absorbed every word.
Nicholas crumpled up the sheets of papers. "This means shit."
"How sure of that are you son? Enough to gamble on the livelihood of Ellie's family? What you hold in your hands is a copy of their sole source of income, without the restaurant they have nothing."
"You fucking bastard..."
"The Cat has the mouse cornered son, what's it going to be? Your freedom or the livelihood of your girlfriend? Choose wisely."
Nicholas's teeth clenched, his fist tightening. A contract, legal and biding struck with the CEO of Langston banking, read in bold black and white print that 'Splendor' Ellie's uncle's restaurant would be seized within the month if the owner of the property did not pay the loan owed to the bank. The interest alone was staggering, Nicholas thought dauntingly.
Charles had some business dealings with Langston Banking and had more than likely threatened to take his business elsewhere, and Langston Banking was buckling under the pressure. In order to keep such a high profile client happy, things needed to be done according to his wishes. Nicholas had no doubt that his father had orchestrated this from the very beginning and was now putting it in motion.
"You are my heir, Nicholas. It is high time you began to act like it. Bend to my will, give over to me, son and Ms. Holbrook and her family will continue to live in plebian bliss. I will even be so generous as to set up a trust for the little one---anonymously of course."
"You can take your offer and shove it straight up your ass father, if I'm going to help Ellie and her family, it'll be by on my terms and my money."
A predatory smile caught its way up Charles's lips. "And exactly what money is that, son? Your funds have been frozen. Your shop, or should I say my shop, considering the money you took to open it is still technically mine, has been closed. You have nothing except what I give you."
Nicholas wanted to call his bluff, but he knew his father too well to play that game with him. In another time, another situation, he would've done so without blinking an eye. Now, There was more at stake here than his pride, if he pushed too far, Charles would destroy Ellie's family.
"You will leave Ellie and her family alone."
"So long as you do the same."
For Ellie, Nicholas had promised that he would readily walk through the inferno of hell. For, Ellie, Nicholas would sell his soul to Satan himself if it meant her everlasting happiness. For her, Nicholas would become his father's mongrel and try not to bite the hand of the psycho who had donated his sperm to bring him into being.
What was love if not the need to make your other half, your better half happy and content?
Even now, Nicholas could not muster regret for the bargain he'd struck with his father and though the situation seemed dire now, Nicholas would not be easily beaten. He was a Grayson after all and if nothing else, he'd learned how to be a ruthlessly conniving bastard from his father. He would get himself out of this, even if that meant becoming like his father to accomplish it.
"Here's what's going to happen after I walk out of here. You're going to listen to what the nurses tell you, take whatever the hell the doctors prescribe. After that you and your grandmother are going to sign your names to the papers that will have you committed to a rehab. I don't care how long it takes, Maddie, but you will not see or talk to anyone outside of that rehab center until you are clean and healthy again. Is this in anyway unclear?"
Maddie shook her head. "'N---no,"
"When I next see you I expect to see you clean and determined to keep yourself that way."
“What ab
out our baby---?"
"Nothing else should concern you from this moment on except your own well-being. You're grandmother wishes to see you so I'll say goodbye now."
"Nicky?"
Nicholas stopped but did not turn around.
"I am so sorry for everything..."
"I'm not going to offer you forgiveness because I am not the one who should be giving it. We both need to apologize to our daughter, Maddie, we've both wronged her." He walked out then and left Maddie to her thoughts.
Chapter Twelve
The symphony of machines simultaneously working together to keep her alive sounded like rushing waves, soothing and yet disturbing. Nicholas looked down at her. She was so small. The tubes, wires and patches against her flushed pink skin looked abnormal, they did not belong there.
He settled his hand against the plastic glass and he clenched his jaw to keep the tears at bay. No, his little girl did not belong in there. She was a princess, with curling tufts of his dark hair. She deserved to be in a massive palace with the world at her feet.
Was this how Ellie felt when Sophie had fallen ill? This feeling of helplessness that had him wishing and praying that God would give him her pain? He wanted to fight for her. He was her father. He would slay dragons for her. He would give her the moon and the galaxies if she but asked it of him.
"Come on my, baby...let daddy be your dragon slayer...."
She only laid there, small chest struggling to take in oxygen. She was sleeping now, God was allowing her rest, but Nicholas knew it wouldn't be long until she woke and fought for life.
Nicholas sniffed. "Please be strong. I know I'm not allowed to ask you for anything, but please be strong for me? You have to beat this so that you and I can have a chance. I want to be your daddy and I want you to be my princess. We have so much to do you and me, so much to share, so much I want to show you...give you. You can have a stable full of ponies...our home will be your little kingdom, princess..." Nicholas's tears poured now, his voice choked with them. "Y---you'll get to meet Ellie and Sophie, you'll love them. They're very special to me and they'll love you almost as much as I love you. So you have to pull through this princess, you have to be strong and survive this, because I---I can't bear to lose you. Please."
Beautiful Disaster (The Bet) Page 21