As Belle was too engrossed in her preparations, she didn’t notice the commotion that was happening right outside her office. She did hear a loud honk minutes ago but paid no mind to it.
Eyes still focused on her monitor, Belle was startled when her office phone rang. Reaching it, she quickly placed the receiver close to her ear, “Hello?”
“Belle, this is Jacob, follow me to Bree Medical Hospital,” he told her, panic evident in his voice.
“Jacob? Why didn’t you call me on my mobile phone?” Belle asked, confused, as this wasn’t something usual.
“I’ll explain it to you later,” and then he ended the call.
Belle quickly grabbed her bag, put her phone in, and stormed out of her office. She made sure the door was locked before she left.
A couple more steps before she reached the entrance to her company, her secretary approached her. Angel was pale and her hands were trembling.
“Miss Roberts,” she called, unable to continue what she was about to say.
“Miss Roberts, Mr. De Clarion was taken away by the ambulance,” the guard informed her as her secretary broke into tears.
“What?” Belle gasped.
“He was on his way to his car when another car hit him. It looked intentional, as Mr. De Clarion’s on the pedestrian lane and the traffic lights’ red,” the guard explained.
Belle’s knees weakened. Fortunately, the guard was quick enough to catch her. Looking pale and dizzy, the guard led her to the couch and helped her sit.
“Miss Roberts, are you okay?” Angel asked.
Belle nodded, still in disbelief after everything she heard. “Can you please hail a cab for me?” she asked her secretary, who was quick to follow her.
Minutes later, Angel came back to let her know that there was already a cab waiting for her. Belle was quick to stand up and head out of the building. The guard followed her to the cab.
“Please take me to Bree Hospital,” she told the driver, trying her best to hold back her tears.
As soon as the cab stopped right outside the hospital, Belle grabbed a bill out of her purse and handed it over to the driver. She didn’t even check how much she paid.
She ran towards the entrance and to the nurses’ station. “Where is Tristan De Clarion?” she asked.
Before the nurse could reply to her, someone held her arm, it was Jacob. “Belle, calm down. Tristan’s still in the operating room.”
“O-Operating room? What do you mean, Jacob? What happened?” She was about to break down.
Jacob held her hand to help her calm down, then he began narrating what happened when they left her office earlier. Belle couldn’t stop sobbing as she listened to him.
“But why is he in the operating room?”
“They suspect he acquired some serious head injury when his head hit the gutter. He also fractured his leg, so they need to look into that too,” Jacob explained.
Belle let out a sigh and that somehow calmed her down. She took the tissue Jacob handed to her and started wiping her tears.
It was already past ten in the morning when she recalled her presentation in the afternoon. She decided to call Angel first. She instructed her secretary to cancel the presentation and inform the client that she had a family emergency.
In the waiting area, Jacob and Belle were quietly seated, waiting for Tristan’s attending physician to come out. It’s been two hours and he’s still in the operating room.
“Did you call Frederick?” Belle asked, but Jacob shook his head. “That’s good, let’s not give him something to worry about,” she told him, and Jacob nodded in agreement.
Four more hours passed before the doctor came out of the operating room. Both Belle and Jacob quickly stood up to ask for an update regarding Tristan.
“Are you his family?” the doctor asked.
“I’m his executive assistant and this is his girlfriend,” he informed the man in a scrub suit who nodded at him in return.
“We’ve stabilized his condition. Thankfully, the injury in his leg isn’t as major as we anticipated it to be. But we still need to run him through MRI to make sure there is no further damage or fracture in his skull. He hit the gutter pretty hard, so he needs to stay in the hospital for observation.”
Belle thanked the doctor as tears started streaming down her face again. She uttered a silent prayer to thank God for saving the love of her life.
“Now that he’s out of danger, we need to let Frederick know about what happened to him. Should I go or you’ll do it?” Jacob asked.
Belle heaved a sigh, “I don’t think I could,” she frowned.
Jacob nodded in understanding, he lightly squeezed her shoulder before bidding her farewell. He needed to go to the De Clarion Villa to let the old man know about his grandson’s condition.
When he arrived, John was surprised to see him without Tristan. As John looked closer, he was terrified when he noticed that his son’s shirt had bloodstains on it.
“Jacob!” he exclaimed as he walked over to him. “What happened to you?” his voice trembled.
“Dad, I’m fine. Where is Frederick?” Jacob asked. John let out a sigh as he gestured towards the door. They then walked side by side into the villa.
Frederick shared the same reaction as John. He, too, was surprised when he saw Jacob. He was about to stand up when Jacob stopped him.
“Sir, you need to stay calm,” he started. When Frederick nodded, Jacob started narrating Tristan’s accident.
A tear escaped the old man’s eyes. “How is he now?”
“He will be taken to the ICU until he gains consciousness,” Jacob informed him. “Don’t worry, Belle’s there to look after him.”
The old man’s face brightened at the mention of Belle’s name. He suddenly felt relieved that it was his little girl who was watching over his grandson.
“When can we see him?”
“I’ll let father know as soon as he’s transferred to a private ward, then you can come over and visit him,” Jacob responded.
When the old man nodded at him, Jacob said goodbye. As he turned to leave, Frederick called him again.
“Yes sir?” he asked.
“Please look after my little girl too.”
Jacob smiled at Frederick and nodded. “Leave it to me, Sir. I’ll look after them,” he assured him before he turned to his heel and left.
When he got inside the car, he called Daniel, their most trusted investigator. When Daniel answered, he quickly dictated to him everything he knew about the car that hit Tristan.
“I need all the information you can gather about that particular vehicle. Get it to me as soon as possible.”