Chapter 50

Book:The Billionaire's Bartered Bride Published:2024-6-2

“I want you back, I can’t function without you here, you bewitched me,”
Rafael said again making her head spin, what the fuck did he mean, was he drunk for real? He had to be.
“Rafael, are you drunk?”
“Yes, I am drunk, why else will I be calling someone who should not mean anything to me, I have been drunk for two weeks too, why else am I always thinking about you and want you back, Natalie please come back,”
“I am sorry Rafael, I am not Natalie, my name is Nicole,”
“I know, can’t you just keep being Natalie and stay by my side? Let’s just pretend I never found out, I want you back here,”
He carried on, but she didn’t want, she didn’t want to keep pretending to be someone she wasn’t, she love Rafael and miss him so much but she wasn’t going to do it.
“I am sorry, Rafael, I am just going to hang up,”
She said.
“Nicole, don’t please, I am sorry, I just want you back,”
“You are drunk Rafael, you might not like this when you sober up,”
“No, I won’t,”
“Okay, then let’s see when you are sober,”
She said and hung up on him. She expected him to call again and was disappointed when he didn’t. She went back into her room and cried herself to sleep, he raised her hope for just a moment even though she knew he had been drunk.
She woke up to her phone ringing, checked the clock in her room, it was past eleven pm, wondering who would call her by this time and hoping it would be Rafael, she picked up her phone, it was indeed Rafael.
“Hello?’
She said, her heart beating faster.
“Hello, this is Mercy, am I on to Mrs. Salvador please?”
“Yes, that’s me,”
She hadn’t been expecting a lady’s voice, who could she be? She was still Mrs. Salvador until maybe Rafael decided otherwise.
“Aha, good,”
“Who are you please?”
“Oh, my name is Mercy, a nurse at the general hospital, your husband was brought in here earlier, he had an accident,”
“What? Where? How? Oh my God, no. Please,”
Nicole cried out, jumping out of her bed.
“Madam, calm down, he is fine, we just need his family members here to do all the paper works and he can go home, he said you are his only family,”
The nurse said.
“Yes I am, please can you give me directions? I will be there in a couple of minutes, please take care of him,”
“Don’t worry ma’am he is fine,”
She said and the call ended, Nicole quickly got out of bed, she didn’t bother to change out of her nighties and ran downstairs, running down towards the gate, she met the driver and two security men still talking, at least she didn’t have to go wake him up from sleep.
“Can you take me to the general hospital please, my husband was taken there,”
She pleaded and the driver didn’t waste time, he lead her to the car and took her to the hospital, they were there fifteen minutes later, she ran into the big hospital, not knowing which way to go, she had told the driver to go back home, she asked for directions and was lead to a room where Rafael was, he was sleeping when she got in, she walked up to where he is, she had thought he would be in the accident and emergency ward but the nurse who brought her here said he requested for a room and had fallen asleep as soon as they moved him here after giving them instructions to call her, they knew who he was so of course they gave him special treatment.
Nicole moved closer to his bed, his face looked so rough like he hadn’t shaved in days, he had a frown even in sleep, she sat beside his bed, one of his hand was heavily bandaged, he looked paled too, she missed his face and didn’t want him in pain, she thought about their conversation a few hours ago, could he really be missing her or was this just another way to get her to sign those papers too, since he already had Natalie’s signature, cozying her into signing too might give him what he wanted, as much as she didn’t want to believe he could do that, she couldn’t help it, he didn’t have a good record in that aspect.
She watched him sleep, he looked tired and almost defenseless, looked nothing like the arrogant and bossy Rafael she had met the first time, she brushed his hair out of his face, he was beautiful even in sleep and looked so soft, she traced her fingers over his eyelashes, to his straight well-defined nose, and then his lips, her fingers lingered there remembering those lips on her, her body tingled at the thought of it, how much she missed his presence, after a while about one am, she rested her head on his bedside and fell asleep too.
“Nicole?”
She heard as she woke up, her eyes met Rafael and she jumped off where she was sitting almost falling off.
“Hey, calm down,”
“Sorry, I didn’t think this really happened, I thought it was a dream,”
She said steading herself and coming back to reality, she had thought she dreamt it.
“When did you get here?”
He asked. She checked the wall clock.
“Hmm about four hours ago, you were asleep,”
“Oh, you should have woken me up, I am sorry they called you, they weren’t letting me do anything myself and I didn’t want to call anyone else, I am sorry,”
“It’s fine, you are okay, right? What happened? Were you driving while you were drunk?”
She asked, wondering why he didn’t use his driver if he was going to be drunk.
“No, I wasn’t, I have a driver remember? I don’t drive when I am drunk, that can never be me, you should know that,”
He said, he looked like he was in pain.
“Are you okay?”
She asked again.
“Yes, I am, at least I am still alive.”
“Thank God, I was so scared,”
“Why? Will you miss me when I am gone?”
He asked, she didn’t have the time to answer that as the nurse came in.
“You are awake, That’s good, you will be discharged by morning and your wife can take you home, but you have to take a good rest so that your sounds can heal properly.
“Thanks, nurse, but what about the other person?”
He asked.
“He is fine too, and the woman wasn’t hit thankfully, she was just in shock and they have both been played on special care as you requested,”
“Thank you so much,”
“You are welcome, take a rest and you will be on your way home in a few hours, but make sure to rest those hands, you don’t want to overwork them,”
“I will, thank you,”
Rafael said to the nurse and she left, Nicole sat in the chair in the room, avoiding him, she didn’t want to say anything to him, she didn’t know what to say to him and he didn’t say anything to her either, nothing about the call he made to her, so she felt he must have forgotten after the alcohol faded off.