The CEO’s Second Choice

Sebastian

It has been almost 2 weeks since Elena’s accident, and she still has not woken up. Her MRI scan this morning showed the swelling on her brain has gone down, so now it was technically a waiting game. She was breathing on her own now at least and has shown signs of early responses to light and touch. But that was about it. My son, who I haven’t named yet but who the nurses have started calling Lucky, has left his incubation chamber and I finally got to hold him. There is no other feeling than that of holding your child for the first time. The absolute love and adoration I felt just multiplied Elena and my love created this. This precious little boy was ours.

“How is my son doing today?” Isaac’s cheery voice follows his boisterous entry into the hospital room. He leans in to give me a hug and I chuckle and shake my head as I usually do when I see him. He was such an odd yet refreshing person to be around. The complete mirror of Elena in every way but gender; I think that’s why I thought of him as my little brother. I could tell that he cared dearly for my Elena and would rather die than see harm come to her. “He’s doing well today, just had his bottle and burps, now he’s passed out,” I say as we look down at the sleeping miracle. Isaac sighs, “Elena is going to wallop me for having met her child first,” he says with a laugh and I couldn’t agree more! “Well, I think she will forgive us this time,” I say and see a wistful smile on his face as he looks towards her bed.

“I miss her so much, Sebastian.” He says, wiping a stray tear away that has fallen, and I place a hand on his shoulder, nodding in agreement. I know how he feels and felt it a thousand times more. She is my everything, seeing her like this breaks my heart, that I couldn’t be of any help at all crushed my spirit daily. Apart from providing her with top-class doctors and medical care, I was a sitting duck in her hospital room. Isaac plants a kiss on her cheek and say his goodbyes to his godchild and as well as me.

Did I mention that Elena’s sister hasn’t even come to see her? The one person she was closer to than Isaac and she never even bothered to come and check up on her sister, who had almost died. How was Elena’s accident weeding out all the bad from her life?

Elijah had Anabelle arrested for her hand in Elena’s attempted murder, and she was currently awaiting trial. The cupcake she gave to Elena still lay on the floor in the Phantom, and tests proved that there were peanuts present.

Susanna and William Wiltshire are still missing. Any attempts made to contact them have proved futile and there was no evidence of them having left the country. Wilshire Estate has stood empty for over a week now with none of the workers having seen them enter or leave the home. Eliana has not heard of them either, so a missing person’s report has been issued in their stead.

This entire thing has my head in a spin; two of the most powerful families in all of the UK were being targeted. This has been proven by the recent spate of attempts on my life, my parent’s death, the Wiltshire’s being missing and now Elena’s accident. The car that was rammed into Elena’s Phantom was not registered to anyone, so it was a dead end. The driver of the vehicle had fled the scene. No hospitals admitted a seriously injured person on the day they admitted Elena, so it led to another dead end. To say that it frustrated me does not even cover it. Between being the CEO of my empire and a new father, I was starting to buckle under the pressure needed. I so wished Elena could be here and share in all of this. My life was lonely without her. I missed her smart mouth; she was the only person who could challenge me and get away with it.

A knock at the door alerted me to Elijah’s presence. He has been instrumental in this investigation into the targeting of Britain’s wealthy. There has been no threat to his life thus far and we were both hoping it would stay this way. He walks over to me. “I’ve been thinking,” he starts, which could never be a good thing because nine times out of ten, his “thinking” was correct. “Eliana and Robert, where have they been in all of this?” I frown at this and shake my head. “Whatever it is that you’re thinking, it’s no go.” I start, but he holds up his hand. “Think about it, someone tried to kill you, and if you had died your money would go to Elena. Kill Elena after you’ve died, the empire automatically falls to Robert, correct?” He says, and I answer with a slow nod, not liking where this was headed. “But Elena was pregnant. Her giving birth to your heir would be an obstacle in Robert gaining all that wealth. So…”

“Kill Elena and the baby in one go.” I finished his sentence which tasted bitter in my mouth. “Exactly. Take the Wiltshires out of the equation and Eliana would inherit that legacy as well. It’s the only thing that makes sense, Sebastian. Think about it.” He says with conviction and it seriously made me think.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

Eliana and Robert? Could it be? “I’ll do some further investigations into their whereabouts over the last few months, something is bound to turn up,” I say, and he returns my reply with a nod. We exchanged a few more ideas when his phone rang and he excused himself. Being alone with Elena made Elijah’s words echo in my mind. Could it be? Robert’s display at my parents’ funeral last year was a tad odd. Could he have been mourning the loss of the Dumont wealth to me? Did my father know something about Robert that I didn’t? Hm. I need to get to the bottom of this.

Pulling out my cell phone, I called my parents’ lawyer to find out a few things and by the end of the conversation; I was even more confused than before.

Three months before their death, my father changed the beneficiary of his will to me only, whereas before it was Robert who would have inherited everything. The entire Dumont legacy would have belonged to him instead of me. Dumont Enterprises in London would still have been mine, but not the worldwide conglomerate. This would explain why my father excluded Robert from the entire will, but the reason was not given. Did my father discover something amiss with his brother? I need to look into this before I put my family at further risk, so I decided to call Elijah with this update.

“That is definitely something to be wary of. See what else you can dig up on your uncle. I’ll attempt to do the same.” He says after I inform him of the new information I had gathered. This was starting to look like family against family if his concerns proved to be right, and if that was the case, Robert and Eliana had no idea who they were up against. I have already brought down 2 of Britain’s wealthy who tried to harm my family, I have no qualms of doing it to my own.

I walk towards Elena’s sleeping frame and sit down next to her, taking her hand in mine and placing a light kiss on the back. Fourteen days without her voice, fourteen days without her infectious laugh or hearing her say ‘I love you.’ Sighing, I hold her hand and close my eyes. “I miss you, petite pâquerette. Please come back to me.”

At first I think I am imagining it, then it happens again she was squeezing my hand and when I looked up, two blue eyes regarded me with confusion. “Elena!” I call out and jump from my seat. I placed kisses all over her forehead and went to place one on her lips, but then I saw the tears brimming her eyes. Frowning, I asked, “Elena?”

She starts hyperventilating and I press the button next to her bed to call the nurses and doctor in case of emergency. Looking up at me with sad eyes, my heart breaks anew at the pained expression on her face. But then she says three words that changed everything.

“Who… who are you?”