Save Me - Chapter 4: Chapter 5
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Dahlia
I had been sitting on one of the uncomfortable waiting chairs ever since Jennifer took me to a waiting room, snatched the photos from my hands and told me to sit, wait. That was two hours ago. She had also told me that she'd see what she could do, but by now I was starting to have serious doubts. I was also experiencing severe anxiety.
As much as I had inherited my mother's glass-half-full outlook on life, a small part of me was a realist. There must have been a good reason why my mother had left her family, what if contacting them had detrimental consequences? And what made me think that they would even want to help her after not speaking for two and a half decades?
I was just about to get up from the chair and leave before I did some permanent damage when a voice called out my name, I swear my heart almost leapt out of my chest.
A tall gorgeous immaculately dressed woman stood before me, her glossed lips pulled into a tight smile. Was it company policy to only hire attractive people?
"Mr. Hall will see you now."
I followed her into an elevator, feeling like an ant standing next to her. I may have inherited my mother's optimism, but I definitely did not inherit her 5'10 height. It wasn't just the height; on the outside I looked nothing like my mother. While she was tall, with golden skin, wavy golden hair and green eyes, I was short, with pale freckled skin, my hair was a mass of uncontrollable brown curls and my eyes were brown.
People were usually shocked that we were related, more so when they learned we were mother and daughter. Mom used to say that I looked like my dad, but never elaborated. And because of the sad, hollow look she got whenever she talked about him, I refrained from pushing her for more details.
Though one attribute I did get from her was her smile and that was far more precious to me than anything else I could've physically inherited from her.
"My name is Rachel. I am Mr. Hall's personal assistant." The woman announced, breaking me out of my thoughts. How rude of me, I had not introduce myself.
"I'm-"
"The girl claiming to be Gilbert Hall's granddaughter." She cut me off sounding bored, like she met dozens of girls claiming to be Gilbert Hall's granddaughter every week. Alrighty then.
The elevator doors opened before I could think of a response. This floor was less busy than the lobby, but had the same interior design style. Wealthy and modern.
Rachel led me past the reception and some office doors. I had to take twice as many steps to keep up with her high heeled strides. Finally, we stopped in front of large frosted glass double-doors.
"This is Mr. Hall's office; he'll see you now." She walked away before I could respond.
My nerves were now in high gear and my heart was beating so fast that I was genuinely concerned it would burst clean through my ribcage. This was my mother's life on the line, no matter the consequences I still had to do this.
After taking a couple of deep breaths and saying a small prayer one last time, I pushed open the heavy doors and entered the office. If you could even call it that.
My eyes were immediately drawn to the wall made entirely of glass displaying a view of the city. After a moment of being awestruck by the view, my eyes wandered around the office. It was way too big to just be an office, there was even a fully stocked bar tucked away in one of the corners and a full living area consisting of white leather couches and a glass coffee table.
A loud throat clearing pulled my gaze towards the man seating behind a large desk made of steel and glass.
"Am I expected to talk to you from all the way across the room?" The tone was cold and inpatient.
I was momentarily confused because the man sitting at the table was not Gilbert Hall. But when I looked closer, my eyes widened. I remembered his face from a family picture I saw taken before Marie's death. I may not have recognized my mom in the picture because she had changed so drastically, but he, on the other hand, still had the same serious face and cold dark eyes almost identical to Gilbert Hall's.
Sitting behind the desk was Robert Hall, my mother's brother.
The way his cold, expressionless eyes eyed me up and down made the hairs at the back of my neck rise. I was a good at reading people, I had to be because mom was always determined to believe the best in people and nine times out of ten people took advantage of that. As much as I always tried to give people the benefit of a doubt, my gut was still good at sniffing out the bad intentions behind a friendly façade.
And right now, my gut was screaming for me to run,
"Won't you sit down?" His tone was polite, but it still sounded like a trap. Nevertheless, I forced my legs to move towards the desk and I took a seat on the white leather chair across from him.
"You look nothing like her." He said after a long uncomfortable pause. "Tell me why I should believe you?"
Twisting my hands on my lap I lifted my gaze to meet his. "Because I have no reason to lie." My voice came out shakier than I intended.
"Oh, but my pet, you have every reason to lie." He leaned back in his white, highbacked leather chair and gestured around the office. "You are claiming to share the same blood with one of the wealthiest families in this country, you have plenty reason to lie."
The way he called me 'my dear' made my skin crawl. But I had anticipated the suspicion. So, I pulled out my birth certificate from my tote bag and a few polaroid pictures of myself and mom at different ages and placed them on the glass desk with shaky hands.
He merely glanced at them before one corner of his thin lips pulled into a cruel smirk. "So that's why we couldn't find her, she took mothers middle name." He said more to himself as his eyes scanned my birth certificate. "Smart bitch."
The maliciousness behind his words made my blood boil. Anger was not an emotion I liked to feel, so I look deep breaths and counted to ten before speaking.
"A year ago, she was involved in a car accident. She survived but she suffered a traumatic brain injury that left her in a coma. She is on life support now, but if they do not keep her on it, she'll die before she can recover." Thankfully this time my sounded stronger.
After a moment of some intense eye contact, he finally said, "You want me to handle the medical bills."
I nodded, relieved that I did not have to say it. I was not above asking for help, but the smug look on his face made me feel reluctant to admit that I needed his money. Mom does not need you to be prideful right now, Dahlia.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his thin lips before he said, "I can easily pay for every treatment my dear sister needs."
The word 'sister' was spat out with poorly masked hatred. I immediately knew that he wouldn't be helping mom out of the kindness of his heart. I braced myself for what he would want in return, but nothing could have prepared me for what he said next.
"Of course, nothing is for free in this world, little girl." He stood from his chair and walked to the window, his hands behind his back. He had gained a significant amount of weight since his pre-teens, but had not gotten much taller.
"You see, the old bastard, my father, left me this empire to run and running it hasn't come without its...challenges." He turned to face me; eyes boring into mine. They were still cold and ruthless, but also caught something else within them. Fear.
"There's a merger I have been pursuing for some time, one that could resolve the aforementioned challenges. The only issue is, there are certain... conditions I must meet to ensure the deal's success."
I looked at him confused. I knew nothing about the corporate world so how did I fit into that equation.
"If you want me to help your mother, I want you to play a role that will ensure that success." I was starting to have a bad feeling about this. "Hathaway and Co are old fashioned in the way they run their business. They have a strong family value for some idiotic reason. They expressed that the only way they could trust me enough to merge our two companies is if I become part of their family. Before you wandered into my office, it was an impossible condition, seeing that he only has a son and I have no daughters... or sisters."
He returned to his seat while my heart dropped to my stomach because I knew what he was about to say next.
"But that condition doesn't seem so impossible anymore." His lips split into a bone chilling grin. "I will pay for all of your mother's expenses if and only if you agree to marry into the Hathaway family."
I had been sitting on one of the uncomfortable waiting chairs ever since Jennifer took me to a waiting room, snatched the photos from my hands and told me to sit, wait. That was two hours ago. She had also told me that she'd see what she could do, but by now I was starting to have serious doubts. I was also experiencing severe anxiety.
As much as I had inherited my mother's glass-half-full outlook on life, a small part of me was a realist. There must have been a good reason why my mother had left her family, what if contacting them had detrimental consequences? And what made me think that they would even want to help her after not speaking for two and a half decades?
I was just about to get up from the chair and leave before I did some permanent damage when a voice called out my name, I swear my heart almost leapt out of my chest.
A tall gorgeous immaculately dressed woman stood before me, her glossed lips pulled into a tight smile. Was it company policy to only hire attractive people?
"Mr. Hall will see you now."
I followed her into an elevator, feeling like an ant standing next to her. I may have inherited my mother's optimism, but I definitely did not inherit her 5'10 height. It wasn't just the height; on the outside I looked nothing like my mother. While she was tall, with golden skin, wavy golden hair and green eyes, I was short, with pale freckled skin, my hair was a mass of uncontrollable brown curls and my eyes were brown.
People were usually shocked that we were related, more so when they learned we were mother and daughter. Mom used to say that I looked like my dad, but never elaborated. And because of the sad, hollow look she got whenever she talked about him, I refrained from pushing her for more details.
Though one attribute I did get from her was her smile and that was far more precious to me than anything else I could've physically inherited from her.
"My name is Rachel. I am Mr. Hall's personal assistant." The woman announced, breaking me out of my thoughts. How rude of me, I had not introduce myself.
"I'm-"
"The girl claiming to be Gilbert Hall's granddaughter." She cut me off sounding bored, like she met dozens of girls claiming to be Gilbert Hall's granddaughter every week. Alrighty then.
The elevator doors opened before I could think of a response. This floor was less busy than the lobby, but had the same interior design style. Wealthy and modern.
Rachel led me past the reception and some office doors. I had to take twice as many steps to keep up with her high heeled strides. Finally, we stopped in front of large frosted glass double-doors.
"This is Mr. Hall's office; he'll see you now." She walked away before I could respond.
My nerves were now in high gear and my heart was beating so fast that I was genuinely concerned it would burst clean through my ribcage. This was my mother's life on the line, no matter the consequences I still had to do this.
After taking a couple of deep breaths and saying a small prayer one last time, I pushed open the heavy doors and entered the office. If you could even call it that.
My eyes were immediately drawn to the wall made entirely of glass displaying a view of the city. After a moment of being awestruck by the view, my eyes wandered around the office. It was way too big to just be an office, there was even a fully stocked bar tucked away in one of the corners and a full living area consisting of white leather couches and a glass coffee table.
A loud throat clearing pulled my gaze towards the man seating behind a large desk made of steel and glass.
"Am I expected to talk to you from all the way across the room?" The tone was cold and inpatient.
I was momentarily confused because the man sitting at the table was not Gilbert Hall. But when I looked closer, my eyes widened. I remembered his face from a family picture I saw taken before Marie's death. I may not have recognized my mom in the picture because she had changed so drastically, but he, on the other hand, still had the same serious face and cold dark eyes almost identical to Gilbert Hall's.
Sitting behind the desk was Robert Hall, my mother's brother.
The way his cold, expressionless eyes eyed me up and down made the hairs at the back of my neck rise. I was a good at reading people, I had to be because mom was always determined to believe the best in people and nine times out of ten people took advantage of that. As much as I always tried to give people the benefit of a doubt, my gut was still good at sniffing out the bad intentions behind a friendly façade.
And right now, my gut was screaming for me to run,
"Won't you sit down?" His tone was polite, but it still sounded like a trap. Nevertheless, I forced my legs to move towards the desk and I took a seat on the white leather chair across from him.
"You look nothing like her." He said after a long uncomfortable pause. "Tell me why I should believe you?"
Twisting my hands on my lap I lifted my gaze to meet his. "Because I have no reason to lie." My voice came out shakier than I intended.
"Oh, but my pet, you have every reason to lie." He leaned back in his white, highbacked leather chair and gestured around the office. "You are claiming to share the same blood with one of the wealthiest families in this country, you have plenty reason to lie."
The way he called me 'my dear' made my skin crawl. But I had anticipated the suspicion. So, I pulled out my birth certificate from my tote bag and a few polaroid pictures of myself and mom at different ages and placed them on the glass desk with shaky hands.
He merely glanced at them before one corner of his thin lips pulled into a cruel smirk. "So that's why we couldn't find her, she took mothers middle name." He said more to himself as his eyes scanned my birth certificate. "Smart bitch."
The maliciousness behind his words made my blood boil. Anger was not an emotion I liked to feel, so I look deep breaths and counted to ten before speaking.
"A year ago, she was involved in a car accident. She survived but she suffered a traumatic brain injury that left her in a coma. She is on life support now, but if they do not keep her on it, she'll die before she can recover." Thankfully this time my sounded stronger.
After a moment of some intense eye contact, he finally said, "You want me to handle the medical bills."
I nodded, relieved that I did not have to say it. I was not above asking for help, but the smug look on his face made me feel reluctant to admit that I needed his money. Mom does not need you to be prideful right now, Dahlia.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his thin lips before he said, "I can easily pay for every treatment my dear sister needs."
The word 'sister' was spat out with poorly masked hatred. I immediately knew that he wouldn't be helping mom out of the kindness of his heart. I braced myself for what he would want in return, but nothing could have prepared me for what he said next.
"Of course, nothing is for free in this world, little girl." He stood from his chair and walked to the window, his hands behind his back. He had gained a significant amount of weight since his pre-teens, but had not gotten much taller.
"You see, the old bastard, my father, left me this empire to run and running it hasn't come without its...challenges." He turned to face me; eyes boring into mine. They were still cold and ruthless, but also caught something else within them. Fear.
"There's a merger I have been pursuing for some time, one that could resolve the aforementioned challenges. The only issue is, there are certain... conditions I must meet to ensure the deal's success."
I looked at him confused. I knew nothing about the corporate world so how did I fit into that equation.
"If you want me to help your mother, I want you to play a role that will ensure that success." I was starting to have a bad feeling about this. "Hathaway and Co are old fashioned in the way they run their business. They have a strong family value for some idiotic reason. They expressed that the only way they could trust me enough to merge our two companies is if I become part of their family. Before you wandered into my office, it was an impossible condition, seeing that he only has a son and I have no daughters... or sisters."
He returned to his seat while my heart dropped to my stomach because I knew what he was about to say next.
"But that condition doesn't seem so impossible anymore." His lips split into a bone chilling grin. "I will pay for all of your mother's expenses if and only if you agree to marry into the Hathaway family."
End of Save Me Chapter 4. Continue reading Chapter 5 or return to Save Me book page.