BILLIONAIRE Ex-Wife
Billionaire Ex-Wife – Episode 11
[ Fatal Attraction…. ]
Tags; Marriage, Love, Billionaire, Hate, Suspension.
Theme; Billionaire Love
©Authoress Funmhi Library
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The phone call came late that night. The hospital number flashed on James’ mobile. He scrambled out of bed and ran through the room in darkness, searching for his phone.
When he saw who was calling, he picked up straight away. The person at the end of the phone shrieked as he answered, and he heard parts of a conversation the nurse was having with someone on the other end of the line.
“Oh God, he answered. I don’t want to tell him. Oh my God, what if he thinks it’s my fault and shouts at me or sues me? I can’t speak,” the nurse’s muffled voice was soft yet audible.
“What is it? Why are you calling me?” James all but yelled down the phone.
“Um, yes… you see, Mr. Saunders, you have to come and, um, see your wife’s doctor straight away. There has been an, um, development.”
“What kind? A good one, I hope,” he snapped, regretting it instantly. If Katherine heard how he was speaking to this girl, she would give him an earful.
“Um… a development,” the nurse stumbled over her words before making an excuse and hanging up.
James sighed, running his hands through his hair. This was happening so quickly. He had only just gotten her back. What was so important that he needed to go to the hospital now?
He threw on his business suit and let Elena know where he was going. Before leaving, he went into Ella’s room and left a kiss on her forehead. She and Katherine were his life now. What would he do if something were to happen to Ella too?
He left the house in his black Bentley. He didn’t always have a personal driver, but sometimes it came in useful. Elena practically forced him to take his driver, worried he would be panicking so much that he himself would be injured.
He had given in and now sat in the back seat, rubbing his sweaty palms on his trouser leg, his mind running wild. Memories of how he met his beautiful wife and their first marriage flooded him, and he knew that when she was gone, there would be an irreplaceable hole in his heart.
He jumped out of the car before it had fully stopped and ran into the hospital. He went straight to the wing Katherine was on and found a nervous-looking nurse waiting for him.
When she saw him, she went pale and started fidgeting. “Um, sir, I will g-get the d-doctor now,” she stuttered before running off.
James sat in front of Katherine’s room. He was desperate to know she was okay. But what if she wasn’t? He had offered to get her one of the best doctors in the world—a cancer specialist. They would have experimented with new, innovative treatments.
But Katherine had point-blank refused to even consider the idea, saying she had grown to accept that this was the path she was meant to take—that death was her fate—and she had no choice but to accept it. She hoped he could someday too.
Maybe he should have tried harder to get her to listen, to understand there might be a way. But the false hope, if the new doctor couldn’t do anything, would destroy her even more. He knew that himself. Her last days should be carefree and spent with the people she loved.
The doctor rounded the corner, pulling James away from his train of thought.
“Good evening, Mr. Saunders. I am afraid to tell you that there has been a tragic development in Katherine’s illness. She has suffered an attack during the night, and as her body’s way of defence, she has therefore gone into a self-induced coma,” the doctor explained slowly to James.
His heart rate increased as the doctor kept talking, and he couldn’t hold his tears in. He was scared for Katherine.
The doctor left after shaking his hand, and James tried to hold himself together. He needed to speak to someone. He didn’t want to make this call, but it was essential.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked through his never-ending list of contacts before he found the one he was looking for. He dialled the number, breathing in deeply and putting it to his ear.
It was late. He wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t pick up. After the fourth ring, she did.
“Hello?” Her smooth, silky voice ran down the receiver, and James felt the familiar feeling of calmness and love wash over him, hearing her voice for the first time in so long.
“Mum?” he breathed.
He heard her gasp. He wasn’t surprised she was shocked. The last time they had spoken, she was outraged by the way he treated Katherine. She told him to wise up, grow a set, and be a man. They hadn’t spoken since.
“James, honey, is that you?” she asked. She sounded like she was in disbelief.
“Yes, Mum, it is me,” he spoke a little louder, more audible this time.
“Oh, honey, it’s been years. Why haven’t you called me or picked up my calls?” She sounded choked up. Was she crying?
“I was being stubborn and trying to sort myself out. I was ashamed of who I’d become, so I pushed you away. I didn’t want you seeing me a mess,” he replied, emotion evident in his voice.
“What’s wrong, honey? You sound upset.” Her silky voice made him feel better. It always had.
“Mum, Katherine has cancer, a child, we are still married, and now she’s in a coma,” he let out the story, leaving out details. She gasped.
“Oh my God. I’m happy for you both, and you couldn’t have told me sooner. I have a grandchild? Holy shit, I’m old,” James chuckled at his mother. She always made light of a situation.
“But Mum, there’s something else I need your help with,” he breathed.
“No problem, honey. Tell me what you need.”
“Mum, I need help looking after Ella. The doctor called me down to the hospital… Katherine has gone into a self-induced coma. They don’t think she is going to wake up,” James choked on his last few words, pain shooting through his heart.
His mother could only say two words.
“Holy. Shit.”
The next few days went slowly. James found himself lost in the ocean of his own thoughts more than once, his mind initiating its own survival mode—think of anything and everything but Katherine.
So instead, he sat at his desk on his laptop, the browser open and the internet search bar filled. Filled with questions. Questions he didn’t know the answers to. Questions he never had the courage to ask anyone. Questions he asked himself on a daily basis.
The first thing he typed in was on Friday night. Ella was in bed sleeping, and he was alone.
What do fish drink?
The Google page was filled with results, and he found his answer.
‘Fish don’t drink water; it is absorbed through their scales and gills.’
He asked the web on Saturday, Are chickens dinosaurs? The results he got were fascinating.
‘Chickens are descendants of dinosaurs, specifically the T-Rex. The protein complex has been scientifically proven to be similar.’
He spent the next few weeks asking questions and always got his answers.
At the start, Elena thought he was missing Katherine and didn’t know what to do with himself, but after two weeks, it didn’t seem a likely reason. Then she considered maybe he was asking these things because he genuinely wanted to know—maybe research for the business. But after a month, the facial hair that was once stubble was out of control, and Elena had come face to face with the real reason. His browser history was left open, and in a fit of worry, she couldn’t not look.
“How to cure cancer.” The most recent search.
She shook her head, tears lining her eyes. “This man needs to look after himself,” she whispered to herself. She had only ever seen him this torn one other time. It went on for months—the day Katherine left. Now she was to leave again.
Elena went to bed with a heavy heart, worried for a man she cared for like a son and heartbroken over a fate chosen for a woman who was worth more than gold to her.
When Elena woke up the next morning, she was surprised to find James awake already. For the first time in over a month, he was up early, freshly shaved and dressed in an Armani suit matched with a pair of leather shoes. She was even more surprised when he smiled at her brightly and enveloped her in his big arms. The strong scent of his personally made cologne was more than welcome.
He sat with Ella and ate his breakfast, and Elena could tell she wasn’t the only one who was happy to see James up and out of bed early. Ella’s smile was bright and cheerful that morning, and she was especially chatty, talking about what she was learning at school and what her friends talked to her about.
Elena felt the worry lift off her shoulders. Maybe James would be okay.
“Right then, I must get to work. I have a mountain of papers waiting for me and a special appointment at half nine,” James smiled, giving Ella a kiss on the cheek and waving goodbye to Elena as he grabbed his briefcase and hurried out to his car.
Elena let herself sink into the dining room chair and relax as Ella finished her breakfast. She couldn’t help the feeling that James was up to something.
James sat in the meeting room opposite five people—well-trained doctors and specialists who charged a lot of money. There were nine scientists in the room, each with their own research to present. James, all he had was his money, which he was well aware of. He couldn’t give life-changing surgery to make Katherine better. He couldn’t develop a cure—but he had money to fund the development of one.
It had to work. It had to.
Three of the scientists sat squabbling with each other over some theory—Ohm’s law, perhaps? No, that was physics.
“Guys, shut the fuck up,” James finally interrupted the bickering, impatient and fully aware that they were wasting time.
“You idiots call yourselves smart—geniuses and specialists. Well, you must be fucking special needs because people fork money into charities trying to find a cure for this bitch of an illness, and you twits are no further forward in finding the treatment. So we are all here to work together to find a cure, and I’m willing to pay millions for one just to keep my beautiful wife breathing. So you fuckfruits better not fuck this shit up, because if you do, I will ruin you all.”
They sat staring at James. Some paled, some opened their mouths as if they had something to say, but seeing the death glare James wore, they decided against arguing.
“Now you have two days, so get to it.”
With that announcement, James stood and walked out. He had somewhere to be.
The hospital was quiet; visiting hours hadn’t started yet, but James caused so much of a fuss that the nurses relented and gave him access to Katherine’s room 24/7.
As he walked into the room, his heart clenched. Katherine’s skin had lost the glow it once had. She was thinner than before; bones were becoming more visible. Her hair was an unruly mess from the lack of care, and her arms had tubes and wires coming out, connected to various machines. James made a point to visit once a day, but that didn’t make seeing Katherine’s body deteriorate any easier. It felt like each time she looked worse than the last.
He pulled up a chair, resting it against the wall, and sat beside Katherine, holding her hand between his.
“Hi, baby. I contacted some people, and they’re going to make you better. Ella is getting more like you every day. She said her friend Bianca was rude to her, so she told her that you said to tell her she was a troll anyway. Then I got a phone call from the school because the girl hit Ella, and Ella hit her back and pinned her to the ground. She might only be turning six in a few weeks, but she is a firecracker.
I miss you, baby. I miss your smile and your laugh. I know you can hear me… I hope you can hear me. Wake up soon. I love you.”
James sat the rest of the evening holding her hand, hoping and willing Katherine to wake up.
