Arranged Love – Episode 15

Adrian’s POV……

“I’ll be on my way,” I said and hung up the phone. “Lorenzo. Get the car ready. Valeria is in the Plaza, New York Hospital,” I told him and got up from my seat. “Yes sir,” he said and took his phone out to call my driver.

“Adrian wait!”

I turned around to see Mariah who grabbed onto my arm. “What about me?” she asked with plead. “What about you?” I asked her as I tried to get my arm out of her grip. “You belong to me Adrian. Not her,” she told me.

Finally, I managed to get her to let go of my arm. “I don’t belong to anyone but my wife Mariah. To be honest, my family was right about you. You are not the girl who is making me happy. You were only a girl who was satisfying my needs until a couple years ago. I realized that I had been a jerk to my wife,” I yelled at her.

Mariah looked stunned at my outburst. “Valeria is the only girl for me the more I think about it. She is selfless, innocent, and loyal. She had been trying to make this marriage work. Me? I had been pushing her away. Making her feel unwanted. I hate to think that she wants nothing to do with me once I see her,” I said to her.

Mariah’s tears flowed down her face. “Now, I may never get a chance to be with my wife,” I told her. “Mr. Minetti.” I turned my head to see Lorenzo. “Your car is ready,” he told me. Quickly, I walked out of the office without looking at Mariah who probably stood motionless on the floor.

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“We are almost there sir.”

“Drive faster,” I said impatiently. I was a nervous wreck. As minutes ticked by, many thoughts came hoping in my head. Most of the thoughts were her death. I didn’t want to think about her dying without me saying anything to her.

“We are here sir.”

Immediately, I opened the door and got out of the car without Lorenzo to open the door for me. I walked into the emergency unit and walked to the first person who I saw at the front desk. The woman was on the computer.

“Excuse me. I’m Adrian Minetti. I am here to see my wife Valeria.” The woman looked up at me. “Hello Mr. Minetti. I’m Nurse Charlotte. I was expecting you,” she told me formally. My patience was flowing thin.

“Where is my wife?” I asked her. She typed on the keyboard. “She is still in surgery,” she told me. “For how long?” I asked her. “For a good hour,” she told me. {How much more do they need to operate on her?} I run a hand through my hair.

“I will need you to fill out her paperwork for me please,” she said and gave me the clipboard. I took the clipboard and walked into the waiting room. I took a seat closest to the operating room. Lorenzo sat besides me.

As I looked at the questions, I realized that I couldn’t really fill out much of her information. What is her blood type? How the hell am I suppose to know?! The questions made me realize how little I knew about my wife.

I filled out much of the information as I could.

“Are you Adrian Minetti?”

I looked up from the clipboard to see a doctor in his scrubs. Some blood was on him. Is that Valeria’s blood? ” Yes. I’m Adrian Minetti,” I told him and stood up from my seat. The doctor gave me a nod. “I’m Dr. Seeley. I am one of the few doctors who is operating on your wife,” he told me.

She needs that many doctors to operate on her? My face began to feel pale. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked with concern. Dr. Seeley let out a had breath. “She has suffered many injures. She has internal bleeding, broken ribs, fractures on arm and leg on the right side of her body, a concussion, and a spinal injury. She may not be able to walk,” he told me.

I felt my energy drain from my body. There was one question that I dreaded to ask but, I decided to ask anyways. “Will she have amnesia?” I asked him. He let out a hard breath. “That is a possibility consideration the extent of the concussion,” he told me.

“When will she be out?” I asked him. “That is hard to say. Right now, I just finished stopping the internal bleeding. The other doctors are working on her ribs right now,” he told me. I gave him a nod. “Thank you,” I said to him.

“You are very welcome,” he said and walked back inside the operating room. I sat in my seat with a thud. My legs felt like they couldn’t support my body weight. “Mr. Minetti. Don’t you think that you should call your family?” I heard Lorenzo ask me.

“Yeah. Your right,” I said and picked up my phone. I decided to call Matthew first since he knew Valeria.

“Hello, This is Matthew.” “Hey Matthew. It’s me Adrian,” I said. “You don’t sound like yourself. What’s wrong?” he asked me. “Valeria has been in an accident. It’s really bad,” I said and held my head with my arm as I leaned forward.

“Vera’s in the hospital? How bad are the injuries?” he asked me. How bad? “Enough that she may die on the operating table,” I told him. “I’m on my way with Angela,” he told me. “Can you do me a favor. Can you call grandpa and father for me. I don’t I can tell them,” I said honestly.

“Alright. See you there,” he said and hung up. Next, I called Stephen. Stephen was the only family member who didn’t meet Valeria yet. Plus, he was the only member of the family who didn’t marry yet.

“Hello Stephen Minetti. How may I help you?” he said. “You can help me by coming to Plaza New York Hospital to see your sister in law before she possibly passed away,” I told him. “Something happened?” he asked me.

“Just come here. Matthew and the others are coming over,” I told him. I didn’t feel like explaining myself again. “Alright. I’ll get going there,” he said and hung up the phone. I put my phone in my pocket and tried to hold myself together.

“God. Please don’t take her from me.”

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It had been a few hours since I received updates on the operation. Dr. Seeley went back into the operation room a few minutes ago. He told me that Valeria’s heart had stopped two times on the operation table. Right now, they were trying to finish things up.

“Here’s some coffee sir.”

I looked up and received the coffee from Lorenzo. “Thank you,” I told him and took a sip. Just what I need . “Also, I have cancelled your meetings with Mr. Bradley about the expansion in the California Napa location,” he told me.

“Thanks Lorenzo,” I and took another sip of the coffee. “Have you thought about what you are going to say to your family?” he asked me. “About what? The accident?” I said to him. “I mean is…about your affair with Mariah,” he asked me.

He had to remind me. “Now that you are not going to be involved with her, she may go to the press and ruin the business sir,” he said to me. I didn’t even think about that. I wiped my face after realizing that he was right.

“If either of us took her, she could still ruin our reputation and our business,” he told me. I didn’t think of that. “What do we do?” I asked him. “Is she in a relationship with anyone?” he asked me.

I had heard rumors about her being with other men but, I had always rejected them. “Lorenzo. I want you to find out if she is in a relationship or anyone,” I said to him. “Are you planning to blackmail her on a deal?” he asked me.

“That depends on what we find and make sure there is hard evidence,” I told him. If she does have a man, there is a chance that she may be using me. “Yes sir,” he said and walked down the hallway. I need her out of my life permanently.

“I wonder what she was doing outside at night?” Angela wondered. As I sat in my seat, I thought of something. Her phone.

I got up and walked to a nurse behind the counter. “Do you happen to know if my wife had her phone with her at the time of the accident?” I asked. “I believe that she did. Would you like me to get it for you?” she asked.

“That would be great. Thank you.” She got up from her seat and walked away. “Why her phone?” Angela asked me. “It might tell us who she was with that night,” Matthew told her. “She doesn’t seem like a person to cheat,” Angela told me.

Valeria looks to innocent for that.

The nurse returned with her cellphone. It was a different one from what I had given her. “This is her phone?” I asked. “It was with her other things,” the nurse told me. I gave her a nod. “Thank you,” I said and took her phone.

“If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask,” the nurse said to me and back to her desk. I looked through Valeria’s phone for any clues. Good thing she didn’t set a passcode on her phone . I looked at her text messages to find something interesting.

Victor: Hey u busy?

Vera: No. Just relaxing. U?

Victor: Neal + I got our new building yesterday. U want to c?

Vera: Of course! Just send me address + Ill b there.

Who’s Victor?

My stomach twist from the though that she might have had a affair. “Find anything?” Matthew asked me. “She had been texting with a guy named Victor. He said something about a new building and she was going to go there,” I said to him.

“Maybe you should call him?” Angela said to me. I gave her a nod and started to call Victor with Valeria’s phone.

Ring….Ring…..

“Hello.”

“Hello. Is this Victor?” I asked. “Yes. It is. Are you Vera’s husband?” Victor asked me. He knows about me.} ” Yes this is,” I said to him. “Nice to hear her husband for the first time in four years. How may I help you,” he asked me.

I told him what had happened to Vera. He sounded very shocked. “We were wondering why she was out late at night,” I said to him. “My fiancee Neal and I were planning to open a restaurantI so we invited her to come to check the place out,” he explained to me.

He has a fiancee…that’s a guy? Relief flowed through my body. She’s not having an affair with him. “We had some Chinese for for dinner and she left for home at around 9:15 pm. We joked that she needed to focus on her studies but, she was already done with her final papers. She just needed to turn them in before she graduates,” he told me.

She was in school too? Valeria was at least keeping herself occupied with other things. “Thank you Victor for telling me,” I told him.

“No problem. Please call or text to let me know how she is doing,” he said to me “Will do. Bye,” I said and hung up. “What did the guy say?” Matthew said. “She hung out at her friend’s new building. She had dinner there and left for home late,,” I explained to him as I looked through her phone.

In her phone, I saw pictures of her with two guys. I had a feeling that it was her friends Victor and Neal. Some pictures were selfies and other pictures of things that she saw around New York. Some photos showed her in the classroom studying.

She is suppose to graduate soon…

In all the pictures, she didn’t look like the girl who I married four years ago. Her hair was shorter. She didn’t wear her plastic glasses. She didn’t wear her usual clothing. Her clothes looked tight that her curves showed in all the right places. She wasn’t the little girl anymore.

She was a beautiful goddess.

Ping……

I turned to the door and watched them open.

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I just finished this chapter. I had the motivation to write. Once you comment.