A Billionaire's Vows To His Donor Bride

CHAPTER 3 On The Headlines

NICHOLE DAVIS

I feel so blessed to have a man like Alexander beside me to hold my hand even in my darkest times. I am low-key feeling embarrassed by the way I look. I feel dirty even though it is understandable that I just had a successful surgery, but he is too clean and smells so good for me to even feel so comfortable for him to be with me right now, but he does not seem to mind. All he cares about is my well-being and that I get out of here stronger and healthier.

He has been here for almost three hours, taking care of me instead of the nurse. My parents even went home but they said they will be back soon. He looks worn-out and he yawns now and then, but his stubbornness refuses to go home and rest. How did I get so lucky to be with a man like him? I wish I could give him more than what he brings to me. It might not be tomorrow, but as soon as I am back on my feet again, I will make sure that this man always has a reason to come back home to me.

“Thank you, Mr. Walker,” I mutter and hold his hand.

He smiles and rubs the back of my hand with his thumb.

“Don’t thank me, soon-to-be Mrs. Walker. I would do anything to protect you and keep you alive. You matter to me,”

I like hearing these types of words from him. Alexander has been the full moon in my darkest nights, and I am at peace when I am with him.

“You matter to me too, which is why I want you to go home and rest. It is late now, and it was probably a long day for you,”

He weakly chuckles and sits back on his seat next to my bed.

“Want to get rid of me that much?” He jokes. “I am waiting for you to sleep before I can go. You should sleep so that I can leave,” What an emotional blackmail.

“Honestly, I cannot sleep yet. I desperately want to meet the person who donated a piece of their live to keep me alive. I was close to death, and it kills me that I am here feeling so much good and happy when no one is telling me how she is doing. I want to see them, please,” I make puppy eyes, hoping that he will soften up for me and understand where I am going with this. This is Alexander Walker after all; he is so hard to convince, but worth trying, though.

I do not understand why he would declare someone who had just saved my life as “no one important” because they are important, and they just saved my life despite risking their lives FOR ME!

“It can wait, Nichole. Why don’t you want to wait another day before you can meet her? She is also trying to recover where she is,” He spits, firmly and indifferently.

“So, it is a woman?” I ask.

“First thing tomorrow morning, I will be here.” He stands, showing off his tall figure that blocked the light on the ceiling from beaming in my eyes. “Make sure you sleep well, and please call me if you need anything; I’ll make sure to be her as soon as possible.” He says before he kisses my temple and takes his jacket before he leaves.

***

It has been four days now, and if anything, I am tired of being here in this hospital. Alexander makes it feel like I am home by bringing me flowers and food every time he comes, and my room is slowly turning into a garden, but I am tired now and all I need is my bed at home.

Alexander has not come today because he said his day is filled with meetings out of town, so I will be seeing him tomorrow. I miss him, but this also gives me time to think and have a moment to myself.

I sigh and turn my head to sleep with the side of my face, but the basket of fruits on the bedside table catches my attention. I ring the bell to summon a nurse into my room. It was like they were expecting me to summon them because in just a few seconds, one rushed inside my room as if they were being watched if they did their work right.

“Ma’am, are you alright?” She asks. I swear I felt a panic in her tone. I smile to assure her that I am well.

“I am fine, nurse. You always come so quickly to make sure that I am well, and I am grateful for that,” I say.

“Oh, well,” She shyly smiles and looks down. “I am just doing my job, Ms. Davis,”

“But you even go out of your comfort zone to make sure that I am comfortable. Which is why I want to give you this; you can share with everyone if you like, but I want to give this to you as a thanks,”

“It is not a hard job, really, but thank you so much. You are kind,” She says, accepting the basket on the side table.

“Oh, can I ask for one last favour? Can you please take me to the woman who saved my life? I want to thank her,”

“That is not a problem. Let me get the wheelchair so that we can go,”

By her response, this tells me that Alexander did not leave any instructions to her, or she does not know that I never met my saviour.

***

I cannot believe that the person who saved my life is in a government ward but not in a private ward like me. I mean, it is not like Alexander could not afford for her to be in a private ward; that man is a billionaire, so it baffles me to find myself outside a ward like this, shared by three to five patients with different reasons that landed them here.

The nurse wheels me in and takes me to where her bed is. Everyone in here is sleeping, and so is the woman I am here to see.

“Here she is,” The nurse announces. I smile and nod my head.

“Thank you. You can leave me for now; I will see myself from here, thank you,” I say, looking around this cold room.

I read her name on the name tag on her hand, and she has a beautiful name — Olivia Carter. Compared to me, she looks like she has not recovered from the surgery. It looks like something went wrong with her and she is struggling to recover. She looks weak, cold, and unattended to.

Her eyes slowly open before they land on me. I nervously smile and ask,

“Why wouldn’t Alexander let me come and see you?” I ask, and as much as she tried to answer me, she felt weak, and tears ran out of her eyes.

Maybe I shouldn’t have come so soon. This is probably why Alexander didn’t want me to come.

“It is okay; you don’t have to say anything. I just wanted to come here and personally thank the person who saved my life, so thank you. I hope you recover well soon,” I say. She seems to be heavily drugged and can hardly keep her eyes open. I guess I should leave, but before I turn with the wheelchair to see myself out, but something under her pillow is peaking out, looking like it will fall, so I turn to take it out completely so that I can put it somewhere safe for her.

The bold words catch my eyes first.

MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE

“Oh, you are married?” I ask, but that is before I could read the rest of the certificate and my heart shutters like a glass to my stomach, killing me softly. “You… you are married to Alexander?” In a low tone, I ask.

With my trembling hands, I take my phone on my lap and open the camera before I snap the marriage certificate.

***

OLIVIA CARTER

In times like these, I would rather have a peaceful morning than a loud one. It has been a hard week for me, and all I want to do is go back home and sleep in my bed, but it does not look like I will recover any time soon with people like Alexander standing next to my bed, looking at me with hostile in his eyes. I have done so much for this man. I suffered an infection from the surgery because of him, but I am getting so much better, and the least I need from him is his presence full of anger. It is still early in the morning, and I just woke up for crying out loud.

“Hi,” I say, breaking the evil eyes off him, only to be thrown with an entertainment magazine on my face. I sigh, sitting up right on the bed despite the pain I am enduring on my right side’s upper back, down to my abdomen where the surgery was done for the kidney transplant.

I guess saving a life means nothing nowadays.

“What is this?” I ask.

“You did this, didn’t you? What did you want to gain from this, huh?” He barks, still not answering my question.

I take my time to see what is on the magazine, and to my surprise, my marriage certificate is making headlines on the front page with an attractive headline, “ALEXANDER WALKER SECRETLY MARRIED?”

“I didn’t do it, Alex,” I say, breathlessly. I feel like explaining, but what am I even going to explain because I do not know how it happened. Gosh, this is what an intimidating man will make you feel. Scared, petty, and helpless. They will make you feel like you need to apologise for how they hurt you.

“Only you and I knew about this, so if it was not you, then who!?” His voice hitches. “This is a woman’s hand and that is definitely the hospital’s gown. That is the same floor, so make it clear to me and make me understand how this is not you?”

I look at how the photo was taken, and everything he says is true, but I do not know how this happened. I was heavily medicated last night, so everything is blur.

“It is really not me; please believe me. My phone has been off for a couple of days. I was not well, and the infection had me taking heavy medication, so I slept a lot and even if I was awake, I do not remember anything that happened last night. I did not do it,”

“Are you seriously going to lie to me using your health as an excuse? That is quite flattering, you should have been an actor instead,” I do not take accusations lightly, and as weak as I am right now, I will do anything to clear my name.

I drag myself out of bed, wincing through the pain and look at him.

“It wasn’t me. Let me accompany you to the nurse that was on duty last night so that you can find out for yourself,”

Staring in each other’s eyes, I notice the ice in his eyes breaking, I almost saw sincerity in them. I hope he can see through me that I am telling the truth. I hope his silence means that he is not finding me guilty.

Without saying anything, he turns and leaves. I breathe out the air I didn’t know I was holding. Before I could turn to make my way to the bathroom, a woman walks into the room and asks,

“Are you Olivia?”

“I am Olivia. How can I help you?” I ask.

“You are such a vicious woman. We could have found another donor, but seeing how desperate Alexander was, you forced him to marry you? Have you got no shame?” She said in a sharp tongue. I believe this is Nichole’s mother.

I looked at her, stunned. No one thanked me for taking such a big risk, but all they do is throw stones at me. I don’t deserve this. Just as I was bout to answer her, she instantly lays her hands on my abdomen, pushing me against the bed. I cry and whimper in agony. My wounds are very fresh because I had to be operated again for the infection to be removed. I can feel blood coming out instantly on my operation.