YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FROM ME

SHE IS HURT

Axel’s P.O.V.

I was losing my mind by their blabbering and making excuses over excuses about why shouldn’t I pay attention to all those inconvincible clauses. Bella was sitting beside me and the thing was that she was holding my hand and keeping me at my place. I really wanted to strangle that stupid CEO of the company that I was currently dealing with.

Bella was also irritated by now. “Mr Sinclair… let me go straight now. I am not running with you in circles. Whatever you want to say or tell… they are no use for me… so .. either you will change the contract according to our terms that I already mentioned or we are done here. I have wasted so much of time with you and I am not interested in this deal anymore. I have plenty of other offers too. I guess our corporation ended here”, I finally blew up my mind and stood up with Bella.

“No.. please Mr Lockwood… listen to me for the last time…. Please give me one more chance to explain myself”, he was now running behind me but I was done with him now. Dad already had told me about Sinclair’s ulterior motive behind this project. He was trying to frame me. The last night an investigator hired by my father gave me his report on Sinclairs and I didn’t want to come here. Still, I came here only to listen to his side one last time and I was already regretting my decision.

“We have a meeting in the evening with Patrick’s. The PA of your father has already told me about the purpose of this meeting”, Bella informed me and I nodded. “What? Are you kidding me? You are now going to talk with Patrick’s”, Mr Sinclair blocked our way and almost yelled at me and Bella while looking at us in disbelief.

“I have wasted my six months with you Mr Sinclair and I think this is enough time that I have invested in you. Thanks for wasting our time and I am also free to talk with others, Am I right, Mr Sinclair?” I took a step forward towards him and he gulped hard while looking at me.

“Now.. please excuse us…. Unlike you, we have a lot of honest work to do”, I almost taunted at him and then passed him while grabbing Bella’s hand. I felt that he was about to approach Bella this time and I was right. Bella tripped over his leg and almost fell on me.

“Sorry.. I am really sorry… it’s just an accident”, Mr Sinclair tried to grab her hand but I pulled her in my arms and glared at him. “Are you okay?” I asked Bella who hissed and bit her lips. “I think.. I just twisted my ankle”, she told me in a low painful voice while gripping my arm to keep her balance. I immediately wrapped my hand around her torso and steadied her.

“Please… let me take care of her, Mr Lockwood”, Mr Sinclair again came forward with a fake concern on his face. I threw a disgusting glare at him. He used a sick trick to stop me and hurt Bella. I put her head on my chest and without saying anything entered into the lift with Bella in my arms.

“Goodbye, Mr Sinclair”, I threw the words on him with a bitter tone and closed the lift. I looked down and saw her standing on one foot while keeping the hurt ankle in the air. “I am going to carry you as soon as we walked out from the lift”, I told her to inform her. She didn’t like to be surprised or getting caught off guard. She nodded and then leaned down on me. In the past two years, we had this mutual understanding of trusting each other with physical touch.

I didn’t know when did she start grabbing my hand during any heated moments in between the meetings. It kept me cool and that was all I needed in those moments. Her simple act of showing that someone is with me helped me in taking the difficult and right decisions at the right moments. She was used to putting her head on my shoulder during our rides back to the office whenever she got tired. It was nothing but trust and I always maintained this trust between us.

I carried her in the bridal style and took her to the car that I hired here. I placed her at the back seat gently and then went to the other side to enter the car. I called the manager of the hotel where we were staying right now and asked him to call a doctor. She was in pain and had closed her eyes while leaning back on the backrest of the car.

I took her injured foot carefully and placed her on my lap. She didn’t say a thing but moved in a comfortable position. I removed her heels. Her ankle was now swollen and it infuriated me the most. “Bastard”, I cursed Mr Sinclair under my breath. “In fact, he is”, she said in a painful voice. I looked at her with concern. She had now opened her eyes. “What? Don’t give me this look. I am very much alive”, she joked and I just bit my lower lips.

“Sir”, she called me and I looked away. I heard her sigh aloud. “Axel”, I bit my lips furiously when she called me by my name. It was also a thing between us that she only called me by my name when I was low in spirit and right now… I was.

“Look at me”, she demanded this time and I looked at her. “I am okay.. trust me”, she tried to comfort me and I looked down on her swollen ankle. I gently massaged her foot to ease her pain and she again closed her eyes.

We reached the hotel and the driver helped me with our things while I carried her in the bridal style inside the hotel. “The doctor is here. I am sending him to your room, Sir”, the manager immediately approached me and I nodded. I thanked him and took the elevator. “Is it hurting much?” I asked her when she winced again.

“I… don’t know why… but now it’s hurting badly”, she had tears in her eyes and my anger was at cloud nine now. Mr Sinclair had taken me for granted because of my polite behaviour towards him. He didn’t know what I could do to him and his company and soon he would bear the consequences.

I lay her down on the couch and a server that had taken all our stuff from the driver put them down on the side table and brought a glass of water for her. “Can I have a sheet for her?” I requested him and he immediately went out. I put the cushions behind her back and placed her hurt ankle on a cushion gently. “Why this is hurting so much?” she asked in a choked voice and I felt that someone had squeezed my heart.

“It will be alright soon”, I stroked her head gently. The server came with the doctor and I stood up the armrest of the couch where I was sitting near her head. “Hi doctor, I am Axel Lockwood and this is my assistant, Bella Pierce. She has twisted her ankle or you can say that someone has tripped her. She is having so much pain right now”, I explained to him and he nodded.

“Hi, Mr Lockwood… I am Dr Nickelson. Let me examine her first”, he said and I stepped aside. He put down his bag on the table and then sat down near her foot. He gently moved her toe and she almost yelled in pain making me run to her and I grabbed her hand in mine. “It’s hurting so much”, she cried this time while tightening her grip on my arm.

“Can you please tell me exactly what happened?” the doctor asked her in a gentle tone and she bit her lips. “Well… uhhh…. He… he.. actually hit my toe by the front of … his shoemaking me trip”, she looked at me this time weakly. I was trying hard to keep my anger down. The doctor nodded and then examined her toe and ankle carefully.

“We need to do an X-Ray of her toe and ankle. Due to the swelling on her ankle, it is hard to say whether there is a fracture or not but her toe is fractured for sure”, he looked at me and I just stopped breathing for a second. “She will be alright in a few weeks but right now, you need to bring her to the hospital for further tests and investigations”, the doctor informed me. I was about to say something when she interrupted us. “Uhh… doctor.. can you please give me something to relieve this pain for now… we will be in the hospital in the late evening… we have a very important meeting in the evening”, I snapped my head towards her in disbelief. She was still crying and was thinking about the meeting.

“Bella”, I called her and she looked at me. “Try to understand, Sir… Mr Sinclair did this on purpose. He wanted to delay our meeting with Patrick’s”, she immediately clarified her thoughts and I looked at her for a few seconds. “You can’t move from your place, Ms Pierce until you have to go to the hospital otherwise the condition of your toe can go worse”, the doctor warned her and she nodded.

“I… uhhh… understand, doctor… it’s just a matter of few hours… just make this pain go away for a few hours and I will be in the hospital by the evening. I love myself”, she tried to smile and I shook my head. “I guess… I can help you with this… but only for a few hours… I will wait for you in the hospital”, the doctor told her in a warning tone and she immediately nodded.

The doctor looked at me and I sighed defeated. “Do as she says, doctor”, I said and he smiled mysteriously. I was not in the mood of arguing with her. She was in immense pain still the business was in her mind. I took out my phone while sitting on the armrest again and called my dad. The doctor asked the server for some items and also for a female server to help Bella.

I told my father what happened there and he was so furious but concerned about Bella. I told him that the doctor was treating her and also about her request and theory about delaying the investigations. He called her stubborn and asked me to take good care of her. He then asked me to cancel the meeting and I then told him about what Bella told me. He also agreed with me and then asked me to do what I wanted to do.

I looked down at her. She was now resting her head on my arm and had closed her eyes. The pain was clearly visible on her face now. The doctor started treating her ankle and toe and I wrapped my hand around her shoulder to make her comfortable.