He Chose His First Love. I Own His Empire. novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Third Floor

The hospital was ten minutes from the clinic, and Benton drove it in six.

He did not speak the whole way.

His hand was on the gearshift, and I put mine over it, and neither of us mentioned the car park.

The cardiology floor was on three.

Odile lay propped up in a narrow bed with a tube in her nose and a monitor at her shoulder.

Her face was very pale, and her eyes were open.

"There you are," she said. "Stop looking like that. I'm not dead."

"You were on the floor," Benton said.

"For a minute. I wanted the carpet."

The doctor, who had a tired face and a clipboard, spoke to us from the foot of the bed.

"A heart rhythm problem," she said. "It's stable now, and we'll keep her two nights. She needs quiet and no more shocks."

"Then she's in the wrong family," said Odile, and closed her eyes for a moment.

I took the chair at her side, and Benton stood on her other side with his hand on the rail.

"Who found you?" I asked.

"The housekeeper. At eleven." Odile's eyes opened. "Dalton had called at ten and asked what I was doing today. I thought it was strange, so I got up to look at the garden. He knew I'd be alone."

"Odile."

"I'm telling you what I saw."

The door opened.

Dalton came in first, with Adaline behind him and a thin man in a charcoal suit carrying a briefcase.

"Grandmother," Dalton said, "thank God."

He crossed the room with his hand out, and Benton moved so that he stood between the bed and his cousin.

"Don't," Benton said.

"Get out of my way."

"She's resting."

"I'm her grandson. I'm her heir."

"You're a visitor."

The thin man put the briefcase on the chair.

"Mrs. Aldrich," he said, to Odile, in a flat professional voice. "I'm so sorry about your condition. I'm the family's counsel. Given the circumstances, your grandson has filed an emergency petition for decision-making authority over your affairs."

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