The automatic doors of the hospital slid open with a faint hiss as Alexander burst through them, cradling an unconscious Camilla in his arms.
Her head lolled to one side, her skin ashen and clammy.
A team of doctors and nurses rushed towards him, wheeling a stretcher bed alongside them.
One of the doctors, a tall, balding man with a serious expression, barked out orders as they approached.
"Set her down gently, please," he said, gesturing towards the stretcher. "We need to get her stabilized as soon as possible."
Alexander nodded, his eyes wide with fear as he carefully lowered Camilla onto the bed.
The doctors and nurses swarmed around her, attaching monitors and IVs as they worked to assess her condition.
"What happened to her?" the doctor asked, turning to face Alexander. "I couldn't hear your exact words over the phone when you called."
"I don't know," Alexander's voice trembled with emotion. "All she had was a glass of water at my place. I went out to take a call, and when I came back, she just collapsed all of a sudden."
The doctor nodded with a grim face as he looked back at Camilla. "We'll do everything we can for her, but we need to get her into the ER right away."
He gestured his team towards the doors leading to the emergency room, and they wheeled Camila's stretcher through them, leaving Alexander standing alone in the sterile hospital hallway.
With his heart heavy with worry, Alexander watched them go, whispering repeatedly, "Oh God... please be okay.... please be okay."
His fingers ran nervously through his hair as his heart pounded heavily with fear for Camilla.
After standing there, lost in worry and deep thought for about six minutes, Alexander was jolted out of his reverie by the sound of his phone ringing for the fourth time.
He quickly fished it out of his pocket and answered without checking the caller ID. "Hello?"
"Finally!" Alessia's cheerful voice rang out. "I've been trying to reach you for a while now, and you haven't been answering your phone."
"Mrs. Kings?" Alexander asked, his tone cautious.
"Yes, dear. It's me. Didn't you save my contact the last time I called?"
Alexander mumbled, floundering for a moment. "I don't...I think so...I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm not exactly sure."
There was a long pause on the other end, the silence stretching uncomfortably before Alessia spoke again.
"You sound tense. Are you okay?" she asked, the cheerful tone in her voice disappearing.
"Actually, I was calling to ask for your help to get in touch with Camilla. I know she's not a child, but she promised her father she would call him when she got home, and it's almost midnight now." She continued in a bid to explain her reason for calling him.
"We've been trying to reach her, but she's not answering either of our calls, and it's not like her. I called her personal assistant, who also tried to reach her, but with no success."
Alessia's words hit Alexander like a ton of bricks, and his heart sank. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Sorry about what, dear?" Alessia asked, sensing something amiss in Alexander's tone.
Alexander's chest tightened as he spoke, "I'm at the hospital right now. Camilla collapsed at my place and I brought her here. She's in the emergency room."
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line, and Alessia took a moment to process the news before speaking. "Oh mio dio... la mia piccola...Il mio bambino รจ in ospedale, Fernando!(Oh my God...my baby...my baby is in the hospital, Fernando!)" she exclaimed to her husband before breaking down into sobs and abruptly ending the call.
Alexander, confused by her words and concerned, spoke into the silent phone, "Hello? Mrs. Kings?" But there was no response.
Twenty minutes later, the phone rang again and it was Alessia. "Hello, ma'am," Alexander answered cautiously.
"I apologize for hanging up earlier. Can you please tell me which hospital you brought Camilla to? We're on our way," Alessia said through sobs.
"Northwest Haven Medical Center," Alexander promptly answered, hoping to alleviate some of her fear.
"Thank you," Alessia replied before the call ended.
After hanging up with Alessia, Alexander sank down onto one of the hard steel chairs lining the hallway.
He buried his face in his hands, his mind racing with fear and worry.
Close to forty-five minutes later, two 2022 Mercedes-Benz GLS cars pulled up outside the hospital building.
The doors opened and a group of people rushed in, the noise drawing Alexander's attention.
He stood up, looking surprised by the number of people approaching him. It seemed like it was her entire family that came.
"Is she okay? What did the doctors say happened to her?" Alessia immediately asked, rushing forward, her voice trembling.
Alexander's voice quavered with emotion as he spoke. "I don't know yet, they haven't come since I brought her in," he replied.
Alessia's heart was heavy with worry as she stood by Alexander's side.
Her eyes brimmed with tears as she bit her lip anxiously.
Fernando, sensing her distress, wrapped his arm around her shoulders trying to offer her some comfort.
"What exactly happened that led to her being brought here?" Fernando asked, turning to Alexander in a stern and suspicious tone.
Shaking his head helplessly, Alexander replied, "I don't even understand. One minute she was fine and the next she just collapsed all of a sudden."
Alessia's voice quivered with fear. "Do you think it's something serious?" she asked, sounding vulnerable.
Her voice was barely above a whisper, as if afraid of drawing too much attention to herself, but her eyes held a raw fear that was impossible to ignore.
Fernando, seeing this, tried to offer some hope. "I'm sure it's nothing serious," he said, trying to reassure her.
As the group anxiously awaited news, Camilla's grandmother spoke up. "Oh pull yourself together, Dolcezza,(Sweetness)" she said, using her affectionate nickname for Alessia.
"I'm sure it's just the stress she's been under. When the doctor comes out, you'll see that there's nothing to worry about."
Meanwhile, Amara seemed to be preoccupied with her own thoughts.
Her eyes roamed over Alexander's strong, muscular figure, admiring the way his pajamas clung to him.
When he caught her gaze, she couldn't help but gasp.
"I'm sorry for staring," she said, catching everyone's attention. "I just can't believe I'm finally meeting you."
"My name is Amara, Camilla's older cousin. I'm also a jeweler who hopes to one day be a designer just like you." She said with a bright smile on her face.
Alexander simply stared at her, slightly taken aback by her forwardness in such a tense moment causing a hint of embarrassment to creep up Amara's cheeks as she tried to regain her composure.
"It's a pleasure to me-" she began to say, to regain her image but her sentence was cut short as the emergency room doors burst open, drawing everyone's attention to the solemn-faced doctor who emerged.
Alexander's voice shook with worry and fear as he spoke up, "Doctor Hamilton?" he asked, as all eyes were fixed on the physician, except for Amara's.
The sudden shift in focus made her feel out of place making her feel like she was invisible amidst the group of concerned faces, and her frustration grew as she struggled to hold her emotions in check.
She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself, but the feeling of being left out and unimportant lingered on.