"Yes, colt. I was on my way to the club when Hailey's call came through. I called you after that but you failed to answer your damn phone. I would have called your secretary but I remember she closes by 6:30 pm. I had no choice but to come back to the office to fetch you."
"But really, you should have been more responsible, Colt. Why in hell would you allow a pregnant woman to drive around herself? At night for that matter? You have access to all of Dad's drivers. Why can't you appoint one to Mia?"
"As a soon-to-be-married man, what the hell are you even still doing in the office by this time? I thought you promised Mia you were done with staying late at the office?!!!!"
"Anyways, I called Richard on my way here. He must be attending to Mia by now."
Words couldn't describe the emotions Colton was feeling inside of him. Never has he felt such a way in his life. He didn't even bother to challenge his younger brother because he knew he deserved every bit of scolding. He promised to protect Mia and their baby and he failed.
Colt finally found his phone under one of the files he was going through. He cursed loudly when he saw that his phone was in silent mode. He had 26 missed calls. They were from an unknown number, Hailey, Sammie, Caleb, and Theodore.
Colton ran his hand harshly through his hair. "I didn't know my phone was on Silent. You know how stubborn Mia is. She declined when I offered to get her a driver."
"I still spoke to her at 5 pm when she closed from work. She said she was going to see her Sister but won't stay long over there. She promised she was going to be home by 7:30."
"Because I know she wasn't at home, I decided to stay back to do some work. I was honestly planning on leaving the office by 7:30."
According to Caleb, after their father, Derik Royal, Colton was the next bravest person he ever knew. But hearing the vulnerability in his elder brother's voice as he spoke, and seeing the look of fear in Colton's eyes, Caleb felt bad. He figured out that he had overreacted.
Sighing, he ran a hand over his face and approached a pale-looking Colton. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you that way. I was obviously not thinking right. Please forgive me."
"The people you love most in the world are in the hospital fighting for their lives. I should be giving you a shoulder to lean on and assuring you that everything will be fine rather than coming up with different assumptions and blaming you. I'm really sorry Colt."
"It's okay, Caleb. You wouldn't have reacted that way if you didn't care so much about Mia and your niece or nephew."
"It's just that, nothing makes sense to me! Mia has always been careful. She wouldn't do anything to put herself and the baby in danger! I will never forgive myself if anything were to happen to her and the baby."
Caleb's heart went out to his elder brother as he saw him sniffle. He knew Colton was trying so bad to hold back tears, pretending to be strong on the outside when he was a mess on the inside.
Caleb gave Colton's shoulder a light squeeze. "Mia is a fighter and I'm sure the baby is too."
Colton nodded absentmindedly, reaching for his car keys on the table.
"I'll drive," Caleb said, collecting the keys from Colton.
Colton did not bother arguing with his younger brother.
They both exited his office.
...............
The two brothers got to the hospital in less than thirty minutes. Coming out of the elevator that led to the exclusive suite, Colton and Caleb saw Hailey standing outside the suite, discussing with two police officers. A male and a female who seem to be in their late forties.
"Colt, Thank Goodness you're here. I've been trying to reach you." Hailey approached Colton. She hugged him, crying in his chest. Before she even hugged him, he saw that her eyes were puffy which was evidence that she already cried so much before his arrival.
With strong faith, Colton returned her hug. Heaven knows he felt like crying too. But he knew he had to be strong for everyone. Most especially for Mia and the baby.
"How is she?" Colton asked the moment they pulled away.
Wiping her tears with the back of her palm, Hailey spoke with a cracked voice. "I don't know. The doctor is still attending to her. I didn't see her when she was brought in so I don't know how bad it is"
"You were the last person Mia spoke to before the accident so the hospital tried calling you but they couldn't get through to you. So they contacted me. I reached out to Caleb since you weren't answering your call."
"I'm so sorry, Hailey. You have no idea how much I hate myself right now. I didn't know my phone was on silent mode."
The police officers approached Colton, Hailey, and Caleb. They extended their sympathy towards the accident.
"What the fuck happened exactly? My Girlfriend is extremely careful. She wouldn't put herself in danger. Not when she's pregnant." Colton directed to the police officers.
"The officers just got here. They said the accident was planned." Hailey sniffed.
Colton cursed. Running his fingers through his already messy hair.
The Male officer was with a tab so he handed it to Colton to watch the video. "This was just a couple of seconds before the accident happened. We got the clip from the CCTV on that street. As you can see, Miss Mia suspected someone was following her so she was doing all that she could to escape being trailed. It's very clear that whoever it was had the intention of harming her. Then the accident happened when she collided with a moving truck."
"Because her attention was divided, with her trying to make sure whoever was following her did not catch up with her, it was too late for Miss Mia to avoid the accident."
The moment it happened, the person ran off but since the CCTV captured the number plate, the officers in charge of this case have started searching. We hope to find him or her soon.
The truck driver sustained injuries too but he was conscious. We've questioned him and he promised he had no hand in what happened."
The police officer swiped left and the picture of Mia's damaged car came into view.
Colton's heart fell. Not because of the extent to which her new car was damaged. He was just imagining how many injuries Mia must have suffered if the car was this damaged.
Before arriving at the hospital. He was a little hopeful that his woman and child would be safe but after seeing the picture, he didn't know what to think anymore."
With his eyes heavy with tears, He passed the tab back to the officer. At this point, Hailey was sobbing. Caleb gave Colton a light squeeze on the shoulder.
"I'm very sorry for everything, Mr. Royal. I know we are the last set of people you would want to talk to but we want to ask if there's anyone you suspect that wants to harm Miss Mia. It would really be of great help in our investigation."
"Mia is the kindest human I've ever known. Even if you kill her, she won't get revenge against you. That's how kind she can be. The only person that I suspect is in jail so I don't know the bastard behind all of these."
"It's true that I have a lot of jealous competitors in my line of business. People that would want to see me fail and take advantage of my weakness. I don't know who to suspect among them because there are many of them."
"Please, just find the evil person behind my woman's accident. He or she must die a painful death." Colton said with venom.
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Royal. We will let you know when we have any news."
The moment the police officers took their leave, Colton reached for his phone in the pocket and dialed Chad. He was on the phone with Chad for a few minutes, filling him in on all that had happened. Chad promised to investigate and get back to him as soon as he could.
It wasn't that Colton didn't trust the police to do their jobs. Chad knew everything about Colton's competitors and enemies in disguise so he felt that Chad might even be in a better position to find out who the culprit was.
Ending the call with Chad, Colton started pacing up and down the private suite area. Running his hand over his face and through his hair at intervals.
The more time the Doctors took in attending to Mia, the more Colton got worried.
Hailey was seated on the chair in the reception area and beside her was Caleb who was comforting her.
After a while, She rose to her feet and approached Colton.
"Is Tessie aware?" He asked her.
"No. Mia was on her way from Tessie's place when it happened. We are the only ones aware. Including Theo and Sammie. I had reached out to them when I couldn't get across to you. They will be here soon."
Colton nodded.
"Mia's a fighter! She will be fine. I'm sure the baby will be just like its mom. A fighter!"
Colton exhaled "I hope so! Because I don't know what to think anymore. I was a little hopeful before I arrived but after seeing those pictures and how long the doctors are taking in coming out to talk to us," He sighed again.
"I don't know Hailey, I really don't know! I feel so useless standing here, not being able to do anything when my woman and child are in there, fighting for their lives."
"Mia and I are already attached to the baby. It's going to be really painful if we lose him or her. I don't think we will be able to get over it. The baby is still too small to experience such trauma. I really hope both mother and child are safe." Colton said with tear-filled eyes. He had no idea how much longer he would be able to bottle up his emotions.
"I won't deny the fact that I'm scared. But I'm being hopeful. You should too." She gave Colton a light squeeze on his shoulder.
He nodded.
"I'm not going to spare whoever it is that is behind this!" Colt mumbled.
He was about to say something else but swallowed his words when he saw Richard come out of the emergency ward and approached them.
His heart started beating twice faster. Even though Colt wanted to know the situation so bad, he was also afraid of knowing what the reality was. But one thing was certain, He knew he was going to break down.
Colton, Hailey, and Caleb couldn't predict if Richard had brought good or bad news because the 42-year-old had a plain expression on his face.
Caleb rose to his feet and joined them where they all stood. He gave his elder brother's hand a light squeeze.
"Sorry, it took me so long to come out to you all. We were taking our time to attend to Miss Mia. She sustained a couple of injuries, including on her head so we had to carry out a brain scan."
Hailey's eyes got heavy with tears.
"Does that mean she's going to lose her memory?" Caleb asked with a heavy heart.
"The scan results showed that the injury on her head hadn't caused any serious damage. So I'm 98% sure that her memory is still intact. But we will see how she responds when she wakes up. No doubt she's going to wake up in pain because of the injuries sustained. She also had a sprained ankle. Her body has been through so much. She needs a lot of rest."
"What about the baby?" Hailey asked before she could stop herself. Even though she wasn't happy about Mia's condition, She was glad Mia was alive and was going to get better.
"About that, I'd like to see you in private, Colton. Doctor Almira is waiting for us in the examination room."
…………..