We arrived at the mansion before the ambulance. As soon as Victor stopped the car, I ran inside.Alex was still lying on the living room floor. Benson had covered him with a light throw to keep him warm and stood nearby wringing his hands.“How is he?” I asked and rushed to kneel next to Alex.“His breathing is very shallow, but his heart is still beating,” Benson replied. “The ambulance should be here any minute to take him to the hospital.”Victor entered the room and kneeled beside me. He put an arm around my shoulders as I held Alex‘s hand.“I love you, Father,” I told Alex.“I can’t lose you yet. Please, stay with me.”But Alex didn’t answer me or move. He was pale and barely breathing.Tears ran down my face as I leaned against Victor to avoid falling over.Even though I knew Alex was ill, it was a shock to see him lying on the floor like this. I couldn’t imagine my life without him now. He couldn’t die yet.Jennifer led the ambulance crew into the room. I stood between her and V
I picked up the landline receiver in the upstairs hallway. “Hello. This is Daisy Wilson. How is my father?”My heart pounded as I waited for the answer.“Stay calm, Daisy,” Diana told me. “No matter what, you will be okay, and you won’t be alone.”Victor caught up with me and stood by my side. “How is he?”I looked up at him with tears rolling down my cheeks as I waited for the doctor to speak.“Thank you, doctor,” I said into the phone before hanging up. It took me a moment before I could speak again.“Daisy. What happened?” Victor asked.“Alex woke up,” I told him. “He is in a natural sleep now. He’s still very ill. But he is doing better than they expected. We can see him tomorrow.”“That’s good news,” Victor said and hugged me.“I must tell the servants,” I said. “They love my father too.”I saw Benson smile for the first time when I told him Alex was out of immediate danger.“That’s wonderful news,” he said. “Thank you for letting me know. The cook prepared dinner if you and Mr.
Unable to stand the suspense, Victor and I left the party and returned to the mansion.After hurrying inside, we found Alex still awake and talking to Benson. He looked tired and surprised to see us.“You didn’t have to hurry home right away,” Alex scolded. “I sleep off and on, both day and night. I’m just as likely to be awake at midnight as I am at nine o’clock.”“We thought you wanted to speak to us about something important,” Victor said.“It is important,” Alex replied. “But there's nothing that must be done tonight.”“We’re here now.” I sat next to the bed and took Alex’s hand. “Please tell us what’s on your mind.”Alex appeared to be exhausted, and his pale complexion worried me. Yet, determination shone bright in his eyes. I knew he wouldn’t rest until he spoke to us and was satisfied.Alex took a shaky breath and tried to sit up. “Daisy needs to become fully acquainted with Wilson, Inc. I want her trained to take over for me as soon as possible.”“Victor has already started t
“This isn’t Alex’s office building,” I told Victor as he pulled into a strange parking garage.He picked me up after breakfast this morning after promising me a surprise.Where was he taking me?He parked in an underground parking garage that looked much like the one at Wilson, Inc’s headquarters and helped me out of the car.“This isn’t another one of Alex’s buildings, is it?” I asked before stepping onto an elevator.“Nope.” Victor grinned. “This is the building where I work. It’s the offices of Klein Enterprises.”“Wow! It’s as big as Alex’s building,” I said as the elevator zoomed to the top floor. “I’m glad you’re showing me where you work, but why are we here?”“I’m interviewing the COO of Daley’s Electronics, and I wanted you to sit in on the meeting,” Victor replied.“What’s a COO?”“Chief Operating Officer,” Victor explained. “They’re sometimes called the vice president of a company. They’re the second in command and work closely with supervisors and department heads during d
After Alex fell asleep, I still hadn’t heard from Victor, so I texted him. There was no way I could sleep tonight until I spoke to him.Could those men really stop me from running the company?I couldn’t sit still, so I left Alex’s bedroom to walk the halls of the mansion.I ended up in the ballroom, looking at the portraits of my ancestors that hung in gilded frames in a long row across one wall.I stopped in front of the portrait of my great-grandfather, Blake Colby Wilson.Earlier, Alex had compared me to this serious, professional-looking man who was his grandfather.He had to be teasing. How could I fill the shoes of this man?Maybe those men from the Board of Directors were right about me. But even if I could run the business, they may not let me try because I’m a young woman.I walked across the room to the portrait of my parents and looked up at my mother’s face.From everything I’ve been told about her, she was more than beautiful. She was caring, intelligent, and incredibly
After a decent night’s sleep, I climbed out of bed and got ready for school. Jennifer entered my room in time to help me with my hair and makeup.“There’s some kind of a ruckus outside,” she told me as she dried my hair with a round brush.“What do you mean?”“It sounds like a bunch of voices just outside the front door,” she replied. “Benson went out to deal with it, and he didn’t look happy.”“I better go down and see what’s going on,” I said.Jennifer rushed to get me ready to leave for school, and I went downstairs.As I was crossing the foyer, I heard the sound of many voices shouting questions at the same time outside the mansion’s front entrance.Panic raced through me. I had heard that sound once before when Victor had to use his Alpha voice to save me from being crushed outside the school.It was the sound of dozens of reporters shouting questions.Why were they here? Victor released a statement when Alex was in the hospital and another when he came home. What would make them
When the school day was over, I couldn’t leave because the reporters had returned.I watched them through the safety glass at the school's front entrance. There seemed to be more of them than there were this morning.How could I reach the gate to meet Victor with the reporters waiting to pounce on me?I texted Victor and told him I couldn’t leave the school because reporters had me trapped inside the building.He instructed me to wait inside the school for him.I was curious as to what he was going to do. The last time he used his Alpha voice to get them to stop crushing me. What was his plan this time?Within a few minutes, he came through the double doors and motioned for me to follow him outside.Instead of football players, Victor brought the police. At least twenty officers held the crowd of reporters and onlookers back while Victor and I walked to his car safely.As the reporters continued to shout questions, Victor and I sped away from the school and toward Alex’s office buildi
The media room on the first floor was designated exclusively for press conferences. Its design was genius.With a separate, hidden exit on the stage area, it was designed to allow a spokesperson from the company to give a statement and then leave immediately afterwards without going near the reporters.Victor and I waited behind a door with a two-way mirror watching dozens of reporters file into the press conference room and take their seats.My stomach was in knots as I watched the room full of people buzzing with curiosity. They all had video cameras and their phones ready to record me as I read the prepared statement.Geez, it meant there would be recordings of me speaking on the evening news. I didn’t want to be on TV.I wanted to ask Victor to do the presentation, but I knew he was right. It was my family’s company and my father who was ill. I had to do it.I sent a prayer to the goddess to let me be able to speak clearly and not make a fool of myself in front of the entire city.