6. Trapped with him

Mirelle's POV 

The automatic glass doors glided open, and a wave of cool antiseptic air washed over me as we stepped into the hospital.

Lucas gently took my hand in his, smiling ear to ear. "I can't wait to introduce you to my uncle," He said, leading me towards an elevator. I removed my hand from his grasp, getting fed up with his non-stop talks about his uncle whom I don't even want to meet. 

"I need to see my father first," I said quietly, knowing he couldn't reject my reason. "Everything else can wait,” I added.

“Yeah..that is true.” He nodded his head, understanding my point. 

“Do you know the ward that he was wheeled into after you drove him here last night?” I asked, faking a heavily concerned voice. 

I will do anything just to avoid meeting Asher. 

“Of course, it was almost midnight and your mother didn't know who she should call to help him, so she called me and…” 

“Where is his ward?” I gritted my teeth, trying not to sound rude as I cut him off. His voice was so annoying. 

“Of course…” He turned towards another direction, and I followed behind. 

“What I was trying to say was that I didn't just drop him at the hospital and leave. So you don't need to be asking if I knew where he was wheeled into.” 

This guy can't be serious.  

“I also made sure that I saw exactly where he was taken to for medications and even heard when my uncle was giving instructions to other young doctors over the phone before I myself called him this morning to tell him it's your Dad.” He explained, raising his shoulder with so much pride. 

I hated it when that man was called my dad or when I pretended to be his loving daughter. 

He is literally my adoptive father who sees me as a tool, and he always shuns me whenever I talk about investigating my real father's death. 

After walking through different corners of the huge hospital, we got to the very important people's passageway. As we got to the entrance of the ward, a nurse walked out. She was about to ask who we were, but quickly bowed her head when she recognized that it was Lucas. 

We entered the ward, and I stood at my adoptive father's bedside, watching his chest rise and fall with each slow breath. An IV line was attached to his hand, while the soft beeping of the monitor filled the room. 

“His eyes are closed because the sedatives kept him asleep.” My fiancee muttered as if he were a medical expert. 

Clown. 

The door opened behind us, catching our attention. “Fuck, no!” I gasped as my mouth dropped in shock. It was Asher. He even dared to flirtatiously wink at me, not giving a damn about the fact that my fiancee was right here. 

What have I gotten myself into? My heart started beating so hard that I could hear it in both of my ears. 

“Good morning, Uncle,” Lucas' eyes twinkled happily as he moved closer to shake hands with his uncle. 

“How is the man of the century doing?” Asher smiled widely, and my heart melted at how attractive that was. 

I swear I needed my ass whooped hard for thinking he was in any way attractive. 

Stop lying. 

He pulled his nephew into a warm hug and gave me a hard stare, but switched immediately when they moved away from each other. 

I swallowed my dry throat, lowering my eyes to my feet as if there was something worth my attention down there. 

“This is my wife, Mirelle,” Lucas pointed at me, his head held high like that of an arrogant peacock. 

“Yeah, I saw her last night, and I was more than amazed that you've gotten a beautiful woman with the most sparkling eyes ever,” He complimented sweetly, stretching out his hand for me to take a handshake. 

“Yeah…I am the luckiest man alive,” I heard Lucas say with a loud laugh. 

I paused for a while before gently placing my hand in Asher’s hand, his eyes were hungrily eating me up as they raked over me. 

My stomach heated when he knowingly rubbed his thumb over my hand as if he was silently passing a message across. I quickly removed my hand from his like it was burning me, then smiled tightly. 

“Thank you so much. It's nice to meet you,” I said, looking away. 

“So…let's go to my office to discuss some important things before the surgery begins. What about his wife? We will be needing her consent to this also,” Asher said, his voice sounding sharply professional. 

“She will be here in an hour too,” Lucas answered. 

We all started making our way to Asher's office, and with each step I took forward, my heart sank deeper into my stomach. My palms were now wet with sweat.

Why can't I control myself? I mean…what we had was a mistake. 

When we got to the well-furnished, luxurious office, Lucas and I sat in the guest chairs while Asher settled into the seat behind his desk.

He folded his hands on the table, his expression calm but serious.

"Your father is stable," He began. 

"The scans confirmed that the tumor is pressing on part of his brain. The surgery is meant to remove as much of the tumor as we safely can and relieve that pressure." He paused, giving us a moment to take it in.

"Every brain surgery comes with risks, and I won't pretend otherwise. There could be bleeding, infection, or temporary changes in movement, speech, or memory. But my team and I have prepared carefully, and we will do everything possible to make the procedure as safe as we can."

I let out a shaky breath as I nodded silently. 

"So…I would like to speak to his daughter alone," Asher said, making Lucas and me exchange confused glances.

"It's fine for him to stay," I said quickly, not wanting to be left alone with the man who looked like he could lock me in a room and never let me out again.

"No," Asher said, his voice hardening. 

Lucas immediately rose to his feet, but I instinctively grabbed his arm.

"You should stay, okay?" I pleaded, biting my lower lip like a scared child.

"Don't worry. You are in safe hands," He murmured, leaning down to place a soft kiss on my forehead before gently removing my hand from his arm.

I watched helplessly as he walked out of the office, the door clicking shut behind him. You would think we were some loving couple, but I just didn't want to stay here. 

The room suddenly felt too quiet. 

"So... what is it, Doctor?" I asked, pretending not to be feeling so nervous. 

I watched as a muscle in Asher's jaw tightened. 

"Were you really holding a man who cheated on you?" He asked, voice low and dangerously controlled. "You were begging him to stay simply because you didn't want to be alone with me?" He asked, sounding deeply jealous.