003_The Price of a Suite

Avery’s POV

Still, as the elevator doors glided shut on Julian’s stunned face, I felt the slight pressure in my stomach as the lift rose toward the top floor. I just stood there watching the gold numbers climb while I tried to keep my hands from shaking.

I reached the penthouse level and stepped out into a hallway that smelled like expensive lilies and fresh wax. The was already there waiting for me with a spare robe and a pair of soft slippers that he had clearly scrambled to find in the last two minutes.

I couldn't help but wonder how he got here before me.

He started apologizing again for the confusion in the lobby and kept talking about how they were going to fire the doorman for his behavior. But It was becoming unbearable, so I told him to stay quiet and leave me to the suite. I didn't have the energy to listen to him grovel while my head was still spinning from the blood loss.

The suite was massive with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the entire business district. I could see the Sterling Global building from here, which was funny because Julian might've probably thought I was sitting in a park somewhere crying over him.

I sat down on the edge of the velvet sofa and picked up the room phone to call the front desk. A woman answered on the first ring with a voice that was much more polite than the one I had encountered earlier.

"This is Avery Thorne in the Presidential Suite. I need you to send up a bottle of cold water and a plate of something high in protein right away. And after that, I want you to connect me to the concierge at the boutique downstairs. I need a full wardrobe by five o'clock," I said. She started listing off different brands and styles like I cared about the labels, so I just told her to send up anything that didn't look like a hospital gown and hung up.

I was just starting to drink the water they brought me when my phone buzzed on the coffee table. I saw a message from Leo saying that my brother, Marcus, was already on his way to the hotel and he was not in a good mood.

I hadn't seen Marcus in nearly two years. He had told me I was making a mistake by marrying Julian and that he wouldn't watch me throw away my life for a man who only wanted a trophy. It turned out he was right about everything, which made this reunion even harder.

Ten minutes later there was a firm knock on the door. I let out a long breath before I stood up to open it. When I did, I saw Marcus standing there in a dark suit with his arms crossed. He looked like he wanted to punch a hole through a wall.

My heart skipped a beat as his eyes swept over me, his frown deepening.

"You look like hell, Avery," He said, walking past me into the room and started pacing back and forth. "I told Leo that if you were even slightly hurt I was going to burn that hospital to the ground before I dealt with your husband. But you look a lot—"

"I'm fine, Marcus," I cut him as I sat back down. My legs were starting to feel heavy again. "I just gave a little too much blood today and Julian decided our anniversary was the perfect time to hand me divorce papers and announce that he'd been using me as a medical donor for his mistress."

I watched as my brother stopped pacing and turned to look at me with an expression that was pure fire.

"He did what?" He said, his lips tipping into a smirk. But I for one knew what it meant when he smiled when he was pissed. "I knew he was a low-life and a social climber but I didn't think he was a literal parasite." He took a pause before he continued. "So you’re telling me you’ve been letting them drain you for three years while he played house with that Sarah woman?"

I didn't say anything. Didn't really know what to say.

Marcus snickered. He pulled out his phone and started scrolling through the news feeds. His jaw then tightened. It was so tight I thought his teeth might crack.

"He’s already out there telling people you’re mentally ill, Avery, and the headlines are calling you the 'Tragic Wife' who couldn't handle the pressure of the Sterling name."

Marcus laughed, and I could've sworn I saw literal blood in his eyes.

"Well, we need to move fast if we’re going to stop the bleeding on your reputation. And—"

"I’ve already started, Marcus," I interrupted. "I had Leo trigger the blackout on his servers and I’m sure he’s currently staring at a blank screen while his investors are calling him and screaming for answers." I replied. I felt a small bit of satisfaction when I saw Marcus actually smile for real for a second.

"But that isn't enough. If he thinks he can just lie his way out of this and use Sarah to replace me, then he is wrong. I want to take the company back since I’m the one who actually owns the patents he’s been using to secure his latest deals."

"I've already called the legal team and they're gathering the original filings from before you got married, and since you never officially transferred those intellectual properties to his name, he’s technically been committing corporate theft for the last eighteen months," Marcus said as he sat down in the chair opposite me and leaned forward with his hands on his knees.

"But we have a problem. Sarah’s family has a lot of influence in the medical board and they’re the ones helping Julian push the story that you’re unstable, so if we don't find a way to discredit her doctors, the public is going to believe whatever they say."

"Then we find the nurse who did the transfusions today. I saw her face and she looked guilty when right after she pulled the needle out. Now that I think about, she had probably seen the news or knew the truth about all the blood I was giving out," I said. I felt a cold focus taking over my mind that made the physical pain in my arm fade away.

"She knows the blood wasn't going to his sister, and if we offer her enough protection and a way out of that hospital, she would tell us everything about how Julian and Sarah orchestrated the whole thing."

Marcus nodded.

We spent the next hour going over the details of the takeover and Marcus kept insisting that I go to a real doctor to get checked out, but I told him I wasn't going anywhere until I saw the first report of Julian’s stock hitting the floor.

His eyes stared at mine for a while, those eyes making me nervous, before we went back to our previous conversation.

We were interrupted by the concierge arriving with three rolling racks of clothes and several boxes of shoes. She spent twenty minutes trying to show me silk dresses and cashmere sweaters while Marcus stood by the window and ignored her, ignored us. I picked out a simple black suit and a pair of heels that looked like they could double as weapons. I told her to leave the rest in the dressing room and bill it to my private account.

As the concierge was leaving, my phone buzzed again and this time it was an unknown number. When I answered it I heard Julian’s voice and he sounded like he was hyperventilating on the other end of the line.

"Avery, you need to stop this right now and tell your people to get my servers back online. The board is threatening to remove me and Sarah is having a panic attack because the reporters are starting to show up at the hotel."

You've got to be kidding me. He's got guts alright.

But I wasn't falling for that again.

"I don't have any 'people,' Julian, I’m just a sick woman who needs her rest, remember?" I said, and I looked at Marcus who was leaning in to hear the conversation with a smirk on his face. An angry one.

"Maybe you should ask Sarah to help you fix the servers, or better yet, maybe she can give you some of her blood to help with the stress since you seem to think it’s so easy to just take what you want from people."

There was a pause, and then his voice came. It didn't sound like he was taking a y of this easy.

"I'll sue you for everything you have done, Avery! I'll make sure you never work in this city again!" he screamed, and I could hear the sound of someone crying in the background, probably Sarah realizing that her rich lifestyle was about to disappear.

"You can't sue someone who owns the law firm you're trying to hire, Julian, so I suggest you start packing your things and looking for a nice studio apartment in the suburbs," I said, and hung up the phone before he could respond.

I turned to Marcus and I saw him looking at me with a bit of respect. He stood up and straightened his jacket as he headed towards me.

He reached out, his fingers stroking my chin slightly. "I’ll go meet with the nurse and get the statement, so you should get some sleep, Avery, because tomorrow morning—" He then headed for the door stopping as he opened it midway. "We’re going to the Sterling Global office to show everyone who the real boss is."

I couldn't help but smile.

"I'll be ready," I said. And as he left, I walked over to the window and watched the red numbers on the digital billboard across the street continue to tick down toward zero.