A Wrong Surrogate for the CEO-Chapter 92: Emergency

It happened like a dream.

One moment, Curtis was walking towards Lara with the hot corn dogs she had wanted to eat, and the next, his body was slicing through the air as a car rammed into him.

Lara screamed, her hands trembling as she opened the door. She ran towards his splayed body, and the car that hit Curtis revved back, turned around, and ran.

Lara didn’t care. Her heart was pushing violently again her chest, and her vision was blurry as tears streamed down her face. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Curtis. Curtis. Look at me. Please look at me. Baby please. Open your eyes," she yelled as she shook him, but her husband remained unconscious.

Lara was crying hard now, and the pain was threatening to engulf her. Blood was starting to pool at the back of Curtis’s head, and the sight made Lara feel sick.

"Please. Help. Somebody...save my husband," she stuttered. Her entire body had gone suddenly light, and she couldn’t breathe.

Strong arms grabbed her and dragged her away from Curtis’s unconscious body. The scent of whoever it was was very familiar, but Lara was too blinded by pain to know who it was, or to even care.

A crowd had gathered around the body, and someone called 911.

Lara kept screaming. How could she not, when her husband was laying a few feet before her, unconscious, unmoving and surrounded by blood?

"Breathe. Look at me and breathe," a strong voice commanded and Lara did as the man said. Tears bubbled out of her eyes and into her mouth.

"He’s going to be fine. Your husband is going to be okay. An ambulance is on its way here. Please, I need you to breathe," the person insisted.

And when Lara took enough deep breaths for the haze around her to clear, she realised that the man was Lazarus, her husband’s bodyguard.

Lazarus gave her a grim smile but said nothing. The ambulance arrived, and Curtis was wheeled into it immediately.

Lara got it in with him, not caring about the car or anything else. Lazarus was there. He would take care of everything else.

As the ambulance drove away, the paramedics in the car administered some first aid treatment to Curtis, but it was evident that his life was in danger.

Lara could not hold back her tears, but she tried her best to compose herself.

Guilt snaked its way through her skin, past her bones and settled into her soul. If only she hadn’t seen the corn dog stand.

If only she hadn’t said anything about wanting to eat the corn dogs.

If only she hadn’t allowed him to get down and out of the car.

If she hadn’t asked him to get her the damned corn dogs, then he wouldn’t have gotten into the accident.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry. I...I didn’t mean to...I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I’m so sorry," she whispered over and over, her voice thick with a maelstrom of emotion.

The ambulance got to the hospital in no time, and Curtis was wheeled into the emergency surgery room.

Lara was asked to stay outside, and as the door closed behind the nurses pushing Curtis, she broke down on the hospital floor.

Hot, bitter tears rolled down her face in torrents. Her heart felt as though it was being shredded into pieces by a wild animal, and her soul was in agony.

Curtis was in an emergency surgery room because of her.

He was between life and death, and it was all because of her.

Lara’s entire world crumbled around her. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t breathe. Her chest was tightened with bands of lead, and there was a red haze before her eyes that blurred her vision.

The sound of footsteps invaded her fog of pain, but Lara didn’t look up. Strong arms wrapped around her and she was gently carried into a standing position.

Lazarus walked her to the empty chair in the hallway, and Lara plopped down on it like she was nothing but an empty rag doll.

The bodyguard sat down beside her, and silence stretched between them. The silence was filled with shared pain and grief, and Lara’s throat was clogged up with lumps.

"I’m sorry," Lazarus said softly.

Lara could not speak. What could she possibly say? That she was sorry too? That it hadn’t been her intention to make Curtis get into an accident?

Tears continued to slide down her face, and she made no effort to stop them. Curtis had to survive at all costs.

He had to.

Lazarus cleared his throat before he spoke again.

"I... I called his parents. I’m sorry. I know how they feel about you and how you feel about them, but I had to. I didn’t want them to see that their only son had gotten into an accident from the internet. Some people at the scene had taken videos. I...I had to call them," he explained.

Lara’s breath caught in her chest as his words settled around her.

She wasn’t mad at him for calling Curtis’s family. They were his parents after all. She was, however, worried about how they would react as soon as they got to the hospital.

Before she could say anything though, she heard someone approaching.

Several people, actually.

Lisa, Curtis’s mother, was storming towards them. Curtis’s sister trailed behind her mother too, and Lara’s stomach swopped at the expression on Lisa’s face.

"You witch. How dare you try to kill my son?" Lisa yelled as soon as she got to where Lara was.

Lara stood up, and Lazarus stood up with her.

"Hi, Lisa. I didn’t..." Lara started to say, but Lisa cut her off with a slap.

Lara gasped when the impact hit her harder than expected. She opened her mouth to speak again, but Lisa slapped her one more time.

"I don’t want to see you around my son ever again. And if he doesn’t walk out of that operating room alive, I am going to kill you with my own hands," Lisa threatened. The woman’s eyes blazed with cold rage, and Lara could feel tears building at the back of her eyes again.

"You think I want to kill Curtis? You have no idea, none at all, about anything. I would never do anything to harm him," Lara stated firmly.

Lisa snorted and moved closer.

"Shut the fuck up," she said and pushed Lara.

Lara stumbled backwards, and her head hit the wall. Sharp pain bloomed in her body, and before she could do as much as blink from the pain, unconsciousness claimed her.

Lara fainted.