CHAPTER 36

**CHLOE DUARTE**

“What is the...", I start to ask, trying to control the irritation inside me, but I am interrupted by the elevator doors opening on one of the floors of the company.

I am again silent when two men dressed in business attire enter the same space as us and greet us with nods.

But my irritation increases when I see the men looking at James and me at the same time, I soon remember the damn pictures published in the magazines and gossip sites.

I snort quietly hoping it will be over soon, I am hating being the target of so many stares and I am hating even more to know that I am being ignored by the same man who was making me moan his name a few minutes ago.

The men get off at another floor of the company while we continue waiting for the elevator to go down to the first floor where the garage is, this detail also does not go unnoticed by me, he has already read or seen the news today about him and me and wants to stay away from the journalists as much as possible.

If he didn't want to expose me as the mysterious girl who won his heart, he shouldn't have accompanied me to the ball, I was just his assistant who was in charge of organizing the party.

When we arrive at the first floor I follow him to his car in silence, I give up asking the thousands of questions that are running through my mind at this moment, the distance to one of the sophisticated restaurants where negotiation will take place is short and I feel very relieved for that.

I am relieved that I don't have to be stuck in this car for long with James just inches away from me despite what happened inside that room.

He knows that his silence and ignorance are annoying me, but he does nothing but remains silent and avoid looking at me.

When the car is parked in one of the parking spaces, I don't wait for him as I sigh and get out of the car quickly making my way to the entrance of the restaurant.

“Miss Duarte...", he calls me, but I keep walking inside where I see two men sitting at a table in the back seeming to wait for someone.

Even though I don't know the people James has come to negotiate with, I walk towards the two men who stand up to greet us.

“Forgive us for the short delay gentlemen, I had a setback that needed to be resolved urgently...", James says shaking the hand of the first brunette man and I control myself not to snort.

“All right, we know that a leader like you must suffer a lot because of these setbacks, and I see that you are well accompanied...", I raise my head seeing that the man is smiling at me in a very strange way.

“And what is the name of this beauty accompanying you, Mr. Colucci?", the same man asks with his eyes fixed on me.

James is about to answer something, but I step forward and extend my hand toward the man, being forced to give him a sympathetic smile.

“Chloe Duarte, Mr. Colucci's assistant, how do you do?", I ask as he brings my hand to his lips.

“Daniels, and this is my associate Thomas, the pleasure is all mine Miss Duarte."

Thomas greets me with a brief nod and a quick handshake, unlike his partner who seems completely taken aback by me for some reason I still don't know.

“Excuse me for asking, but aren't you the mysterious lady whose face is all over town today?", Thomas asks as we all sit down at the table.

I smile shyly not knowing what to say, but this time I don't look at James with a silent plea for help, this time I try to manage on my own and without him.

“It's me!"

“You are a very beautiful woman and I'm sure Mr. Colucci is lucky to have you as a companion."

I let out a slightly too loud laugh when I hear him say this at the table, everyone looks at me this time including James who is frowning as he stares at me.

“These are just rumors that can't be proven, Thomas. Can we get on with the meeting? Mr. Colucci is a very busy good man and I can see that he is getting impatient...", I murmur with a laugh seeing that the men also smile before forgetting the subject of the photos.

James engages in a serious conversation about negotiation, he hardly needs my help in the conversation and when I'm not paying attention to their conversation I see that half the restaurant is looking at us.

I just want this situation to return to normal as soon as possible, I am hating this and I can tell by the expression on James's face that he is very uncomfortable with all of this.

We each place our orders with the waiter, who promptly presents himself at our table. I choose one of the lighter dishes on the menu, finding it strange that James only orders a portion of green salad.

This is a fancy restaurant so the food is on par with the appearance of the place, I concentrate on the meal on the plate trying not to care what some people are whispering about me at a nearby table.

When one of the women mentions that maybe I am just a gold digger after money from the richest man in town, I look back and they seem to shut up.

But I am surprised when I hear the loud noise of one of the chairs dragging on the floor, I turn my head quickly seeing that James abruptly gets up from the table looking disconcerted.

“Mr. Colucci?", I call out to him as he shakes his head and stands up.

“Excuse me!", he asks quickly before rushing to the bathroom.

“What happened? Is he okay?", one of the men ask confused while still sitting at the table as I feel an alert go off in my head.

“I'll check it out, excuse me, gentlemen!", I also quickly get up from the table and run the same way James did a few seconds ago.

I find two doors and enter the men's room seeing that several men stare when they notice my entrance.

“Young lady, you can't go in here, this is the bathroom..."

“Fuck you!", I shout opening all the booths and also realize that my shout has thrown everyone out of the bathroom.

I push open the last stall door and my heart squeezes when I see James leaning over the toilet looking like he is in pain to stop vomiting.

“Mr. Colucci?", I call out to him, but he seems to deny it with his head trying to close the door behind him and block my view.

“Get out of here, Chloe!", he asks in a broken voice, but I hurry to kneel beside him as he pushes the flush button before sitting down on the floor.

“Are you feeling all right? Is it the food you ate?", I ask when I notice his pale skin again.

“You don't have to help me.", he says breathlessly, but I nod again, touching his forehead and seeing that his skin is burning.

“This will pass, I just need my meds that are in the car...", he whispers opening his eyes.

“Okay, I can get it, where are your car keys?", he quickly shoves his hand into his pants pocket before handing me his car keys.

“I'll be right back!", I get up from the floor and rush out of the restroom to find several customers looking at me in confusion.

I don't give importance to this detail when I run around the waiters holding trays that cross my path, I look for James' car among the others parked in front of the restaurant wasting no time in opening and looking for those medicines.

I'm almost getting desperate when I open the car's glove compartment finding a medium”sized necessaire, I unzip it quickly finding several different medicine bottles with names that I've never even seen in my life.

I close the car again running into the restaurant, I ask the first waiter I see in front of me for a glass of water and he doesn't hesitate to give it to me when he realizes my urgency.

I return to the bathroom finding James standing holding the sink counter as he watches his reflection in the mirror in front of him.

“There are too many, which one?", I ask not knowing what to do as I open the necessary pointing to all the bottles.

James says nothing as he takes the pouch from my hand and quickly pours a pill from three different bottles into my hand.

I widen my eyes watching him shove the three different colored pills into his hand before taking the glass of water from my hand, he frowns and closes his eyes as he finishes swallowing the medicine.

“Are you feeling better?", I ask as he opens his eyes and looks at me strangely.

“James, what?", my sentence is interrupted when James seems to lose his balance completely.

I rush to try to hold his body, but he is twice the size me, and he tries to keep his eyes open, but he looks too tired and weak to do so.

“James, look at me!", I put one of his arms over my shoulders still trying to hold him up before touching his face.

“He whispers helplessly and completely disoriented."

“You're about to pass out, I have to take you to the hospital now...", I start to walk with him to the bathroom exit and this time he can't resist when I mention going to the hospital.

“Stay awake, please!", I ask trying to move as fast as possible out of the restaurant.

I look forward to seeing that everyone is paying attention only to us, I, unfortunately, know the repercussions that this episode will have, in a short time all the media and news will be talking about the CEO James Colucci who had to be carried visibly ill.

And I also know what this will cause James if this happens, he doesn't like anyone to see him like this, but now it is inevitable and even though he almost lost consciousness holding on to me he also knows this.

James looks weaker by the minute and it is getting harder and harder to hold him alone, I see two waiters run toward me to help me carry James out.

As the men bring James out I run to his car opening the door so that he can be placed inside the car, I sit in the passenger seat and thank the boys who nod as I start the car and think about which hospital James usually passes by.

He seems to read my thoughts as he can babble the name of one of the private hospitals in town, he closes his eyes again as I quickly type the address of the place into the car's GPS.

I park clumsily in the first parking space I find next to the hospital, I run out of the car helping James to do the same, we are helped by nurses who hold and take James inside the hospital.

I tell what happened in the restaurant to one of the doctors who comes to me.

“You were right to bring him here, we're going to do a series of tests and keep him under observation, but he'll be fine!", the friendly doctor squeezes my shoulder in comfort.

“Can I stay with him? Can I accompany him?", I ask the first thing that comes to my mind, but the doctor denies it with his head.

“Not for now, but we will keep you informed, family visits are allowed when the patient is stable, Miss...", he says, leaving me alone in the waiting room with a million doubts in my mind.

Family visits?

Does he think I'm a member of the Colucci family?

I sit down in one of the vacant chairs listening to the sound of the television hanging on my wall, I lift my head still confused by the latest events seeing that there is a story about me and James on a gossip channel.

I snort listening and watching the thousands of lies that are being told and speculated on the national network, I grab my cell phone and check for any news or leaked pictures from when James was taken out of the restaurant, but luckily there is absolutely nothing published on the internet yet.