Nicholas couldn't miss the change in his friend's facial expression after he dropped the call and then wheeled his chair.
"Who is that?"
"She just called," he answered as he wheeled the chair to the door.
Nicholas stood up, and hurried after his friend, adjusting his lab coat. "Who?"
Lorenzo smacked his tongue as he wheeled out and then stopped for a moment, grabbing his phone.
Nicholas waited while he dialed a number and when the person picked up, he said, "Find her. She is in trouble."
"Who is in trouble, Enzo?"
Lorenzo raised his head to look at his friend and then tilted his head. "My fiance."
"N… no way?"
"She has agreed to marry me," he answered, and then
Wheeled to the elevator.
After Lorenzo had left Leilani's ward about an hour ago, he had been in his friend's office since then.
Nicholas Cooper was his best friend and then the CEO of the hospital that he had brought Leilani to.
While they had been friends for almost two decades, the man knew of every secret that he had been hoarding. Everything.
"You need to rethink this, Enzo. There is no way you are going to marry a woman you are just meeting. A divorcee at that! You don't even know her!" He warned as they both stood in the elevator.
"I know her, you know that."
"No, that is not enough. With this situation you are in, you need to be with a woman who will make your secrets hers. Someone who will…"
"Leilani is that woman," he cut him short.
"Enzo, she can't know the truth. If she does she could…"
"She will know the truth. I will tell her."
Nicholas breathed out, palmed his face, and then shook his head.
"You always do what you like."
"That is not new," Lorenzo shrugged his shoulders off and then wheeled out of the elevator when it dinged open.
His phone rang and he picked it up immediately.
"Did you find her?"
"We found the room she entered, but she is refusing to open the door."
"Tell me where and guard the door. Do not force it open."
After he ended the call, he told Nicholas where the woman was and together, they hurried there.
When they arrived at the door where two of his men were guarding, he breathed out and then wheeled closer to the door.
"Are you certain she is there?" he asked.
"Some people found her going there."
He knocked on the door gently and then said, "Open up."
Still, no response came and he exhaled. "Leilani. Open up, it's me."
"L… Lorenzo?" came her tiny, fear-stricken voice.
"Yes."
The door rattled for a while and then creaked open slowly, revealing the face of the woman that was red and swollen, coupled with the way she was sweating profusely.
"God, it's you!" she exhaled in relief.
When her eyes met with Nicholas, she pulled back in fear and the man waved his hands at her, "I'm his friend. I'm a doctor here and my name is Nicholas," he introduced.
"H… he was wearing a lab coat too. That man…'' her voice shook.
"You were attacked in your ward?" Nicholas asked and she nodded her head.
"I will get to the bottom of this," he assured the man who looked up at him.
"Let's go," he said to Leilani and she nodded her head.
~~~
Leilani watched as a partment from the car opened which made the man wheeled inside effortlessly without being helped or anything.
Afterward, she entered with him and then sat in silence as the car moved.
"Where are we going?" she finally asked him after a few minutes had passed.
"Do you mean what you said or you would like to take it back now?" he asked her instead.
She swallowed hard, clenched her fist into a tight ball, and then shook her head.
"I… I want revenge," she answered him, her voice shaky.
Lorenzo watched while her lips trembled and she quivered in fear.
"I do not deserve this, I swear. I am a good person," she burst into tears.
"So… why would they want to kill me? I didn't do anything wrong. I have never tried to hurt them, so why… why would they…"
He removed the handkerchief from his chest pocket and then handed it over to her.
She collected it and then wiped off her tears before she continued again.
"I had done everything to make them accept me and in the end… this is… this is what I got. I want revenge. I want them… I want them to regret ever treating me this way."
"I will help you," he answered shortly.
"Please… please, help me. Please," she swallowed and then buried her face in her palms.
Lorenzo found himself clenching his fist so tightly into a ball. He could punch through a wall right now and he was not exaggerating.
______
Leilani looked around the empty restaurant that they had just entered.
It was just her and Lorenzo, and then the chef who rushed to welcome them in the whole of the big space and she wondered why it was so.
"I have been waiting for you," the man bowed.
He ushered them to a space and after they had both settled in, Lorenzo asked that he recommend a nice dish for them.
"Why are we here?" She asked him.
"You have not eaten all day," he answered, his head buried in his phone.
"Do you… rent out all of this place?"
Things like that only happen in movies. There was no way he would rent out a whole restaurant just because of them.
But he did not answer her.
It was almost as if he didn't hear her, in fact.
So, she just grabbed the hem of her gown. Hospital gown.
Shortly after, the man brought their dish, two servings of Clam chowder, and then explained the dish and where it originated from. After, he served their wine and then left.
Elena bit her lower lips as she slowly picked up her spoon, and then glanced at the man who had already dug into his food.
"Why? Is it not up to your liking?" He asked, noticing that she was not touching her food.
"N… no… no, that is not it!"
"Then, eat," he said.
She scooped a little portion of the dish into the spoon and then into her mouth.
She had not even savored the taste for so long before she gagged, grabbed the serviette paper, and then threw up the content in her mouth.
Lorenzo drew his brows together, wheeled closer to her, and then handed water over to her.
After she had drunk it, and had collected herself, he dropped his eyes on her and then asked.
"What…. What exactly has happened to you in that house?"
Leilani gasped for a while, tears running down her cheek and she cried out. "Someone…poisoned my food…"
"I almost died…" she choked, wrapping her hands gently around her neck.
"They said it was the maid… and she was fired… but…" she breathed heavily.
"You do not believe that," he completed the sentence for her.
Lorenzo leaned closer to her, moved her hand gently from her neck, and then raised her chin to look at him.
"I am broken…" Her tears fell on the back of his hand and he only glanced briefly at it.
"I… I am so broken without repair. I can't even eat the meal that I make properly because of the fear that it might have been poisoned. I am broken, Lorenzo."
But he only watched her.
The sight of this bawling woman was not one he was expecting to see.
And was going to help her break them too.