THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS-Chapter 36: Haven’t You Tortured Me Enough?
On her way home, Kathleen received a fresh mail notification.
It was from Ariel, after reading the mail, she decided to check on the mails she has been ignoring all these years.
She clicked on the last one that was sent that afternoon.
"Greetings, Doctor, I know you are a very busy person, but my grandma’s life and death lies in your hands now. Please help."
And that was the end of the mail. "This is very much like Shawn Hudson, straight to the point and would never beat around the bush."
"What should I do now?" Since she stepped out of the hospital, she has been thinking of Nana. "What sickness could she possibly be suffering from?"
She’s been ignoring this particular mail all these while because the location of the sender was in Baltimore and she didn’t want to have anything to do with that place. Now that she is finally back and knows the sender, she felt remorseful for delaying Nana’s treatment till now.
She tapped on the phone screen for a few minutes and sent a reply to the mail.
.........
Shawn was back to his office and was finding it difficult to concentrate on the document before him. The image of Kathleen’s beautiful smile when she answered that call kept messing up his mind.
Out of rage he swept away all the things on his table, growling in the process.
"Kathleen! Why are you doing this to me? Haven’t you tortured me enough?"
"Your absence as well as your presence brings me untold anguish. What do you want from me, Kathleen?"
He felt a dull ache in his head and within the space of a minute, it had increased to a pounding pain. It was like iron rods were being banged in his brain. He gripped his head and at some point collapsed to the floor when he couldn’t bear it anymore.
Johnson heard the crashing sound from the President’s office and rushed in, he found the office in a mess and his boss half lying on the ground, huddled in a corner beside his desk and holding tightly to his head with an agonizing look on his face.
He dashed to the drawer to get the pill specially prepared to relieve pain but discovered that the pills box was empty.
"Damn, why am I just finding out about this now?"
He quickly put a call through to the psychiatrist but was informed that he was out of town.
"Think, think... Johnson, who else can I call?"
"Dr Steffan! Yes!" and dialed his number.
"Hello Doctor," he greeted the moment the call connected. "My boss is suffering an attack again."
"How come? He just left my office not too long ago and he was doing just fine." Dr Steffan Rosse was startled. "Have you contacted his psychiatrist?"
"He is out of town, and the only person I can think of is you, so I had to call you." Johnson replied in an urgent voice.
"Please doctor, can you come over?" Johnson pleaded.
"Why? I don’t need to come over Johnson, just give him the pill and he’ll be fine. You should know this by now, I don’t have to be there, you should know these things after so long."
"I’m sorry doctor, but we are out of pills. I didn’t know it was the last one he took before going on the Business trip a month ago."
"Did I hear you say a month ago. What happened then?"
"Doctor, we can talk about that when you come, helping him now is more urgent," There was no time for much explanation.
"That’s true. I’ll be there shortly, It just so happens that I have finished my last consultation for the day. I’ll start heading over immediately."
"Hold on Johnson, where are you right now?"
"The President’s office at Hudson Corps."
"I’ll see you soon."
"Thanks Doc," Johnson ended the call and went to massage his boss’s head.
Thirty five minutes later, Dr Steffan arrived at Hudson Corporation. He knew his way around the building so he directly took the elevator straight to the President’s office. Everyone knew about his relationship with their boss so no one stopped nor interrogated him when he took the President’s exclusive elevator.
He arrived at the 68th floor and just gave a slight nod to Shawn’s secretary before opening the door to his office.
He brought out the pill from his bag and slipped one into Shawn’s mouth. Johnson handed him the glass of water he had prepared.
With the help of Johnson they moved Shawn to the couch and waited for the medicine to take effect.
While they were waiting, he picked up the conversation from where they left it off before rushing over.
"You said something about him talking the pill last month over the phone, did he have another episode last month?"
Johnson gave a slight nod in response.
"How come I wasn’t informed?" Steffan demanded with narrowed eyes.
"He forbade me from mentioning it to anyone."
"Anyone? Does that also include me his friend? Why would he do that?"
"That was because his conversation with Madam Kathleen didn’t go well that day. And I think today’s episode has something to do with her also."
"Madam Kathleen..., who was Kathleen?" This is the second time that name is coming up today.
Johnson realized he has said too much and tried to cover up, "em.... it’s... em... someone he met last month?"
Dr Steffan took note of how Johnson cleverly dodged his questions the same way Shawn did in the hospital.
Their refusal to discuss that lady only meant one thing, she had a strong link to Shawn’s traumatic past. Was she the wife Shawn spoke about? No, that cannot be, his wife had been dead for six years now.
Their evasive actions have successfully roused his interest and he was determined to find out about this lady.
He took a look at Shawn who was finally stabilized and lying listlessly on the comfortable couch.
