Page 130 of When Hearts Surrender

I startle, seeing Cole standing a few feet away, his blond hair mussed up, his hands jammed in his coat pockets.

“Cole? What are you doing here?” My pulse quickens as he walks toward me.

He runs a hand over his messy hair. “I want to apologize for what happened when we ran into each other in SoHo. I think I made you uncomfortable and I’m sorry. You see, there are some things you don’t know about me.”

My hackles rise as chills run through my body.Why didn’t he just call me? Has he been waiting outside this whole time?

My vision blurs, the dizziness that has been plaguing me before making a reappearance. The doctors said I was anemic at my last checkup, but that makes no sense. I’ve never been anemic in my entire life.

I back up slowly, my body trying to tell me something my mind hasn’t caught up with yet. I heave out quick breaths, but I can’t seem to get any oxygen inside me.

I feel nauseous. Literally sick to my stomach. This feels different than before. The dizzy spell isn’t letting up. It’s getting worse.

“Belle?”

His tall shadow looms closer and I suddenly find myself backed up against the cold building, my vision spinning, darkening at the edges.

“Belle? Are you okay? Belle?”

He steps even closer. I raise my hand and open my mouth to tell him to back off, but nothing comes out.

Everything feels so heavy, the world blurring around me.

“Belle?”

The wet floor rises to meet me and darkness claims me in its grasp.

Chapter 47

I dash down thehalls of the hospital like a madman, Charles and Steven quickly following behind me. We were wrapping up a meeting at my office when the hospital called, saying they found Belle passed out in front of the ER and they got my number from her cell phone.

“Annabelle Anderson, where is she?” I bark at a nurse behind the desk, and she doesn’t even flinch, but instead cocks her eyebrow at me.

“Sir, this is a hospital. Please lower your voice. And you are?”

Blood boils in my veins and I see red. I’m about to hop over the desk to type on the computer myself before Charles grabs me by the shoulder.

“He’s Maxwell Anderson, her husband. The ER staff found her unconscious an hour ago,” Charles supplies as I grip my hair in frustration.

I never want to be recognized on sight until this very moment. Now I want every perk of being an Anderson, all the privilege I grew up having.

I want them all now. I’d give up my anonymity, have the paparazzi breathe down my neck every day for the rest of my life for Belle.

The nurse’s eyes widen in recognition as she quickly types on her computer. “She’s in room 320 in the Intensive Care Unit on the 3rd floor.”

ICU?

Terror curdles my insides and I break into a sprint, pushing people out of the way, not caring if they’re going to sue me later and dash toward the stairwell because the elevators are too slow.

I fly up the steps as someone opens the door to the third floor and barrel past the man, dashing toward the room, barely hearing Charles and Steven murmuring apologies behind me.

Throwing open the door of room 320, I see her on the bed, the sight eerily similar to a month ago.

But this time, she isn’t moving. She’s wearing an oxygen mask, her eyes closed, face pale. Fuck, she’s hooked up to so many goddamn monitors.

My legs tremble as I make my way to her. My hands are icy.

Mom’s pale face in the coffin.

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