Page 42 of The Powerful Boss She Craves

‘I heard that Bri has a respiratory infection, that she’s very ill. How is she?’

Kate released a long breath. ‘She’s struggling. She hasn’t responded to the antibiotics.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that, Kate.’ He was so sorry about so much, had been for so long.

Kate’s eyes—so blue, just like Brianna’s—collided with his. ‘Should I remove her feeding tube?’

What? Where had that come from?

Kate placed her elbows on her knees and clasped her head in her hands. ‘I’m so tired, Micah. So tired of seeing her like that.’

Of course she was, that was understandable. What mother wanted to watch her child—a daughter who should’ve had a career, been a wife, a mum—lie in a bed, unresponsive? He couldn’t, genuinely, think of anything worse.

But...

‘I’m not sure what you want from me, Kate,’ Micah said, trying to be as gentle as possible. Yes, this woman had caused him grief, but his was nothing to what she’d been through.

Kate sprang to her feet, walked over to his massive window and placed her hands on the glass. ‘I need you to help me make a decision, Micah.’

Man, the blows didn’t stop coming. Micah followed her over to the window and stood next to her, watching the matchbook-sized cars far below him. He knew what she meant, but selfishly he didn’t want to be a part of this conversation. It was too hard, too monumental...

They were talking about someone’s life, Bri’s life, for God’s sake!

‘Phil refused to even consider the idea of letting her go and I’ve resisted thinking about it. But seeing her struggling to breathe is too much. And if she recovers, it’ll just be another few months, maybe a year or two, before it happens again.’

‘But why ask me, Kate? You hate me.’

Kate turned sad, empty eyes on him. ‘I did, for a long time. But Bri adored you. From the time you met as toddlers, she only had eyes for you. She once told me that you knew her better than anyone, and vice versa.’

That had been true, up until Ella had arrived in his life. But, unlike Brianna, Ella didn’t see him through rose-tinted glasses, she saw his flaws and contradictions, but seemed to like him anyway.

He didn’tlikeher...he was crazily, stunningly, top-to-toe in love with her. He couldn’t imagine his life without her in it and didn’t know how he was going to cope if she left the country. He had four days until she officially left his employ. He hoped to have things sorted by then—her sharing his bed, permanently in his life.

But that was for later. He needed to concentrate on Kate right now.

‘What would she want me to do, Micah?’ Kate whispered.

Oh, God, he knew the answer to that, could hear Bri’s lilting voice in his ear.Tell her to let me go, Micah.’

‘I don’t want her to die, Kate,’ he said, his voice croaky with emotion. ‘But I hate the idea of her being kept alive, her condition never changing.’

‘But what if she’s in there somewhere?’ Kate laid a hand on her heart. ‘What if she comes back? People have, you know.’

Yes, he did, but Bri wouldn’t.

He’d had a very detailed, scientific talk with one of the world’s best neurologists and he’d been told that, the longer she remained unresponsive, the less likely she’d ever recover.

Tell her to let me go, Micah. Set us all free.

He’d need the courage to say what he knew he ought to, what he knew Brianna would want, more courage than he’d ever needed before. Because, at the end of the day, there was a bit of a ‘playing God’ element to this. But hadn’t they been playing God by keeping her alive with the feeding tube? He clenched his fist, not knowing what to say, how to frame his words.

Knowing that if he thought about this any more, if he allowed himself any more time, he’d lose his courage, so he gently placed his hands on Kate’s shoulders. ‘I’m not telling you what to do, Kate. I can’t. But I know that Brianna would not like to live like this; in fact, she’d hate it. But the decision will always be yours. You’ve got to do what you can live with and, no matter what your decision is, I will always support you.’

Kate rested her forehead on his chest, breathing heavily. ‘I’ve hated you for so long, Micah.’

‘I know,’ he whispered. He’d hated himself as well, but he was done with that now. He wasn’t solely to blame for the tragedy that had beset Bri. She’d chosen to follow him, to get behind the wheel of her car.

It was Ella who’d made him believe in himself and in his life. Somehow, that gorgeous, straight-talking, completely wonderful woman had cracked the door on his dark inner world and let in some light. Then more. Solidly black things were now grey, rising to opaque. Yes, he’d made mistakes—he shouldn’t have stormed out and gone down to that bar in the first place—but Bri had made mistakes too. She’d also acted impulsively, stupidly.

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