MIDNIGHT Bride The CEO's TEMPTATION

There was a razor blade on the night table. She looked at it for a minute, and then she picked it up. "To cut or not to cut," she murmured. "That is the question..." And then she began to giggle.

What is it about Shakespeare and me this evening? - she wondered. Still smiling, she brought the knife to her Radial Artery. Back and forth, not up and down - she reminded herself. 

Just as she was about to begin cutting, someone knocked on the door. "Miss Smith! Miss Smith! Are you asleep?" It was one of the servants.

There must be an emergency - Crystal thought, and she immediately assumed that it had something to do with Nancy. "Come in!" she shouted.

The servant entered the room, bowed, and said, "I'm sorry to bother you so late, but I am worried about Nathan. He is still refusing to eat, and he will not take his medicine either. He is in bad shape."

"Where is Eric? Has he not come back yet?" The servants were supposed to notify him if there were any problems with Nathan. This was because he did not like her spending time with her ex-lover.

The servant shook her head and said, "Mr. Bush has not yet returned. So, it would be best if you came quickly. I am afraid that Nathan will die if you don't. He vomited two mouthfuls of blood. The last time I checked, he wasn't breathing, and his heart wasn't beating either. All I could think to do was come and get you!"

Crystal nodded and said, "We'll let's get going. Time is obviously of the essence."

Then, as she took the stairs two at a time, she shouted for another servant to call for a doctor.

****

Crystal was in such a rush that her foot caught on the last step as she reached the landing, and she fell flat on her face. A servant hurried to help her. Grasping her arm, the servant said, "Miss Smith... Are you alright?"

Crystal stood up, and without answering the question, she hurried off in the direction of the servant's quarters. When she got to the door to Nathan's room, though, she dared not go in. She gasped as she pressed her palms against the doorframe. Her hair was wet with sweat, and her face was horribly pale. She had never run so fast in her life, and her heart was beating so fast that she thought that it might burst.

The servant caught up to her, and after giving her a curious look, she said, "Go inside and have a look…"

Crystal could not, though. She was too afraid. "I-I-I..." she stuttered, and as she tried to talk, her body began to tremble, and tears welled up in her bloodshot eyes.

The servant seemed to understand what Crystal was going through. She gently touched her arm and said, "Let me go first."

Crystal nodded and stepped aside.

The servant went in, and when she came out, she had a slight smile on her face. "Miss Smith," she said. "He is alive. It turned out to be a false alarm."

"What? A false alarm?"

"It's true. You can come in and see him. His heart beats once more."

There were several servants gathered around Nathan's bed, and they all looked relieved. Still, though, Nathan looked more dead than alive. He was pale. His body was covered in a sheen of sweat, and Crystal could not tell if he was awake or asleep. "But he's breathing," she muttered. "And that's the important thing."

Crystal turned to the servant that had disturbed her and said, "You roused me for nothing. He does not need me. He needs a doctor!"

The servant bowed and apologized. "I have erred on the side of caution," she said. "Next time, I will make sure he is dead before I call you."

Crystal noted a sarcastic slight in the servant's voice, and she uttered an unhappy, "Hmph."

One of the senior servants stepped between them and said, "I am sorry. I was the one who sent her. He was not showing any signs of life, but he must have been in shock for a few minutes. Sometimes people go into shock like that."

"Shock?" Crystal asked in a tone that implied disbelief.

"Yes," the nurse replied. "Shock."

Crystal sighed. She was exhausted, and after all this excitement, she doubted that she would get any sleep. At least Nathan is fine - she told herself - That is what matters. She realized, though, that if he died, her situation would be much easier. After all, her relationship with him was the biggest cause of all the chaos in her life. Without him in her life, she would be able to turn her attention to the biggest mistake of her life: Marrying Eric.

****

It did not take long for the doctor to arrive, and the first thing he did was check to see if Nathan had gone into shock. Once he was done, he said, "Shock comes in different forms. Sometimes, the man has a heartbeat but isn't breathing. Sometimes, he has no heartbeat and isn't breathing. Shock is a funny thing."

"Why did he go into shock?" asked Crystal.

"These things happen." The doctor shrugged. "Maybe he was lying on his back, and when he started coughing up blood, it blocked his throat..."

Nathan's hands and feet were bound because they did not want him to hurt himself again. They did not realize that his limited movement was what had caused him to cough.

Crystal told a servant to untie him and asked the doctor, "Why is he coughing blood?"

"He has a nasty stomach problem. It's getting worse and worse..."

"He has a stomach problem?" Crystal was shocked. "Is there anything that can be done to stop him from getting worse?"

"He has to take medicine and eat some food. It can be something as light as soup or porridge, but he has to take in some calories." The doctor smiled and said, "It doesn't help that he was shot in the abdomen and doesn't seem interested in recovery. As I said, he should be eating regularly, taking his medicine, and getting lots of rest.. This isn't rocket science."