Pampered by my Billionaire CEO Husband

I opened my eyes and was greeted by the bright white light, causing me to squint my eyes. My vision finally adjusted and I found myself staring up at the white ceiling when the strong scent of sanitizer and stale air hit me. Almost immediately, the memories from earlier came rushing back into my mind. I could clearly remember Evelyn’s smug face and that was the last thing I saw before I blacked out.

I let my eyes wander around and I knew immediately that I was in the hospital.

I was still lying in bed when I turned to my side to see a familiar face before my eyes. Recognition flashed past my dark brown eyes as I stared at the man sitting on the couch next to my bed. I was looking at the side of his face and my brows were furrowed together.

"You stayed?" I asked, a hint of surprise laced my tone as I kept my gaze fixated on him.

My voice reached his ears and he lifted his head from his hands and snapped his head around to face me this time. Realising that I was awake, his eyes widened slightly as we locked eyes. I had not expected to see him, I thought he would have been gone by now.

"You are up," he muttered before he arched a brow at me as a playful grin appeared on his lips. "Someone doesn’t sound too happy about me being here though," he commented, letting a low chuckle emerge from his throat this time.

I laughed too, raising my arms up in mock surrender. "How did you know?" I teased but there was this aching feeling inside of my chest as I fell silent in the next second and averted my eyes, my hands falling back to my sides.

My head was buzzing with thoughts I couldn’t seem to comprehend. I couldn’t tell exactly what I was feeling nor could I understand why I was feeling the way I am.

"What’s wrong?" He asked, concern evident in his eyes as his deep voice broke me out of my little reverie. "You look disappointed," he pointed out and it finally clicked inside my head. That was it, he was right.

I couldn’t deny it but I stayed silent, not knowing what to say when his words reached me.

"You were expecting to see him, weren’t you?"

It was like he could read my mind. I nodded with a slight smile tugging at the corners of my lips as I held back the tears that were starting to form at the brim of my eyes. But how could I be upset that Xavier did not show up? Afterall, I was the one who wanted him gone after what he did. He lied to me, how could I forgive him?

I let out a breath as I mentally chided myself for even feeling what I was feeling right now.

It was at this moment when the sound of the door creaking open echoed in the room and my eyes lit up in an instant as my heart started racing inside my chest. Deep inside the hollow of my heart I was hoping that he would appear at the front door right this instant.

Could it be him?

I lifted my head and my gaze snapped towards the door in anticipation but as the door swung open, my eyes landed on the nurse walking into the room to do her routine check on the patient. She looked over at me to meet my gaze.

"Oh, Mrs Wilder, you are awake," she commented as her eyes busily scanned the monitor to check my vitals. "Everything looks good. Let me go get the doctor, she will be here with you shortly," she informed with a polite smile that was etched onto her face.

She spun on her feet and quickly walked off but she stopped by the door, turning back around to face me. "You should get some rest, by the way," she advised. "You need time to recover and restore your health."

With that said, I watched as she disappeared around the corner as the door slowly closed shut behind her.

I let out a soft sigh as I lowered my head and let myself be engulfed in the silence that settled over us. Bryce reached out to put his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to comfort and reassure me. "Don’t overthink. I’m sure he will come, maybe he’s just busy."

As soon as the words rolled off the tip of his tongue, the door burst open once again, but this time it wasn’t the nurse from before or the doctor, it was Xavier.

I watched as he rushed in through that door, his dark hair messy and his eye bags much darker than before, I guess he hasn’t been sleeping much. There was a concerned expression that was plastered across his face as his eyes fell on mine and we locked eyes from a distance. He walked over urgently, closing the gap between us in less than a few seconds.

He held onto my shoulders. "Are you okay? What happened?" He questioned, his voice laced with worry as he looked at me. "I got the call from the hospital and I rushed here immediately."

Seeing him appear in front of my eyes filled my heart with joy and warmth. For a second there, I thought he could care less about me.

I bit my lower lip as I kept my gaze steady, trying to hold back tears. "I’m okay..." I mumbled under my breath, my voice trailing off as emotions were running wild in my dark eyes. "I fainted earlier."

He was about to open his mouth to say something when he finally noticed Bryce who had been sitting on the chair quietly behind him. He snapped his head around, looking at him with a small frown etched between his brow. "Who is he?" He asked, his voice carrying a slight edge to it despite his best efforts to hide his jealousy.

"That’s Bryce," I answered casually.

Bryce stood up from the chair this time and stretched out his arm, waiting for Xavier to shake his hand. "I’m the private investigator you guys have been talking to," he introduced with a smile on his face.

A look of recognition crossed Xavier’s face at that moment as it clicked inside his head. The corners of his lips curled upwards into a smile. "Right, nice to meet you, Bryce," he greeted as they shook hands.

He turned back to look at me this time. "Well... I think I should get going then," he announced but continued to look at me with a longing look swirling in the depths of his eyes. "Just wanted to see that you are okay," he said with a bittersweet smile that was stretched across his face.

I watched as he made his way towards the door and just as his hand hovered above the door handle, his name left my parted lips. "Xavier, please stay..."

Slowly, he pulled his hand away from the door handle, turning back to meet my gaze. There was a hint of surprise in his dark eyes and a slight smile on his face. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"I want you here with me," I confessed.

Seeing this, Bryce immediately got his cue. "So... I’m going to leave you two to be," he said and turned to meet my eyes. "Rest well and take care, Aurelia."

I watched as he opened the door and walked out, leaving just Xavier and I alone in the hospital ward now. He was still standing by the door as we looked at each other but none of us said a single word. Instead, we let the silence lapsed between us for what seemed like an eternity.

"Look, Aurelia..." he began, keeping his eyes on me as they held me captive. He let out a sigh and I could see that his dark eyes were filled with regret and guilt that were weighing him down the entire time. "I just want to say that... I’m sorry. I know sorry doesn’t mean much and that I can’t change what I did in the past. But I do regret it every single day. I shouldn’t have trusted your mother. I never meant to hurt you..." he said, his voice faltering towards the end of the sentence.

I drew in a deep breath, my emotions were still all over the place. "But you did..." I murmured under my breath, hurt still evident in my soft voice.

He walked towards me and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I didn’t push him away this time, letting him hold me tight. "I wish I could take it all back. If you want to..."

He didn’t finish his sentence but I knew immediately what he was implying and quickly shook my head.

"No, I don’t want to leave you," I reassured. I pulled away from the hug to look him in his eyes once again. "I had some time to think about it and it’s not your fault. You thought I cheated on you and left you with another man. But..."

I paused for a brief moment before I continued. "Can you promise me one thing?"

"What? What is it?"

"Promise me that you are not lying to me when you say all the nice things you did for me and all the memories we shared... they are all real."

"I promise."