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CHAPTER SIXTEEN - CALL

"What? He's dying? Well, good riddance! Are we done talking about him now?" she harshly asked me, and I frowned at her sudden tone.

"You know I love you, right? But you
can't say that. I know he's hurt you, but you can't just wish someone's death. It's not right," I tried to knock some sense into her.

"Is he? Dying?"

"No, of course he's not!" I protested, getting frustrated with her attitude.

"Then I don't care," she simply said, and started walking away. "I'll see you later."

Just like that, Alice walked away, leaving me completely astounded by her behavior. I didn't try to hold her back, because her behavior was too much for me to take. I understood that she hated Carl, and she had valuable reasons to. However, I couldn't tolerate that she almost hoped he was dying. This was not right, and I hoped she had realized she went too far.

I sighed heavily, and put my back against the wall in exhaustion. In a split second, the euphoria I felt during the day disappeared and was replaced by disappointment. I shook my head, trying to put my anger aside, and after a few long seconds, I went to see my boss as he paged me.

When I was back in the service, I headed directly to the emergency room where Carl was supposed to be. But on my way there, I heard someone calling my name from behind me.

I turned around, and a mix of confusion and shock settled on my face as I noticed Frank DiLeo was the person calling me.

"M—Mister DiLeo," I stuttered, not able to hide my inability to understand the fact that he was standing there again. "Did you forget something?"

"You could say that," he told me with a ghost of a smile on his face. "Can I talk to you for a second? In private?"

"Uh, y—yes, sure. Follow me," I gently said, and led him in the nearest empty conference room.

Nervousness washed over me when I closed the door behind the both of us. The fact that Michael's manager wanted to talk to me alone and in private made me anxious, certainly because I didn't see this coming. Was it a turning point in Michael and I's relationship? I didn't know, I just had to discover what it was all about. For once, I wasn't warned this was going to happen.

"Is everything alright?" I asked, as he didn't speak a word, but looked around instead.

"Oh yes, sorry. Am I making you nervous? Because it is not my aim," he apologized sincerely.

"No, don't worry," I openly lied, faking a smile in his direction.

"Michael sent me back here because he forgot to give you something, and it was too risked for him to come back," he spoke, and my heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name. "Well, he forgot to give this to Charlie's mother, but he insisted for me to come back here to give it to you personally."

"What is it, and why me?" I asked with a frown, as I took the envelope Frank was handing me in my hands.

"Open it, and you'll see," he snickered, as he walked around the room with his hands crossed behind his back.

I did as I was told, and opened the envelope with my sweaty hands. In there was a fifty thousand dollars check, along with a little note. I blinked a few times, completely astounded by the enormous amount of money Michael was giving the Northman family, but also, my heart was happy knowing Mrs. Northman wouldn't have to worry about paying the medical bills anymore. With a content smile on my face, I proceeded to read the little note Michael left along with the check. My eyes widened a bit at the messy handwritten message. There were scribbles everywhere, like Michael struggled to write this correctly. To be completely honest, it looked like a rough draft.