Mason texted me to call him, but now when I'm calling, he's not picking up and when I call Sharice, her phone is going straight to voicemail, which isn't like her.
Somethings wrong. I can feel it.
My jet is being fueled, but I already canceled my meeting and messaged my pilot to inform him we're going back home.
As I sit in the lounge, my mind is going a million miles a minute. I don't like this.
My phone rings on the table next to my whiskey and I see it's my father calling. I don't know why I didn't think to call him myself.
I pick up, "Pop, have you talked t-"
"Malik, Sharice is in the hospital." He cuts me off.
"What happened!" my voice raised slightly.
"She fell down the stairs at your penthouse."
"She's okay right?" I request.
"You need to get home son,"
"I'll be there as soon as I can." I hang up and call a jet company, I'm not waiting for my pilot.
"I need a plane now!"
Hours later, I land in Atlanta. I call my father to find out what hospital Sharice is in.
Thankfully because it is so late, traffic is almost absent as my driver flies down the highway. Mason finally calls me back as I'm arriving, so I let him know I'll be inside in a second. He says he'll meet me in the lobby.
I walk inside and see my brother. As he leads me to the elevators, I notice that he's been crying.
"Mason, what happened?" I pleaded. "How did she fall?"
"Malik, I think someone broke into your place and they pushed her down the stairs."
"PUSHED HER?"
"I know you're angry," He starts grabbing me by my shoulders. "But you can't do that here."
We exit the elevators, "Where is she?"
"She got out of surgery a while ago, so you can go see her now. Be aware, it looks worse than it is, they said she has a concussion and some stitches in her head from hitting the floor. Her ankle and wrist are sprained and she has some bruised her ribs, but nothing's broken." He lists as we walk to her room.
"Why did she need surgery?" I asked confused.
"Malik, I need you to stay calm and keep it together, for her, please."
"Okay, I will. What else happened Mase?"
"I didn't want to be the one to tell you," He looks down and breaths heavily. "She was pregnant, but she miscarried."
My eyes go wide as tears begin to fall.
Mason hugs me tight as I try to keep my composure.
We release from our embrace and I thank him for staying by her side.
"Go to my penthouse and request to see the security cameras. Pay whoever you need to pay but get the footage from the hallways, elevators, and the lobby." I instruct him and he goes.
I walk into Sharice's room sit down next to her bed. She's all bandaged and bruised. I place her hand in mine and hold it trying to relax. I'm angry with myself for leaving her here.
"Baby, I'm so so sorry," I whisper.
I broke my promise to keep her smiling every day.
The nurse comes in to check her vitals. She says everything looks good and sits a call button next to me to push when Sharice wakes up.
I feel terrible that she's here like this. I don't even have a way to contact her parents and I don't know where her phone is.
Her tiny hand twitches in mine. I look up at her face as her eyelids are fluttering.
I press the button for the nurse and moments later she races in and begins shining her flashlight in Sharice's eyes.
"Can you hear me?" The nurse askes her. "follow the light, with just your eyes."
Sharice tries to nod her head but begins to panic. As tries to reach her hands up to touch her face she winces in pain and grabs her chest.
"Sharice, try to stay calm, baby," I tell her gently rubbing my hands on hers.
"I'm going to get the doctor." the nurse says leaving out.
Sharice locks eyes with me and tears stream down her face.
"Malik." She whispers as she cries and I can no longer hold my own tears. I try to comfort her as best I can.
The doctor comes in, "Do you know your name?"
"Sharice," she says huskily then coughs.
"What's the last thing you remember, Sharice?" The doctor asks.
She pauses for a second and tries to clear her throat, "May I have some water?"
The nurse hands me a cup with a straw. I hold it to her lips and she sips some then begins talking, "I came home and someone was inside the apartment. They rushed me and I fell down the stairs." She says with her hand still on her chest.
The room grows quiet.
"Do you remember what the person looked like?" I ask.
"No, it happened too fast."
The doctor steps closer and begins to talk, "You had a deep laceration in your scalp from the fall, with nine stitches. Your ankle and wrist are sprained so they're wrapped for pressure. I need you to be extremely careful with your ribs they're not broken but they're bruised pretty badly."
"What about..." her voice trails off.
"I'm very sorry, Sharice, unfortunately, you suffered a miscarriage." The doctor confirms. "We performed an emergency D&C to stop the bleeding and assist with recovery."
Sharice begins to sob, "I wanna go home."
I look at the doctor, trying not to be angry with him for the news, "When can she leave?"
"We'll monitor her for the rest of the night and if everything's good, she can go home in the morning, but she'll be on bed rest. " The doctor informs me before exiting the room.
"I'm so sorry baby. I never should've left you here." I tell her trying not to break down.
We sit in the room in silence and eventually, Sharice goes to sleep.
My phone vibrates. I see it's a text from Mason telling me to call him. I get up and kiss Sharice on the forehead before stepping out.
"Mason, tell me you have something."
"I do." He says sounding angry.
"Lay it on me"
"I paid ten thousand dollars to security at the penthouse, I have a flash drive with all the footage. One of the housekeepers was fired because she conveniently lost her universal key at the beginning of her shift."
"Okay, so who's the housekeeper?" I question
"Well, unfortunately, the information on file for her isn't real. She wasn't here legally."
"Fuck!" I groan.
"No matter. But you're not going to be happy about this, Mal," he pauses and sighs heavily, "I know who did it."
"Who?"
"It was Mariah."
My stomach drops, "Wait, what?" I don't think I heard him correctly, "Are you sure?"
Mariah killed my unborn child?
"I'm sure. I watched the footage over and over again. Mariah went inside your penthouse 20 minutes before Sharice, then ran out the 5 minutes after."
"I don't... I don't understand." I rub my hand over my face. "How could she do this? Sharice will never forgive me for this, it's all my fault she got hurt. She trusted me to take care of her." I break down at the thought.
"No, Malik. This is Mariah's doing, she needs to be held responsible." Mason forewarns me.
He never liked her to begin with and now she's hurt someone Mason loves like a sister.
"She will."