THE ARRANGED MARRIAGE

chapter 5

Laine's POV

I was coming back from my session when I got the call from the hospital. Miles’s father had an accident. And he was in a serious condition. They said that he had been asking for Miles before he lost consciousness. I assumed they had called Miles first and maybe he hadn’t responded and then they called me. I had to find Miles before anything else happened. I called the company; they told me that apparently he had not come to the office today. Which was strange. As far as I knew he never missed work. Next I called some of his friends, even Daniel and Victoria. They asked me what was wrong. I told them that something had come up and that I needed to find him. Daniel told me he would track him down and if he found Miles then he would let me know. I thanked him and called home. Maybe he was there. As I suspected he wasn’t there as well. It was getting frustrating. I decided to let it go for a while and go to the hospital and see if anything was needed also there would be formalities to complete.

The typical smell of the clean and sterile disinfectant hit me when I entered the D.C hospital. As usual the hospital was crowded. People, nurses and doctors were milling around. I went to the reception and asked the nurse about Arthur Wentworth. She asked me if I was a relative. I told her I was his daughter in law. She told me his location. I thanked her and hurried to the 3rd floor of the hospital. The third floor is the special wing of the hospital. It is much more posh and secure and quiet than the rest of the hospital. It had its own operation theatre, pharmacy, gift shop even. Only the rich people could afford to be admitted in this floor. The on call doctors here were world renowned specialists. The main speciality of this floor was anonymity. No one outside the members of the floor and a few other members of the hospital knew the people who were admitted in this floor. If anyone didn’t want the rest of the world to know who and why they were admitted this was a good place to be. When you are famous, everything you do tends to become news. And once the media caught hold of something, it was all chaos. They were like vultures picking off the flesh of the dying animal without mercy. So I knew that no one outside had any knowledge that Arthur Wentworth was here. Even if they did it would be difficult for them to catch hold of him here. This place was heavily guarded.

Speaking of Arthur Wentworth my father in law, I hoped he got well soon and there was nothing too serious. I really liked him. We were close. Sometimes I think he was closer to me than he was to Miles, his own son. But who was I to judge. My father certainly wasn’t the father of the year. Still. Miles's mother was… well I didn’t know what the deal was with his mother. I had no idea who his mother was or where she was or whether she was even alive. I hadn’t dare ask Miles or even Arthur. So basically Miles and Arthur had only each other. My own mother died when I was 8 years old and left me with father and my brother. I was very close to my brother. Anyway enough about my mom. Arthur Wentworth was a force of nature. A person to be reckoned with. Of course he is a billionaire. He started his empire with a small trading company dealing with exports in Indiana. With his acute business acumen and smart mind he expanded to every state, yes all the 50 states in the US, and soon he was the man to look out for in the business world. Today he is worth billions. And that’s just separate from his son. Together the Wentworth men were pretty much one of the richest people on earth. So you see I am surrounded by men who are fucking rich with egos bigger than their wealth.

No matter his ego Arthur always treated me well. He was the exact opposite of my father. While my father thought of me as nothing but a nuisance he had to bear with(just like my husband I might add), Arthur on the other hand treated me with respect and like I was his own daughter. He is very handsome and charming. So charming that even today women tumbled over each other to fall at his feet. He was a democrat(like me). He didn’t make people feel like they were a speck on his shiny shoes. He was a very smooth talker. I think that’s one of the reasons of his success. He could get anyone to do anything. He didn’t even have to manipulate people. But he was equally ruthless and visious when wanted to be. The qualities his son had also inherited. I think he was the one person my father felt threatened by. I don’t know why he liked me. But from the moment I met him we had hit it off. I think he also had an in linking that my marriage to his son wasn’t exactly a piece of cake. But unlike his son he never blamed me for it. In fact I think he kind of felt sorry for me that I was stuck with his son. He was the father figure in my life.