Chapter 7:

I awoke to a slight ringing in my ears and a fuzzy feeling in my mouth. I slightly sit up from the position I'm in and push the hair back from my face. My eyes feel like they're sealed shut and I try with all my might to open them. As soon as I open them I regret the decision. I groaned as the bright lights of the room hits my eyes and give me more of a headache. I push myself into more of a sitting position and hang my head.

"You are really hung over miss." A soft voice to my right spoke into the silence. Even though his voice was soft it still causes my head to pound more. "They are pain pills on the table beside you, they're from the doctor."

With my head still down I blindly reach for the pain pills on the table. My hand touching everything but the cup the pills are in. Finally I find the pills and down them as soon I possibly can. I shift my body to lie back on the bed…

Wait… bed?

I didn't fall asleep in a bed last night; I remember falling asleep in a chair. I peak my eyes back and notice that I am in fact in a bed, a hospital bed to exact. I slowly look to my right and see Jasper sitting in the chair that I once sat in.

"Jasper, how did I get into the bed?" my voice is quiet and filled with curiosity. How did I get in the bed and how come he isn't the one in it?

He lifted his head to embarrassingly scratch the back of his neck and he gave an awkward chuckle. He didn't answer me right away. He just looked at everything but me, like the eerily calm green walls were more interesting than answering my question.

"Jasper, how did I get into the bed? I know I didn't put myself here, so how did I end up here?" I repeated. I started to sit up, but thought better of it when my head started ringing and the room started to spin. "Jasper? Answer me."

"I put you there. I wasn't going to let you wake up hung over in a chair. It wouldn't be right if I did that." He softly spoke as he embarrassingly looked down at the slippers the hospital gave him. "You looked so uncomfortable and after all you've done for me…" his voice trailed off.

I continued to look at him and how his posture was. You could tell he was once a man that stood very tall and not in height but in power and authority. What happened to this man?

I was about to question him when my phone rang, I knew I had to get this call because it rang Demitri's ringtone.

I slowly moved from the bed to the chair were my purse was and reached inside to get my phone.

"What is it Demitri?"

"I think I found something my lovely Swan." He said in what I could guess was an excited voice.

I turned to Jasper and told him to excuse me and I left the room to hear what Demitri had to say. "This better be good. Tell me what you have."

"So instead of looking for Jasper Whitlock I went looking for people with the Whitlock name. I figured if he came up with the name it had to have come from somewhere. And guess my luck I found what I was looking for." I could hear the rustling of papers in the background and then it stopped. "Ah here we go. There was a woman named… Cynthia Whitlock. She was the daughter of a rancher in Texas who struck oil one day and suddenly became rich. When she was 17 she had a baby boy who was a stillborn. Can you guess what the name of the baby was supposed to be?"

My voice was barely a whisper as I answered his question, "Jasper Whitlock."

"Ding ding ding we have a winner, Jasper Whitlock is correct. That's why there is no record of a Jasper Whitlock; it's because Jasper Whitlock is not alive or ever was. After the death of her baby Cynthia Whitlock completely disappears. But she doesn't leave empty handed, she disappears $1.5 million of her father's money. I went looking for people named Cynthia who just suddenly appeared but she has completely disappeared."

I release a deep sigh and run my fingers through my hair in frustration, "Is that all you have? Is there more? There has got to be more"

He too released a sigh, "I'm doing some more digging. I'm calling a few buddies. Out of all the assignments you've given me, this one is my favorite. It's challenging. I'll call you when I have more information on Jasper or where Cynthia might have disappeared to." He clicked off before I could reply to him.

Sometimes I swear I hate that man.

I walk back into the room to see that Jasper is still sitting in the chair and that angered me. "Get back in the bed Jasper." I commanded. "You're the patient not me. I'm only hung over, you're malnourished. Which one is worse?" I walked over to him and gently grabbed his arm and pushed him towards the bed, surprisingly he followed me willingly. Once he was settled on the bed I started asking him questions, "What did the doctor tell you yesterday while I was gone?"

He started to stutter, "H-h-he to-told me t-t-that I was getting b-be-be-better and that I won't be here long maybe another day or two."

I looked at the time on my watch and saw that it was already past noon. "Shit. I have a meeting at 1:30 and lunch with my mother at 3. So much to do so little time." I mumbled lowly under my breath as I checked my schedule for today. I looked up at Jasper and saw him looking at me, "Tell the doctor I'll be back here at around 5 o'clock and we're going to have you discharged. I can't keep coming to the hospital. It messes with my schedule too much. We'll have to get you some identification and stuff like that. Ugh so much to do." I went back to my phone and started typing out tomorrow's schedule. "For now, all you have to do rest. Okay?" I gave his leg a soft little pat. I gave him a wave as I started walking out the door.

I call my driver to tell him to come and get me. 10 minutes later I was back at my apartment. It now seems empty without having someone in it. I looked at the clock on my wall and see that it is almost 1 and I still need to go over my notes for the meeting and make sure I'm at the meeting on time. One of the things that my father hates most is people that are late.

I grabbed my phone and dialed my P.A. Claire.

The phone rung twice before she picked up, "Miss Swan's office, Claire speaking, how may I help?"

"Claire I will need you to inform my father that I will be a little late to the meeting today." I told her in my business tone.

"Yes ma'am I will relay that message to him or to his P.A. Will there be anything else?"

"No that is all." I ended the call and began preparing myself for the meeting.

Believe it or not I treat Claire better than I treated my other assistants. I at least call Claire by her name and not just 'assistant'. Claire would be my favorite assistant out of the ones I've had before. She became my assistant about year ago after the company she was with went bankrupt. She is a sweet girl but she's not soft. She's efficient and she keeps me on task.

I looked at my watch and rushed out the door almost forgetting my briefcase in the process. I had 15 minutes to make it to the office if I wanted to be on time, but this is New York. This city is nothing but traffic.

I made it to the office two minutes late for my meeting. My father was standing outside the door to the conference room when I walked up. I could feel the disappointment and anger from where I stood.

I held my head high as I walk towards him, "Father, I know that I am la-"I couldn't even finish what I was about to say

"I am not your father right now, I am your boss. And as my employee you know how valuable time is in office. Everything has a schedule and I will not tolerate that schedule being messed up in any way. Now get your ass in that conference room and start this damned meeting because I have a schedule to stick to." He turned around and walked into the conference room without waiting for my reply.

I schooled my features and put on a business like smile, "Sorry for taking up some of you valuable time. How about we start the meeting?"

Despite its late starting the meeting ended on time. I had 10 minutes to get to where mother and I were having lunch. The café that we were having lunch wasn't too far from the office so I decided to walk and to give my driver a little break.

As I walked I took in the smells and sounds of New York City. I'll admit all I smelled was the fumes from the gasoline and the smoke from someone's cigarette, but then I smelled the pizza from the pizza parlor, the hot dogs of the hot dog vendor, and all the other amazing foods that make up New York.

Finally I made my way to the little café where I will be having lunch with my mother. It has a homey, rustic, but elegant feel to it. I instantly spot my mother as she is the only one wearing a Prada pants suit.

When I walk in she starts to wave me over to where she is. "Oh honey why did you choose this place for us to have lunch? It's so… so… so… so rustic. I thought that when you said we were having lunch in a café that you meant the one by the nail salon on 87th."

"I happen to love this café that you are bashing on" I exclaim as I take a seat in the booth by the window. "Have you ordered yet? Their coffee cakes are good and their tea cakes are to die for. Just give it a chance."

She gave a little indignant sniff, "I have ordered. I ordered the tea cakes and a caramel mocha latte. The tea cakes smelled delicious."

I laughed as I looked at her expression, "Did you order for me as well?"

"I got you a caramel Frappuccino and those little cake things you love so much and a grilled chicken salad for both of us."

"Thank you."

I look down at the table when I hear my mother's fingers impatiently tapping at the table. I know she wants to hear about how last night went, but since I'm such a lovely daughter I'm going to make her sweat it for as long as possible.

I pick up my phone and it seems like I'm looking through the documents I have stored on there but I'm actually just playing a game. This goes on for the 6 minutes that we have to wait for our order. When our food arrives I put my phone down and begin slowly eating at my cake bites.

Finally after having waited long enough she finally asks me the question that has been bugging her, "So, Isabella how was your date with Riley Biers?" she timidly asked me.

I took an innocent sip from frappe, "It was fine. We had some good food."

She looked at me incredulously, "That's it? That's all you have to say? Wasn't he charming, funny, or even a snooty, pompous jackass?"

"He was fine. We had a couple of good laughs. We drank 3 bottles of $1400 wine. It was a fun, good night."

"Will you be seeing him again?" You could by the tone of her voice that she was clenching her teeth and that she was growing tired of this little game I was playing.

"No I won't be seeing him again, at least not in a romantic sense." I spoke in a dull tone as I picked at what was left of my salad.

"What? WH-why not? You just said that you two had a good time?" he tone was one of disbelief and shock.

"We didn't click or connect. It was like going out to dinner with Angela or you. But we did have fun."

Just as she was about to speak my phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID and couldn't believe my eyes.

I picked up the phone on the second ring, "Do my eyes deceive me or is that your name I see?" I asked with a smile.

"Oh it's me. Would you care to accompany me to dinner tonight so that we can catch up?" his smooth voice replies back to me.

"Is the sky blue?"

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Alright I'll see you later then." And then I hung up the phone.

My mother perked up, "Was that Riley?"

I smiled at her, "No. Someone better."

A/N: Hey everyone here is the new chapter it is not edited. It wrote as I fast as I could. Another one should be posted tomorrow night. Please enjoy.

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