C23 The relapse

Nicholas was in a meeting when James called about Grace's breakdown. his brows wrinkled as he listened to James narrate the story over the phone.

After the call, he expertly drew the meeting to a close and walked out of the boardroom with his secretary on his heel. doting down everything on a notepad, as he barked out instructions at her. she saw how agitated he was, and knew that phone must have had something to do with it.

Nicholas was a private person, his private life was personal, he never took it to work, and those two never mixed. his employees could only guess about his life outside work.

When Nickolas stepped outside his office building, his security team and driver were already waiting for him by the car. the black Cadillac sped off the minute he settled into his seat in the backseat.

James had sent the location of the psychiatric hospital to the driver after he spoke to Nickolas.

Once he arrived at the hospital, he took long strides to Grace's ward, his heart thumping in his chest, his palms sweating, he was afraid he might end up being the one admitted.

Outside her room his eyes narrowed at the figure sitting on the waiting chairs, before he could put together who the lady sitting down was, Rose got up from her chair and greeted him pleasantly. it took him a moment to compose himself. his eyebrows raised in confusion. he didn't know Rose was in town and wondered when she arrived.

"Mr. Meyer, so good to see you again." she stretched her hand as she got up from the chair.

Nickolas took the little woman's hand smiling absent-mindedly. His focus was on the door of the room next to them. he wanted to see Grace. his mind could not understand how was it that one minute Grace was fine, and a few hours later she had a mental breakdown. everything had sounded so bizarre when James told him over the phone, now he wanted to see for himself.

Nickolas stood through the Glass window and looked inside Grace's room. she seemed to be deep in sleep, her hands were cuffed to the iron bed. everything looked and felt surreal, it was as if his whole was being turned upside down by an invisible force within a matter of 48 hours.

'how did things take such a drastic turn all of a sudden?'

"The Docter said it was for her good," He heard Rose explain as if from a distance when she saw him looking at Grace's hands, she must have known he was wondering about it.

He tried to put his emotions in order before he went inside. he needed to be strong for Grace even though it felt like his heart was being gutted out of his body.

When he was ready to walk in. A man in a white coat with grey hair stopped him. Dr. Logan was the doctor that had attended to Grace when she was brought in, he wanted to discuss Grace's condition with Nickolas and prepare him.

"You must be Mr. Meyer, Your details were on the patient's next of kin list." the doctor took Nickolas by the Elbow and directed him to the nearby chair. He noted the man's wild look and realized he must be shocked by the whole ordeal.

"Yes, I am," he said in a daze, silently wondering when Grace might have had the time to write down his information.

"Does that mean you guys have Miss Moon's file at this hospital?"

"That is correct, I'm afraid Miss moon had a relapse, it would seem something must have triggered her. when she came in, she was hysterical, she claimed of being hunted by a certain woman. of course we don't know how much of anything she says is true at this point." the doctor stated matter of fact.

"When you say she had a relapse, something like this has happened before?" he looked at the doctor as if he had grown another head. his head was spinning with questions.

"I take it that you were not aware of Miss Moon's history with Mental health?" the other appeared sympathetic.

"No." Nickolas was looking at the floor, he didn't know anything about Grace's mental health, but at that moment he was doubting his sanity.

"Why is she chained to the bed?" when he raised his head to look at the doctor again.

" I have to say this, Mr. Meyer. things might get worse before they get better, right now Miss Moon poses a danger to those around her as well as herself. "

The doctor saw the pained look on the other man's face and looked at his watch

"I believe she's awake, you might wanna see her, and Mr. Meyer, please don't get your hopes up yet." Dr. Logan got up and patted the man's shoulder, and left.

Nickolas was left to deal with the lump in his throat

"Yes," he murmured more to himself than to the doctor.

When Nickolas entered Grace's room, she was awake as the Doctor had expected.

she sat staring into space, As he sat down, he held onto her chained hand. she did not turn her head nor did she acknowledge him. she continued staring at an empty wall. when he looked into her eyes, her gaze was empty. he couldn't tell whether she was aware of his presence or not.

At that moment, tears fell down his face.

Not far from the hospital, two men sat in a corner of an old stuffy coffee shop, that served tasteless coffee and a day old pies. the air had a solid stink of tobacco. their business of the day had nothing to do with the shops coffee or it's aged pies. the older man of the two slipped a brown fat envelope towards his companion.

The other man greedily took it and peeked through the opening.

he grinned at his companion with his toothless smile, then got up from his chair and shok the older man's hands before leaving the coffee shop.

****

One evening when Grace was back home from the hospital. Nickolas joined her in the library. she was drinking herbal tea and he had opted for whiskey.

"how are you adjusting?" he asked as he settled himself next to her on the couch.

"Better than the last time I was here." the air in the room was relaxed. she put her feet on his lap.

" You know, if you want to go anywhere you can always tell James to take you there."

" Oh but I don't mind going on my own to drive around" she looked at him with lazy eyes

This time he hesitated before he spoke,

"James is more discreet." he looked at her but his eyes darted around the room.

"Why would I want to be discreet about where I'm going?" she laughed at his obvious shyness

Now he was getting flustered.

"I thought that maybe. if you went to see your doctor, you might want to keep it under

the radar"

"And why would I do that?" her voice was dreamy as she spoke.

"People talk. you wouldn't want to be labeled a lunatic." He gulped down his drink. and with a start, she removed her feet from his lap. her face redden at his words.