Page 19 of Billionaire’s Promise

Sometimes I forget that her mother was a bit of a tiger mom like mine.

“Which is?”

“Looking after the hospitals and the patients.” I noticed that she said hospitals and I wondered if she had been given more responsibility since the last time I saw her.

“What hospitals?”

“Oh, Link didn’t tell you?” She checked for an answer before continuing, “My dad hasn’t been very well, so I’ve been taking over his role for a little bit until, you know, until he gets better.”

“No, we haven’t spoken to each other lately. What happened to Dr. Bennet?”

I hadn’t really been in touch with anyone over the last two years. I had so much to deal with back home, and I literally had no time to do anything else. When I finally remembered to call, it was either midnight for me or for my friends. I hated being in different time zones to them.

“Covid.” June tried to force a smile. “Then cancer.”

“No.” That was exactly what I dreaded. Bad news. If I didn’t know, I could pretend it didn’t happen. That wasn’t how the universe worked though. Just because I temporarily logged out, it didn’t mean that the world stopped spinning.

I knew subconsciously I was avoiding calling anyone – that was my coping mechanism. Ignorance is bliss.

“I’m sorry to hear about that. Is he okay now?”

“He’s doing another round of chemo, then they’ll see.” An electric shock jolted through my stomach as I noticed tears on her face.

“And that’s why you’ve been looking after all these hospitals?” June nodded lightly. Poor princess.

I knew that the Bennet Medical Group owned quite a few hospitals, but I had no idea how many, or how they operated at all.

That explained it. I thought that the incident this morning had exhausted her, giving her that pale and frail appearance. But perhaps she was burnt out lately from working too much.

“Are you getting any help from your brothers?”

I didn’t care that Link was my best friend. He should have helped her. What about her other brother, Liam, whom I didn’t know all that well. Wasn’t he helping? I seemed to remember that he was working in the same hospital as her?

“They do. But they have their own things going on.” Okay, fine. Maybe they did help, but I had stopped caring. They should take on more, a lot more, so she didn’t look like she was running out of battery. “Have you heard? Chloe is pregnant. Link is really excited about their baby.”

Great news for Lincoln.

Again. I didn’t give a fuck. It wasn’t like Link had to physically carry the baby, go through the morning sickness, all the hormonal changes in his body. He had time and energy to help his little sister.

Baby sisters were meant to be spoiled.

Spoiled rotten.

Her brothers should be ashamed.

“You should get some rest.” I jumped up to help June up from the sofa.

“I’m not tired.” A yawn betrayed her as she said it. “Okay, I lied. But I need to finish some paperwork for tomorrow.”

“Listen. You have had quite a day. You should go get a nap.”

I think I needed one too. I was exhausted from sitting in the other car while she had a gun to her face, worried sick over her.

“Maybe you’re right,” June agreed, “but I’m too tired to move. Can you pass me a blanket from over there.”

June pointed at the throw hanging on the other sofa just behind me. Instead of getting her what she wanted, I leaned down in front of her. Our faces were only inches away from each other and I could smell her mango flavored lip balm. “What are you doing?”

“Looking after you.” She answered softly, her eyes wide as I leaned in just a little bit closer.