Dead or alive

"God! She's not responding! What are we going to do guys, she's not responding!?" Chris said, looking at the faces of each man inside the room. He was scared and he could read fear on each of their faces.

It's the fear of the unknown. The fear of what might happen to Leo if the girl died. She was still not breathing after he administered CPR on her for two minutes. 'What if she died!?' Chris couldn't help but think to himself. What would they do if she died?

There would certainly be war, that's for sure. The girl was a Da-Silva after all. They're not as powerful as the Salvadors but certainly more powerful than most rich families in the country and they won't just stand around and do nothing if their daughter was murdered.

Chris looked at Leo and his friend just stood frozen in place, mumbling to himself like he was out of his mind.

"Leo!..." Chris called his name but got no response from him.

"Leo snap out of it man, what is the matter with you!? She is not responding! Did you hear that!?" Chris said sharply.

Those words 'She is not responding' brought Leo back from his state of shock and sprung him to action. He immediately bent and lifted Emma into his arms, practically running straight for the door.

"What are you doing?... Where are you going with her?" Paul quickly stood, blocking Leo's way from going further.

"Hospital! I need to get her to the hospital as soon as possible!" Leo replied and tried to go around PA Paul.

"No, you can't take her to the hospital. How will you explain the marks on her neck? Let..." Paul was saying before he was rudely interrupted by Leo.

"Would you rather she die then!?..." Leo shouted. "Nothing matters to me right now but her! I don't care what happens to me. I just need to get her to the hospital right now, do you understand that!?..."

"Wait, I'm not saying we're not going to take her to the hospital, what I'm saying is let someone else do it. Let me do it..."

Paul said and wondered what could have happened between Leo and the intern that quickly escalated to the point where Leo felt it was necessary that strangling her was the best action to take.

He was concerned for not only Leo but for his old boss whom he had worked so hard together with to make the Salvadorian Empire the greatest in the country.

His plan initially was to retire immediately after the old man did but his old boss pleaded with him to stay and worked with his grandson, even if it was for a short period until all their enemies are finally put to rest. How could he now stand by and watch as everything they all worked for go down the drain?

"Move the fuck out of my way Paul, otherwise I'll move you myself!..." Leo said fiercely.

"Mr. Paul has a point, Leo. If you insist on taking her yourself, then at least use your private elevator. You just can't go out with her display in your arms like that." Chris said, praying in his mind for Leo to understand why he shouldn't be caught with a possible dead girl with signs of physical abuse written all over her.

'Yeah, private elevator. Now, why didn't I think of that before?' Leo thought and without arguing, he immediately moved with Emma still in his arms towards the hidden door of his private elevator.

Since the elevator goes directly to the company's underground parking lot, it would be easy to avoid people's prying eyes and anybody who might want to sneak a picture of them together.

But before he could punch in the codes that open the elevator door, the door to the entrance of his office busted open to let in two hysterical ladies who seemed to have forced their way inside. His secretary entered with them, complaining and insisting they couldn't come in without an appointment.

Mere looking at one of the ladies, the resemblance to Emma was obvious.

'What is going on for goodness sake!? Did they find out about Emma already? How could that have happened so quickly? Why is this situation spiraling out of his control so fast?' Paul wondered in exasperation as he quickly moves to shield the secretary's view before rushing her out the door.

"It's okay, you can leave now. I'll take it from here."

"Where's she!?"

"Where's my sister!?"

Omolade and Abby said at once. Mama Silver had called both of them separately saying they should both meet up and go meet Emma who was in trouble.

Rushing towards where Leo was still standing with Emma in his arms.

"What happened to her? Where are you taking her? Put her down, we need to make her comfortable." Abby said, pulling Leo towards the big sofa in the room.

"No, no, no... I need to get her to the hospital right now"

"No hospital!... We can't take her to any hospital! Grandma's instruction was to make her comfortable and then call her." Omolade replied to Leo's protest.

'Grandma's instruction? How did they all get to know about this so fast!? Are these all a ploy to set him up?' Leo couldn't help but wonder to himself in confusion.

"Lade are you sure about not taking her to the hospital?... She is unconscious, look at her!... Are you sure about that?... " Abby asked towards Lade, her eyes now brimming with tears.

'God please don't let her die! She has been through a lot already, please cut her some slack. Don't let her die in Jesus' name.' Abby silently prayed in her heart.

"Oh my God! Somebody put their hands on my sister!?" Omolade exclaimed when she was finally able to see Emma close up. "Look at the marks on her neck! Who among you did this to her!?" She demanded, looking at the men's faces in anger.

When her grandmother called to say she should go together with Abby to the Salvadorian Empire because Emma was in trouble, she wasn't expecting physical abuse. She thought because of Emma's temper, she was about to get arrested for something she might have said or done.

"Lade, please!... This is not the time for questions. Let's do as grandma said first, when she's conscious then we can ask all the questions later." Abby pleaded.

"There's a bed. She will be more comfortable on the bed." Leo said as he walked briskly with Emma in his arms towards the adjoining room where he uses for resting. He didn't know why they wanted to make her comfortable instead of taking her to the hospital but who was he to argue since he's not family.

They all followed Leo into the room. Chris immediately helped removed the bed cover and Leo laid Emma gently on it. Looking at her, at the red marks on her chin and neck, Leo was very ashamed of himself. He couldn't believe he did that to a woman.

How would he face his friends and PA Paul after this? Even though he saw a monster and thought he was strangling it. Who would believe him if he tells them that she turned into the monster right before his eyes?

If that notion now sounded ridiculous to him that saw the monster with his two eyes, how could he expect somebody else to believe him? They would all think him a barbaric monster or think he has gone mad, no doubt about that.

So how would he explain himself out of this? What would be his reason for putting his hands on a girl half his size? Leo was not much of a prayer person but right then he prayed to God to keep her safe. If not for his sake but for his grandfather's sake. So he wouldn't destroy in one night what it took his grandfather and father many decades to build.

"You all should please leave us alone. What needs to be done can't be done with you all hovering around like a helicopter." Abby said and the men all left

When everyone left, Omolade called Mama Silver and some minutes later they came out to announces that Emma has woken up.

"How's she? Can I see her?" Leo who was standing right outside the door desperately asked.

"No, you cannot! You did this to her, didn't you? You monster!" Omolade shouted at Leo. "Thank your stars my grandma said no police. This place would have been swarming with them by now." Omolade ranted on and on till she finally became tired and quiet down.

"I'll be around if you need me. Just call this number," Leo said when Emma's sister was done screaming in his face. He wrote his number on a paper and left it on his desk, before following his friends and PA out of his office.