Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 142

The air froze for a split second before the room erupted.

“Oh my god, James! Your future mother-in-law just gave you her stamp of approval!”

“Damn, James! That was fast. You already won her over?”

“Come on, come on, show us how much she gave you! Let us see what a mother-in-law’s approval looks like!”

Will, always the most dramatic, elbowed his way to the front, eyes practically sparkling.

James looked a little annoyed by the noise and just handed the envelope over to Will, not even bothering to react.

Will carefully opened it and pulled out a fat stack of crisp bills. He started counting—loudly, and way too slowly.

“One, two, three… Whoa! Look at this pile! Ten thousand… and one!”

He grabbed James’s arm, nearly bouncing with excitement. “James! Do you even know what ten thousand and one means?”

James just shot him a flat look, saying nothing. Of course he knew. He’d already looked it up on his phone in the car.

One in ten thousand.

Will clearly didn’t get how chill their captain was about all this and kept explaining, way too hyped. “It means you’re one in a million, man! Your girlfriend’s mom couldn’t approve of you more. She thinks you’re the best there is—totally trusts you with her daughter!”

“No kidding! Just look at James—tall, handsome, the whole package. What mother-in-law wouldn’t love him?”

“For real! There’s that old saying: ‘The more a mother-in-law looks at her son-in-law, the more she likes him.’ That’s James to a T!”

James listened to their teasing with his usual poker face, then just pulled the cash out of Will’s hands and stuffed it back in his pocket.

“All right, enough. Any calls this morning?”

Instantly, everyone sobered up and fell into line.

Will stood straight and reported, “All clear, James! No emergencies, all quiet.”

He grinned. “Let’s hope it stays that way. Wouldn’t mind a peaceful day for once.”

Right then, James’s phone rang.

He glanced at the screen. His relaxed expression vanished and he strode off to a corner to answer.

“He hasn’t eaten a thing! The doctor says he needs another day under observation! Enough talk—get over here!”

The call ended with a click.

Emmy stared at her phone, her expression dark.

She hesitated, then pulled up her favorites and hovered over James’s number. For a second, she pictured his steady, no-nonsense face—so serious, but somehow reassuring.

But then she set the phone down. He’d just gotten back to the station, probably buried in work. She couldn’t keep leaning on him for everything.

Emmy drew in a deep breath and called her assistant. “Aidan, get two reliable bodyguards ready. I need to go to the hospital.”

Half an hour later, Mercy Hospital.

This place was the pride of the city’s richest neighborhood, decked out with the most advanced medical equipment money could buy.

As soon as Emmy stepped out of the car, she noticed the hallways packed with serious-faced men in plain clothes.

She stopped a passing nurse. “Hi, excuse me—did something happen here?”