The Perfect Intern

Chapter 35.

Song: This I Promise You by N-sync

Ariella

I sat along side Dante on the beige couches while we waited for his therapist to show. We seemed to be more inside a large house, then a mental health clinic, but I guess this is what you get when you're rich. Karina sat across from us in tears as Dante fidgeted with a red diamond brooch, that was said to have belonged to his mother.

He was calm now, but he stared down at it as if he was still angry. He had changed into black sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

"I never meant for this to happen, Dante," Karina started, waiting for any type of reaction to her apologies, but he gave her none. "Had I known you had.." She bit her quivering bottom lip and stopped herself as though she still couldn't believe the words she was about to speak. "I hadn't thought about you having a normal life outside of SEO. I just wanted you to be the best CEO you could. One your father would have been proud of."

When he gave her nothing in response, she attempted to wipe her tears from her face and looked down. As roughly as he continued to rub the diamonds of the small brooch, you'd think his fingertips would bleed.

I remembered how earlier Karina had come to my door, interrupting my depressing binge watching, to tell me Dante needed me. I could've sworn it was a lie, but when she described how he was acting, I knew it'd be best to try and calm him. After all, his business meant everything to him, and if he was willing to risk it all, it must've been something serious.

It seemed she didn't know of his disorder as she described his 'out of the ordinary' behavior.

The sight of the unhinged Dante I had seen twice before, brought tears to my eyes, too. It was the same Dante that had gotten irate with me, after I questioned him about his mother. The same Dante that aggressively sent me home with a fuck you when he swore I was a spy.

And yet, the same Dante looked at me as though I was his only grounding. My heart broke in two as I realized they would then have to put the beast down.

I was too afraid to touch him now. From what I knew, any little thing could set him off and if he was perfectly fine with me sitting next to him, then that was enough.

I heard sudden hard foot steps and looked up to see who I'd assume to be his therapist. "Hello ladies, I am Dante's therapist, Doctor Jonathan Fitzgerald." He was an older man with grey hair and he wore a suit with a doctor's white coat. He sat in the beige recliner to the right of all of us and continued speaking. "He is doing good. The brooch seems to be helping him so, thank you, Ms. Besser. We were thinking of doing a forty-eight hour hold on him while we do calming excer-"

"He has another meeting, he can't-" Karina stopped herself when she realized she was once again putting the company before the CEO's personal needs. "I just think forty-eight hours is too long. I've told the board members that Dante wasn't feeling well and should be back shortly."

"I understand, Ms. Besser," he told her sympathetically. "But this is his mental health we're talking about. Should there really be a time limit on that?"

She sighed and then looked off around the room before shaking her head.

"All right. Now when he had his breakdown in the conference room, can you tell me what set him off?" He lifted his clip board and looked between the both of us. I refused to answer him. As a therapist, shouldn't he know it would be best not to mention what got someone angry in the first place?

"I don't think bringing that up is a good idea," Karina spoke, her eyes darting to me and Dante as she did.

"Was it something you did, Ms. Faure?" He looked to me with his eyebrow raised and pen in hand, prepared to write down anything I'd say.