Kian (Undercover Billionaire, #1)(3)

“I’ll go with her,” he told the nurse. She nodded and smiled. The entire staff knew his job meant more to him than stitching someone up and forgetting them. He’d have moved a lot farther up the evolutionary chain of medicine if that had been his main focus. But Kian didn’t have to worry about that. He wasn’t interested in titles.

Carefully easing himself onto the edge of the bed, he kept his hand entwined in Lily’s, and the nurse pushed the stretcher out of the surgical suite and down the hall to the elevators. Lily didn’t take her eyes off him until they came into the children’s ICU.

Lily still didn’t let him go as she was transferred to a bed and set up for the night. Someone offered to take Kian’s place, but when Lily whimpered again, Kian knew he wasn’t going anywhere.

She was his daughter. The thought was both terrifying and humbling. She was his daughter, and he’d already lost three precious years with her. He was too broken in this moment to feel anger over the situation. All he felt was a heartbreaking sorrow that he wasn’t sure would ever go away.

“Lily,” he whispered as he finally allowed a tear to escape his burning eye. One fell, and then he firmed his face, never looking away from his sleeping daughter. He wasn’t a weak man and wouldn’t allow himself to break now. This child needed him. She needed him and Roxie. He just wasn’t sure how well that was going to go for either of them.

A lot had happened, and it seemed that before this night was over, a storm would brew and burst open. He might need to rest before Roxie Gilbert walked back into his life. He wondered if she was aware of what had happened, of the fact that Lily was his daughter. He somehow doubted it.

Kian laid his head down on the bed next to hers, his fingers still lightly clasped in her small hand, and he closed his eyes. He blanked his mind of all thoughts, something he’d learned to do when he’d only been able to manage two-hour naps after thirty-six hours straight of school and work. He couldn’t do his best if he couldn’t refresh his body. Hopefully when he woke, this would have all been nothing but a nightmare.

It was a thought that put a small smile on his lips as he drifted to sleep beside his daughter.





Chapter Two

No one ever wants to receive the call that Roxie Gilbert had. A far-too-efficient nurse had told Roxie that her sister had been admitted with life-threatening injuries and then wasn’t saying anything more.

Roxie was well aware of this routine, as she’d been a nurse for the past six years. They weren’t telling her anything because they needed a doctor to pass along the information. She was left with no choice but to pace the worn floor as she waited for answers. She was left with nothing to do but think of the past.

Roxie had run away from her small town of Edmonds to Portland four years ago—she’d run from her sister and from a life she’d once thought she’d wanted. She’d run from Kian Forbes. What had she done? What kind of person fled her only family? Roxie was afraid she’d never again be able to look at herself in the mirror, with all the guilt flooding through her.

Tears continued to flow as she fought down nausea, fatigue, and anguish too great to describe. So, she paced and she waited.

“Ms. Gilbert?” A doctor was standing in the doorway to the waiting room, his face not necessarily giving anything away, but she could see the detachment in his eyes. He was going to tell her something she didn’t want to hear. He was preparing for her to fall apart.

She knew that look all too well. She’d carried that same message in her own eyes. It couldn’t be too late. She couldn’t have messed up so badly in her life that she wouldn’t have a chance to make things right with her only sibling, her only family.

“Yes,” she said. Slowly, she moved up to the doctor. Her entire body was trembling. This couldn’t be happening. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to run away again, something she was good at, wanted to deny what she was about to hear.

“I’m Dr. Peters and was in the room when your sister came in. Can you come with me?” he asked. Yeah, things were about to fall apart. He didn’t want to tell her in the public waiting room. She almost refused to follow him. If he didn’t take her somewhere private, then he couldn’t shatter her. Somehow her feet carried her across the busy emergency room floor, and she passed through the doors with the doctor at her side. The sound of crying and muted voices quieted as soon as the door closed.

“Take a seat,” Dr. Peters told her.

“I don’t want to sit down. Just tell me,” she said. “I’m a nurse. I know how this goes.”

His eyes flashed to hers with sympathy pouring from him. She wanted to turn away, wanted to demand he not drag this out. But, somehow, she kept from yelling at the man who was only trying to do his job. Somehow, she stood there holding herself in one piece.

“Do you have anyone else who can be here with you?” he asked. If she’d had even a glimmer of hope before this moment, it was now dashed. The news was very bad, indeed, because they didn’t want her to be alone.

“No. There’s no one left. It was just down to me and my sister in our family tree,” she said quietly. Tears were burning her eyes, but she refused to let them go. She couldn’t fall apart. Not yet.

“Your sister and niece were brought in tonight with multiple stab wounds,” he said.