Kian (Undercover Billionaire, #1)(6)

“Auntie,” Lily said in a too-small voice as she tried to wipe the fog from her eyes.

“I’m right here, baby girl,” Roxie assured Lily.

Her niece smiled a tiny bit before squeezing Roxie’s fingers and closing her eyes again. This moment was one Roxie would forever hold in her heart. She could handle Kian because she had to be strong for Lily. There wasn’t another option.

Roxie hadn’t forgotten why she was at this hospital, but for a moment, she’d only been able to see Kian. It was sort of like when he was there, the rest of the world slowly faded. He seemed to have his own universe surrounding just him, and anyone in his presence surely would be sucked into it. Roxie flexed her fingers against Lily’s as she tried to stay firmly planted on the ground.

Kian released Roxie’s gaze as he looked down at Lily, his expression filled with something she couldn’t quite interpret, but something that had a tight knot pinching her stomach. He flashed his gaze back up to hers, and some of the harshness of his expression was gone.

While his anger might have dimmed, resignation took its place as he looked from her to Lily and back again several times. She didn’t understand this at all. Did he know Lily more than as a patient?

Roxie opened her mouth to say something to break up this tension, but she couldn’t seem to form words. Nothing would come out. This was just one more thing to show her she was in no way prepared to be this traumatized little girl’s mother. Here Roxie was being faced with the man she’d always been in love with, and Lily was lying so helpless in the bed between them.

Rubbing her thumb against the back of Lily’s hand was enough to calm Roxie and allow her to draw in a couple of breaths before she looked at Kian once more. Though Roxie’s body was still shaking a bit, she was strong enough to comfort her niece while she faced her past. If she ever planned on moving forward with life and the choices she had made, then she had to be able to handle adverse situations. That was all just part of being an adult.

“We have to talk about Lily,” he said. She didn’t understand how he knew her niece. It had to be nothing more than him being her niece’s doctor. Maybe he’d grown attached after this tragic attack.

“How do you know Lily?” she asked.

Kian was quiet for several moments, and Roxie’s heart raced so out of control, she didn’t know what to do or say or think. She was close to falling apart, and if Lily didn’t need her to be strong, she feared that’s exactly what would happen.

Finally, he sighed. All the noise around them seemed to freeze. “I was in the ER with her tonight,” he told her. There was more; she could feel it.

“And?” she questioned. She was rubbing her niece’s back, trying not to throw up.

“I didn’t know . . .” His voice trailed off.

Roxie’s stomach heaved as she put together what she didn’t want to. She’d only been gone from town a couple of months when Pamela had gotten pregnant with Lily. This couldn’t be real. As he sat back down and reached for Lily’s free hand, she somehow didn’t need words to tell her what he needed to say.

Roxie felt as if she was going to faint. She knew she had to be stronger than this, especially right now. But in this moment, she wasn’t sure there was much more she could take. This night had gone from tragic to unbelievable. Her world truly was spinning now. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to stop it.





Chapter Three

Although Kian had never actually been hit in the face with a sledgehammer, that was the only equivalent he could think of to describe how he felt at this particular moment. It felt as if someone had come along and slammed a thick wedge of iron in his face, and now he was still reeling from it.

His chest hurt, his body ached, and his face was tingling. He felt a mixture of sadness, regret, and disbelief, but mostly red-hot rage. This woman, this person before him, had been the only girl he’d ever given his heart to. And she had taken that gift, smashed it on the ground, and thrown it back in his face.

His fingers twitched as he remembered the feel of the diamond he’d carried around in his pocket for months as he tried to come up with the perfect proposal. He’d known without the shadow of a doubt he’d make her his wife.

And then she’d disappeared.

At first, Kian had panicked. Something surely had happened to her. She wouldn’t have left on her own. They were happy, in love, had the rest of their lives before them.

But, too quickly, he’d discovered the truth. After years of friendship and two years of dating, she’d left a note that simply read: I can’t do this anymore. Please let me go. Roxie.

That was it. There had been no other explanation, no words to tell him what had gone wrong. Kian’s first reaction to that note had been to hunt her down and force an explanation out of her. But then he’d found his pride, and he was furious.

“After our breakup, I made some bad decisions,” he admitted. He didn’t know why he was bothering to tell her this. “I drank a lot, partied even more, and yeah, I didn’t care which women I was with. I just wanted to forget you.”

He refused to allow himself to feel bad when she flinched. She’d been the one to leave him, not the other way around. If that wasn’t something she wanted to hear, then too bad.

“I don’t need to know any of this,” Roxie said in an emotionally charged tone.