Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance 2(145)

But during the flight over in his private jet, Nick’s rage had dissolved into the overwhelming desire to see her again. He needed to make sure she was okay. He couldn’t take the risk of losing Keyonna a second time. Not now that he’d finally realized how much she truly meant to him.

When he’d watched her getting hit by that motorcycle, it had added ten years to his life. He’d never forget the way his heart had stopped when she’d tumbled to the ground with the bike and rider toppling over her. Those moments were the worst of his life.

If she’d died…

“She’s going to be fine,” the doctor was reassuring him now. “Just a concussion, and a mild one at that. You’ll be allowed to take her home tomorrow. She’ll be out of supervision by then.”

Nick nodded tiredly and thanked the doctor before leaving his office. Nick hadn’t slept a wink since she was brought in yesterday, and now he thought of Keyonna’s beautiful face swathed with plaster and her body weak with pain. What the hell had gone wrong and why had she left? He’d been so sure things were going fine. What could have happened to turn him into her enemy?

He began to walk past the reception area, his intention being to get back to his hotel, freshen up and then take a nap before returning to the hospital. He didn’t intend to let Keyonna out of his sight for long. He’d already informed her parents that though she’d been in an accident, she was going to be fine. Nick had felt guilt thinking how he’d been the cause of a lot of trouble for Keyonna; first she’d run away from her home because of him and then she’d almost gotten killed, another fault of his.

Sighing angrily to himself, he suddenly overheard a man ask the nurse at the front desk, “A friend of mine, Keyonna Hayes was admitted here yesterday. If I could…”

Before the man could even finish the sentence, Nick had spun him around and slammed him into the nearby wall. The guy was just as tall as him and only just that bit leaner, but he reacted fast enough to shove Nick’s grip off his shirt as both men came face to face. Nick was sure this was the man Rachel had told him she’d seen with Keyonna; he fit the description to a ‘tee’.

“Who the hell are you?” Nick barked, his eyes murderous. The man, with cool dignity, straightened his shirt, his own face stormy.

“I should be asking you the same question,” was his gritted reply, which made Nick scowl darkly, barely conscious of the shocked looks they were getting from the hospital staff and other onlookers.

“I’m Nick Vitale, Keyonna’s husband,” Nick snarled.

“Oh, the husband she never wanted to see again?” the stranger said with a cutting smile. Nick winced, his expression suddenly bleak.

“Is that what she told you?” Nick asked dully. He shoved his hand back through his hair as he came to grips with the fact that something had gone wrong that day of the wedding – right from the time he’d left her side at the reception. Because that had been the last time he’d set eyes on her until yesterday. What could have made her dump everything and just go for weeks on end, not even calling him to let him know where she was? He’d known Keyonna was a woman who had her own mind but he’d never have thought she would pull such a stunt just to spite him. He knew that he’d made her agree to the marriage against her will, and even now he loathed himself for using that method of persuasion. He never would have carried out his threat to destroy her investments but then he’d had to do what he could to get her. And now he wasn’t sure if he still had her, or if she was going to leave him again the first chance she got.

“She didn’t tell me in those exact words,” the other man was saying more calmly, as he watched the expressions flitting over Nick’s face. “But she did give me the impression that you hurt her pretty bad but then you should know better about that.”

No, I don’t, thought Nick to himself. How could he tell this guy he had no idea what he’d done to turn Keyonna against him?

“Look,” the man said, “I heard she was in an accident and that she was brought here. I need to know how she’s doing.”

Nick let out a ragged breath. “She’ll be fine. She had a slight concussion, nothing serious unless you take in the fact that a section of her life seems cut out due to the accident. From the time of our wedding reception until when she woke up lying in the hospital bed. She can’t remember a bit of it.” And then he looked away, squeezing his fingers to the bridge of his nose as he fought back despair. “Dios! She really must hate me. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.”