the Billionaire’s Secret Desire(48)

―I didn‘t know—I‘ve been away—―he said brokenly. She

was the only family he had and he felt completely negligent over

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not seeing the signs sooner. He‘d also been away a lot in the last

year, and Max had always made sure she was looked after, but

now he felt guilty over it. It never bothered him before, because

Max was right, she was mature for her age and cold look after

herself. Now everything had changed and his sister was going to

need him.

Doctor Chang saw his guilt, and it was common among

family to feel responsible, but unless you were a doctor, the signs

weren‘t easy to see. ―The last thing you need to do is blame

yourself Mr. Shayne. She‘s young and breast cancer is not

common in her age group. The lump is barely detectable, but it‘s

significant enough to raise a flag. I won‘t lie to you. If you

combine that with her symptoms, I‘m afraid there‘s a high

percentage that it‘s malignant, but we need to do a biopsy if the

blood tests are conclusive to see how aggressive it is.‖

―does she know?‖

―No, I needed to speak to you first.‖

‗Don‘t tell her yet.‖ He said pulling his mobile out of his

pocket, ―I need to call her fiancé. He‘s going to want to be here

when we break the news to her. She‘s not going to take this

well.‖

Max was in the middle of dictation when the phone rang.

―Hold that Nance, I need to get this, it‘s Luke.‖ He said looking

at the caller id. Luke said he‘d call when he got some information

of Lily.

―Certainly Mr. King.‖ She said patiently noticing that he

glanced at his watch again. He‘d been doing that constantly

since he called her into the office as if anticipating this call. Then

there was the slight urgency in his tone when he spoke to her.

―Luke? How‘s Lily?‖ He said before his friend could even

get a word out.

―Max, do you have a pen?‖

―I do.‖ He said hearing the tone of his voice. He sounded

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oddly subdued, ―What‘s wrong?‖

―I‘m going to give you the address of the clinic that we‘re

at. I need you here. I think Lily is seriously ill.‖ He said giving

him the address unable to stop his voice from cracking.

Max scribbled it on a piece of paper while doing his best

to squash the dread that washed through him. Luke sounded

worried, and it took a lot to worry his number one man.

However, Lily being sick would do it for both of them. ―I‘ll be

there in twenty minutes.‖ He hung up, ―Nancy cancel my

appointments for this afternoon and get Oscar to bring the car

around.‖

She stood up, ―Is everything okay? Is Lily all right?‖

Nancy remembered how upset she was when she left there the

last day, followed by Max‘s bellowing voice as he fired one of the

office girls publically which was completely unlike him.

Whatever went on between the two women had been witnessed

by Max and had obviously hurt Lily deeply. Shortly after

Brittney, red faced and weeping, packed up her desk but Nancy

didn‘t feel sorry for her at all. She knew the young woman had

been drooling after Max and obviously had gone too far in

belittling Lily.

Apparently as she found out from the other office girls

that this had been going on for some time under Nancy‘s nose

and she didn‘t see it. She would have fired Brittney herself if

she‘d known. She knew how much Max coveted Lily and rightly

so. The girl was a complete doll. Nancy couldn‘t help feeling

protective of her also. Then when rumour reached them about

her and Max‘s engagement she wanted to jump for joy. She was

perfect for him. At least that‘s what Nancy thought. She had

time to ask Luke about it the next day when he was waiting

patiently for Max to finish a meeting.

Luke sat on the corner of Nancy‘s desk with one foot on

the floor while flipping through a magazine.

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―So, when‘s the date?‖

Luke glanced down at Nancy who had her spectacles

shoved to the end of her nose and was eyeing him intently over

them. ―Date?‖

She pursed her lips impatiently, ―The wedding Luke,

don‘t play dumb. Everyone here has seen the rock on Lily‘s

finger, and Max is floating on air.‖

He laughed, leaned over and kissed her on the cheek like

he would his own mother, ―Nothing gets by you does it?‖

She acted indifferent to his bold affection for her, and if

he didn‘t know her any better he would have thought so except

for the warmth that filled her eyes, ―It wasn‘t exactly subtle.‖ She

nodded toward the office doors, ―When she wasn‘t looking, he

never took his eyes off of her, ever.‖ Smiling she continued, ―it