by Linda Verji
“No.” Her eyes flashed flipping from seduction to anger in a second as she stared at him. “Do you know who my husband is?”
“Richard Clayton the third, son of Senator Richard Clayton the second!” The name rolled off his lips blandly but inside Kian was seething. It was ludicrous that his son was Richard Clayton the fourth.
“Then you know what he could do for my career. I’m already on track to be a judge because of his influence.” Her eyes narrowed. “You can’t destroy that.”
“So what you’re saying is that I can’t see my son because of your career?” Kian summarized. She kept quiet as he hit the nail on its head. He couldn’t prevent the disgust from seeping into his voice as he asked, “What kind of a mother are you?”
“The kind that makes sure her son lives the best possible kind of life.” Her expression was grave - as if in her head her words made perfect sense. “R.J. is fine without you. He’s a straight A student. Never gets in trouble. He’s got an influential father and a successful mother. You need to just disappear out of our lives and go back to where you came from.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Hanna. These are your choices;” Kian said, “you’ll arrange a meeting between me and my son or I’ll go to him myself even if I have to go to his school. Don’t even think of hiding from me because I’ll find you. Your husband may be a senator’s son but he doesn’t have my kind of money. And in case you didn’t know there’s a hell lot of influence in money.”
She was lucky he was giving her a chance to break the news to R.J.
Silence stretched between the two former lovers as they stared each other down. Hanna must’ve realized that he was serious because her next words were, “When do you want to see him?”
“As soon as possib…” Before he could complete the sentence the screen of his phone flashed on the table. A jaunty Bach tune began to play on it. Even from where he was standing he could see Tasha’s name blinking on it. He guessed Hanna could too because her face took on a pinched look. Kian walked from behind the couch and picked it up. “Hey.”
Tasha spoke into the phone. He replied, “Are you serious…a donor for Asia…Baby, that’s great news…I’ll be there in thirty minutes…no make that twenty minutes.”
“So they got a kidney for her daughter,” Hanna asked once Kian ended the call.
“Arrange for a meeting between me and my son.” He didn’t even look at her as he dropped the phone on the table. “Now please leave. I’ve got to go and take care of my other family.”
Once she was out of the house, Kian grabbed a hooded jacket and his car keys and left for the hospital. It took him twenty minutes to get to the hospital. Tempting as it was to run all the red lights, there were enough court cases floating around and he wasn’t looking to add to the number.
Chesley Memorial was nothing like Nightingales. Everything at this hospital seemed to move at warp speed. Between the few minutes it took him to park his car then to walk through the doors to the front desk, three ambulances had already rushed in. EMTs and doctors switched places on the gurneys as orders were tossed around.
Kian reached for his phone to call Tasha, only to realize that he’d left it on the coffee table while in a rush to leave the house. The nurse at the reception barely glanced at him when he asked her for the directions to Asia’s room. She only gave him the room number and rushed directions to go down the hall, before she called over the intercom for a Doctor Spencer. It was lucky he was good with directions otherwise he’d have gotten lost in the maze of hallways.
Asia was lying on the bed with Tasha seated on one side and Zain, still in her doctor’s jacket on the other. A stocky doctor stood at the foot of the bed with the taller and lighter skinned Eli beside him, peering at the chart in his hands.
“Uncle Kian.” Asia was the first to notice him. Everyone else turned to welcome him. It was a couple of minute before they settled back down to listen to the doctor. Asia wasn’t getting her kidney from Connect-A-Donor, rather from a deceased donor who’d unfortunately perished in a road accident. That also meant that Tasha wouldn’t have to go under the knife.
“All the tests have checked out,” the doctor confirmed. “We should be taking her into theater in an hour’s time.”
“Thank you so much, Dr. Marsden.” Tasha gave him a strained smile. Kian who now stood behind her chair squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
“I’ll be doing the surgery but Dr. Stone will be scrubbing in with me.” Dr. Marsden said.
Once Eli and Dr. Marsden left the room, Tasha, Zain and Kian stayed behind chatting with Asia and generally trying to keep her mind off of the surgery. A couple of minutes later Zain was called back to her rounds. Tasha smiled and assured Zain that it was all right for her to go back to work – she was okay. However, Kian knew Tasha well enough to know that she wasn’t okay. She’d just slipped on the mask she always used to hide her fear.
However by the time they were wheeling Asia out of the room, Tasha’s mask began to crumble. There was a slight tremble in her lips and Kian was afraid she was going to start crying. But she didn’t, maintaining the strong façade for her daughter. He smoothed his hand over her back comfortingly as they followed the gurney carrying Asia.
When they came to a door labeled ‘Staff Only’ Eli turned to them. “I’m afraid you can’t go past here.”
“O…okay.” The tremble in Tasha’s voice was more obvious now. She bent to kiss Asia on the forehead, “I’m gonna be here when you come back baby.”
“It’s okay, Mama! I’ll be alright.” Asia smiled brightly. “Uncle Eli said so.”
“That’s right.” Eli winked at the little girl. “I’ll make sure you’re okay.”
Tasha gave Eli a worried look but let the gurney go through the door anyway. She stayed looking at the closed door for a couple of seconds with her fists tucked underneath her chin before she turned in Kian’s arms and buried her head in his chest.
“C’mon Baby, let’s go.” He led her to the waiting room. These were going to be the longest hours of both their lives.
*
Her baby was in the theater.
Her brain acknowledged that Eli was in there and that Asia was as safe as she could ever be but her nerves had their own thought system.
What if someone’s scalpel slips?
What if Asia dies on the table?
Tasha was on edge and only Kian’s presence was keeping her from screaming her frustration and fear. She’d barely acknowledged his presence but that didn’t mean she wasn’t grateful for it. He was still here despite everything she’d done to drive him away and keep him from chipping at her heart. If she’d doubted that he loved her – she didn’t doubt it anymore.
When they got back to waiting room, he sat down with her on his lap. Tasha pressed her face in the crook of his shoulder and her body to his, absorbing the heat of him and the silent reassurances in his protective hold. It was almost as if Kian knew that what she needed from him wasn’t words – just him.
They sat in silence. Waiting!
Though there were no words between them it almost felt like they were communicating beyond just words. She played with their linked hands marveling at how his hands were just like him; big, strong yet so gentle and supportive. She didn’t know how she would’ve survived the dragging minutes if he wasn’t there.
Around four a.m., Eli came to the waiting room, still in his scrubs, to tell them that the surgery had been a success. “She’s been wheeled back to her room. She’s still out of it but you can go sit with her.”
Asia looked so peaceful.
She was lying on the bed, her eyes closed with a tube running across her face and in her nose. A white sheet covered her prone body as her chest rose and fell with her breathing. Tasha came close to her daughter, tears already spilling down her cheeks, as she kissed her on the forehead then on the lips. My baby.
“She’s alright,” Kian said as he stood beside her.
“She’s alright!” T
asha repeated her eyes still on Asia. No more dialysis. No more endless visits to the hospital. No more special diet. No more sadness because she couldn’t play the games her age-mates played. No more unanswered prayers. No more depending on Polo. Her baby was going to be just fine.
She barely noticed when Kian pulled her to sit on his lap on the seat beside Asia’s bed. He positioned them in such a way that Tasha could still look at her daughter’s face as she lay in his arms. She drifted off into sleep with her head on his chest. Asia’s peaceful face and Kian’s heartbeat soothed her into restful dreams.
“Well, well, well. Aren’t the two lovebirds cozy?” The voice woke her up minutes - maybe hours – later, its familiarity sending immediate waves of fear up her spine.
Tasha eyes flew open, the shards of bright light in the room burning into her pupils, only to lock onto Polo. He was standing at the foot of the bed, rocking back and forth on his heels as he looked at them with a sneer on his face.
Kian’s body snapped with tension underneath her as he too awakened.
“Get out!” Kian’s voice was still gruff from sleep, but it was hard to miss the tightly laced anger in his words. He stood up abruptly almost dropping Tasha to the floor but the hand tight around her waist kept her from falling. His flashing eyes were on Polo’s smug face as he repeated, “Get out!”
“Sorry. Can’t.” Polo shoved his hands into his pockets. “As you can see my daughter’s just been in surgery and as a good father I’m here to visit her.”
Tasha eyes flew to Asia. The little girl was still asleep but Tasha feared that with all the testosterone flying around it wouldn’t be for long.
Polo drew her attention. “Tasha, why didn’t you tell me? I had to ask Dr. Thorpe for the directions.”
“Get out.” Danger throbbed in Kian’s voice.
Keeping a hand on the muscles of his upper arm to keep him from launching for Polo, Tasha drew his attention. “Kian, Asia.”
“Get out.” Kian’s voice was lower this time in awareness of Asia’s presence.
“My client has every right to be here.” Hanna walked in through the door behind Polo. She was in a navy suit. Come to think of it, so was Polo. Tasha looked at her wrist watch and immediately her heart sank. It was twenty two minutes past eleven.
Her stomach dropped to the floor. No!
Hanna said silkily, “We missed you in the Judge Ramsey’s chambers today. Poor Scott was frantically trying to call both of you.”
Oh My God! The Judge must’ve revoked the restraining order after none of them had turned up for the session in her chambers. Kian’s muscles stiffened under Tasha’s arms as he too made the connection.
“You were with me when I received Tasha’s call.” A muscle jumped in Kian’s cheek as he spoke directly to Hanna, “Why didn’t you tell them where we were?”
Hanna gave him an ‘are you serious look’ before repeating, “My client has every right to be here.”
“I hope he’s paying you enough for all that bullshit,” Kian spat.
“Hi, honey.” Polo’s eyes were on Asia. Tasha’s head snapped back to the bed. Asia’s eyes were wide open and in them was abject fear.
CHAPTER 23
Both Kian and Tasha turned, startled that Asia was awake.
However the little girl wasn’t looking at either of them, her eyes were on Polo. It’d been a long time since Kian had seen that kind of fear in someone’s eyes. It was the look of a wounded animal that knows it has nowhere else to go but to death. Asia was scared of her own father.
Kian needed to get Polo out of there, fast.
The guy didn’t even see it coming. One moment he was busy gloating at Asia with that sickening smile and saying hello, the next Kian had his hand around the other man’s throat shoving him out the door. Kian heard rather than saw Hanna fall when their movements knocked her back, but he was too intent on his mission. Polo landed on his feet a distance away from the door.
The door opened behind Kian but he didn’t turn to look. All his attention was on Polo who stood facing him with anger written all over his features. Activity in the hospital’s hallway came to a halt. The doctor passing by reading a chart looked up and stopped walking, the nurse who was wheeling a patient stopped in her tracks and the janitor cleaning one side of the hall stopped cleaning.
They could all sense the tension churning between the two men just waiting to explode. In the back of his mind, Kian knew that they were in a hospital and he didn’t want to fight, but he’d be damned before Polo got back into the room with Asia and Tasha.
“We have got a court order saying that he has a right to be here,” Hanna said from behind him.
“Tell him to get out of here, Hanna,” Kian warned, his gaze never wavering from Polo’s.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Polo started to walk towards Kian a swagger in his step and a smile on his face that didn’t reach his eyes. His hands were fisted and Kian was sure that he was preparing himself to throw a punch.
“Do we have a problem here?” Eli appeared almost out of nowhere to stand beside Kian. Polo stopped walking as his eyes switched between Kian and Eli.
“No, we don’t,” Kian said. “He was just leaving.”
“Yes, he was!” Eli agreed, his narrowed eyes sending the same warning message to Polo as Kian’s were.
Without a word, Polo turned on his heels and stomped away.
*
Polo was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. He’d seen the almost identical looks in Harper and that doctor’s eyes and he’d known that they were willing to do major damage if he so much as made a step towards Tasha and Asia. He’d walked away because two against one wasn’t a fair fight.
But he’d show them justice.
Once he was done with their precious Tasha they’d know what justice was. Hanna’s attack on her had just been an appetizer. Tasha’s main course was coming soon.
Very soon!
He smiled as he drove away from the hospital.
*
“I just have to drop these designs then I’ll be back,” Tasha said.
“You know I can take care of Asia,” Kian said stroking her cheek. They were standing outside Asia’s room. “You don’t have to rush back.”
“I know you can.” She rose up on tiptoes and pecked his lips. Her sweet scent assailed his senses, but too fast she lowered back. In her flats, she barely touched his shoulders. The white flats were accompanied by beige slacks and a white shirt with the Darlene’s logo splashed on the pocket.
In the last couple of days, he and Tasha seemed to have reached a wordless understanding. Though they hadn’t really discussed what’d happened after the court debacle, he could see she was slowly letting her walls down and trying to show that she trusted him.
It was in the way she’d accepted his help with the children. Every night one of them spent the night at the house while the other stayed with Asia at the hospital. It was in the way she’d started being a little bit more affectionate with him in public. For other women it might’ve been easier but for Tasha he knew it was a big step.
“But you have that meeting with Raphael at one, right?” Tasha reminded him.
“Oh, yeah!” He tapped his forehead. “I’d forgotten about that.”
“Do you want me to pick you up something to eat?”
“No, I’ll just have whatever Asia’s having,” Kian said, then winced. Asia’s diet was still as bland as ever. He couldn’t wait until the doctors pronounced her fit for a real meal.
Chuckling, Tasha kissed him again then left with Mark, her bodyguard. Dean, Asia’s guard stayed outside the room while Kian went in. Kian entertained Asia with a game of chess. He was teaching her how to play and she was learning pretty fast. After three games, Asia fell sleep. He settled on the chair by her bed to read a magazine. A nurse came into the room just as he was turning the page on the latest Bugatti on the market.
“Hello,” she greeted.
“Hi.” Kian
tilted his head. He immediately knew he hadn’t seen this nurse around Asia’s room because if he had he would’ve noticed her dressing before. Weren’t pantyhose and white cardigans that touched the wrists outdated? But there was something vaguely familiar about the lithe blonde that made him think he’d seen her somewhere. “You’re new?”
“I’m Jenifer.” She smiled as she picked up Asia’s chart from the bottom of the bed. “Just got transferred from Pediatrics.”
“Oh!” Kian nodded. But in his mind he tossed her name around. Jenifer. Jenifer. Didn’t ring a bell. Where had he seen her?
“I just need to check Asia’s IV,” Jenifer set the chart back in position.
“Do you need me to move?” he asked.
“No, No, it’s okay,” she said coming up behind him. “It won’t take long.”
A vague memory tickled his mind. Curious! Nurse Jenifer looked just like the blonde Polo had walked in with at the club. It was the last thing Kian remembered before he felt a slight sting at the back of his neck. Barely a moment later, his head slumped forward and he slipped into darkness.
When he finally managed to crawl his way out of the deep dark cave that was unconsciousness and open his eyes, it was to find Eli staring at him with worry in his eyes.
“What…what…hap…hap-” Kian tried to speak but the words slipped and slid on his tongue as his mind struggled to form coherent sentences.
“Where’s Asia?” Eli asked.
Kian blinked rapidly turning his head towards the bed. It was empty.
CHAPTER 24
He’d taken her baby. The bastard had taken her baby.
She was going to kill him. In fact she should’ve killed him the first time she’d a chance; shot him right in between those devilish eyes. She should’ve broken his neck with that crutch the moment she’d started hitting him. Then Asia would be safe.
As soon as Kian had called to tell her that Asia had disappeared, Tasha had rushed to the hospital in a blind panic. They had to be joking. This could not be happening. But it was.