by Christa Wick
"Why isn't she in a bed?"
The man leaning over Mia answered. "We only have the one, which you should still be in, Mr. Stark."
I knew from the hotel security briefing that we were in the guts of the hotel and the speaker was Dr. Emad Ashamalla. He was also the man I had tried to choke.
Ignoring his presence and that of the nurse, I studied Mia's unconscious form. She was pale, far paler than she had been in the back of the limo when we started the return drive to the hotel. A concussion alone did not account for the bloodless look.
"Have you checked for internal bleeding?"
"There's no bruising or swelling." No doubt wanting me out of the room before my hands were around his throat again, Dr. Ashamalla turned his gaze on Trent.
Mia began to move on the exam chair. Her hands pulled up to her stomach. Her eyes fluttered open as she rotated her head a few degrees. I reached for her, the tension in my chest lessening for only a second before the last trace of color vanished from her face.
I pulled back and turned to the doctor. "Are you certain she's okay?"
Ashamalla stepped closer to Trent. "We'll run a scan to make sure, but I need the blood test back first."
Mia tried to push up. "Blood test?"
Her eyes started to roll upward then her arms went lax. I grabbed her shoulders to keep her from sliding off the chair. Her hands curled around her gut. Her lips parted in a wordless cry, but that didn't stop her from struggling against my hold.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Someone tried to kill Mr. Stark." Trent's tone dripped anger and a trace of sarcasm. He'd pay for it later—after I was certain Mia would be okay.
She tried to stand again. The effort to keep her down spiked through my head, the area beneath the bandage hiding a jackhammer beneath it.
Something was wrong. She needed to stay still, stop fighting me and let them run the damn scan.
"Mia, sit down..."
The words died in my throat as blood blossomed against her blue skirt in some macabre, dark red Rorschach test designed to test who I really was.
No. Not again—not with her. Not with Mia.
"Do something!" I shouted as she passed out.
The medical staff was already moving. The nurse pried my paralyzed fingers from Mia's shoulders as Trent wrapped an arm around my torso and pulled me from the room. More staff brushed against us. Still wrestling with me, Trent made a messy pirouette to keep us out of the path of the emergency cart and then one of the nurses closed the door on us.
Half an hour passed before the door opened again, another two hours before the lab confirmed Ashamalla's suspicions.
Mia had miscarried.
"Do not tell her about the baby," I ordered.
Trent and the doctor stiffened simultaneously.
Ashamalla crossed his arms over his thin chest, his response made through tightly puckered lips that quivered with each word. "Mr. Stark, I cannot withhold—"
I placed my hand on the doctor's shoulder, my thumb playing against his Adam's apple as I tried to keep my touch an otherwise light reminder that he needed to obey me. "You understand how a man in my position might not reveal his marriage to the public?"
I let the implication sink in. Ashamalla might be practicing Western medicine in a very modern city, but there were other rules he had to abide by—older rules. If the good doctor believed Mia was my wife, he would leave it to me to break the news to her.
If he believed...
He looked to Trent for confirmation. Trent offered a slow nod and earned a full measure of my forgiveness for the crappy tone he'd taken with Mia a few hours before.
"Very well." Turning from me, Ashamalla re-entered the exam room where Mia remained unconscious, an IV supplying her with fresh blood.
"What the fuck was that about?" Trent hissed. "You haven't actually married—"
I shook my head. I hadn't and I wouldn't. For her own safety, I had to send Mia away from me—far away. Knowing about the miscarriage would make her exile that much harder on her. I'd seen her in the office during a baby shower for one of the senior analysts. That had been month three for Mia at Stark International. Everyone else in the room, me most of all, had forced a smile on their faces as the father-to-be passed around ultrasound pictures.
Not Mia. Her face had lit up like a damn Christmas tree—or the Aurora Borealis. It had been the first time I stopped noticing her lush body only and started paying attention to the woman inside.
Checking the surveillance footage on her later, I had witnessed similar behavior as she made her rounds, delivering missives on my behalf. She noticed before anyone else if someone had a new picture of their children or grandchildren in their cube or office—especially if the picture showed an infant.
Giving Mia a baby would have been worth more than anything and everything I could have bought her. Now the baby we had made together was…
My gaze landed on the hamper of bloody sheets parked just outside the door to her room.
I grabbed Trent by the shirt and jerked him to me. "I need her stateside—"
"I said that weeks ago," he growled.
I shook him. He still didn't understand. I wanted her. I wouldn't stop wanting her even if I had to send her away.
"Full security team," I barked. "Kid gloves, anything she needs..."
The murmur of voices in the next room altered and I realized Mia was awake.
"What happened?" she asked, her words no more than a series of razor thin sounds.
I turned just as the nurse shattered my plan to lessen Mia's pain. Her hand on Mia's stomach, the woman shook her head.
"The baby—"
Too late, Ashamalla tried to shut the nurse up.
Mia looked at me, her green eyes swimming behind an instant veil of tears as the news sank in. Next to her, the nurse with the big mouth stood like a deer caught in the headlights as Ashamalla pinched her arm.
I couldn't look at Mia, couldn't stop looking at the woman next to her. I wanted to wrap my hands around the nurse's neck and squeeze until those two words found their way back down her throat.
When I did look at Mia, she shook her head. I understood the meaning behind the shake— she hadn't known. I expected as much. She had no access to any kind of test and I'd kept her on an emotional roller coaster all these weeks. She had misdiagnosed the morning sickness as stress and the result of all those tears she cried after I left.
So had I.
Seeing the tears and pain in her eyes, I turned to Trent. I couldn't look at her, couldn't begin to eliminate the threat to her future safety while she was anywhere near me. I couldn't fight the need to soothe her much longer. Once I had her in my arms again, I wouldn't be able to send her away.
And she would only be safe once she was out of this damnable country.
"I want her out. As soon as she can fly." I shook him, wanted to throw him against the wall because he was the only one in the room tough enough for me to unleash on and have him survive. "You'll accompany her and a physician from AH or Welcare and a full security team."
"I'm not leaving with someone trying to kill—"
I jerked on Trent's jacket until our faces were a hair's width from touching.
"You will."
I would fucking fire him if he didn't. Trent protecting my life was nowhere near as important as him protecting my heart and soul. Because that’s what Mia was. I needed her out of here, needed her safe. And I needed him to keep her safe while I made damn sure no harm would ever come to her again.
An urgent shout sounding from Mia’s room stopped me from coming to blows with the man, when really, the one I wanted to beat to a pulp was myself.
The sight of her going unconscious again was another crushing blow to my chest. I dropped to my knees and watched helplessly as a flurry of medical professionals rushed over to her bedside.
For once, Trent said nothing.
An eternity passed before they finally informed me she was stable agai
n. Sedated for the time being. Pain no longer etched in her beautiful face.
"Let me know if she worsens. Until then, work on getting her out." I ordered Trent then left the hospital before he could argue.
I couldn't be anywhere near her when she woke the next time.
It was for the best I hadn't told Mia outright that I loved her. The words had been ready for deployment on the edge of my lips often enough the last week.
A ring even waited in the suite's safe to accompany the words.
I had planned to give it to her before we left Dubai, to ensure she knew nothing would change between us when we returned stateside. But the bomb had erased that intent, leaving me thankful in a totally fucked-up way for the fact that I had waited.
Ignorant of my feelings, she would heal.
Her sorrow would give way to anger. Anger would eventually lead her to another lover. And in time, she would have the baby she wanted—just not mine.
I hadn’t been able to protect our child, but I would do everything in my power to ensure her future children would be safe from the dangers of my world.
To that end, my team was mobilizing with each passing minute, gathering the intel I needed to find the son of a bitch that had tried to kill me so that I could return the favor—only, I would damn well succeed where they had failed.
That was all I could do for Mia now.
It didn't matter whether it was my new client Omari, or some political sect, or a competitor’s men gone rogue. Everyone would quickly learn—don't come after me, and don't come after what’s mine.
That latter message was the more vital one for me to convey as far as I was concerned. Because even after she moved on to another lover one day, in an inevitable future that would fuck me up more than anything I’ve experienced in my life to this point, Mia would still be mine. I would make sure my enemies knew this even though she never would.
An hour later, with the ring clutched in my hand in my pocket and a duffel full of tactical gear slung over my shoulder, I took the elevator down to the garage where my special operations team had assembled.
Trent texted me an estimated medivac departure time for Mia that was seven hours out.
I would wait until her plane reached international airspace before acting, then God have mercy on the sorry-assed bastards who had planted the street bomb…
= END OF BOOK ONE =
Book Two
the conclusion of Collin & Mia’s duet
is available now!
HER HEART
* Book 2 of 2 in the Savage Hope Duet *
I refuse to break. I can’t say that I’ve been through worse, but I still believe I’ll survive this. I’m not going to crumble at the seams. If I do, Collin’s enemies will have won. And everything we’ve both lost would have been for nothing.
I know it seems crazy to return to my old life and try to get a fresh start in a place with more bad memories than good, courtesy of my crook of a stepfather. But it’s all I have. And all I need. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
...Until Collin bursts back into my life.
* * * * *
I refuse to let Mia suffer. I may know jack about healing—vengeance seems to be all I’m capable of right now—but that doesn’t mean I can’t protect her from more pain. God knows my world has caused her enough of that to last a lifetime.
I understand her need to start a new life. Hell, I even want that for her...even though I’m sure it’ll end up killing me and decimating my hopeless heart for good. But I’ll do anything for her. Even this. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
...Until I almost lose her all over again.
Available Now
Thank You For Reading & Reviewing!!
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story and will consider taking a quick minute to drop off a review at the eretailer where you purchased this book. Every single review means so much to me, and helps us authors so much in terms of book visibility. Reviews not only affect online presence on eretailer search engines, but also marketing/promotion opportunities as well. And most of all, it helps readers like yourselves find books and authors. It’s one of the best ways you can support us indie authors and help our books find their way into more readers’ hands. Review or not, I appreciate all of you readers for continuing to hang out with the characters in my head and letting me continue to do what I love.
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Also by C.M. Wick
[available now]
with more coming this fall
the Far Too Tempting collection
Tempted Beyond Reason (Wake & Lacey)
Tempted Beyond Relief (Wylie & Rhea)
Tempted Beyond Return (Logan & Lily)
the Untouchable Curves collection
Curvy Attraction (Aiden & Cecelia)
Curvy Seduction (Owen & Gemma)
Curvy Perfection (Cayce & Ashley)
and
His Curvy Temptation (Declan & Melanie)
[an extra curvy Untouchable Curves standalone novel]
the Irresistible Curves collection
Chasing Her Curves (Hawk & Ginny)
Claiming Her Curves (Blake & Pippa)
Capturing Her Curves (Shane & Velda)
and
Keeping Her Curves (Ian & Juno)
[an extra alpha Irresistible Curves standalone novel]
the His to Claim series
Book 1: Every Last Doubt (Adler)
Book 2: Every Last Touch (Walker)
Book 3: Every Last Look (Barrett)
Book 4: Every Last Secret (Sutton)
Book 5: Every Last Reason (Emerson)
the Until You series
Unraveled (Corwin & Belle)
Unveiled (Lucas & Theresa) - Fall 2019
Untapped (Teague & Charlie) - Fall 2019
Introducing
CHRISTA’S DARKER, DIRTIER SIDE
WRITING AS C.M. WICK
[available now]
the DIRTIER titles
with more coming this winter
The Contract (Beckett, Jace, and Gabby)
[a standalone ménage]
Tempted By Trouble (Austin & Gina)
[a standalone erotica]
the DARKER titles
with more coming this fall
the Savage Trust series
Wrecked (Luke & Marie)
Scarred (Mikhael & Alina)
Frayed (Kane & Daniella)
the Savage Hope duet
His Trust (Collin & Mia, Book 1)
Her Heart (Collin & Mia, Book 2)
There are even more books coming in the next few months (26 more re-launches to be exact).
Stay tuned!
About the Author
C.M. Wick is the darker, dirtier side of New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Christa Wick—who still keeps it plenty dirty, though with a slightly less tarnished, and less crooked halo.
Christa Wick has been hybrid publishing since 2012 (yep, she’s one of the O.G. indie authors). She’s written 50+ romances starring curvalicious heroines and alphalicious heroes whose stories span the spectrum of: steamy & sweet, steamy & emotional, steamy & suspenseful, steamy & paranormal, steamy & dark, and…well, you get the idea. She also writes sci-fi thrillers and suspense novels under other pen names.
Website: http://christawick.com/
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