Read Forever Mine for Free Online

fear. Her voice was different. Oh God, what she’d thought was laryngitis wasn’t that at all. A crisp, aristocratic accent had replaced her American one.

Chapter 3

    Present Day
    N ick paced the floor of the hospital waiting room. It had been almost an hour since he’d been ordered out of the trauma room filled with doctors bent over Victoria. Where his CPR skills had failed, the paramedics had succeeded, but she’d failed to regain consciousness. God, if he lost her again. Again?
    Why in the hell would he think he’d gone through this before? He shoved a hand through his hair and stopped his pacing. What the fuck was happening to him? He was beginning to think he’d lost his mind. He’d just met the woman, and yet deep down in his soul, he knew his life would never be the same if she didn’t survive. The sound of feminine heels clicking against the floor made him turn around. As Nora entered the small visitors’ lounge, Nick closed the distance between them and gave her a hug.
    “You okay?” he said huskily as he stepped back and inspected her face for any injuries.
    “Just shaken up a bit. I was still upstairs when the explosion hit.”
    “ Christ , the shop—”
    “It’s fine, just minor damage. I left Robert in charge,” Nora said in her practical manner that was at odds with her personal beliefs. “He’s making arrangements for security and repairs.”
    “What the fuck happened? A gas leak?” Nick eyed his sister with disbelief.
    “No. A bomb.” Anger darkened Nora’s features. “Some environmental extremists targeted the ad agency across the street for a recent campaign the agency did for an oil company.”
    “Christ almighty,” he said with a shake of his head.
    “I hope they catch the bastards and put their balls and heads on the Tower’s spikes,” Nora snapped viciously then eyed him with a look of worry. “Have you seen a doctor about this cut?”
    “Cut?” He reached up to touch his face, and Nora immediately smacked his hand aside.
    “Don’t be an idiot. You need to have a doctor look at this. It might need sutures.” Nora’s gaze swept over him then gasped in horror. “ Oh my God, your leg .”
    “My leg?” Nick looked downward to see his pants leg was split open and a long, deep gash that ran the length of his calf.
    “Aren’t you in pain?” Nora asked, her face pasty white.
    “No,” he said as he realized that wasn’t quite true. His leg had been aching from all the pacing he’d done. “It must be deep enough to have cut off the nerve endings. And stop looking at the damn thing before you pass out.
    “You need to get that leg looked at, now ,” his sister said firmly despite the sick look on her face.
    “I’m not doing anything until I know Victoria’s all right.”
    “Victoria?” His sister arched her eyebrow at him in a silent demand for an explanation.
    “She told me her name right before the explosion.” He heard the defensive note in his voice. “She’s been in the trauma center for more than an hour. Fuck , if you’d seen the way she looked in the ambulance…”
    Nick’s throat tightened and closed as fear threatened to suffocate him. His fingers gripped the back of his neck. He would never forget the light fixture as it crashed downward and slammed into Victoria or the look of agony on her face when she grabbed the live wire. Tension hardened his muscles as he remembered the way her entire body had jumped on the gurney when they’d shocked her heart.
    “The ambulance? They don’t let people ride in the back.”
    “They didn’t have much choice,” he muttered with a grimace. “I told them I was her fiancé, and I was going with them.”
    “Good lord, Nick. What were you thinking?”
    “I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s like someone else has been in my head from the moment I first saw her. The only thing I’m certain of is that I can’t lose her again.”
    “ Again ?” Nora stared at him like he’d lost his marbles, which