The Billionaire's Nanny

The hospital

Lucas

Metal scrapping.

Glass shattering.

A heart-wrenching scream

In those three simple steps, my entire world came to a grinding halt. Time seized, breathing stopped, and the only thing evident in my brain was the sickening crunch echoing through the phone.

Then painful, gut-knocking, heart-gripping silence.

My knees buckled, and I faltered a step back as the line disconnected. "Chris!" her name broke free from my lips, a plea, a prayer that this was not really happening.

This could not be happening.

Yes, it is and it's all your fault.

I had been too engrossed in tackling issues back in Diego to keep an eye on my family. To keep an eye on Chris.

I felt the blood drain from my body when I came down five minutes ago to the news that no one had seen Chris—oh except the gaurd that had let her leave despite my instructions. I already fired the bastard.

"What's going on?" Someone asked, snapping me from the horror of my thoughts. I had almost forgotten I was not the only one worried about Chris.

When the fog lifted from my eyes, I met the curious, confused, and worried gazes of everyone, waiting to hear if Chris was on her way. But she wasn't. She was not coming back and it was all my fault.

"I have to get to her." I was out the door without another word, swiping through my phone for the slightest clue as to where she was. Robin and Mia followed on my heels while Lilian stayed back to keep the kids from coming.

"Where did she go?" I asked, ignoring the curious questions about what was going on from both of them.

"You're scaring me, Lucas, what happened to her?" Mia answered as I signaled for my car to be brought to me,

I turned to her with a deadly glare, it didn't matter that she was my sister or that she was only trying to help. Only one thing mattered to me right now. "Just fucking tell me where she went!" I roared.

Mia jerked in response to my raucous reply. "She went to the store I guess. Zoey needed candies."

I turned to her in disbelief just as the car came around. "Candies? You have got to be fucking kidding me."

****

I must have broken at least 30 Italian traffic laws to make it here. Every nerve ending in my body was on fire, my heartbeat pounding rapidly, ready to burst open through my chest as I shuffled the hallways of the hospital, shoving whoever came in my path aside. Angry protests followed in my wake, and I could hear Robin behind me, trying the more civilized method of finding out which room they had Chris in.

"Christine Channing!" I barked at the nurse attending to the checking desk.

She turned her gaze slowly to me with a glare. I gave her a matching glare back, resisting the urge to whip the computer around and find out for myself where in this goddamn hospital they had her. After a brief tap of the keyboard, she looked back at me and said in fluent English yet with a heavy accent, "They brought her in a few minutes ago," she pointed further down the hallways, "Emergency room."

Fuck. Shit! I felt as though the air had been whooshed from my lungs and replaced by a sudden churn in my stomach. "How bad is she?"

"I am in no position to give away that information, but..."