Trapped Into Marriage (15 page)

“Just one month after marrying Nick, you’re already messing around with another man,” accused Rachel with a sneer. “I was right when I told Nick you were nothing but a black slut.”

“Now watch your tongue, ma’am,” Sergio snapped as he shot to his feet. “I’m not averse to taking it upon myself to throw you out for being rude to my companion.”

Rachel’s eyes widened at his ice-cold tone, and Keyonna chose that moment to compose herself and speak before Rachel could think up another word.

She looked squarely up at the other woman. “Now you look here. What I do is none of your business. I certainly don’t care what you think of me either. If you think you can judge me then go ahead. I can see you still haven’t forgiven me for taking Nick away from you. But please, try to control your lack of manners and spare yourself any more embarrassment.”

Rachel dragged in an infuriated gasp, her mouth working soundlessly. It was obvious she was struggling with her temper, but then suddenly her green eyes narrowed suspiciously as she stared at Keyonna. “Something’s just not right here,” she said slowly, still looking as furious as ever. “And I’m going to get to the bottom of it!”

After that she whirled round and with a swish of her full skirts returned to her table where her escort was looking up at her in amazement.

Keyonna turned to Sergio, her smile stiff yet apologetic as she saw him retake his seat. “I’m really sorry about that. I never dreamed I’d run into anyone from back home.”

Sergio’s eyes were worried. “Want to tell me about what happened? I mean between you and…him?”

Keyonna shook her head sadly, glad that Sergio hadn’t mentioned Nick’s name. Talking to anyone about what she’d seen and heard that day, in the hidden corner of the garden – at her own wedding, was unbearable even if it was to Sergio. She had no doubt he’d be on her side if he heard the details, and he wouldn’t blame her for running off and jumping on a plane across the world just to get away from it all.

But now the whole night was ruined and the calm of the past few weeks was now totally shattered. It seemed like fate was reminding her that she couldn’t run away from her problems. She was only delaying the inevitable and she’d be worse off thinking she could hide away from making a decision and soon.

“Can we leave now, please?” she asked Sergio and he readily assented. He was trying to suggest they take a cab and go out to a night club or something but Keyonna declined with a rueful smile.

“I’d just rather call it a night. I’m really tired,” she said.

Lying in her bed an hour later, Keyonna thought of how disappointed yet understanding Sergio had been when she’d chosen to go up to her room – alone. Then he’d planted a light kiss on her forehead and she’d smiled, touched by the soothing gesture.

Yet now that she was alone and huddled beneath the covers, she felt her eyes swim with tears. Why hadn’t she stayed as far away from Nick as she could from the start? There’d always been a sense of danger surrounding him and she’d kept him at a distance as much as she could. But then somehow their paths crossed in ways that made it impossible to simply back away. He’d approached her at Mark’s party and she’d been dumb enough to try to put him in his place to prove a point.

And now she was trapped in a hell she’d brought on herself with her foolishness. Who had ever said a kiss was just a kiss?

Chapter Twelve

Keyonna flicked her sunglasses off her face as she stepped out of the taxi which had stopped in front of her hotel. She preferred doing her shopping in the morning and now she was back for some brunch and maybe a nap in her room. She found herself pausing by a stall just by the hotel where a man was selling fresh flowers. Buying an attractive bunch, she buried her nose in the colorful bloom as she turned to walk up the steps into the hotel.

But then she was startled by the sound of screeching tires and turned sharply to see a tall, familiar man spring from out of the driver’s seat, her name spilling from his lips.

“Keyonna!”

Nick. Here.

Those were the only two things she could process in her mind just as she got struck with a sudden, inexplicable bolt of fear.

He’s found me! Wild thoughts flew through her head as she realized it must have been Rachel who told him. She should have known…

In a sudden spurt of panic, she dumped her shopping and the flowers and turned the other way to run. Running, always running. Her one aim always to evade that sharp feeling of dread that enveloped her senses from knowing Nick had come to get her back. She couldn’t let him catch her…

“Keyonna, stop!” Nick called out to her in a harsh, tortured voice. But Keyonna didn’t look back, hurtling forward on her choppy heels and quickly turning the corner. Then she tried to cross the road without looking both ways first, and totally missed a moving motorcycle making straight for her.

The rider gave a shout but couldn’t stop in time. Keyonna couldn’t get back out of the way fast enough, and she was only able to let out a tiny scream as the motorcycle made impact and threw her to the ground. The last thing she was aware of was of Nick’s voice yelling, “
No
!” before she sank into a dark, painless nothingness.

***

“Keyonna…
vita mia
. Please. Wake up.”

Slowly regaining consciousness, Keyonna clung to the husky, familiar voice speaking so softly, calling her ‘his life’. She sighed, savoring the gentle hand stroking her knuckles even as she slowly, painstakingly blinked her heavy lids open.

The sight of Nick sitting right by her bed, his head bent over her hand clasped in his, made Keyonna’s heart constrict.

“Oh Nick,” she breathed, very softly. But he heard her, and his head jerked up instantly. His pained eyes brightened when he saw her looking wide-eyed at him.

“Keyonna, my darling, you’re okay!” Nick exclaimed, his grip on her hand tightening.

“Yeah, I think,” Keyonna said with a smile at the relief on his face. She suddenly became aware of her surroundings and realized she must be in some kind of private hospital room. Under the white and blue sheets, she noted that she was wearing only a light cotton hospital gown. The windows were open and it was daylight, and there were flowers all over the nearby drawers and shelves.

Keyonna was at a loss, not sure what had happened to her. “Nick…what am I doing here?” Her tone was anxious.

“You had an accident,
tesoro
,” Nick told her hoarsely. “Close to the hotel. That bike ran you down, remember?”

Keyonna frowned incomprehensively. “Remember what?”

Nick stared at her, squeezing that much harder on her hand and causing her to let out a small cry in surprise.

“I’m sorry,” he said, hastily loosening his grip. “But, you’re sure you don’t remember…anything?”

Keyonna’s eyes looked uncertain as she paused thoughtfully. “Well, we were supposed to be married…” This time her own fingers clutched tighter around his. “We did get married, didn’t we?”

Nick nodded, looking numb as he seemed unsure what to say.

“I remember now,” Keyonna said slowly. “We had this marvelous wedding, and then the reception with everything looking so perfect…But I can’t seem to recall anything after that. Nothing at all. Oh Nick, I’m scared,” she cried, and struggled to raise herself from the pillows on her elbows, but then the pain shattered through her whole body. Feeling faint, she gasped and then felt everywhere go black again.

***

Nick stared unseeingly at the tiled floor as he listened to what the doctor was saying.

“It must have been the terrible shock of the accident…sudden trauma can do that to people. It has been known to happen, Mr. Vitale. Some memory loss can occur whereby the patient will blank out certain events – events that may cause them pain to remember. It’s generally a temporary condition. I suggest that you take it slowly and not try to force her to remember anything. It will all come back to her naturally, I’m sure. Just give it time…”

Time, thought Nick with bitterness. That’s exactly what he’d had to fight against these past several weeks since Keyonna disappeared from the wedding reception. Since then he’d endured different stages of torture. His first fear was that she’d been kidnapped – but soon he found out she must have run away because her overnight cases and some other items were found to have been missing.

He’d been half-frantic, half-enraged and had done all he could to find her, to hear from her own lips why she had done this to him. Nothing had prepared him for this; he hadn’t seen it coming. Day and night for the past five weeks he’d born the speculations of onlookers who’d had a field day over her disappearance.

If it hadn’t been for her parents informing him that they’d received a single phone call from Keyonna saying she was okay, but wouldn’t tell them where she was. Nick had wanted to smash anything and everything he could lay his hands on. One thing he didn’t stand for was being a fool of and Keyonna had done just that. He’d been itching to show her who was in charge and he swore that he’d teach her a lesson the first chance he got. He’d put the best people on the job to search for her but it had been like she’d disappeared. There was no way to track where she’d headed to and as the days went by and she didn’t contact him, it seemed impossible to ever find out anything about what had happened.

And then, just two days ago he’d received that call from Rachel who gave him the shocker that she’d run into Keyonna in Verona. Italy! He’d thought wildly. She’d gone that far away? He’d believed she was still in the country but now that he knew for sure she’d flown all the way to his home town almost made him feel like it was a slap in the face. He’d been so fucking furious it had been hard to see straight for a minute.

But during the flight over in his private jet, Nick’s rage had dissolved into the desire to see her again and make sure she was okay. And that he wouldn’t take the risk of losing Keyonna the second time. Not now that he’d just realized how much she truly meant to him…

So when he’d watched her getting hit by that bike, it had added ten years to his life. He’d never forget the way his heart had stopped when she’d tumbled to the ground with the bike and rider toppling over her. Those moments were the worst of his life.

If she’d died…

“She’s going to be fine,” the doctor was reassuring him now. “Just a concussion, and a mild one at that. You’ll be allowed to take her home tomorrow. She’ll be out of supervision by then.”

Nick nodded tiredly and thanked the doctor before leaving his office. Nick hadn’t slept a wink since she was brought in yesterday, and now he thought of Keyonna’s beautiful face swathed with plaster and her body weak with pain. What the hell had gone wrong and why had she left? He’d been so sure things were going fine. What could have happened to turn him into her enemy?

He began to walk past the reception area, his intention being to get back to his hotel, freshen up and then take a nap before returning to the hospital. He didn’t intend to let Keyonna out of his sight for long. He’d already informed her parents that though she’d been in an accident, she was going to be fine. Nick had felt guilt thinking how he’d been the cause of a lot of trouble for Keyonna; first she’d run away from her home because of him and then she’d almost gotten killed, another fault of his.

Sighing angrily to himself, he suddenly overheard a man ask the nurse at the front desk, “A friend of mine, Keyonna Hayes was admitted here yesterday. If I could just…”

Before the man could even finish the sentence, Nick had spun him around and slammed him into the nearby wall. The guy was just as tall as him and only just that bit leaner, but he reacted fast enough to shove Nick’s grip off his shirt as both men came face to face. Nick was sure this was the man Rachel had told him she’d seen with Keyonna; he fit the description to a ‘tee’.

“Who the bloody hell are you?” Nick barked, his eyes murderous. The man, with cool dignity, straightened his shirt, his own face stormy.

“I should be asking you the same question,” was his gritted reply, which made Nick scowl darkly, barely conscious of the shocked looks they were getting from the hospital staff and other onlookers.

“I’m Nick Vitale, Keyonna’s husband,” Nick snarled.

“Oh, the husband she never wanted to see again?” the stranger said with a cutting smile. Nick winced, his expression suddenly bleak.

“Is that what she told you?” Nick asked dully. He shoved his hand back through his hair as he came to grips with the fact that something
had
gone wrong that day of the wedding – right from the time he’d left her side at the reception. Because that had been the last time he’d set eyes on her until yesterday. What could have made her dump everything and just go for weeks on end, not even calling him to let him know she was? He’d known Keyonna was a woman who had her own mind but he’d never have thought she would pull such a stunt just to spite him. He knew that he’d made her agree to the marriage against her will, and even now he loathed himself for using that method of persuasion. He never would have carried out his threat to destroy her investments but then he’d had to do what he could to get her. And now he wasn’t sure if he still had her, or if she was going to leave him again the first chance she got.