"Baby, I'll go with you," he promised. "I'll ride with you, right beside you. We'll get you fixed right up, and I'll take care of everything."
"I don't want to go," she whispered. "They don't let you leave."
Her voice was now edged with panic. He didn't understand it, and he didn't give a damn what he had to promise her.
"It's okay. Trust me, Kia. I won't leave you." He nodded to the techs as they moved back for the stretcher. "Let's get you taken of Everything else is going to be okay. I promise."
"You have to make them let me come home." He saw the first tear slide down her cheek as the techs helped her onto the stretcher. "Promise me."
"On my life, Kia. I swear." He followed the paramedics, ignoring Drew as he passed him. "Come on. Just a quick trip. Okay?"
"You won't leave me?"
He stepped into the back of the ambulance with her as the tech strapped her in.
Her eyes were so large, so filled with fear, he swore he was going to become violent.
"They don't let you go once they get you there." Her voice sounded dazed as she stared at him, those f**king tears dampening her cheeks, sliding through the stain of blood.
"I won't let you go." He leaned forward as the tech moved behind her and called the information in to the hospital. "I'll be right beside you. I promise."
He would keep that promise.
"Your father's right behind us. No one's going to hurt you again, Kia. I swear."
"My purse is gone." Her lips trembled. "It was one of my favorites."
"She's dazed," the tech murmured to him. "Chauffeur reported a mugging, said the guy took her purse as he hit her. She's possibly concussed, definitely dazed."
"We'll find your purse," he promised. "I want you to rest, Kia. Do that for me, baby?"
He ignored the tech and leaned closer. He cupped her face and held her cheek against his. She was so cool. Her skin was like ice, and her gaze burned into his.
"I'm scared," she whispered. "My head hurts, Chase. Like it did when I was a child. Mom and Dad would make me stay in the hospital, and I hated it."
"I won't let them," he promised. He would promise her anything, do anything, to take that fear out of her eyes. "Do you hear me, baby? They're going to patch your head up and I'm calling Ian's doctor. We'll take you out of there and take you home. There's a spare bedroom. The doctor can sleep there."
She frowned at him. "I don't have a spare room."
"You do now." He pressed his lips to hers. "Trust me, Kia. Let me take care of you."
She stared up at him. "I'm not a doll."
"Never." He brushed his thumb over her cheek. "Never again. Just this one time, please, baby. I won't let them make you stay."
If he didn't get that fear out of her eyes, he was going to commit murder. She stared back at him, and it eased, slowly. Pain still filled her eyes, though, and the grip of her hand on his was fierce, determined.
"I want a call put in to Dr. Sanjer. Radio the hospital now. Tell him Ian Sinclair requests his immediate presence at the hospital."
Ian Sinclair's name opened doors. The tech made the call as the ambulance maneuvered through the city streets. Chase looked behind the ambulance and saw Ian's limo behind them. Her parents would be there, and they would try to take her from him, take her home.
The hell they would. He had backed off earlier because of Timothy Rutherford; he wouldn't make that mistake again. As the ambulance pulled into the hospital emergency entrance, he took her hand and lifted it to his lips.
"I'll be right behind you," he promised.
She swallowed tightly. "They won't let you."
He stared fiercely into her eyes. "I'll be right behind you, Kia."
She stared at him, and she didn't trust him. Hell, he couldn't blame her, but he'd show her. He'd be there, no matter who stood in his way, no matter what.
He moved aside as the ambulance pulled to a stop and he watched them rush her away.
"Chase!" Timothy Rutherford was out the door as Ian's limo pulled to a stop. "Is she okay?"
"She's coherent." He turned to Ian. "I had a call put in to Sanjer."
Ian nodded. "I called him from the car and talked to him personally. He should be here waiting on her. What happened?"
"Techs said it was a mugging." The hairs at the back of his neck lifted, a primal warning, a premonition he couldn't seem to shake.
"Mugging?" Timothy snapped. "That apartment building is supposed to be one of the most secure in the city."
"It is," Ian snapped. "It's one of mine. I called the manager for all security disks, and the detective in charge of the investigation will be contacting me. He should be at her apartment when she returns there."
"She won't be there." Chase turned toward the hospital doors as his brother, Jaci, Ian, Courtney, and Kia's parents watched in shock. "She'll be at my place."
He didn't see the shock on the faces of those who watched him disappear into the hospital. He wouldn't have cared if he had seen it. He'd promised Kia he would be right behind her. And he meant to keep that promise.
The headache was killing her. Kia had endured the exam, biting back a curse, and suffered in silence as the doctor stitched her head. When the nurse handed her two pills, she had taken them eagerly. It had felt as though gremlins were digging her brain out with their dull-assed fingernails.
She had flashed on a nightmare from her childhood. When she was a little girl and got horrible headaches, her doctor would always have her placed in the hospital. There they would run tests, poke and prod at her, and she would beg her parents to let her go home.
And they never would. Her mother would cry. Her father would get that miserable look on his face, and they would promise to let her go home. But they always made her stay.
Now her parents were in the room they had taken her to from the emergency room. They sat side by side near her bed. Chase stood silently at the foot of the bed, and Ian Sinclair and his wife and Cameron Falladay and Jaci were waiting outside.
Kia just wanted to go home. She wanted to curl up on the couch in front of the fire and just sleep.