As if her mother could ever be anything other than gorgeous! She’d aways been so irrepressible, no matter what life had thrown at them. And all she’d ever wanted was a large family around her whom she could shower with love.
Lexi wiped away a stray tear from her cheek. It broke her heart that she wouldn’t be able to give her mother grandchildren and make her happy. Just broke her heart.
Mark Belmont stabbed at the elevator buttons, willing them to respond, then cursed under his breath and took off towards the stairs.
The logical part of his brain knew that it had only been seconds since he’d thanked his mother’s friend for keeping vigil in that terrible hospital room until he arrived. The steady weeping hadn’t helped him to keep calm or controlled, but he was on his own now, and it was his turn to make some sense of the last few hours.
The urgent call from the hospital. The terrible flight from Mumbai, which had felt never-ending, then the taxi ride from the airport, which had seemed to hit every red light in London on the way in.
The truth was still hard to take in. His mother, his beautiful, talented and self-confident mother, had taken herself to a London plastic surgeon without telling her family. According to her actress friend she had made some feeble joke about not alerting the media to the fact that Crystal Leighton was having a tummy tuck. And she was right. The press were only too ready to track down any dirty secrets about the famously wholesome English movie star. But to him? That was his mother the tabloids were stalking.
Mark took the stairs two at a time as his sense of failure threatened to overwhelm him.
He couldn’t believe it. They’d been together for the whole of the Christmas and New Year holiday and she’d seemed more excited and positive than she’d been in years. Her autobiography was coming together, her charity work was showing results and his clever sister had provided her with a second grandchild.
Why? Why had she done this without telling anyone? Why had she come here alone to have an operation that had gone so horribly wrong? She’d known the risks, and she’d always laughed off any suggestion of plastic surgery in the past. And yet she’d gone ahead and done it anyway.
His steps slowed and he sniffed and took a long breath, steadying himself before going back into that hospital room where his lovely, precious mother was lying comatose, hooked up to monitors which beeped out every second just how much damage the embolism had done.
A stroke. Doing what they could. Specialists called in. Still no clear prognosis.
Mark pulled open the door. At least she’d had the good sense to choose a discreet hospital, well-known for protecting its patients from prying eyes. There would be no paparazzi taking pictures of his bruised and battered mother for the world to ogle at.
No. He would have to endure that image on his own.
Lexi had just turned back to her packing when a young nurse popped her head around the door. ‘More visitors, Miss Sloane.’ She smiled. ‘Your dad and your cousin have just arrived to take you home. They’ll be right with you.’ And with a quick wave she was gone.
‘Thank you,’ Lexi replied in the direction of the door, and swallowed down a deep feeling of uncertainty and nervousness. Why did her father want to see her now, after all these long years? She pushed herself off the bed and slowly walked towards the door.
Then Lexi paused and frowned. Her cousin? She didn’t have a cousin—as far as she knew. Perhaps that was another one of the surprises her dad had lined up for her? She’d promised her mother that she would give him a chance today, and that was what she was going to do, no matter how painful it might be.
Taking a deep breath, she straightened her back and strolled out into the corridor to greet the father who had abandoned her and her mother just when they’d needed him most. If he expected her to leap into his arms then he was sorely mistaken, but she could be polite and thank him for her mother’s sake, at least.
If only her heart would stop thumping so hard that she could hardly think. She’d loved him so much when she was little—her wonderful father had been the centre of her world.
She braced herself and looked around. But all was calm, restful and quiet. Of course it would take a few moments for him to get through the elaborate security checks at the main desk—designed to protect the rich and famous—and then take the elevator to the first floor.
She was just about to turn back when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye through the half-open door of one of the patient’s rooms identical to the one she had just left, but tucked away at the end of the long corridor.
And then she saw him.
Unmistakable. Unforgettable. Her father. Mario Collazo. Slim and handsome, greying around the temples, but still gorgeous. He was crouched down just inside the room, under the window, and he had a small but powerful digital camera in his hand.
Something was horribly wrong here. Without thinking, she crept towards the door to get a better look.
In an instant she took in the scene. A woman lay on the hospital bed, her long dark hair spread out against the bleached white sheets which matched the colour of her face. Her eyes were closed and she was connected to tubes and monitors all around the bed.
The horrific truth of what she was looking at struck Lexi hard and left her reeling with shock, so that she had to lean against the wall to stay upright.
The nurses wouldn’t have been able to see her father from the main reception area, where a younger man she had never seen before was showing them some paperwork, diverting their attention away from what was happening in this exclusive clinic under their very noses.
When she found the strength to speak her words came out in a horrified shudder. ‘Oh, no. No, Dad. Please, no.’
And he heard her. In an instant he whirled around from where he was crouching and glared at her in disbelief. Just for a moment she saw a flash of shock, regret and contrition drift across his face, before his mouth twisted into a silent grin.
And her blood ran cold.
Mario Collazo had made a name for himself as a celebrity photographer. It wasn’t hard to work out what he was doing with a camera inside the hospital room of some celebrity that he had stalked here.
If that was true … If that was true then her dad hadn’t come to see her at all. He had lied to her warm-hearted mother and tricked his way into the hospital. None of the security officers would have stopped him if he was the relative of a patient.
Ice formed in the pit of her stomach as the hard reality of what she had just seen hit home. Her dad never had any intention of visiting her. The only reason he was here was to invade this poor sick woman’s privacy. Lexi had no idea who she was, or why she was in this hospital, but that was irrelevant. She deserved to be left alone, no matter who she was.
Lexi felt bitter tears burning in the corners of her eyes. She had to get away. Escape. Collect her mother and get out of this place as fast as her legs could take her.
But in an instant that option was wiped away.
She had waited too long.
Because striding towards her was a tall, dark-haired man in a superbly tailored dark grey business suit. Not a doctor. This man was power and authority all wrapped up inside the handsome package of a broad-shouldered, slim-hipped man of about thirty. His head was low, his steps powerful and strident to match the dark, twisted brow. And he was heading straight for the room where her father was hiding.
He didn’t even notice she was there, and she could only watch in horror as he flung open the door to the woman’s room.
Then everything seemed to happen at once.
‘What the hell are you doing in here?’ he demanded, his voice furious with disbelief as he stormed into the room, pushed aside the visitor’s chair and grabbed her father by the shoulder of his jacket.
Her breath froze inside her lungs, and Lexi pressed