A Conquest Like No Other Read Online Free

could offer Emily some semblance of a normal life. Charli
had her own set of hopes. As a child, she too had suffered as Emily did. By her
twenties, the seizures had stopped. This was her dream for her daughter.
    Witnessing yet another display of
the affection Charli had for Emily made Nikki’s thoughts move to her own mother
as she fulfilled her promise to Emily. No matter what the circumstances,
Nikki’s mother had ensured her daughter knew that she was loved every day. As
someone living with cystic fibrosis, Nikki’s mother never thought she would
have children. Nikki was a surprise and a miracle in her mother’s eyes and she
had never failed to tell her so, either. The disease stole her from Nikki when
she was at college, but she was thankful for every minute she had with her
mother.
    Like her mother, Charli’s love
for Emily was a beautiful reminder of the unconditional love a mother and child
could share. It was something Nikki wanted to have one day with her own
children. If she allowed a man close to her. Again Viper’s stunning face popped
into her mind, causing her to drop her phone charger. What the hell had gotten
into her?
    Stepping back into Emily’s room
with the chargers dangling between her fingers, she said, “Okay, young lady,
let me see that smile.”
    Immediately, she was rewarded
with the brightest grin she had seen in days. Handing Charli the cords, Nikki
went about taking Emily’s vitals. For such an otherwise healthy and vibrant
young child, Emily’s seizures were a hiccup in her promising childhood.
    Reaching toward the power point
above Emily’s bed, Charli explained, “I’m charging her iPad first so we can
return your cord to you before you head for home.”
    “Actually, as soon as I do hand
over, I’ll be finishing. But that’s okay, I have another charger at home,”
Nikki replied. “Home is calling me right now.”
    Charli smiled and was about to
say something, when a blank look appeared in her eyes. Nikki’s immediate
suspicion was that Charli hadn’t outgrown her seizures after all. Maybe they
had just become less severe and noticeable. As quickly as it disappeared, her
smile returned. Charli’s eyes met hers and she said, with a wink, “Yes, I can
understand your urgency to get home.”
    She would have questioned
Charli’s meaning had Emily not gained her mother’s attention. Deciding she
would keep an extra eye on Charli, as well as her daughter, Nikki took herself
to the nurse’s station in preparation to pass her patients’ charts over to the
night shift.
     

Chapter
Three
     
    Less than twenty minutes later,
Nikki grabbed her things from her locker, anticipation growing with every
second. Just a short lift ride down, and she would be out in the fresh air.
Even though her love for her job was still ever present, it would seem that
with every home time the urgency to leave had increased. Since being kidnapped
she had developed a love for the outdoors. It seemed to call to her, calming
her when she hadn’t even realized she needed calming. She could only put her
new affinity with open spaces down to being held in a putrid-smelling warehouse
while being threatened by monsters of the human kind.
    The first breath she took when
she stepped outside of the hospital seemed to zing through her body, awakening
it as if she had just been asleep. She couldn’t explain it, but her mind had
likened it to that jolt she always felt when drinking whiskey. It was like a
hit of adrenaline, arousing every nerve ending. The farther away she moved from
the large grey building the more alive she felt.
    When she reached her car, she
looked around, her eyes searching for something. Somewhere amongst the metal
maze she knew as the hospital car park sat a car, waiting. When trouble had
found Gabby, Devil had insisted they both remain under guard for their own
protection. Their work day had consisted of being driven to and from work by a
couple of guards who would park outside the hospital