Meanwhile, Richard sat at the foot of the bed with his brows knitted together. His piercing gaze lingered on Angela, and in his eyes showed tender concern that had not been there before.
“The both of you can leave,” he said to his subordinates. “Let me know as soon as you have any news on her mother.’
“Got it. We’ll leave Miss Meyers to you then, Richie, Trevor replied, pulling Jared out of the infirmary and back to the conference room.
While making their way down the corridor, Trevor sighed again and said, “I bet Richie’s really beating himself up over this. He did promise Miss Meyers that he’d keep her family safe, but now, her mother’s lying in the hospital after a terrible car crash.”
“Tell me about it. I saw the way she was looking at him earlier, and I swear she hates his guts. If anything were to happen to her mother, she might just blame him forever.”
Both men exchanged a glance, each hoping that whatever they guessed would not come true. The last thing they wanted was for Angela to hate Richard now that they sensed he had special feelings for her.
In the infirmary, the doctor had put Angela on an IV, and the catheter had been inserted into her arm through a needle. Richard sat next to the bed, his silhouette straight and stiff as his dark gaze locked on the unconscious girl under the covers. It was hard to tell what was on his mind, but anyone could see that he was worried.
Angela had only been put on the IV for no more than ten minutes when her eyes suddenly flew open. The first thing that came to her mind was her mother struggling for her life in a hospital somewhere, and the thought made her bolt upright in bed.
“Don’t move,” a low male voice sounded next to her, followed by a hand pressing down firmly on her left arm so that she wouldn’t pull out the needle on her own.
She looked down at the needle pushed under her skin and demanded in a watery voice, “Pull it out. I don’t need it.”
Richard personally detached the needle. He was supposed to apply pressure to stop the bleeding the moment the needle was out, but Angela was in such a rush that she lifted the covers and tried to get down from the bed. At once, the blood trickled down the back of her hand.
With an assertive and domineering air, the man held her arm in place and grabbed a cotton ball from the bedside table, then pressed it down on the back of her hand where the needle had been.
Tears filled her eyes, but she allowed him to stop the bleeding as she gazed at him calmly and ordered. “Take me home, Richard.”
He did not answer her, paying particular attention to the task at hand.
At such close proximity, she could clearly make out the hard set of his jaw and the cold indifference on his handsome face.
