The Invisible Queen

Chapter 6 (Persistent Problem)

A week has passed, and Kane Maddox had been true to his words.

He pursued her.

Unfortunately for Nica, he did it with the resources of a man who could apparently send almost anything to her workplace.

The first delivery arrived on Monday.

Roses and lilies, arranged beautifully in a simple bouquet. A small card accompanied them, containing only her name and two initials beneath it.

KM.

Nica stared at the card for several seconds.

Around her, the other staff exchanged curious looks before their smiles slowly appeared.

Congresswoman Fletcher took one glance at the flowers and immediately understood.

“My nephew,” she said, barely hiding her amusement.

Nica wanted the floor to swallow he whole.

But Kane did not stop there.

Flowers came again.

Then snacks.

Then little treats and other things she never asked for. And the deliveries did not remain confined to the office. They began appearing at her home as well.

She had considered sending everything back. She had considered calling Kane and telling him to stop.

Instead, she mostly sighed and tried to pretend none of it bothered her.

It did.

Very much.

Today, however, she had something more important to worry about.

Congresswoman Fletcher had been invited to speak at a gathering of local farmers. The event was held outdoors, with a temporary stage and a covered area prepared for the guests.

Lizzie stood behind the podium, delivering her speech.

Nica remained only two steps behinds her, as she always did, quietly observing the surroundings.

Her phone vibrated, she glanced down. A message from Chloe.

Another flower delivery arrived.

Nica closed her eyes for a moment.

Of course.

She slipped the phone back into her pocket and returned her attention to the crowd.

Then----

A deafening crash shattered the gathering.

People screamed.

Nica looked up.

One of the overhead beams had shifted. Everything happened within seconds.

“Congresswoman!”

She moved without thinking. She stepped toward Lizzie and pushed her away from the falling structure. The beam came down. She was struck and knocked to the ground.

For a few moments, there was only chaos. Dust filled the air. People shouted and scrambled away from the collapsing structure.

She forced herself upright. “Lizzie?”

She looked around frantically “Lizzie, are you okay? Wake up!”

The congresswoman stirred. Nica reached for her.

“We have to move,” she said, her voice urgent. “Now. It’s an attack.”

Lizzie looked at her and froze.

“Nica, you’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine.”

Nica pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the pain.

Then something caught her attention.

Movement.

At the far corner of the venue, a man was coming toward them. Nica’s eyes narrowed. He was holding something.

A knife.

And he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking directly at Congresswoman Fletcher.

The man suddenly lunged.

“Lizzie!”, she did not hesitate.

She stepped between them and using her own body to shield the congresswoman.

The attacker struck. She gasped.

The impact left her momentarily frozen.

“Nica!”

Lizzie’s voice echoed through the chaos.

Kane had been at the back of the room—forced to attend by his aunt’s pointed phone call that morning. The first crash sends him into motion before conscious thought kicks in.

Through the smoke and screaming crowd, he sees it—Nica’s body half covering Fletcher’s, the beam across her back, then her standing somehow, blood spreading across her side. Then the man with a knife.

“Nica—”

His voice is raw, animal. He’s vaulting over chairs, shoving through panicked staffers. Too far. He’s too f*****g far away.

The knife punches into her abdomen instead of Fletchers throat. Time crystalizes. Nica’s sharp intake of breath. The attacker’s triumphant snarl. Fletcher’s scream.

Then Kane hits the assailant like a freight train, and eighteen years of executive boxing sessions become brutally practical. The man’s head cracks against marble flooring. Kane doesn’t stop—fists driving down with mechanical precision until security hauls him off.

Hoarse, on his knees beside Nica “Don’t move. Don’t you f*****g move.” His hands hover the knife still embedded in her side. “Someone call 911! Now!”

He pressed against the wound. There’s blood everywhere. Her blood.

Everything became a blur.

Nica could barely see through the haze. There were voices around her, footsteps. Hurried movements.

Then she saw a figure leaning over her.

A large silhouette.

Someone was calling her name.

“Nica..”

The voice sounded distant, almost as if it were coming from the other side of a long tunnel.

She tried to focus

Kane

Then everything went black.

Three days passed. Nica remained unconscious.

The doctors eventually told the family that she had passed the critical stage, but she still hadn’t regained consciousness. They could not say exactly when she would wake up.

Kane refused to leave.

For three days, he stayed at the hospital, making phone calls from the corner of the room, speaking quietly with his people and making sure everything that needed to be handled was being handled.

But when anyone suggested that he go home and rest, he refused.

He remained there.

Day and night.

On the third night, exhaustion finally caught up with him.

Kane fell asleep in the chair beside Nica’s bed, one arm resting near the edge of the mattress.

His usual immaculate appearance had disappeared. His hair was slightly disheveled. A faint shadow of stubble covered his cheeks.

Nica’s fingers moved. She slowly opened, her eyes.

The room was quiet.

For a few seconds, she didn’t understand where she was. The she felt the unfamiliar weight in her abdomen and remembered.

The attack.

Lizzie

The market.

Kane.

Her eyes shifted toward the chair beside her.

There he was.

Asleep.

Nica stared at him for a moment. He looked different like this.

Less like Kane Maddox, the confident tycoon who always seemed to have an answer.

More like a man who had simply been exhausted from worrying about someone.

Without thinking, she slowly lifted her hand. Her fingers gently touched his hair.

Kane stirred.

His eyes opened halfway.

For a moment, he seemed confused, his gaze unfocused and heavy with sleep.

Then he looked at her.

His expression changed instantly.

“Hi.” She managed a small smile.

For three full seconds Kane just stares, those slate eyes unfocused with exhaustion and something that looks like disbelief. Then his hand shoots out, grabs the call button, thumb jamming down repeatedly.

His voice absolutely wrecked, “Don’t—Jesus Christ, don’t move.” His other hand finds hers, grips it like she might disappear. “You’ve been out for three days. Three f*****g days Nica.”

A nurse rushes in, followed quickly by a doctor, Kane doesn’t let go of her hand even as they crowd the bed, checking vitals and pupils. His jaw tight, shadowed with stubble she’s never seen before. His shirt is wrinkled, the same from two days ago.

The doctors asked her name and if she knows where she was. She answered them softly. Kane was just looking at her like she’s risen from the dead. His thumb moving unconsciously against her knuckles. There’s fried blood under his fingernails—hers, probably. The doctors left.

Quietly, almost broken he spoke, “You jumped in front of a knife. You—” he stops, swallows hard. “Lizzie’s fine. The attackers in custody. You saved her life and almost—”

He can’t finish the sentence.

Nica gave him a dry smile.

“I’m fine Kane. I just woke up, and you’re already scolding me.”

“Yes,” Kane said immediately “And I will do it every time you decide to sacrifice yourself for someone else.”

His voice was furious.

But his eyes told a completely different story.

He reached for her hand and held it carefully, as though he were afraid even the slightest pressure might hurt her.

For a moment he said nothing.

Then Nica noticed it. A faint glimmer at the corner of his eye.

His jaw tightened.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

His voice dropped.

“I almost died seeing you take that knife.”

Nica’s smiled disappeared.

Kane swallowed.

“I thought I’d lost you.”

The words came out rougher than he intended.

Then a tear escaped and rolled down his cheek.

Nica stared at him.

Kane Maddox was crying.

Because of her.

She had seen him confident, amused, stubborn, arrogant, even speechless.

But never this.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “If I made you worry”

She looked at his face for another second. Then despite everything, a faint smile returned.

“Are you crying?”

Kane wipes his face roughly with his free hand, anger and relief warring across his features. He doesn’t let go of her other hand.

“No.” his voice cracks. “Yes. f**k--- I don’t know.” He stands abruptly, pacing to the window, hands in his hair. “I watched that knife go into you. I heard the sound it made. Do you understand what that—”

He stops, shoulders rigid. When he turns back, his face is raw in a way she’s never seen. The boardroom mask is gone. The control is gone.

“Ive been sitting here for three days thinking how the last thing I said to you was that I’d make your life anything but quiet.” His laugh is bitter, broken. “And then you almost died protecting someone else while I was too far away to do a goddamn thing except—”

His hands are shaking. He shoves them in his pockets.

“The doctors said if the knife had gone two inches to the left, you’d have bled out before the ambulance arrived. Two inches, Nica.” He moves back to the bed, drops into the chair. “So yeah. I’m crying. And I’m furious. And I’m not leaving this room until you promise me you’ll never be that reckless again.”

A small laugh escaped Nica at the absurdity of the situation.

Then she shifted slightly. A sudden ache pulled through her abdomen, and she flinched.

Kane noticed immediately.

He was on his feet before she could reassure him.

“Are you hurting somewhere?”

“I’m—”

He moved closer, concern replacing every trace of anger.

“Where does it hurt?”

Nica looked up at him.

He was so close now, leaning slightly toward her, his eyes searching her face for an answer.

She froze.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Nica could see the exhaustion in his eyes, the faint stubble along his cheeks, the worry he had clearly been carrying for days.

Without thinking, she lifted her hand.

Her fingertips gently touched the side of his face.

Kane went still.

Nica seemed surprise by her own gesture, but she didn’t pull away immediately. He touched the hand she had resting against his face. His eyes stayed on hers for a moment before slowly dropping to her mouth.

Nica’s breath caught.

His gaze lingered there for only a second before returning to her eyes. He leaned closer, just enough for her to realize what was happening.

“I promise.” She whispered.

He moved closer to her face, then a cheerful voice suddenly came from the doorway.

“She’s up! Aunt Nica is up.”