I didn’t even notice the car had stopped until the back door was ripped open and a doctor in a white coat appeared. “What happened?”
He hadn’t even finished talking before I was screaming at him. “Help her. She’s been shot.”
His eyes fell on her stomach. Something was said that I didn’t catch because all I could hear was the blood rushing through my veins, and then they were pulling Amy from my arms and placing her on a trolley with a team already surrounding her.
“Who are you?” one asked. I rushed after them.
“Her husband.”
“Her name?”
“Amy.” The sterile light of the hospital almost blinded me, but they didn’t slow at all. “Amy Petrovov.”
“And how far along is your wife, Mr. Petrovov?”
I faltered.
“She’s just over six months,” her boss said with a growl.
“Oh, thank you.” They sped up, one rushing ahead.
“You need to stay here,” a nurse caught me around the wrist and tried to drag me back as the trolley holding my wife disappeared through some double doors.
“I am not leaving my wife.”
“They need to take her to surgery. If you want your wife and baby to live, you need to let the doctors do their job.”
“They will be OK, won’t they?”
She stepped out in front of me, and the look of sympathy in her eyes was enough to crush my heart. “We will do everything we can.”
I didn’t knowhow much time passed. I didn’t move from the seat I had pulled up to face those double doors. Amy’s boss was somewhere behind me, and another waitress had appeared and was waiting next to him. I could feel their hostile eyes on the back of my head.
They blamed me for what was happening to their friend, and that was fine. I blamed myself as well. If something happened to Amy or the baby, I would never forgive myself.
“Alexei.”
My head snapped around, and I glared at Violet. She was flanked on both sides by two of my men, their faces grim. One made a grab at her wrist, and she threw his hand off. “Do not fucking touch me.”
“Sorry, boss,” he mumbled quickly. I wasn’t even sure when any of my men had gotten here. “We tried to stop her from coming in here.”
“Get her out of my sight,” I mumbled, and my attention fell back on the doors. At any second, the doctor was going to come out. He would have a wide smile on his face, and he would congratulate me on becoming a dad.
That was how it was going to happen because I wouldn’t accept any other option, and I was the kind of man who always got what he wanted.
“Alexei,” Falling to her knees, Violet clawed at my trousers, her fingernails digging into the dried blood that coated me. “Alexei, please.”
I stared at the door and ignored the woman begging on her knees. Any second now, that doctor would appear.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her. I just wanted to scare her away.”
Violet’s whining lie made my eyes snap towards her. “You shot my wife.”
She swallowed hard, but her grip on my trousers didn’t loosen. Instead, she wrapped her arms around my legs, pressing her cheek into my knees. “I didn’t mean to. You have to believe me. I was just trying to scare her away so that she would leave us alone.”
She was lying. She didn’t know how much I had heard. Catching a hold of her chin, I drew her up, and a flicker of hope entered her eyes. Even now, she thought she had me.
My fingers dug into her flesh as I drew her face close to mine. “If anything happens to Amy or my child, I will gut you, Violet.” I didn’t even bother to keep my voice quiet. I didn’t care who heard me. The waiting room fell silent.
