“If they die, I will gut you and make you eat your own intestines. Is that understood?”
Not waiting for her to answer, I pushed her away from me. She fell on her back with a cry.
“You don’t mean that Alexei.”
I cut her off with a nod to one of my men. “Get her out of my sight. Lock her up until I decide what to do with her.”
They didn’t need telling twice. Grabbing her under the arms, they dragged her away. Violet screamed, begging anyone for help, and no one even looked at her. All eyes were trained on the door behind me. I turned sharply to find the door open and the doctor standing there.
Only he wasn’t smiling.
“Doc.” Climbing to my feet, I went to meet him. “How are they?” I couldn’t even get the words out.
“Come with me, Mr. Petrovov.” He held the door open for me.
I stared at his face. “Just tell me-”
“We need to talk in private, Mr. Petrovov.” He said again, more firmly this time.
There was no sign of a smile on his face.
My hope shattered.
Silently, I followed after him. Down the long, sterile corridor until we came to a door. It was only then that he turned to me. “I want to prepare you for what you are going to see. It can be overwhelming.”
Opening the door, he moved around the other incubators to one at the far end of the room. Peering around his shoulder, I stared at the tiny creature inside. The skin I could see was blotchy red and pink. Tubes and tape covered the tiny face.
Machines surrounded everything. A nurse worked diligently on the other side. She glanced at me with a small smile before going about her work.
“He’s a fighter.”
He? I learned closer. “Mine?” I couldn’t help but whisper. This tiny human fighting for its life was mine?
“Yes, Mr. Petrovov. Your son.”
“But?” Wildly, I looked around. “But she said we were having a girl. Where is Amy? Is she going to be alright? Can I hold him?” The words were jumbled and made little sense. At my side, the doctor patted my arm. “Not yet, Mr. Petrovov. He’s very early. He’s going to need a lot of help, but you can stay with him for as long as you want to.”
“I have a son.” I let out a sigh of relief. I stared at his face, at the tiny fists he had clenched. I had a son, and I thought my heart was going to explode with the love I felt for him.
“And Amy?” I whispered. She would want to be here as well. Even if she had been wrong about the gender, she would love this little fighter with her whole being because that’s just the kind of woman she was. “Can you bring her down, or should I go down?”
Their silence was deafening. I glanced between the two of them. “Where is my wife?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Petrovov.”
“No.” I almost screamed out. I shook my head violently. I took a menacing step towards the doctor, “No.”
If I had to beat the man until he brought her back to life, that’s what I would do, but I would not have my wife snatched away from me. Again. Not now and not ever.
“You misunderstand me,” he said quickly. “Amy is alive. She lost a lot of blood, and there was a head wound we didn’t see straight away. A skull fracture. Her brain is swelling.”
Amy was alive, and that was all that mattered. I let out a sigh of relief. “So she’s sleeping? Resting? When will she wake up?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Mr. Petrovov. You have to prepare yourself.” He sucked in a breath. “Amy may never wake up.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Amy
