Nothing.
"Someone's thinking very carefully about their response," Yuri observes.
Before I can reply, heavy footsteps echo down the hospital corridor. Multiple sets, moving fast.
Yuri doesn't tense. Doesn't reach for a weapon. He simply turns his head toward the sound with the kind of calm that only comes from absolute certainty in your ability to kill.
Lorenzo storms into the waiting room like a bomb mid-detonation. Three of his men flank him, their expressions carved from stone. And with them, Eden!
Ruslan's fiancée wears scrubs, her dark hair pulled back in a bun. She looks exhausted but alert, carrying a manila folder against her chest.
I'm on my feet before conscious thought catches up. The laptop stays beside Yuri.
"Keep an eye on the chat," I say.
His eyes meet mine. One slight nod. Whatever's coming, Yuri's ready.
I cross the waiting room. Lorenzo's face is pure murder. His jaw works like he's grinding bone between his molars.
"What happened?" I ask. The question comes out sharper than intended. "Is it Moira? The baby?"
Lorenzo's eyes lock onto mine. For a second, I think he might actually explode right here in the hospital corridor.
"The supplements Moira was taking were altered."
The words don't process immediately. I stare at him, waiting for the rest of the sentence to make sense.
"What?"
"Anton said we should look into anything that was given to Moira." Lorenzo's accent thickens with barely leashed fury. "I thought he was full of shit. Who would have touched my wife's supplements when everything and everyone has been vetted? But he was right."
Eden steps forward and opens the folder.
"We ran tests on everything Moira's been taking." Her green eyes meet mine with gentle professionalism that somehow makes the news worse. "The prenatal supplements she received two weeks ago were chemically altered. Someone added compounds designed to gradually raise blood pressure."
My stomach drops. Someone got close enough to Moira to poison her, doing it slowly and carefully. They made it look like just normal pregnancy complications.
"The premature labor," I whisper.
"Was induced," Eden confirms. "Not naturally occurring."
Lorenzo's hands curl into fists. The knuckles crack audibly.
"So Moira is okay?" I force myself to ask the most important question. "The baby?"
"Yes." Lorenzo's voice drops to a dark, lethal tone. "She is. They both are. Eden and the Basovs' medical team are handling everything now."
He takes a step closer. The violence radiating off him is almost tangible.
"I need to take care of this matter personally." Each word lands like a death sentence. "Because this motherfucker is going to suffer to the end."
Behind me, Yuri's voice cuts through the tension.
"Fee."
I turn.
He's staring at the laptop screen, his face empty of everything except professional focus. He looks dead inside, and that's exactly what makes him dangerous.
