Gregor helps Maksim stand up and I follow the men out of the house. I notice the dead guard – the burly man who kidnapped me – laying on the front porch. I don’t comment on it. Death is becoming more commonplace for me and I’m not sure how to feel about that.
I help to put Maksim in the back seat. He groans and his back shoulder is bleeding but at least he’s alive. Gregor drives us to the hospital while Nikolai takes his own car.
“You’re going to be ok,” I say to Maksim, squeezing his hand. “It’s just in the shoulder, right? People survive shots to the shoulder all the time.”
“You say that like you know from personal experience,” he grits out, trying to smile… for my benefit, I realize.
“I have no experience with any of this. But I know I don’t want to lose you.”
His eyes widen. “Really?”
“Has no one ever said that to you before?”
“No one has ever cared enough about me to say that. Everyone I’ve ever been with before was just… It wasn’t what we have.”
“And what do we have?” I ask.
Before he can answer, he cries out, slumping forward.
“Maksim!”
I help him lie back on the seat and then watch in horror as his eyelids flutter closed. “Gregor! Go faster.”
Gregor gets us to the hospital in under a few minutes, breaking a lot of laws to get there. Maksim is still unconscious as Gregor gets him out of the car and shouts for help. Two nurses come running outside with a gurney and get Maksim onto it. Gregor explains to them how Maksim was shot in the back shoulder. Helplessly, I follow behind.
Maksim is taken into a room that I’m not allowed to follow.
“But I’m his wife,” I explain to the nurse closest to me.
“Then you can fill out his chart.” She hands me one. “We’ve got this, honey.” Then she walks away while I’m left feeling nothing but fear and helplessness.
I stare down at the chart blankly. I don’t know about any medications Maksim takes or any history of disease. I’m still learning so much about my husband and I can’t lose him before I know all of him.
My tears hit me and I slump against the wall and break down crying. Gregor takes the chart from me and fills it in while I cry. He’s a lot like my father – offers no comfort when you need it.
Eventually, my tears stop. Just in time for my father to show up at the hospital, still in his suit from the charity event. My evening gown is wrinkled and ruined.
“Natasha,” Lev says, coming over to my side. “Gregor called me. Said Maksim is in surgery.”
The sight of my father fills me with so much fear, I move away from him on instinct. He frowns but doesn’t otherwise comment.
Instead, he turns to Gregor. “You went after Enzo without me? You didn’t even tell me my daughter was kidnapped.”
“Because we got her back. That’s the important part. And Enzo is still alive. We don’t want a war with him.”
“He kidnapped my daughter. I’m going to kill him.”
Gregor grabs Lev’s arms. “Then that will put me at war with you. We found peace by marrying our kids together. Don’t ruin this. We’ll deal with Enzo another way.”
“What way? Do you plan on making peace with the man who kidnapped my daughter? Because otherwise, this only ends one way.”
“Maybe we should make peace. It would keep Enzo from kidnapping Natasha again.”
“How? By marrying your own daughter off to him?”
Gregor goes silent.
Lev huffs. “Didn’t think so. I did what I had to do and I entrusted my daughter to your son and yet you won’t offer up your own daughter to make peace? If Enzo comes after my daughter again, I will not hesitate to kill him.” Lev turns to me. “Come along, Natasha.”
