Page 59 of The Pakhan’s Debt by Leona White

17

ELENA

The doctor arrives near evening with a black bag and tired eyes.

She checks my ribs, my face, my pupils, my wrists. I answer what I have to and keep the rest behind my teeth while Maksim stands by the door the whole time.

Her fingers press along my side, and I suck in a breath before I can stop it.

“Bruised ribs,” she says. “Possibly muscle strain between the ribs. I don’t feel anything displaced, but she needs rest, ice, and no sudden movement for a few days.”

Maksim’s eyes move to me. I look at the floor.

The doctor cleans the scrape at my wrist, wraps it, then checks the bruising at my shoulder. “Ointment twice a day. Light bandage where the skin is broken. I’ll leave something for pain.”

My face tightens before my brain can stop it.

Her eyes flick to mine. She sees it.

“I need to speak with her alone,” she says.

Maksim doesn’t move. “Why?”

“Because she’s my patient.”

He stares at the doctor, then at me.

“Give me a minute,” I say.

He steps outside and shuts the door.

The doctor waits until his footsteps move away. I look at the pills in her hand.

“I’m pregnant,” I say. “Seven weeks.”

Her face stays calm, but she puts the stronger pills back in the bag. “Then paracetamol only. No sedatives unless I clear them.”

“He can’t know.”

“Then don’t make me guess again,” she says. “That’s how secrets get dangerous.”

When Maksim comes back in, she closes her bag. “Rest, food, fluids, and paracetamol if the pain gets too much. Nothing stronger tonight.”

Maksim looks at the bag, then at me, and for one second I wonder if the secret has already started showing.

When she leaves, the house gets still again.

“What happens now?” I ask.

“My men clean the estate. Leonid locks the paper trail.”

“And me?”

“You stay here.”

“With you?”

“With me, yes.”