Page 134 of Violent Pawn

As Zeno speeds off, another smile tips the corner of my mouth up.

65

ANASTASIA

For the second time, awareness is a slow climb up a mountain, this time accompanied by a squeeze of my hand rather than rope around my wrists.

My eyes open to a dim lamp, the sun low in the sky somewhere to the side, and Vanessa and Lev seated on either side of me. Vanessa clenches my hand tighter and stands the second I blink, cataloguing the fact that my head is thumping, my face doesn’t feel right at all, my vision is blurry, and my side stings.

“Everything hurts.”

Her huff is concealed behind a grimace as she leans into my view. Not having to turn my head helps. “You look like you survived hell. Your injuries are extensive. You’re in the hospital, which is where you’ll be staying for a few more days. It’s been over three since the wedding. You were placed in a medically induced coma to ease the swelling in your body.”

The information is a lot, making my brain feel like soup.

“I wish…” She shudders, looking at a beeping machine beside the bed. “No one knew when you left. Zeno hates it was his men who did this.”

“Vasilyev,” I gasp out, because she needs to know who’s really behind it. Somewhere to my left, a cup and straw enter my field of vision, so I suck in the tepid water, which my body takes in as if never getting enough. “He escaped, but he was there. He funded them.”

“We know.” She rubs my hand again. “We found proof in their phones. Other than the two you took out, he had five more of Zeno’s soldiers on his side. Elio’s already rounded them up.”

If those five had joined the two, it would have been seven men versus me. Even my skills have limits. I wouldn’t have made it out alive.

“They’re dead?” I check, my face tightening with the pressure. “The two…”

She nods, her lips turning down in the corners. “You took down two grown men with a knife and a chair. It’s impressive.”

“After untying myself from that very chair.”

“Only you’d be able to pull something like that off.”

I’d grin if it didn’t hurt so much. “How’d you find me?”

“It was Serafina who realized you never came back to the reception. We figured you made up with Nero or at least were together. Come morning, when no one heard from you, we started texting your phone only to get nothing. So Lev”—she jerks her chin to the other side of the bed—“tracked your location. From there, Zeno called Nero when he found it strange you were in a warehouse.”

Turning my head until my brother is in view isn’t without a tender crick in my neck. “Surprised you’re here.”

“You’re my sister,” he replies stiffly, shoulders pulling back. “I care about you.”

Turning back to Vanessa slowly, I ask what I really need to know. To know if I dreamed it or not. The fact I’m in a bed and not on top of cement means some of it must be correct.

“Nero, did he…? He⁠—”

“He found you,” she fills in. “Once Zeno phoned him, he didn’t wait another second before searching. By the time Zeno and I arrived, he had removed you from the warehouse. He seemed a bit lost, to be honest. He looked…well, deader than you did. Zeno claimed he’s never seen him like that.”

“Irritated he had to help?”

The skin between her eyes furrows. “You don’t believe that.”

I don’t. Not when recalling his touch, which pulled me back from the sweet lull of sleeping forever. His face kick-started my heart, got me further from death when he gripped me tight to his chest, his beating heart almost erratic as mine, but soothing too. To know someone cares like he does.

Beyond that, the rest is a blur. I don’t even recall falling back to sleep.

“Where is he?”

“Out.” She glances up at Lev before adding, “They found Vasilyev at the border. Nero went to oversee it.”

“How’d you find him?”