Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Amy
Clasping my sister’s hand in mine, I barely heard the nurses as they busied themselves around her bed, checking her vitals, securing lines, smiling at me like my whole world wasn’t still unconscious in that bed and slowly drifting away.
They didn’t need to say it. I could see it. So I clung a little tighter to her hand, like if I held on to her tight enough, she wouldn’t be able to leave me.
It was always the same words, no change, but she’s fighting hard.
I knew she was fighting hard, but I had a sinking feeling in my gut that it wouldn’t be hard enough.
After everything Alessia had been through, she was tired.
She wanted to rest. I knew that, but at the same time, I wasn’t ready to let go.
So I didn’t say the words that I knew would set her free.
Selfish, that was me.
“Are you doing OK?” The nurse placed her soft hand on my shoulder, and I glanced back at her, confused.
“I’m just fine.”
“You looked a little sick earlier, ”she said in her quiet voice. “And yesterday as well.”
Smiling, I shook my head. “It’s nothing, I think the hospital food is finally getting to me.”
Her hand slipped away. “You need to go home and sleep in your bed. How many days have you been here now?”
“Five.” I frowned, “It might be six, and I’m fine. Honest.”
“It’s a good thing your young man is bringing you clothes and things, but it’s not healthy for you to not leave her side. I promise you we will call if there’s any change at all.”
I believed her. But if this is my sister’s last days on earth, then I won’t leave her side.
“My young man?”
She blushed. “The handsome, dark-haired one, who brings you clothes and hovers around like a mother hen?”
I frowned so deeply that a line appeared between my eyebrows.
Had Alexei been here and I hadn’t noticed?
That’s when it hit me. I let out a breath.
“Oh, Micah. He’s not my man.” I shook my head with a rueful smile.
“He’s my driver. And guard and—” I gave a shrug. “Maybe, partly a spy for my husband.”
“Your husband? I am so sorry. I just thought because Micah was here so often that, well. It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t pry.”
“Pry all you like. It’s not much of a story. My husband has better things to do than sit around in a hospital.” She blinked rapidly, and I could see she was struggling to find something to say. “It’s complicated,” I said and went back to staring at my sister.
Two seconds later, my phone rang, filling the room with its shrill, insistent noise. I threw them an apologetic look and hurried out of the room.
“Hello?”
I didn’t recognize the number.
“Amy?” a female voice asked.
“Talia?” Talia was one of the care assistants I worked with. But we weren’t overly close. It wasn’t like I had time to socialize since I had started working there. She let out a rattling sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. I’ve been trying everyone we can think of.”
My heart sank. “What’s wrong?”
“Can you come in?”
“I can’t, my sister is sick.” I glanced at her frail form through the open door. “Plus, I don’t work there anymore. I’m sorry, but you will have to call someone else.”
She cut me off. “It’s Nikolai.”
I stopped breathing. “Is he?” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
“He’s not doing so well mentally.”
I sighed. ”Have you tried his grandson?”
“Several times. He hasn’t had a visitor in some time, and well,” she gave a small chuckle, “He’s asking for you.”
Several thoughts went through my head all at once. I wasn’t surprised he was asking for me. The old Russian mobster had a soft spot for me, and I had one for him. The thing that shocked me the most was that Alexei hadn’t gone to visit him.
Probably too busy playing happy families with his first love, I thought bitterly and instantly pushed the thought away. I wouldn’t give them any space in my head.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I said softly and hung up.
Like magic, Micah appeared at the end of the hallway, his hands full of take-out coffee. He lifted his eyebrows in shock when I walked towards him and took it from him.
“Are we going somewhere, Mrs. Petrovov?”
“How did you know?”
He shrugged. “I don’t usually find you out of her room, and I have to force you to take food and drink. So?”
“I’m going to see Nikolai,” I said firmly. “No one has been for a while.”
“Nikolai Petrovov, are you making a nuisance of yourself?” I asked in my most strict schoolmistress voice from his open doorway.
From his bed, his head snapped around with so much force that I winced back. For a split second, his face was a mask of fury, and then he spotted me, and his whole face softened, and his eyes lit up.
“Amy.” Holding out his hands, I rushed to take them and let him pull me closer. “My favorite daughter.”
“You’re a big flirt, Nikolai.” Untangling my hands, I pulled up one of the hard, blue chairs towards his bedside. “The staff were telling me you’ve been acting out.”
His blue eyes widened. “They are all a bunch of—”
I flashed him a look, and he fell silent.
“My favorite nurse left to marry my grandson and live her best life.” Old eyes looked over me, and I quickly looked away.
“I see. So the rumors are true?”
I fell silent, twisting my hands in my lap.
“He’s spending a lot of time with her, huh?” Nikolai didn’t sound surprised at all.
“She needs him,” I said in a completely flat voice.
“And what about you? Don’t you need someone?” His old voice grew quiet. “At least tell me he’s helping you with your sister.”
I opened my mouth to tell him no. Alexei had messed up her first transplant so badly that the delay in a new heart would probably cost Alessia her life, and at the last minute, I changed my mind, and my lips thinned.
What good would it do to tattle to Nikolai? He had enough to worry about. He didn’t need to know that his grandson wasn’t holding up his end of the bargain. Plus, it felt a little absurd to be telling stories on a mob boss like we were on the playground still.
Not much got past the old man, though, and he shook his head. “I see, and what excuse is he giving this time?”
It might have been my imagination, but he sounded like he had been through this before. I looked away quickly, unsure if I should be honest with him or not.
“I will talk to him if he ever decides I am worthy of a visit again.”
I didn’t need to look at him to know he was rolling his eyes. For such an old man, he really did have a childish streak.
“Amy?”
I turned my attention to him at the sound of my name.
“Don’t give up on him, please.”
The pleas in his voice couldn’t be denied. Reaching out, I squeezed his fingers. “I don’t want to, but it feels like he has given up on me, Nikolai. Things are not good,” I admitted.
“It’s nothing that can’t be fixed. Alexei is a stubborn fool, but he needs you. He will realize that before too long, and then you can put all of this behind you.”
He truly believed that, and that was the heartbreaking thing. He so wanted his grandson to be in love with me that it blinded him to everything else that was going on.
“Please, Amy, I know it’s—”
I cut him off. “Violet is pregnant.”
I didn’t mean to blurt it out, but the words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. Our hands fell to the bed by his side, and he loosened his grip.
“You are sure?”
I smiled sadly. At least he didn’t ask me to repeat myself. “Yeah, I’m sure. The staff told me first, but he later admitted to it.”
It was like the old man’s face fell in slow motion. Lifting his hand, he ran his finger through his thinning white hair. “I see. And you think Alexei is the father?”
I didn’t bother to answer that.
“Did he explicitly tell you that he was the father of that strumpet’s child?”
Strumpet? I couldn’t help but laugh. It was short-lived, though.
“He didn’t need to. He didn’t deny it, and he’s spending every second with her.
Even now with my sister—” I shook my head.
“Forget it, I have. No matter what happens between us, I will always make time for you, Nikolai,” I promised.
“You’ve become one of my favorite people in the world. ”
“As you are to me, my brave girl, but please don’t give up on him just yet.”
“I won’t,” I mumbled as a wave of nausea swept over me. “But he won’t want to stay married to me now. We have nothing to gain from the relationship now, and I want you to be ready for the divorce when he files for it.”
“How about love, Amy? Isn’t that a reason to stay in the—hey,” his eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong?”
I doubled over, my head spinning. The lights of the room flashed in a circle around me like I’d had one too many wines at dinner. Cold sweat beaded my brow as I clutched my stomach and—
Fell face down on the carpet.
“Amy, Amy, can you hear me?”
Groggily, I opened my eyes and stared up at the sea of faces that surrounded me.
“What happened?” I asked in a croaky voice. My throat felt so dry that it was hard to swallow.
“You fainted,” one of the staff said. “Fell on your face, and I think you might have busted your nose.”
I touched the blood on my face and grimaced. I’d definitely done something to my nose. I could already feel my eyes swelling.
“Don’t get up yet.” Gently, she pushed me back down on the carpet. “Someone’s gone to get your driver, unless you think you need an ambulance.” Her eyes raked over me.
I pushed her hands away. “I’m fine. I just haven’t been eating properly, and—” trying to push myself up, I swayed and fell back again. My head was spinning.
“Just lie back. Someone needs to get her to the hospital. She looks like she is going to—”
I passed out again.
“Back with us?” Micah asked as he scooped me off the floor and into his arms.
“We can call an ambulance,” one of my old coworkers said, fluttering around me. “It’s obviously something serious.”
“Driving her will be quicker, but one of you should come with us. Just in case.” Micah’s eyes darted down to me—just in case something happened he couldn’t look after me and drive at the same time.
“I’ll come. I’m about to finish my shift anyway.”
I couldn’t see who it was because the edges of my vision were being eaten up by darkness again. I sagged in Micah’s arms, too tired to even lift my head. What was going on with me?
“Amy?”
With difficulty, I turned my head towards the bed and tried to smile at the old man who was staring at me so tenderly. “I’ll be fine. I promise,” I said weakly. “I’ll come back and see you as soon as I can. It’s just something I’ve eaten, that’s all.”
Or maybe something I hadn’t eaten. It wasn’t like I was taking care of myself. There were just too many other people who needed me to take care of them.
“I think there’s something making you sick, Amy. But I don’t think it’s food.”
All eyes turned towards him. Mouths open in shock.
“When was your last period?”
I opened my mouth to speak and froze.
Above me, Micah swore. “Oh shit.”