Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Alexei
I’d heard enough, more than enough, actually.
I didn’t want to believe any of the things coming out of Violet’s mouth, but there could be no denying the gun that was pointing at my wife’s head.
A shot from that distance would scatter her brains out of the back of her head, and all it would take would be one split second.
I moved fast and silently, and Violet didn’t even realize I was there until I had grabbed her. She screamed, not in pain, but in frustration, as I forced the gun away from Amy. It went off, lodging a bullet in the ceiling.
She was fast and strong, though, fueled by rage. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amy throw herself backwards out of the line of fire, and that’s when I put all of my attention on Violet.
Grabbing her wrist, I tried to twist it so she would let go of the weapon, and it went off again.
Finally, I slid her legs from under her and rode her to the stained and sticky carpet, smashing her hand into the floor over and over again until the gun fell from her hands. I swiped it away.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing, you traitorous little bitch.”
Under me, Violet’s eyes widened into perfect circles. “Alexei,” she whispered. Her throat convulsed as she swallowed. “It’s not what you think,” She began to cry, like that would work on me now, like I would ever believe a word she ever said.
“I was doing this for us, for me and you.”
A whimper caught my attention, so quiet that I barely heard it over the commotion of people rushing into the room.
“Alexei.”
My head snapped around, in time for me to watch Amy lift her blood-soaked hands from her even more soaked stomach and then fall back down. Pulling my hand back, I punched Violet with everything I had. Sending her sprawling to the carpet. She moaned but didn’t get up. She just lay there twitching.
Amy didn’t make a sound. She didn’t even twitch.
Scrambling towards her on my hands and knees, I reached for her, but there was nowhere I could touch that didn’t seem to be covered in blood. There was already a puddle of it spreading around her body. Her face was too pale.
“Amy?” Fumbling, I whispered her name. ”Amy, baby, please just open your eyes.”
She didn’t move, her breaths were shallow. I scanned her body quickly. The blood was coming from her stomach. That last shot Violet had gotten off had hit her and our precious child.
“What the hell?”
I didn’t even turn at the strange male voice, gruff from smoking too many cigarettes. If he was my enemy, he would have killed me already.
“She’s been shot.”
“No shit.” An older man fell to his knees next to me. “We need to get her to the hospital. My truck is outside.” He made a move to pick her up.
I shoved him back. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Her boss,” he snapped right back. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Her husband.” I scooped her up. Her blood drenched my sleeve instantly, warm and sticky. “My car will be faster. You drive. I’m not letting anyone touch her.”
For a second, he looked like he was going to argue with me, and then he just nodded, caught the keys I threw at him, and rushed away, but not before I heard him mutter.
“Should have guessed she was running from a man like you. I should have seen the signs. If A dies, then I’ll fucking kill you, asshole.”
Usually, I would have had something to say about that, but words escape me. “If she dies you won’t have to,” I muttered. “I’ll eat a bullet myself.”
Time seemed to stand still as we flew up the highway towards the nearest hospital. And not once in all of that time did I loosen my grip on her. It felt like if I let go for even a second, she would slip away from me, and I would lose her for good.
“Just hold on, my love,” I whispered to her in Russian and English. “Just keep your heart pumping, one breath after another. I’ll fix the rest. You are going to be fine. Both of you. I promise.”
Her breath hitched for a second, catching in her lungs, and I shook her shoulders. “Keep breathing, Amy. That’s a fucking order.”
I didn’t even notice the car had stopped until the back door was ripped open and a doctor in a white coat appeared. “What happened?”
He hadn’t even finished talking before I was screaming at him. “Help her. She’s been shot.”
His eyes fell on her stomach. Something was said that I didn’t catch because all I could hear was the blood rushing through my veins, and then they were pulling Amy from my arms and placing her on a trolley with a team already surrounding her.
“Who are you?” one asked. I rushed after them.
“Her husband.”
“Her name?”
“Amy.” The sterile light of the hospital almost blinded me, but they didn’t slow at all. “Amy Petrovov.”
“And how far along is your wife, Mr. Petrovov?”
I faltered.
“She’s just over six months,” her boss said with a growl.
“Oh, thank you.” They sped up, one rushing ahead.
“You need to stay here,” a nurse caught me around the wrist and tried to drag me back as the trolley holding my wife disappeared through some double doors.
“I am not leaving my wife.”
“They need to take her to surgery. If you want your wife and baby to live, you need to let the doctors do their job.”
“They will be OK, won’t they?”
She stepped out in front of me, and the look of sympathy in her eyes was enough to crush my heart. “We will do everything we can.”
I didn’t know how much time passed. I didn’t move from the seat I had pulled up to face those double doors. Amy’s boss was somewhere behind me, and another waitress had appeared and was waiting next to him. I could feel their hostile eyes on the back of my head.
They blamed me for what was happening to their friend, and that was fine. I blamed myself as well. If something happened to Amy or the baby, I would never forgive myself.
“Alexei.”
My head snapped around, and I glared at Violet. She was flanked on both sides by two of my men, their faces grim. One made a grab at her wrist, and she threw his hand off. “Do not fucking touch me.”
“Sorry, boss,” he mumbled quickly. I wasn’t even sure when any of my men had gotten here. “We tried to stop her from coming in here.”
“Get her out of my sight,” I mumbled, and my attention fell back on the doors. At any second, the doctor was going to come out. He would have a wide smile on his face, and he would congratulate me on becoming a dad.
That was how it was going to happen because I wouldn’t accept any other option, and I was the kind of man who always got what he wanted.
“Alexei,” Falling to her knees, Violet clawed at my trousers, her fingernails digging into the dried blood that coated me. “Alexei, please.”
I stared at the door and ignored the woman begging on her knees. Any second now, that doctor would appear.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her. I just wanted to scare her away.”
Violet’s whining lie made my eyes snap towards her. “You shot my wife.”
She swallowed hard, but her grip on my trousers didn’t loosen. Instead, she wrapped her arms around my legs, pressing her cheek into my knees. “I didn’t mean to. You have to believe me. I was just trying to scare her away so that she would leave us alone.”
She was lying. She didn’t know how much I had heard. Catching a hold of her chin, I drew her up, and a flicker of hope entered her eyes. Even now, she thought she had me.
My fingers dug into her flesh as I drew her face close to mine. “If anything happens to Amy or my child, I will gut you, Violet.” I didn’t even bother to keep my voice quiet. I didn’t care who heard me. The waiting room fell silent.
“If they die, I will gut you and make you eat your own intestines. Is that understood?”
Not waiting for her to answer, I pushed her away from me. She fell on her back with a cry.
“You don’t mean that Alexei.”
I cut her off with a nod to one of my men. “Get her out of my sight. Lock her up until I decide what to do with her.”
They didn’t need telling twice. Grabbing her under the arms, they dragged her away. Violet screamed, begging anyone for help, and no one even looked at her. All eyes were trained on the door behind me. I turned sharply to find the door open and the doctor standing there.
Only he wasn’t smiling.
“Doc.” Climbing to my feet, I went to meet him. “How are they?” I couldn’t even get the words out.
“Come with me, Mr. Petrovov.” He held the door open for me.
I stared at his face. “Just tell me-”
“We need to talk in private, Mr. Petrovov.” He said again, more firmly this time.
There was no sign of a smile on his face.
My hope shattered.
Silently, I followed after him. Down the long, sterile corridor until we came to a door. It was only then that he turned to me. “I want to prepare you for what you are going to see. It can be overwhelming.”
Opening the door, he moved around the other incubators to one at the far end of the room. Peering around his shoulder, I stared at the tiny creature inside. The skin I could see was blotchy red and pink. Tubes and tape covered the tiny face.
Machines surrounded everything. A nurse worked diligently on the other side. She glanced at me with a small smile before going about her work.
“He’s a fighter.”
He? I learned closer. “Mine?” I couldn’t help but whisper. This tiny human fighting for its life was mine?
“Yes, Mr. Petrovov. Your son.”
“But?” Wildly, I looked around. “But she said we were having a girl. Where is Amy? Is she going to be alright? Can I hold him?” The words were jumbled and made little sense.
At my side, the doctor patted my arm. “Not yet, Mr. Petrovov. He’s very early.
He’s going to need a lot of help, but you can stay with him for as long as you want to. ”
“I have a son.” I let out a sigh of relief. I stared at his face, at the tiny fists he had clenched. I had a son, and I thought my heart was going to explode with the love I felt for him.
“And Amy?” I whispered. She would want to be here as well. Even if she had been wrong about the gender, she would love this little fighter with her whole being because that’s just the kind of woman she was. “Can you bring her down, or should I go down?”
Their silence was deafening. I glanced between the two of them. “Where is my wife?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Petrovov.”
“No.” I almost screamed out. I shook my head violently. I took a menacing step towards the doctor, “No.”
If I had to beat the man until he brought her back to life, that’s what I would do, but I would not have my wife snatched away from me. Again. Not now and not ever.
“You misunderstand me,” he said quickly. “Amy is alive. She lost a lot of blood, and there was a head wound we didn’t see straight away. A skull fracture. Her brain is swelling.”
Amy was alive, and that was all that mattered. I let out a sigh of relief. “So she’s sleeping? Resting? When will she wake up?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Mr. Petrovov. You have to prepare yourself.” He sucked in a breath. “Amy may never wake up.”