51. Lev
Igor is talking to the two guards I have positioned outside Brooke’s hospital room when I step into the corridor. He also has Victor with him, an ex-military bodyguard who I have training with him to be Brooke’s personal driver.
“No one goes in there unless they’re a doctor or nurse. Even then, you need to check their identification, got it?” I tell the guards.
They nod, their faces serious, their shoulders stiff. They know their lives won’t mean shit if they let anything happen to Brooke.
“Yes, Pakhan,” they both say.
I nod curtly and walk away.
“How is Brooke?” Igor falls into step behind me, Victor behind him.
Igor has never asked me anything to do with anyone in all the years he’s worked as my driver. But it shouldn’t surprise me that he would ask about Brooke. She has a way of affecting everyone she meets, and it’s clear the silent giant is no different.
“She’s going to be okay,” I say. “She’ll come home tomorrow.”
I don’t tell him about the baby. For now, it’s a secret between Brooke and me, and I want to keep it that way until we figure out a way to navigate through the chaos.
Although, I can already see Igor carrying our little one to the car and tucking them into a car seat. Or enduring them climbing all over him because he’s seven feet tall, and they think of him as their very own tree to climb. He’s not one for showing emotion, but I know the moment he learns about the baby, he will be ready to die for it.
“Where are we going, Pakhan?” Igor asks.
“Take me Daniil’s restaurant. I’m going to call a meeting.” Again, images of Vlad hurting Brooke make me see red, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It’s time to answer his battle cry.
I hate leaving her, but I have a big fucking retaliation to plan, and I need to make my move before that pizda sees it coming. He’ll be expecting a response of some kind. It’s why he did it. He wanted to let me know that he’s not afraid of me. That was his first mistake. If he knew the darkness I am capable of, then he would be very afraid.
He also underestimated my feelings for Brooke. That was mistake number two.
And three, he thinks he isn’t going anywhere, but he’s wrong. I’m going to hunt him down and send him straight to hell.
Outside, it’s a perfectly clear night, lit by a bright moon, and despite the fatigue in my muscles from a lack of sleep and a weariness in my bones from the weight of my bratva duties, I feel alert and ready for battle.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I stop walking to answer it.
“We’ll wait for you in the car,” Igor says, throwing Victor the keys.
I nod and look at the name lighting up my phone. Brooke. A smile breaks across my lips.
“Miss me already?” I say, looking up at her window, and when I see her standing there, I add, “You should be in bed resting.”
“I want to come home,” she says quietly. “I want to feel you beside me when I fall asleep.”
I want that, too, zayka.
She has no idea how much.
“I’ll make the arrangements for you to come home tomorrow,” I say. “But tonight, you’re safe here.”
“You promise?”
As well as the two men posted outside her hospital room door, I have another two in the foyer and two patrolling the perimeter of the hospital. And once I’ve finished rolling the dice on Vlad’s demise, I will be back here myself to sit with her until she is discharged. Sleep be damned.
I start walking toward the car in the parking lot.
“Lev?”
I pause again to look up at her. “Yes, zayka?”
“Goodnight.”
I smile into the phone. “Goodnight, my love.”
Boom.
The explosion rips into the night and knocks me off my feet, sending me backward into the flowerbeds. Only yards away, the Phantom is blown apart by a fiery eruption, and parts of it rain down from above. Flames bellow into the sky and then quickly drop back to the ground.
I struggle to get up but am rocked backward by a lightning bolt of pain shooting through my skull. A loud ringing in my ears muffles the noise of the outside world, and the metallic tang of blood invades my mouth.
Lying on my back and unable to move, I look up toward Brooke’s window and can see her there. Her face is twisted in fear and panic as she bangs on the glass, calling for me.
My love.
They’re coming for her. But I can’t get to her. The ringing in my ears grows louder. My body feels heavy, like wet concrete.
And my world goes black.
Brooke amp; Lev’s story continues in book two of the Zarkov Bratva duet, Midnight Poison.