Braxton #3
When I head back upstairs, I pass Dr. Lasher’s open office door.
“Anything?” she asks from behind her desk.
I shake my head. “No.”
“Okay. I’m about to head back down.”
I nod and walk into the kitchen, throwing the plates in the trash when my phone rings.
“Hey, Oz,” I answer.
“How’s Vanessa?” he asks.
“The doc took her off sedation a couple of hours ago, but she hasn’t woken up yet. But she’s doing great. No infection, and the doctor likes how the stitches look. Now it’s just a waiting game.”
“Good, good.”
“How are things at Nik’s?”
“Quiet,” Ozzy answers. “We’re waiting for you before I set Jude loose on those bastards.”
Apparently Nik has a couple holding cells that his father had built in an outbuilding. They’ve been keeping Sokolov and Russ under lock and key.
“I appreciate that,” I say.
“Figured you’d want to be there when that asshole takes his last breath.”
My hand grips the phone tightly. “That I fucking do.”
“Alright, brother. Let me know when she wakes up.”
“Will do.”
Ozzy disconnects the call, and I head back down to Vanessa’s room. I hear Irina crying and open the door.
“Thank God. Oh, thank God,” Irina says with tears falling down her cheeks as I see the most beautiful, heart-stopping thing in the entire world. Vanessa’s blue eyes.
“Hey,” she croaks out, and I’m at her side in the span of a breath.
“Hey, yourself,” I say and Vanessa smiles up at me from her hospital bed. “You in any pain?”
She shakes her head slightly. “I’m on the good stuff. My mom says we’re at a doctor’s house?”
“Yeah. Liam has connections all over the world apparently—even in bumfuck nowhere.”
“Lucky for me,” she says in a hoarse whisper.
“I’m going to go get her,” I say. “She wanted to know when you woke up.”
Vanessa nods and tries to sit up.
“Absolutely not.” I put a hand on her arm to stop her. “Don’t move until the doctor’s here.”
Vanessa rolls her eyes, and I desperately want to kiss the sass out of her. “Fine.”
I shoot Irina and Noel a smile and jog up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
“Vanessa’s awake,” I say when I reach Dr. Lasher’s office.
“Great,” she replies with a smile. “I’ll be right there.”
I head back downstairs, and before I get to her room, I hear Irina talking.
“When you get out of here, we’re leaving New York.
I don’t care where we go. I’ll get a job and we’ll get a house, and we can sit on the beach like we talked about and not worry about any of this ever again.
No more hot summers with no air-conditioning or broken dishwashers.
We can find that beach town, sweetheart.
Nothing is stopping us. How does that sound? ”
“That sounds great, Mom.”
“Anywhere far from here, honey.”
“I see you’re awake,” Dr. Lasher says, opening the door I was standing behind and passing me to get inside the room.
“Hi,” Vanessa says.
“I’m Dr. Lasher. You were brought here two days ago with a gunshot wound.”
The doctor explains everything that happened from the time Vanessa was brought in until now, going over the injuries and recovery protocols. But all I hear is Vanessa agreeing with her mom that they can go anywhere now. And it doesn’t sound like Shine or me are part of that plan.
“Do you have any questions for me?” the doctor asks Vanessa.
“So I should be able to leave in a few days?”
“Yes, like I said, barring any complications, there’s no reason you can’t recover at home.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Vanessa says.
“Please call me Maggie.”
Vanessa smiles before Dr. Lasher leaves the room.
I walk over to Vanessa and bend, kissing the top of her head.
“I have to go take care of some things, baby.”
Vanessa looks at me with confusion. “What? Now?”
“Yeah.” No, but I can’t sit here knowing that Vanessa is probably going to live a life away from me as soon as she’s cleared. “Take some time with your mom and sister and get some rest. You’re still recovering from a gunshot wound. I’ll call you later.”
“O-okay,” she says, and it breaks my heart because I want to stay so damn bad.
I want to hold her and never let her go.
But if she wants to leave all this behind, she needs the space to make that decision.
She has enough on her plate without me demanding answers, and I don’t know if I can hold myself back from begging her to stay.
I press a kiss to her lips. It’s brief, and I’d be lying if I didn’t feel myself choking up thinking that it may be our last one.
Smiling down at her, then at Irina and Noel, I walk out of the room and up the stairs to the back door. When I get outside, I take my phone from my pocket and press Ozzy’s name in my contacts.
“Didn’t think I’d hear from you so soon. Everything okay?” Ozzy asks.
“She’s awake.”
He blows out a harsh breath. “Thank fuck.”
“I’m headed to Petrov’s. It’s time to end this shit once and for all.”
“It can wait, Braxton. They aren’t going anywhere.”
“Maybe not, but it’s time to put those assholes to ground.”
“Alright. We’re on our way,” Ozzy says, and I disconnect the call.
If Vanessa wants to leave this life, I’m going to make damn sure none of it follows her.