Chapter 8
Alexei
As Alina buries her face in the crook of my neck and loops her arms around my waist, I reflexively squeeze her against me in a fierce, joyous hug.
Immediately, I loosen my embrace. For all I know, she could be hurt, injured.
I need to let go of her so I can examine her, but she’s crying and shaking, uneven sobs wracking her slim frame as she clings to me, and I can’t make myself pull away because I’m fucking trembling myself.
What the fuck did I just walk in on?
Why is there so much blood on her hands and dress?
Who is the dead man on the floor?
If he hurt my Alinyonok in any way, I’ll fucking kill him all over again. Him and—
“Is she okay? Give her to me.”
Fuck. Valery. I’ve forgotten all about him and Ruslan.
Alina doesn’t seem to have registered his presence yet, so I turn with her in my arms, keeping her back to Valery, and mouth to Ruslan, “Get rid of him.”
My brother nods and steps in front of Valery. “Let’s give them space.” His tone makes it clear it’s not a suggestion.
Valery ignores it regardless. His voice is pure ice as he demands, “That is my fucking sister. Move aside. Now.”
Alina lifts her head off my shoulder and wedges her hands between us, pushing with all her might. Reluctantly, I let her turn around, though I keep one arm locked around her ribcage.
“Valery?” She sounds incredulous. “What are you…” Her gaze shifts between Ruslan and her brother before she glances up at me with a confused expression.
“Are you okay?” I ask, ignoring the unspoken question on her face.
“Did that fucker hurt you?” I drop my arm and turn her to face me so I can finally examine her.
Gently, I run my hands over her, looking for any injuries that might not have been apparent at first glance.
All I find is a deep gash across her right palm.
It’s still bleeding and will likely need at least a dozen stitches.
“We have to get you to a doctor,” I say as I rip at the hem of my shirt. “For now, close your fist around this and hold tight.” I tie the strip of material around her palm and close her fingers for good measure.
She blinks up at me, her jade eyes swimming with fresh tears. “Alexei…” Her voice shakes. “I killed him.”
“I figured as much.” I meet Valery’s coldly furious gaze across Ruslan’s shoulder. “You hear that, Molotov? You might want to tell your forensic team to hurry up and get here ASAP—unless you want me to call in my guys.”
Valery’s mouth flattens. “My people will take care of it. Now give me my sister. Alina, step away from him.”
Not a fat chance in hell. I grip her arm and pull her against me as she turns to look at her brother. “She’s not going anywhere.”
Valery makes what seems like the smallest movement, yet suddenly, there’s a gun in his outstretched hand, pointing straight at Ruslan.
I clench my teeth, equal parts pissed and reluctantly impressed.
He’s fast with a weapon. Maybe as fast as I am. Also, so much for frisking him and his brother at my penthouse. Like me, he’s been armed all along and hiding it.
“Step away from her,” he repeats grimly, and I make a show of letting go of Alina so I can ostensibly get my weapon—but really to provide a distraction for my brother.
The ploy works. With Valery’s attention on me for a split second, Ruslan yanks out his knife and sends it flying at Valery’s face.
Once again, the fucker moves fast, ducking to the side so the blade just grazes his cheekbone.
“Stop!”
Alina’s high-pitched yell freezes me in my tracks. It has the same effect on Valery, though not Ruslan, who uses this new distraction to pull out his gun and aim it at Valery’s head.
I grab Alina and pull her behind me in case bullets start flying.
“Stop this madness!” she yells again, trying to push me aside. “Valery, back off!”
I don’t budge an inch, continuing to shield her even as her brother reluctantly lowers his weapon. He’s realized he’s unlikely to win this fight now, at least not without putting his sister in grave danger.
“That’s right, Molotov, back off,” I say, unable to stop myself from rubbing it in. “Get the fuck out of here and call Konstantin, update him on our lucky find. In the meantime, I’ll take my wife”—I emphasize the word—“back to the clinic.”
What I really want is for both of Alina’s brothers to get on a plane back to Moscow, but that’s unlikely to happen.
They’ll want to be here for Alina’s surgery—and for the chance to steal her from me.
But they won’t be able to do that, not as long as I’m prepared.
That’s why I notified them of Alina’s diagnosis while we were on the way to the clinic: because I knew they’d be coming for us as soon as we left the yacht, and it was better that they understood the situation before they did something to get in the way of Alina’s treatment.
Also, if it were my sister, I’d want to know.
“Yes, go, Valery,” Alina says from behind me, her voice a tad calmer. “Please.”
Her brother stares at me for a long, tense moment, then pockets his gun. “All right. I will see you soon.”
It’s as much a threat to me as it is a promise to her.
“Yes, you will,” I say coolly. “As long as you and Konstantin behave.”
He turns and leaves. Ruslan walks out after him, leaving us alone with the dead body.
I need to know what happened, but first, I need to get Alina out of here, far away from all the blood and death.
Her face is a pale shade of green as she turns to stare at the corpse, so I don’t waste time asking her any questions.
Unceremoniously, I pick her up and carry her out of the room and down the stairs to the hostel lobby, and then out to the alley, where I message our men to come and get us in a car.
I can’t have anyone see us while she’s in this state, not with the fresh body we’ve left behind.
“Wait,” Alina says shakily as the car I ordered pulls up to the alley’s entrance. “Birgit. I have to tell her…”
Fuck. I stop and carefully lower Alina to her feet. “Who’s Birgit?”
If there was a witness—
“Just a girl,” Alina says, and her lower lip wobbles as she stares up at me. “She helped me when I was feeling sick.”
“Was she there?” I ask softly.
Alina’s answering stare is blank. She must still be in shock.
I soften my tone further, speaking as if to a small child. “When the bad man died, was she there?”
Comprehension flares in her gaze, followed by fear.
“No! No, she was nowhere near. I just want to let her know that I’m leaving; otherwise, she’ll worry and wonder.
Alexei…” She grabs my hand with both of hers and squeezes with surprising strength.
Her jade eyes are dark in her pale face.
“Don’t hurt her. Promise me you won’t hurt her. ”
I sigh. “Alinyonok…”
“Promise me!”
How evil does she think I am? “I won’t hurt her.”
Not unless I find out she hurt Alina or was somehow responsible for the dead man being in her room. But I keep those qualifiers to myself.
Alina relaxes a tiny bit and releases my hand. “Okay. Let me go leave her a note then.”
She moves to walk around me, but I step to the side to block her way. She’s clearly not thinking straight.
“That’s not a good idea,” I say as gently as I can.
Her eyes narrow, then widen. “Oh. Of course. I just—”
“I’m sure your brother’s team will do a good job of cleaning up the scene, but it’s still best if there are no traces of your presence there,” I say, pulling her into my embrace as she begins to visibly shake again.
Softly, I add into her hair, “You can contact Birgit later, once everything settles down.” Or preferably, never.
Either way, I’ll need to do a deep dive on this Birgit’s background, just in case.
Keeping Alina pressed against me, I guide her into the back seat of the car, where I pull her onto my lap and let her bury her face in my shoulder while I stroke her hair, feeling her trembling slowly subside.
I have a million questions, but I allow myself to ask only one. “Was there anyone else besides Birgit who helped you or stayed with you?” I keep my tone light and conversational, as if it doesn’t matter.
“No.” Alina’s answer is swift as she raises her head. Her face is wet with tears, but her gaze is clear and direct. And more than a little fearful. “Alexei, there was no one else. And definitely no witnesses to…” She swallows audibly. “To what I did.”
She seems more with it now, less shock-y, so I decide to risk a couple more questions. “Who was he?” I ask carefully. “What was he doing there?”
The sooner I learn what happened, the better our odds of covering up the scene.
She swallows again, her slim throat working as she moves off me to sit on the seat.
“I don’t know for sure, but I think he might be—” Her voice breaks.
“That is, might’ve been the hostel owner’s son.
I’d never seen him before, but I’d heard his voice downstairs a few times.
Birgit said he doesn’t bother the girls usually, not unless they flirt with him, but—”
“He decided to bother you.” It takes all my self-control to keep my voice steady as white-hot rage scorches my chest. I’d suspected something like that to be the case, but to hear her confirm it… “Did he hurt you?” Despite my best efforts, my voice tightens. “Alinyonok, if he—”
“No. He didn’t even lay a finger on me.” Her eyes take on a haunted look. “I killed him before he could do anything. He was in the room when I woke up, and then he started saying some pervy shit. Pavel’s training kicked in, and I just… acted. I didn’t even try to scare him off, or talk to him, or—”
Thank fuck for Pavel. “You did the right thing. That motherfucker was more than double your size. If he’d gotten his hands on you, you wouldn’t have been able to fight him off, and you knew that.”
“Did I?” Her tone is hollow. “I could’ve just wounded him. Or tried to get past him and—”
I press my index finger to her lips, stopping her words. “Alinyonok…” My tone is as gentle as I can make it. “Even if you’d left him alive, do you honestly think he would’ve lived for long?”
She sucks in an audible breath. She must not have considered it until now, the fact that the moment her attacker appeared in her room, he was a dead man. If she hadn’t killed him, I would have—and my method wouldn’t have been nearly as quick and merciful. Especially if he’d hurt her.
Fuck, if he had hurt her… My chest tightens agonizingly.
I should’ve been there. I should’ve protected her.
No, what the fuck am I saying? She should’ve never been in that situation in the first place. From now on, she’s going to be no farther than an arm’s length from me at all times, even if I have to literally chain her to me.
The car comes to a stop, and I realize we’re already in front of the clinic. “We’re here,” I say unnecessarily as Alina turns around to look out the window.
Swiftly, I exit on my side, then go around to open the door for Alina and help her out.
Her hand is cold and clammy in mine as she climbs out of the car, and she still seems shaky on her feet, so I sweep her up into a bridal carry and bring her inside, ignoring her protests that she can walk on her own.
Even if she were at a hundred percent, I’d want to carry her. After the hell of the past two days, holding her and feeling her warm body pressed against me is the only way I can reassure myself that she’s really here, that I’m not dreaming this in an exhausted stupor.
My men already gave the clinic a heads up that we were coming, so despite the late hour, a young male nurse is there to greet us.
“The doctors are on their way,” he informs us before directing me to take Alina into one of the examination rooms.
“Wait,” Alina says as I carefully set her on the table in a sitting position. “I need the bathroom.”
“There’s one right here,” the nurse says helpfully, pointing to the other door in the room. “You go ahead, and I’ll be right back.”
He hurries out of the room, and Alina hops off the table, all but running to the bathroom. She’s about to close the door when I catch the handle and walk in after her, then shut the door behind me.
She turns with a startled expression. “Alexei? What the hell?”
I fold my arms over my chest and lean my back against the door. “Go ahead. Do what you have to do.”
If she thinks I’m going to fall for the same trick twice, she’s very much mistaken. Not that this bathroom even has a window, but still.
I wasn’t joking about arm’s length.
Some of the pallor leaves her face as a flush creeps up her neck, turning her porcelain skin blotchy in parts. “Are you insane? I’m not doing ‘what I have to do’ in front of you.”
“Why not? We’re married, and I’m not squeamish.”
She snorts and crosses her arms over her chest, mimicking my stance. “Well, I am. I’m not doing anything if you’re here.”
We stare at each other, neither willing to compromise, until a strange expression crosses her face. She swallows, and I see all the color leach from her skin.
My heart rate spikes, and I push away from the door, instinctively reaching for her. “What is it?” I grip her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
She twists out of my hold. Her voice is thick, her face back to its greenish tint. “Can you at least turn around?”
Fuck. “Okay.” I reluctantly step back and turn around, facing the door. “Just let me know if you need help, okay?”
I expect to hear retching sounds, but there’s only the quiet rustle of a skirt being lifted. And then…
“Alexei.”
I’m already turning around, reaching for her as she sways on her feet, her eyes brimming with tears as the skirt of her dress falls into place.
“I’m bleeding,” she whispers, staring up at me. “Alexei, the baby… I’m fucking bleeding.”