Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Leah
They dropped me off about half a mile from the gates and left me there, almost like that, now that he knew I wouldn’t help him, Boris had no more use for me.
I was actually pretty amazed that he hadn’t killed me. He must know that I was going to tell Viktor everything.
My husband might be a grade A asshole, but he needed to know that his own father was scheming against him. I owed him that much, even if he was a cheating bastard.
“Leah.”
Stumbling forward, I fell onto my hands and knees in the thick snow and blinked through the blizzard. I was pretty sure I could see the gates, but I couldn’t be sure.
Panting, I forced myself upwards. I was exhausted, and the cold was really getting to me now. But I refused to die here, in sight of my home after everything I had been through. I refused to let my baby die.
The sound of booted feet crunching through the snow at full speed met my ears, and I forced myself to my feet .
I didn’t understand it. Why was I suddenly so weak? I’d been fine in the car. Scared, yes, but warming up. So this sudden lack of strength didn’t make sense to me.
“Printsessa.” Strong arms swung me upwards and into his arms. Cradling me. “Where have you been, Leah?”
Viktor’s hand pressed my cheek into his chest. I could hear his heart thrumming away against my face, and it was beating too quickly.
“Leah?” More footsteps in the snow, and someone tried to pull back the blanket that was still wrapped around my shoulders. Feebly, I slapped the hand away.
“Leave her alone,” Viktor growled.
“I need to check her over.” A new, unfamiliar voice said. “Don’t you pay me to make sure she is fit and healthy?”
I sighed. A doctor. The newcomer was a doctor. Another one, because the one I had seen after being discharged from the hospital had been female. Just how many people were on Viktor’s payroll?
“And you can check her out when she is inside, where it’s warm,” Viktor hissed. “She’s frozen, her feet—” he trailed off. “Jesus, her feet.”
I blinked up through my snow-encrusted lashes to stare at his profile. Viktor was afraid.
“Let’s get her inside, and we can make sure things are ok. Let’s not panic yet, hey?” He gave a laugh that was meant to be reassuring, but it just made Viktor’s heart speed up even more.
“How are you feeling?”
It took me a while to realize he was talking to me. “I’m fine. Tired and cold.” I darted my eyes up to my husband. “Furious and humiliated,” I added under my breath.
The doctor laughed. “Your wife is angry with you, Viktor. I’m going to say that is a good sign.”
Viktor mumbled something, and then we were back in the car, speeding towards the house. I didn’t open my eyes again until Viktor settled me on one of the sofas.
Glancing around, I frowned. The tree was still there, but the lights didn’t seem so festive. The food and all the presents had been cleaned up.
The TV we had spent the day watching was dark.
Everything was the same but completely different. Much like my life.
“Can I look at your feet and hands, Leah?”
Settling back, I closed my eyes again. Lifting one foot for him to study.
“Does this hurt?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “They are completely numb. They hurt earlier, though. From walking on stones. I think there might be some cuts that have gotten dirty.”
The doctor’s fingers probed across my soles. “I think you are right. We will clean them and get them warm. I don’t think there’s any permanent damage, but it was close.”
“I can clean them—” yawning, I struggled to sit forward, and Viktor’s hands came down heavily on my shoulders and forced me back down. “I really need to shower and change my wet clothes.”
The doctor’s eyes flashed, Viktor’s fingers flexed into my aching muscles and locked me to the couch cushions.
“Why do that when we are all here to look after you?”
I shrugged. “I’m used to looking after myself. I don’t see any reason that needs to change.”
Viktor’s fingers gripped my shoulders.
“You can go.”
I tried to move, and he locked me in place. Clearly, he wasn’t talking to me, and that suited me just fine. I was too tired to move. I wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep right where I sat.
What had started out as a perfect day had gone to proverbial shit.
“Viktor?”
“Unless.” Coming around the sofa, Viktor glared at him. “You are telling me she needs medical care, then I would like to talk to my wife alone. Come back and check her over tomorrow.”
“Leah? ”
My eyes snapped open. It was the way the doctor was asking my permission to leave, almost like he was scared for my safety.
“I’m fine.” I smiled weakly.
“And I wasn’t asking you to leave Dr Matthews. I was telling you. Your services aren’t needed tonight. Go back to your family.”
The doctor shuffled out. Viktor remained where he was. Staring down at me. I hated the way he was looking at me. I was too tired to deal with it.
I closed my eyes again.
“Leah?” Viktor mumbled my name, and I didn’t move. I had come back, but now that I was here, I wasn’t sure I had anything to say. Not tonight anyway.
“Printsessa,” he tried again. “I’m going to get you some clean blankets and some clean water for your feet. Don’t move, ok? Don’t you dare go anywhere.”
I tightened the blanket around me. “I don’t plan on going anywhere,” I murmured truthfully.
The next thing I knew, Viktor was tugging the soaked and stained PJ bottoms down my legs. I kicked out, the bottom of my foot landing on his chest and pushing him away.
Pain lanced up through my sole to spiral through my calf, and I howled in pain.
“Get off me.” Sitting upright I grabbed at my foot and scowled at him. “Don’t touch me. That,” I stressed the word, “is not happening.”
Towering over me, Viktor glared down at me. “That wasn’t why I was stripping them off, Leah. In fact, it’s that last thing on my mind. But your clothes are freezing, and I need to get them off of you before you catch your death.”
“I’m fine.” Of course, it wasn’t what he was after. He was probably spent from his time with his mistress.
Crouching down on his haunches, he went to take my hands, and I hid them under me. Viktor sighed. “You aren’t fine, Leah, and I’m to blame for that. So let me look after you, ok?”
“I can take care of myself.”
For a second, he looked like he might argue that fact, and then he thought better of it and puffed out a breath. “I know you can, Leah, but I would like that job as well.”
I stared at him. He actually looked and sounded sincere.
“Fine, but I’ll go and get changed. I don’t need help doing that.”
Except, I did because when I stood, the pain in my feet was unbearable, and I fell back with a cry. Tears sprang up in my eyes. Damn it.
“Let me help you, Leah,” he said again softly. “I can either carry you upstairs and help you change or—”
I cut him off. “No, thank you.”
The idea of him having me in his arms was sickening. Mostly because I knew I wouldn’t be able to help myself from snuggling into his chest. He was always so warm and hard and dependable, in a cold, hard, controlling way. The thought made me snort.
“Then take this,” he yanked the thick shirt from his back, and then, kneeling, reached for the buttons of my own PJ shirt.
His fingers worked the buttons expertly. The tips brushed against the swell of my breasts, and my nipples tightened even more. This time, it had nothing to do with how cold I was and everything to do with his skin on mine. My body was a traitor.
I slapped his hand away. “Don’t touch me, Viktor.” Shrugging off the top, I slipped his shirt over my head before I rigged the bottoms down and left them at my feet. And not once did I let him see more of my body than was absolutely necessary.
Viktor sighed again. “Am I allowed to touch your feet?”
“Sure,” I shrugged. “If it gets me clean and I can sleep, then go ahead.”
A bowl of steaming water was dragged toward us as he settled my feet in his lap. “This might hurt, Leah.” He warned me before plunging my feet into the water .
Gritting my teeth, I hissed through the pain. “It’s fine.” I ground out. “Today has been full of pain. This is nothing.”
The cloth in Viktor’s hands froze, dripping water everywhere. His eyes searched my face. “What did my father do to you?”
“Nothing, why?” I sucked in a breath. That’s why he was looking at me like he was. He thought his father had attacked me. “He didn’t touch me, he just wanted to talk.”
“Talk?” Viktor washed my feet gently, but he didn’t sound like he believed me. “Talk to you about what?”
“Wait, how did you know I had been with your dad?”
He motioned to the blanket that had fallen and was not bunched around my waist.
“That’s the picnic blanket he keeps in his car. I recognized it straight away.” Viktor’s face tightened in anger. “Although he doesn’t usually use it for picnics.”
“Well, nothing like that happened.” I spat. How dare he look at me like I had done something wrong? I wasn’t the one who had broken our vows. He was.
“Then why did he want to see you? And how was he just there at the opportune time?”
“I have no idea how he was there. He said he was coming to see us, which I don’t believe for a second. As for what he wanted to talk about.” I met his eyes. “Isn’t it obvious? He wanted to talk about you.”
Viktor’s eyes narrowed. “What exactly about me?”
“Well, first he wanted to tell me that Manda was a better fit for you.”
He stiffened.
“And I think we can all agree that she is.”
“Leah.” The hands on my feet tightened for a second before sliding up to my ankle and staying there.
“And then he offered me money to spy on you.”
Viktor froze. His chest rose and fell as he digested the news. Reaching for a clean white towel, he began to dry my feet off, his whole attention on making sure my feet were ok .
“And what did you tell him?” He said it almost casually, but there was nothing casual about it. Not really.
“I told him I didn’t need his money. That our marriage was rock solid.”
The corners of Viktor’s lips tugged up. “Is it rock solid?”