Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
“That’s the Nikolai Volkov you told me about?
” Fawn stood beside Declan, staring at the tall and handsome blond-haired, gray-eyed man, possibly aged in his midforties, who was currently standing in the hospital corridor with them, charming the hell out of the same nurse who, minutes ago, had been so overwhelmed by Declan’s Irish charm.
It seemed by the mere fact that Nikolai Volkov had managed to get this far that Russian charm could be equally as lethal, if not more so, than Irish.
It certainly wasn’t because Nikolai was more attractive than Declan—Fawn doubted anyone ever could be—but the other man effortlessly exuded an aura of authority that was as compelling as his harsh good looks.
Fawn would take a guess at this being the innate power this man had acquired and yielded as second to the head of the London bratva.
Which was why Fawn had absolutely no idea what the hell he was doing here.
Linus was here too, silently watching everyone with an amused smile curving his lips.
“Yes, that’s Nikolai,” Declan now confirmed dryly.
“But what’s he doing here?” she demanded.
Declan glanced at the tall man in a bespoke suit, currently talking to and examining River in the cubicle behind them.
The same doctor Nikolai Volkov had brought with him and who had asked them all to step outside in the hallway while he examined the patient.
At least he had left the curtain open so that Fawn could still see her brother, even if she couldn’t hear their conversation.
Declan shrugged. “Knowing Nikolai, he’s brought this doctor here so he could give a second opinion on River’s condition.”
Her brow lowered. “Did you ask him to do that?” Without asking her. Without checking whether or not they could pay for a consultation from a man whose suit alone looked as if it cost more than the yearly rent on their very small two-bedroom apartment.
Declan gave a humorless smile. “No one ever asks Nikolai to do anything. The man always does exactly whatever the hell he pleases.”
“But—”
“If you wish to ask me questions about this situation, Miss Meadows, then I suggest you direct them to me.” Nikolai Volkov, obviously having finished charming the nurse, now stood beside them, blond brows raised in challenge.
The steel in his eyes said, as Declan had already implied was the case, that the Russian didn’t like having his movements or motives questioned.
“But first, let me formally introduce myself,” the Russian continued in a much pleasanter voice. “I am Nikolai Volkov, and you are Fawn Meadows, the nurse responsible for Declan’s continued good health.”
Fawn was sure there was an introduction in there somewhere; she just hadn’t heard it. “Mr. Volkov,” she returned cautiously.
The smile he gave her resembled that of a predator about to pounce on its prey. “You may call me Nikolai.”
“Fawn,” she returned distractedly, her gaze and most of her attention still fixed on River as he and the man in a suit talked quietly together. “Who is he?”
“His name is Mark Reynolds— Ah, I see you have heard of him,” the Russian purred with obvious pleasure.
Of course, Fawn had heard of him!
But she had no idea what a specialist and surgeon of Mark Reynolds’s caliber was doing talking to and examining her brother. A surgeon whom she knew only took private patients. Which meant she and River couldn’t afford him.
“Mr. Reynolds is here as my guest,” Nikolai drawled, no doubt having seen the dismay in her expression. “It is the least I can do when your brother was hurt while under my protection.”
Declan cleared his throat. “I believe River was under my protection.”
Nikolai looked at him from between narrowed lids. “I did not take your warning about the Koslov situation seriously enough. And, under the circumstances, you might not want to so readily take responsibility.” He gave Fawn a pointed glance.
“He was still under my watch,” Declan rumbled.
“But the previous situation should have been dealt with by me,” Nikolai insisted. “I should also have reacted sooner after you told me that Koslov’s brother was in the country.”
“River fell. He wasn’t attacked,” Fawn pointed out before the two men could continue their redundant argument. A pissing contest was what her amused mother would have called it. Fawn wasn’t in the least amused.
Cool gray eyes turned toward her. “And you would have been at home to witness and respond to that fall much earlier if you had not been taking care of Declan after he was shot by one of my countrymen.”
Fawn gave a snort. “I really don’t think you can be held responsible for the actions of all Russian men.”
“In this case, I can, and I will,” Nikolai rasped.
Fawn could see by the implacability of the Russian’s expression that there was absolutely no point in arguing further.
“That still doesn’t explain why you brought Mark Reynolds here and asked him to examine and talk to my brother.
Even if he were to agree to take River on as a patient, we don’t have a donor or the money to pay for the procedure if we did. ”
“What procedure?” Declan prompted with a frown.
Fawn gave a defeated sigh, knowing that her private life and River’s were now a thing of the past. “River has had progressive kidney disease for the past three years. For the last year of that time, he’s been having dialysis three times a week.
His kidney function is low, and he’s desperately in need of a kidney transplant. ”
Declan glanced at the battered and bruised young man lying in the hospital bed. Inwardly, he cringed at all the derogatory things he had said and thought about River being a lazy little shit by allowing his not-much-older sister to be the family breadwinner.
And all the time, River, who was only twenty, had been sick with a chronic illness that could end up killing him if he didn’t receive a new kidney.
“I’ll leave the two of you alone for a few minutes to talk,” Nikolai murmured.
Declan waited only long enough for the other man to leave before turning back to Fawn. “You should have told me your brother is ill.”
She looked at him coolly. “Why should I?”
“Because—”
“None of this is any of your business,” she told him through clenched teeth. “Nothing about my life, or River’s, is any of your business.”
“If I haven’t made it clear before now, you , and as a consequence River, are now very much my business.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“Do I?”
The wariness in her gaze told Declan that she definitely did. “We don’t have time to talk about that now. Without a kidney transplant, River will die.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” she exploded, drawing the attention of everyone standing in the hallway, as well as a concerned River and the doctor.
“It’s fine,” she reassured her brother with a tight smile and a dismissive wave of her hand.
“It’s all fine,” she said again to the rest of their group waiting in the corridor, Nikolai among them.
She turned slightly away so that now only Declan could hear her as she hissed, “I know exactly how precarious my brother’s health is, thank you very much.
I certainly don’t need you to point out the obvious to me. ”
“I was only?—”
“I’m well aware of what you were only .” Her eyes flashed a dark amber as she continued to glare at Declan.
“But we’ve lived with this situation for the past three years, ever since River was first diagnosed.
He’s on the list for a transplant, and we’re waiting for a suitable donor.
But in the meantime, we’ve been saving every penny we can so that we can purchase a dialysis machine to keep in our apartment.
Either I or another nurse when I’m at work could carry out the dialysis.
That way, at least River wouldn’t have to keep going through the trauma of having to go to the hospital three afternoons a week. ”
Which was why, Declan realized, the extra money Fawn was earning from looking after him was so important to her.
A nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw. “What happened to him today?”
“He says he just felt dizzy when he stood up after breakfast, that everything went black, and the next thing he knew, Danny was breaking in and insisted on bringing him to the hospital.” She grimaced.
“As I hadn’t told River the patient I was caring for had been shot, or that the brother of the person who shot you is looking to exact revenge, River is still a little confused as to who Danny is and why he was outside our apartment guarding him in the first place. ”
“Hm,” Declan murmured distractedly. “I’ll explain all that to him later when I also reassure him of your continued safety. The important thing right now is to find River a healthy kidney.”
“I told you, he’s on the list for a transplant?—”
“Which might be too late to help him.” Declan regretted his bluntness when he saw how pale Fawn’s cheeks instantly became.
“I really don’t mean to upset you.” He touched her arm gently, knowing she was too tense right now to accept any more than that light reassurance.
“But some chronic kidney disease patients are just too ill to have the operation by the time a suitable kidney becomes available. I know I’m telling you what you already know,” he placated when he saw the tears glistening in her eyes.
“But I’m only repeating it because we obviously need to find River a suitable kidney ASAP. ”
“We?”
“We.”
“This isn’t your problem?—”
“I’ve already told you it is,” he reminded grimly.
Fawn looked at him searchingly for several seconds before shaking her head in frustration.
“You seriously think I haven’t been trying to find a kidney for him?
” she choked. “I immediately offered one of my own kidneys when they said River was going to need a transplant. They did all the tests before telling me I’m not a good match. ”
“Why aren’t you?”
“Our blood groups aren’t compatible.”
Declan knew it wasn’t unusual for siblings to have different blood types. Unfortunately, for River, in this case, that difference was dire to his well-being.
He scowled. “I would be willing to be tested to see if I’m a suitable donor,” he added decisively.
“I’ll ask around and see if any of the other guys I work with at Wynter Security would be too.
” He already knew that Danny, for one, cared enough about what happened to River to say yes to being tested for that compatibility.
Fawn glanced over to where the surgeon was still chatting with River. “Even if we find a donor, I couldn’t afford to have Mark Reynolds do the operation and aftercare.”
“I can.”
She blinked. “We’re not a charity case.” She recoiled. “I sincerely hope you aren’t offering to help River because the two of us have kissed a couple of times? Because if you think you can buy?—”
“I advise you not to finish that sentence. Damn you for even thinking it,” Declan hissed as his fingers closed tightly about the top of her arm, and he glared at her. “I care about and for you, and because River is your brother, I feel that same caring and concern for him too.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
Knowing he had fallen in love with a woman who was nineteen years younger than him didn’t make any sense either. Not when, for years, he had deliberately not allowed himself to become emotionally involved with any woman. With any one .
But Declan would be lying to himself as much as anyone else if he didn’t admit to knowing that was exactly what he’d done during the past seven days of knowing Fawn, the last three of them living together.
How could he not have fallen in love with her, when she was beautiful, funny, compassionate, stubborn, fiercely protective, and he now knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she was also totally selfless.
But he had no intention of admitting his feelings for her in the middle of a hospital corridor, let alone in the presence of the all-knowing Nikolai Volkov and the smiling Linus Wynter.
The former probably already knew exactly how Declan felt, because the bastard seemed to know everything.
The latter had looked highly entertained by the whole situation from the moment he arrived at the hospital with Nikolai. As Declan knew there was nothing in the least amusing about River’s condition, he could only assume Linus was laughing at the situation Declan now found himself in.
The situation where, after twenty years of refusing to love anyone, Declan now knew he was deeply and irrevocably in love with a fiery and beautiful young woman who took no bullshit from anyone, least of all him.
And she had just accused him of trying to buy her!