Chapter 58 Gennadiy
GENNADIY
We all piled into Radimir’s Mercedes, and Valentin sped us to the nearest ER, running every light, the tires fighting for grip on the soaking streets. Radimir sat in the back seat with Bronwyn in his arms, begging her in Russian to hold on.
At the hospital, the staff got Bronwyn onto a gurney and barreled her through the waiting area. Radimir ran alongside her, muttering to her in Russian even though she couldn’t hear him and squeezing her hand, while the rest of us chased along behind.
“Is she pregnant?” a nurse asked him. He was so distraught, he didn’t even hear her. “Sir! Is there any possibility your wife could be pregnant?”
“No,” Radimir told her. “We were just about to start trying for a baby, but she needed to talk to her doctor first. She’s on medication for rheumatoid arthritis.”
We reached the curtained-off treatment area, and doctors started trying to thread a tube down Bronwyn’s throat to help her breathe. “I need you all to wait in the waiting area!” the lead doctor told us. “Let us work!”
Radimir stepped back out of the way but stayed in the corner, a brooding statue.
The rest of us reluctantly withdrew. We found Mikhail in the waiting area: he’d had to follow in his SUV because the Mercedes had been full.
He’d had to leave his dogs at home, for once, and it felt strange and wrong, seeing him without them.
I took a seat in a plastic chair, slipped my arm around Alison’s waist and pulled her close.
She rested her head on my shoulder, and I rested my chin on the top of her head, cold waves of worry breaking through me one after another.
Bronwyn! I’d been worried when she first appeared in our lives.
Chyort, I’d argued for killing her, because what she knew could have put my brother in jail.
But everything changed when I saw cold, calculating Radimir falling in love.
I’d never thought I’d see him love someone: I hadn’t been sure he was even capable of it, after what we’d been through in Vladivostok.
But she’d completely melted that frozen heart and transformed him, in a way I didn’t understand at the time.
I looked down at Alison. I did now.
A nurse I recognized from the huddle around Bronwyn burst out of the curtained area and yelled down the hallway in medical jargon.
A moment later, another nurse ran to her, pushing a cart of equipment.
What does that mean?! My chest tightened.
Bronwyn was so different to our family, with her gentleness and her books and her enormous sandwiches.
And maybe that was why she was exactly what our family had needed.
She’d become someone I really liked, someone I’d die to protect. If she died…
I felt so fucking useless: Bronwyn had been in my mansion, where she was supposed to be safe, and that bastard Grushin had nearly killed her anyway. He must have intercepted the bakery delivery...God, all of us could have eaten those pastries. Alison nearly ate one! I tightened my arm around her.
It was a race against time, now: could we stop him before he wiped us out?
And I was way, way out of my comfort zone.
Billionaire bankers, who could wipe out our empire with the stroke of a pen?
City officials being somehow controlled by a former spy?
This wasn’t my world. My hands tightened into fists. Just give me someone to shoot!
Radimir suddenly emerged from the curtained area and marched towards us, chest shuddering as he fought to control his anger. We all jumped up. “What’s—” I began.
“Her heart stopped,” Radimir said, his voice strangled. “They’re trying to restart it. They made me leave. I was in the way.”
He began to pace, eyes down and shoulders hunched. I understand anger, and I should have known to leave him alone, but I wanted to help. I put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
He whirled to face me. “It’s your fault!” he snapped, shoving me in the chest. “This is your mess! Your side of the business! Your fucking FBI agent!”
I staggered backwards...and took it. A few months before, I would have yelled back at him. Now I understood what he was going through: I remembered kneeling over Alison in the warehouse, begging her not to leave me. Alison reached out and squeezed my hand.
Radimir went to stand by one of the big glass windows, staring out at the rain. There was silence for a moment. Then he rubbed his face with his hands and turned to me. “I’m sorry,” he croaked. “I’m sorry, Gennadiy. I just don’t know—”
I nodded.
Radimir’s voice was shaking. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if she dies…”
A doctor ran out of the curtained area. “Mr. Aristov!” He stopped in front of Radimir. “We’ve managed to get her heart going again...for now.” He led Radimir back towards the treatment area.
The rest of us reluctantly shuffled back to the waiting area, pale and drawn with worry. As we sat down, Alison rubbed her hand across my back. I turned to her...and pulled her into my arms, crushing her against me.
And then all we could do was wait.