Chapter 8
8
Adrian
I slowly peeled my eyes open, thankful the room I was in was mostly cast in shadows so I wouldn’t burn my retinas. There was a fire burning in the fireplace near the bed, providing the only light in the room. When I turned my head to look at the other side of the bed, I was surprised to find Ivan sitting in a chair, his arms crossed over his chest as he quietly slept, his chin resting on his chest.
How long had he been sitting there? He looked as if he hadn’t showered in days, and instead of his usual button down shirt, pressed and fitted slacks, and his expensive as fuck Oxfords, he was wearing a plain black long-sleeve shirt, a pair of gray sweatpants that did nothing to hide his massive cock, even soft, and his feet were only covered with a pair of black socks. His stubble had grown out, and hair was unruly and messy.
It was a stark contrast to the usually perfectly put-together man I’d always been faced with.
With a grunt, I pushed myself up so I was resting against the headboard, and fuck, if that felt like it didn’t zap me of all my energy. I slumped, too tired to try to adjust my pillows so I was more comfortable and instead just closed my eyes for a moment, my breathing labored. Jesus fuck, walking in all that snow had taken a lot out of me.
“You’re awake,” Ivan grumbled.
My eyes snapped open, and I turned my head to look at him. He was awake now and leaning forward a bit, his large, green eyes running over my face. Before I could stop myself, I ended up yawning, but damn if I had the energy to cover my mouth. Lifting my hand felt like it might be a bit too much of an ordeal.
“You’ve been out of it for days,” he informed me as he stood to his feet. I looked up at him, watching as he moved toward his cellphone, which was sitting on the dresser and plugged into the charger. He began typing rapidly as he said, “You would come out of it for like a few seconds, and then, you were right back under again. I thought for sure you were going to fucking die.” And that knowledge sounded like it made him want to come unglued.
He set his phone down, then turned to face me, his arms crossing over his broad chest. “You cannot fucking die, kotik .”
I frowned, my brows furrowing. “ Kotik ?” I asked. “What the fuck is that?”
His lips quirked. “You’ll find out soon enough.” He strode back over, this time pressing a hand into the mattress and leaning over me. My breath hitched in my throat at his proximity, but he just pressed the back of his hand to my forehead, making a soft sound in the back of his throat. Like he was… pleased? And why the fuck did that make me all hot and bothered?
I was a Dom . I did not get off on praise, no matter how small or big it was. Just wasn’t my thing.
At least, I hadn’t thought it was.
Maybe I hit my head when the plane crashed.
“You look a lot better,” Ivan finally said, settling back into the chair he’d been occupying when I woke up. “But seriously, don’t fucking scare me like that again, kotik .”
There went that fucking name again. What the hell did it mean? I wanted to ask again, but I doubted he’d give me an answer—just some smart-ass shit like last time—and I didn’t have the energy to argue with him. Already, I just wanted to go back to sleep.
“Didn’t go knocking at death’s door on purpose,” I muttered, closing my eyes and sighing. I tried adjusting to get comfortable, but I was just too damn lethargic to do much.
“Here—sit up,” Ivan murmured, pressing his hand between my shoulders blades and gently pushing me forward. My eyes snapped open, and I cut him a glance full of trepidation because Ivan and I just weren’t the kind of people to help each other. But he pointedly ignored me and focused on adjusting my pillows. When I eased back, I sighed in relief.
God, that was so much better.
“What the fuck happened?” I asked once he was sitting back down again.
“Mark came for us in the chopper.” I nodded because I remembered that part. But once I was inside the helicopter, everything was a bit hazy after that. Hell, most of those memories were gone. “You were out for three days, Adrian. Your body needed time to recover. Dr. Lebedev has kept you hooked up to a saline bag to keep you hydrated, and I’ve been doing my damnest to keep you warm.” He nodded his head toward the fireplace. “I actually had to call in a company to come clean the chimney so I could utilize that fucking thing.”
“Why not just buy a space heater or something?” I asked, closing my eyes again.
“Didn’t fucking feel like it,” he said, his tone a little snappy. My lips quirked in amusement, but I quickly smothered it. By his sigh though, I was sure he saw the minute twitch of my lips.
“Go on,” I told him, wanting him to finish telling me what had happened so I could go back to sleep. I didn’t think I was going to be able to manage staying awake much longer.
“Igor performed the autopsy on my pilot and the flight attendant.” I opened my eyes again, confused. At my expression, he explained, “Igor has a degree in forensic science, and before I became Pakhan and he became my consigliere, he worked as an autopsy technician. He…” Ivan blew out a breath like this next part was going to be embarrassing, even though I didn’t think Ivan could actually feel embarrassment. “Igor likes to play with dead bodies.”
My mouth screwed up in distaste. “He doesn’t fuck them, does he?”
Ivan grimaced. “Fuck no. Or at least, I hope to fuck he doesn’t.” And now, he looked a bit disturbed. “Christ. Now I need to talk to him about his fetishes and kinks.”
“Sucks to be you,” I muttered, my eyelids fluttering closed again.
“Both of them were drugged,” Ivan continued, ignoring my smart-ass remark. “He found strychnine in both their systems. The pilot died before the crash, but the flight attendant died during the crash, according to the times Igor gave me.”
“What the fuck is…” Yeah, I wasn’t even attempting to repeat that word. “The drug?” I finished.
“Strychnine,” Ivan repeated, but he didn’t sound frustrated with having to repeat himself. He sounded… patient. And dammit, why did that make me feel fuzzy? I had to have really hit my head hard. “The way Igor explained it, the drug stops the muscles from working. Doesn’t shut off brain power immediately, but it leaves the person in a shit ton of pain, and eventually, it halts breathing because your lungs aren’t working any longer. That’s how I understood it anyway.”
“Why them and not us?” I asked, getting a little more comfortable against the pillows. I was ready for a nap.
“Our guess is that it was supposed to be all of us. But neither of us asked for anything to eat or drink. Igor sent a team out to grab everything from the plane food and drink wise, and he’s currently testing it all for that drug. My guess is whoever is after your family is now trying to take us out, too. And what better way to start than trying to take out the Pakhan?”
He wasn’t wrong. The best way to dismantle an empire was to start from the top.
“Was James notified?” I asked.
Ivan sighed. “Unfortunately. When you weren’t answering his calls, he called me and demanded to know what the fuck was going on. I had to stop him from coming out here and taking you back to the United States. Dr. Lebedev convinced him that transporting you would be unwise and unsafe. For one, you were too ill to safely move, and two, there’s too many variables when we have to rely on transportation, such as a flight. Look what happened to us.”
I nodded, though it was sluggish. Ivan suddenly pulled the blankets up around my shoulders. I opened my eyes just enough to look up at him, and my breath caught in my throat at the intense, searing gleam in his eyes as he stared back down at me. Something charged and electric zapped between our gazes that had my heart slamming against my chest bone.
“Get some more rest,” he told me quietly. “I have dinner being made for us. I’ll wake you when it’s here.”
I was too tired to argue that I wasn’t hungry, and I was too damn exhausted to try to figure out what the fuck had shifted between us in that moment. So, I just shut my eyes and trusted him to keep us both safe.
And damn if that wasn’t a fucking alarming thing.