24. Soren
H olding one of my best friends in my arms so he doesn’t do something stupid, like try to run into a burning house, is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Especially since every instinct I have is telling me to do the same thing.
Vonny squirms and tries to escape my hold, but his emotions make every attempt sloppy, and it's easy to hang on. My pocket vibrates for what feels like the thousandth time, but I can’t do anything about it.
As much as I want to reassure my Boy, I can’t afford to let Vonny go.
Not when Nico still hasn’t come out of the house…
Donovan flinches, one hand going to his head, as he cries out his brother’s name. I sag in relief when a stumbling and coughing David exits the burning house, with Dominic cradled in his arms.
I wait until my cousin tries to walk down the steps with his burden before releasing Vonny. We both race to them, helping to steady David as we move away from the house.
“Where’s…Sergei?” I ask my cousin with a cough.
He looks at me with sorrow-filled eyes as he carefully kneels on the ground, still cradling a passed out Nico.
“Dead. It…it’s what took us so long.” He chokes on a cough.
“The explosive, or whatever they used, made the window in Nico’s room explode, and then a secondary device was thrown in—guess they learned from their mistake with the Amatos.
” He coughs again, leaning over to catch his breath.
“The second one hit Sergei as he pushed us out the door. Nico hit his head… I could only save one…”
I put a hand on my cousin’s heaving back. “You did good, Davidik.” Gently, I squeeze the back of his neck. “Can I examine him?”
“I…” He shakes his head and looks up at me. “Sory…”
“Shhh.” I ignore how every sound irritates my throat— fucking smoke inhalation— and comfort my cousin. “Please, Davidik. Let me make sure he’s okay.”
David nods and moves back slightly, so I have access to Nico, who’s still unconscious, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Vonny was too, by the way he clings to his brother, his eyes closed.
But I’ve known the trips for too long, I understand their connection better than anyone else—aside from David, probably.
Carefully, I work around Vonny, giving Nico a once-over, checking for any other obvious wounds aside from the bump on his head.
There’s no bleeding, and when I check his pupils using the light on my phone, they respond normally.
All good signs, just a really hard knock to the head.
I’ll feel a lot better once we get him to the Martelli mansion, though.
I can hear sirens in the distance, and dread fills me at the thought of facing officials without one of the Amatos around for support. Especially since David is with us. The last thing Cristian needs right now is more issues with LEOs, or my uncle.
Thankfully, what pulls into the drive isn’t a firetruck, but a car that hopefully belongs to the Martellis.
The backdoor is thrown open before the car comes to a stop, and Doc stumbles out of the vehicle, with James and Dima on his heels.
I swallow down my irritation at his recklessness as relief crashes over me.
Despite knowing he was far away from the fire, seeing my Boy unharmed eases some of my tension.
Dmitri lets out a wailing cry when he sees his brothers. “They’re okay,” I croak out around a cough. “Nico is injured, but I don’t think it’s too bad. Vonny is fine.”
Whether he hears me or not doesn’t matter, as he shoves me aside and collapses onto the ground next to Nico, his arm stretching out to touch both of his brothers. Then Vonny moves, wrapping his own arm around Dima.
“I can’t examine him with you two in the way,” Doc bitches.
Both Vonny and Dima whimper, but they allow David and I to coax them up, and we hold them as Doc examines Dominic, who comes around a little as Doc prods him. Dmitri sags in my arms as he whines in pain.
“Shh,” Doc says, gentler than I’ve ever seen him with a patient who’s not a child. “You’re okay. I got you.”
Nico’s storm gray eyes open a little, and though I can’t tell if he’s focused or not from where I am, Doc gives him a small smile. “You’re okay,” he repeats.
Nico makes a distressed noise, and I let Dima go so he can get a hand on his brother once more.
More cars enter the driveway, and I tense.
“It’s okay,” Doc says. “It’s Allesandro and Cristian’s men.
We need to move. The sirens are getting closer, and I’d rather have Nico out of here and on his way to the Martellis’ before any paramedics get here—it’ll be hard to explain why we’re not allowing medical attention. ”
James and Doc help Nico to the car—thankfully, it’s a Martelli limo, so we don’t have to split up, as that wouldn’t have gone over well with the trips.
David sits next to me on the seat, and I hold his hand as Doc kneels on the floor of the car with Nico, keeping an eye on him.
I want nothing more than to be down there making sure my friend is okay, but the adrenaline is starting to wear off, and the aches of hitting the floor once the first explosions went off are making themselves known.
I’m pretty sure I’ve got glass embedded in my skin, and a few superficial burns across my legs and back.
“Did you update your father?” James asks David.
“Not yet… I will when we get to the Martellis’. It’s going to be hard to prevent him from rushing over…”
“I’ll talk to him,” Doc cuts in. “Or Dr. Ranlen. Whichever of us examines you will help persuade him to stay put. The last thing we need is to add another Boss to the shitshow we’re already dealing with.”
I want to ask questions, but I know better than to distract him while he’s working. There will be plenty of time to find out what the hell happened when I went home for the night. From James’s grimace when he meets my eyes, it was nothing good.
A t the Martellis’, Dr. Ranlen, Rose, and Kail meet our car, and help get everyone inside and into the medical wing.
“I don’t think this office has ever been used so much,” Dr. Ranlen comments. “We might have to double up rooms, otherwise we’ll run out of space.”
“We’re fine,” I tell her, motioning to David and myself. “Besides, David isn’t staying.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” she says as she begins her examination of Dominic.
Doc ushers David and I out of the room, and I can hear Dr. Ranlen lecturing Donovan and Dmitri about staying with Dominic.
Doc examines David first, and then me. His cognac eyes darken as he cleans the cuts on my arms and face. “Assure your father you're safe here, David. I can get your guards cleared by Allesandro, but I highly doubt he'll welcome the Pakhan here, allied with Cristian or not.”
I focus on my cousin's quiet phone conversation with his father, rather than the stinging, tugging sensation of Doc removing shards of glass from my back and legs.
“He wants to send an escort for me,” David says.
Doc sighs and moves away from me. I assume he takes the phone from David, as I hear him start talking to my uncle in his blunt, no-nonsense doctor voice.
After some back and forth, he finally says, “Yes, sir. My personal bodyguard will keep him safe, and escort him home in the morning. Understood… Yes, you too.”
A few minutes later—after some rapid-fire Russian from David—he must hang up the phone, as he says, “You sure I can't kidnap you, Doc? I don't know anyone who can make my father back down.”
“I'm taken. Go back to poaching Dr. Ranlen.”
David laughs. “I will.”
“James will escort you to somewhere you can sleep for the night, and he will be at your beck and call until you’re back where you belong.”
“Thank you.” David moves so I can see him. “You good, Sory?”
“Peachy. Go get some rest, Davidik.”
David leaves, and it's just Doc and me. He finishes with my wounds, but doesn't move for a long time. I give him a few moments before shuffling on the examination table, turning to face him.
“Come here, Baby,” I say quietly.
He crumbles, his amber eyes bright as tears fall down his cheeks. “Daddy…”
I open my arms, working hard not to wince as the movements stretch the cuts and grazes on my back.
He falls into me, but gently, careful not to hurt me. I hold him tightly as he sobs into my bare chest, letting my own pain and fear finally manifest, now it's just the two of us.
“I've never been so scared in my fucking life,” he says in a tear-filled voice. “First, Ten and Cristian try to take some years off me, and now, you…”
“What? What happened to Cristian?”
He pulls away. “After you left, Cristian and Benjamin…had words, and Benjamin stabbed Cris. It's nothing serious, just his shoulder, but it went pretty deep, so he'll need PT—which was probably Benjamin's plan all along.
“Anyway…everything is so fucked up, Daddy. I don't know what the hell is going on, but I talked to Cristian after patching him up, and that is not Cristian. At least, not the one who saved me and earned my loyalty.”
Fucking hell. I wasn't gone that long. I only traded places with Kail after helping Doc and Dr. Ranlen in surgery. Though, now I'm glad Doc didn't come home with me, despite my insistence. Tennant getting stabbed was a good thing from that perspective.
“Shhh,” I soothe. “It's okay. We'll figure it out. It's wouldn’t unusual considering the circumstances for him to have some bouts of anger, and to do things out of character; he went through a traumatic event, then had more shit piled on him since being rescued. My guess is he has a lot of shit going on in his head right now that’s muddling everything currently happening. We'll help him.”
“Promise?”
“I promise, Baby.” He lays his head on my shoulder, and I hold him close once more. “I love you.”
“Love you too, Daddy. Don't scare me like that again.”
“I'll try not to, Baby.”
I can feel tears on my skin as he cries more, and it's all I can do to hold him as tightly as possible, while letting my own tears fall, as once more, I assure myself that my heart, my boy, my everything, is safe in my arms.