Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
VIKTOR
The ringing of a cell phone breaks through the silence, making me wince. It’s the first time since the chaos of the morning that I’ve been able to sink down on my bed and just breathe.
A huff of air leaves my nose as I glare at my phone. Unknown caller?
Part of me wants to let it go. Maybe one of the guys decided to be an asshole and sign me up for something stupid. Wouldn’t put it past them. But the other part of me knows it could be a runner or shipment gone wrong.
With a shake of my head, I grab the phone.
“Viktor,” I bark, announcing myself as I answer. My single word is abrupt and sharp.
“Uh...” The woman on the phone pauses. “Hi, this is Maureen Harris, from St. Joseph’s. EMTs found your business card on a Ms. Nosova.”
My brow puckers. “I don’t know any—” The wail of a child rings out, and I yank my phone away from my ear.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” the woman says loudly.
“I don’t know any Ms. Nosova,” I reply with clear irritation in my voice at being disturbed by this stupid phone call.
“Her full name is, let me see, Avelina Nosova. Does that ring a bell?”
My stomach drops as a child’s sobbing and a baby’s wailing fill my ears.
“Oh honey, she’s going to be okay, I promise,” Maureen soothes. “They’re just taking your mom back to run some—”
I’m on my feet before the last word leaves the woman’s mouth. My phone shoves roughly into my back pocket as I grab the keys from my end table. Jacket yanked on, I run down the stairs, shouldering past a few of the men, earning grumbles and curious expressions.
My heart is in my throat by the time the key is in the ignition.
Traffic is a blur as I accelerate, weaving haphazardly in and out of lanes.
My phone rings from where I’ve tossed it into the seat beside me. Grigory’s name flashes across the screen. I ignore it.
As soon as I throw the SUV into park in the emergency bay, I’m sprinting out of the car. My heart’s racing. My chest feels constricted. But why? Why do I care that some nurse called me about Avelina? Why does it matter that I’m almost certain Sofia was the sobbing I heard and Leon was the wailing.
“I need Avelina Nosova!” I blurt out the words to the desk worker.
“I’m sorry?”
“Which room?”
She checks her monitor, but she’s taking too long.
I give up and dash down a random hallway.
“Sir! Wait, you can’t—”
But her voice fades as I rush past empty beds and rooms, peering into each as I go.
Wiping my palms on my black combat pants, I clench my fists again and again, trying to soothe the way things are rushing in my head.
I freeze in a doorway. Avelina is hooked up to some machines, her skin pale, Leon in her arms.
A woman in a loud floral dress and a lanyard sits beside her. The woman is straight-backed as she sits in the chair. I haven’t got a clue who she is.
“We’ll try one more time, but that’s it,” the woman clips in a cold voice.
“He has to pick up,” Avelina croaks, her fingers tightening around the thin hospital blanket. I can see her whole body trembling despite the warmth of the room, and her knuckles are white with the strain.
He? Does she mean Geliy? My jaw tightens.
The other woman brings the phone to her ear and gives a huff of impatience.
“Well, he hasn’t the last three times. If he doesn’t answer this time, Child Protective Services has no option but to take your children.
” She must be a social worker. “It’ll be until you’ve recovered because you clearly can’t care for your children adequately in your current state.
The well-being of the children must come first.” There’s not a single ounce of compassion in her harsh tone.
Avelina’s breathing becomes rapid and shallow, her chest rising and falling in quick bursts.
The monitor beside her bed begins beeping faster, matching her escalating distress.
“Please don’t take my children away from me!
” Tears start rolling down her cheeks. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do.
” Her voice quickens. “Leon is just a baby. And Sofia won’t cope without me! ”
A second woman with a similar lanyard—who looks like another social worker—scoops up Leon from Avelina’s arms and starts to take him out of the room. Leon starts crying as if he senses something is wrong. I don’t even know where Sofia is right now.
Avelina’s voice cracks completely. And she breaks into sobs that shake her entire frame. Panic and terror flood her features as she tries to sit up despite the IV lines, her movements frantic and unsteady.
“You don’t understand… Sofia has nightmares every night. She needs me with her! And Leon won’t take a bottle from anyone except his father or me. They’ll think I’ve abandoned them…” The words tumble out in a breathless rush, each syllable dripping with desperation.
Her face contorts with anguish, and she reaches out with shaking hands toward the social worker, pleading with every fiber of her being.
And before I know what I’m doing, I stride into the room and confront the woman. “They’ll stay with me,” I grit out.
Both heads snap to me.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” the social worker asks.
“Viktor.”
She looks to Avelina, then to me again. “Are you family?” she demands.
“I’m…a family friend. And I said that Avelina and the kids will stay with me while she recovers.”
Why the hell did I just say that?
“Is that what you want, Ms. Nosova?” she says, turning back to Avelina and giving her a distinct look of disapproval.
Avelina hasn’t once looked away from me. “I...” She lets out a breath and nods.
“Fine.” The social worker lets out a martyred sigh.
“But if you’d just told me in the first place that you had someone to help care for the children, it would’ve saved me a lot of time.
I’ll go get the children.” The woman stands and straightens out her floral dress before she passes me in the doorway.
“You didn’t need to do that,” Avelina says as she tries to get her tears under control.
I stuff my hands into my pockets. “I did. Geliy is an asshole. But he saved my life once. I’ll always be there for him and his family, and that includes you.”
Her mouth parts slightly before she closes it with a nod. “Thank you. I couldn’t bear for the children to be parted from me. I’ll try him just once more…”
I watch her pick up her phone with trembling hands and hit redial.
We wait. And I can tell the exact moment it goes through to voicemail because her shoulders slump. And if Geliy were here, I’d punch him so hard right now. For letting this sweet woman down.
She looks up at me. “He didn’t answer. It looks like you’re stuck with us. I’m sorry—”
“Don’t apologize,” I say in a rough voice.
“He’s the one who should be apologizing to you.
Because if you were my girl, I’d make sure that I picked up whenever you rang me, that I was by your side whenever you needed me, and that I was there every single time you needed someone to lean on.
” She may not be his girl any longer, but that tells me that he’s an even bigger idiot than I first thought.
A slight blush runs up her cheeks, but before I can say anything else, there’s a knock on the door. I swivel my gaze to a man in his late thirties. He has a clean-cut beard and dark eyes and is dressed in dark green scrubs. “Ms. Nosova?”
“Yes,” Avelina answers, a smile on her face. It’s a tired one, not the sunny one she gave me hours ago. I don’t like it. But I don’t understand why—and that bothers me.
The man looks at me, brow arched. I don’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize this is my cue to leave.
Clearing my throat, I give Avelina what I hope is a reassuring nod of my head. I move into the hall but only just past the door, just past anyone’s line of sight. I shouldn’t listen to this conversation. It’s private and none of my damn business. But I find myself lingering by the door.
“How are you feeling?” the doctor asks.
“Better...”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Do they know why I fainted?”
“Actually, I was hoping you and I could run through a few things to narrow down a cause for the fainting.”
“Oh...sure,” Avelina replies.
“Any history with fainting before? A medical condition?”
“No.”
“Have you been feeling fatigued lately?”
I lean closer to the door despite myself and wonder if everything is really over between her and Geliy—or if maybe he’s still waiting in the wings for another chance with her.
And then I find myself wondering if Geliy deserves her sunshine smiles and gentle touch…
and the very thought makes my jaw clench harder than it should.
Why the hell do I even care if there’s someone else? ”
“Um, a little. My daughter and I just got back from Russia.”
“What were you doing in Russia?”
“I was part of a three-week coaching program for figure skaters.”
“Figure skating? That sounds quite intense. Are you sleeping well?”
There’s a long pause, and I lean a little closer to the door to hear more. “Not lately. A few hours here and there.”
“I see. So, it’s safe to say you feel stressed perhaps?”
I can almost picture her nodding. I remind myself this is a private conversation. But I can’t make myself leave. Not yet anyway. My feet are rooted in place.
“It’s just...been hard. I’m a single parent, really. My ex isn’t the most reliable when it comes to child support, and he’s gone a lot without contact. And then I lost my job.”
“And have you been feeling lightheaded or with low energy? Has there been anything out of the ordinary?”
“I was fine. Well, sort of. Some shortness of breath, but I thought that was just a lingering effect from the pneumonia I had about six weeks ago.”
Pneumonia?
“I see. Well, you’ve got a bit of a fever right now, and the fainting tells me that your body is a little rundown. Your blood sugar is fine, and your blood pressure looks good, but the best thing you can do is rest.”
“But—”