Chapter Forty Two Sarah
As I sat at my desk writing patient notes, I fought the urge to text Mom or Sammy for the hundredth time. Since Dad had been catching up on sleep, Mom had insisted I go back to work. And even though I didn’t feel like it, I came back.
Since I still looked like death, it went well with my story about the flu. I even went so far as to wear a mask to keep up the lie.
I had so much paperwork to catch up that when a knock came at my door, I fought the urge to yell, “Fuck off!”
Instead, I replied, “Yes?”
The door flung open to reveal a disheveled-looking Aleksandr along with Susan, our receptionist. “I’m sorry, Dr. Whitfield. I tried to keep him out.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “It’s okay. I’ll see him.”
“Are you sure? I can call security.”
“No, Susan. It’s fine.”
She nodded reluctantly before shooting Aleksandr a venomous look. To my surprise, he wasn’t giving her one of his smirks or cocky remarks. Instead, his face was ashen.
Once we were alone, I cocked my brows at him. “Don’t tell me you busted in here to plead with me to take Maksim back?”
Aleks shook his head mournfully. “My uncles tried to assassinate Maksim yesterday afternoon.”
The words pierced through my chest like icy daggers. No matter how hard I tried to speak, I couldn’t find my voice. Finally, I croaked, “Is he…?”
“He’s alive. Barely.”
Staggering back, I collapsed into my chair. Maksim was almost killed. He could’ve died. It was one thing to know he was alive in the world without me speaking to him, but it was quite another thinking he was gone.
“Thank God,” I murmured.
“It’s seriously an act of God that he’s still here.”
“What happened?”
“The bastards stabbed him repeatedly.”
“Stabbed?”
Aleks nodded. “They used knives instead of guns to not draw too much attention.”
The thought of Maksim being hurt and in pain caused a shudder to echo through me. Pinching my eyes shut, I asked, “Why are you telling me this?”
“I want you to come and see him.”
“Aleks, I–”
When his arms grabbed my shoulders, my eyes popped open. “He’s in a coma right now, Sarah. The doctors said there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be waking up. Don’t you see? Right now, he doesn’t think he has anything to live for. That’s why he won’t come back to us.”
Agony ricocheted through me, but in my stubbornness, I argued, “Please don’t ask me to do this.”
“I have to. You’re the only person who could bring him through.”
“Considering you were a part of his deception, I shouldn’t even be talking to you.”
“For fuck’s sake, Sarah, the man is in a coma!”
“I’m aware of that.”
“Then start fucking acting like it.”
I narrowed my eyes in fury at him. “How dare you talk to me like that?”
“Look, I know besides the fact I’m a man, I also can’t possibly know the pain you’re feeling, considering the way Maksim went about things.
But listen to me when I say this. Maksim loves you.
He has been in love with you since before he kidnapped you.
Maybe from the first moment he saw your picture.
And yes, he was a fucking idiot for deceiving you as he did, but you have to understand he’s never been in love before. ”
“He hasn’t?”
Shaking his head, Aleksandr said, “Because of his trauma, he’s never allowed himself to be vulnerable enough with another person to fall in love.”
At first, it was hard for me to believe Aleksandr, but then I thought back to when Maksim told me he’d never brought a woman around his family.
“I came so fucking close to losing Dima. I couldn’t imagine a world without him in it. But Maksim…” Aleksandr swallowed hard. “He is my world.”
“He’s mine too. Living without him has been hell!”
Aleks’s brows furrowed. “Then why the fuck aren’t you running out of here?”
I threw my hands up in frustration. “Don’t you get it? I’m scared out of my fucking mind.” Shaking my head, I replied, “I can’t take being hurt by him again. And if he breaks me, I won’t be any good to my parents or my brother.”
“He will not hurt you again.”
A mirthless laugh tumbled out of my mouth. “You can’t possibly promise that.”
“You have my word that if he does, I’ll kill him myself. But you can rest assured, Maksim would rather kill himself than ever hurt you again.”
At the resolve of his words, tears blurred my vision. I fell forward in my chair, and Aleks caught me. Hauling me to my feet, he wrapped his arms around me. In his strong arms, I lost myself.
But then I realized it wasn’t just me crying.
Aleks was too. Loud, guttural sobs wrenched through him. The caregiver within me couldn’t bear his pain. “Shh, it’s okay. He’s going to be all right.”
Pushing myself out of his arms, I stared into his eyes. “I’ll come with you.”
“You will?”
“Absolutely.”
Nodding, he swiped his eyes. “Don’t you fucking dare tell him about me crying on you, okay?”
I wanted to argue with him that it would be good for Maksim to know he’d shown his vulnerable side, but I didn’t. Instead, I merely nodded.
“Thanks.”
After grabbing my phone and purse, I said, “Let’s go.”
With his hand in mine, Aleks led me to the door. When I opened it, Tara stood with Susan and a couple of my other colleagues.
“Are you okay?” Tara asked, glancing between me and Aleks.
Nodding, I replied, “I can’t talk right now. I have to get to Maksim.”
Hope surged in her face. “Thank God you’ve come to your senses.”
“Bite me,” I muttered.
Turning to Susan, Tara grinned. “Yep. She’s back.”
Aleks tugged me towards the exit, and I followed him. As we started down the stairs, it hit me how he knew where to go, and I started laughing.
“What the fuck could possibly be funny right now?” he demanded.
“I was just thinking this wasn’t the first time you’ve snuck into my office.”
He shot me a look as I kept laughing. “Are you going into shock or something?”
“Maybe.”
“Fuck.”
Oleg stood beside the SUV waiting for us. At the sight of me, relief etched across his face. “Hello, Dr. Whitfield.”
“It’s Sarah, remember?”
He gave me a tight smile. “It’s good to see you.”
Unable to find the words, I merely nodded. Once I climbed inside, Aleks followed behind me. As we started down the road, I asked, “Where did it happen?”
“A bakery of all places."
Every molecule in my body shuddered to a stop. “Not O’Brien’s Bakery?” I questioned in a whisper.
Aleksandr’s brows furrowed. “How could you know that?”
Tears blurred my vision. “Oh God. He was getting cupcakes for Sammy.”
“Your brother?”
“Yeah, he only eats them from there. He and I had a fight about Maksim yesterday. I bet he called him, and Maksim went to get cupcakes to cheer him up.” I swallowed down the rising sob. “It’s all my fault.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s my uncles who are too much like my fucking bastard of a father. They tracked him down somewhere he’d be weak.” When I opened my mouth to protest, he shook his head. “They would’ve found somewhere else to get to him.”
I wanted to believe Aleks. But something within me felt like this was my punishment for not talking things through with Maksim. If he died, somehow it would be my fault.
And that thought twisted me in knots.
When we started heading out of the city, I sat straighter in my seat. “Wait, where are we going?” I asked suspiciously.
“To see Maksim.”
“What trauma center could possibly be in the suburbs?”
“The one at our compound.” Cocking his brows at me, Aleks asked, “Didn’t Maksim tell you about it?”
“No. He didn’t.”
At what must’ve been my panicked expression, Aleks burst out laughing. “For fuck’s sake, Sarah. Don’t tell me you think I’ve kidnapped you.”
“I wasn’t thinking that at all,” I lied.
“Our basement is finished with a state-of-the-art hospital bay.”
At that moment, the conversation I’d had with Maksim about Silas flashed in my eyes. “Oh that’s right. You have your own hospital since gun shots and stab wounds bring the cops.”
“That’s right.”
“My older brother was taken there to detox before going to rehab.”
Nodding, Aleks said, “How’s he doing?”
“Thankfully, he’s still in the program. His new schizophrenic meds seem to be working really well. Or at least that’s what my mother says.”
I hadn’t spoken to Silas since that night.
He hadn’t asked to speak to me on the phone any of the times he called.
But then a letter had arrived for me. In it, Silas apologized profusely for what he’d done that night at my parents’ house.
I was surprised he could remember anything considering how out of his mind he was.
My mother and I had real hope that this time he had actually turned the corner on his addiction and his illness. And we had Maksim to thank for that.”
When Aleks shook his head with a grin, I asked, “What?”
“I still can’t believe you thought I was kidnapping you.”
“Well, excuse me for being gunshy with the men in this family.”
Chuckling, he said, “Maybe I should’ve kidnapped you. When I told Maksim, he would’ve risen up to beat my ass.”
I laughed at the absurdity of the moment. “He probably would.”
Thinking about him lying in a hospital bed sobered me quickly. “Tell me about what happened in O’Brien’s.”
He shook his head. “You don’t need to know the details.”
“Yes, I do.”
Aleks exhaled a ragged breath. “Like I said, they’d been looking for a weak moment to attack.
My uncles want the Korolov Bratva for themselves and their sons.
But more than that, they wanted revenge.
With the backing of the Newark Bratva, they decided to start clipping us off one by one starting with Maksim. ”
I gasped in horror. “All of you? Even the girls?”
“Even them.”
“That’s insane.”
A cruel look flashed in his eyes. “They were insane. They’re dead men walking now.”
I swallowed hard. “You haven’t found them yet?”
“We’ve been too focused on Maksim. But we will. They have no idea the wrath they’ve just brought down on themselves.”
Although I shouldn’t condone the violence or their methods of revenge, I nodded my head. “Make them suffer.”