Chapter Seven #3
“They need to run tests. I don’t know anything yet, but she’s awake and talking to me. That has to be a good sign, right?”
Vadim was quiet a moment. “I know you want to handle Artur, set an example for anyone who comes for your family, but, Viktor, you need to focus on your wife and let me handle this. I promise that he’ll suffer greatly, and I will make it known that any who harm your wife will suffer the same fate.”
He was asking a lot. It was my right to exact justice for what Artur had done to Cerys.
I could have lost her! A throat cleared behind me and I turned to see Nikolai waiting.
The tension bracketing his mouth said that whatever news he had, it wasn’t good.
Vadim was right. Cerys needed to be my priority.
If that meant remaining with her and letting someone else punish Artur, then so be it.
“Do it,” I said. “But I want proof.”
“Done. Go, Viktor. Once all this is over and your wife is on the mend, I’d very much like to meet her.”
I ended the call and waited for Nikolai to gather his words. He seldom said anything he hadn’t rehearsed in his head in various different ways, analyzing the outcome of each. It could be maddening.
“Tell me, Nikolai.”
“They already took her for testing. The doctor refused to let either of us go with her.”
Which meant she was alone, and Tania was on the loose. I went back into the hospital, not even stopping at the desk. I went up to the first doctor I saw and demanded to be taken to my wife.
“Mr. Petrov,” a voice called across the waiting room.
I snarled as I faced the nurse hurrying toward me. I didn’t have time for this shit! I needed to see my wife, to be there for her. She was alone, and I didn’t like it. What if Tania came here? What if she made it past security and tried to hurt Cerys again?
“Sir, it’s your wife.” The nurse was wringing her hands as she stopped in front of me.
“I’m sorry, but we think she’s having a miscarriage.
It’s too soon to know for sure. This early it can resemble a regular menstrual cycle.
She also has a concussion, but we haven’t been able to run further tests. ”
It felt like someone had punched me in the gut. Cerys was losing our baby? She’d been pregnant when Artur took her?
“Take me to her,” I said softly. “I need to see my wife.”
As I followed the nurse, I tried to prepare myself.
I didn’t know how Cerys would feel about this, or what she’d been told.
Whatever my myshka needed, I’d see that she got it.
And as soon as we were alone, I’d tell her exactly how I felt.
Maksim was right. If I waited, pretended that she was like every other Bratva wife, then I could lose out on something special.
I’d just promised to let Vadim handle Artur, but now I was second-guessing that decision.
He’d cost me more than I’d realized. Not only had he kidnapped and beat my woman, but he’d quite possibly killed our child.
What I’d done to Humes would pale in comparison to the hell I wanted to rain down on Artur Orlov.
I quickly shot off a text to Vadim. Leave some for me .
* * *
I’d waited until Cerys was asleep; the nurse had given her something that would keep her calm for a few hours.
After pressing a kiss to her cheek, I’d slipped on my jacket and left the hospital, leaving Nikolai and Aleksi standing guard outside her room.
If she woke, if anything changed, I was to be called immediately.
Otherwise, I had a problem that I needed to handle.
Vadim had taken Artur to a special warehouse we kept in the seedier part of town. I sped through the streets of town, blowing through a few stop signs and red lights. My car skidded to a stop in front of the rusty metal building, and I headed inside.
My steps echoed in the mostly empty building.
There was a drain in the center of the floor for easy clean-up, and all our toys were kept in that vicinity.
Artur was hanging in the center from a hook that descended from the ceiling.
His bound wrists were looped over it, and blood flowed freely down his body.
Vadim had stripped him and seemed to have had quite the party without me.
“When I asked you to leave me something, I’d hoped for more than this. He’s mostly dead.”
Vadim shrugged.
I glanced at the table of instruments, my eyebrows lifting when I noticed which ones were covered in Artur’s blood. I circled my prey, taking in all the burns, cuts, bruises. The blood coating the backs of his thighs made me pause and my gaze caught Vadim’s and held. That was savage even for him.
“I learned a few things I didn’t like,” the Vor said. “It seems Artur not only likes young girls and boys, but he made sure his daughter was well-groomed since the age of seven.”
A red haze settled over my vision. That was a line I would never cross.
To hurt a child was unforgivable, but especially to abuse them that way.
I removed my coat, shirt, and even stripped off my shoes, socks, and pants.
Left only in my underwear, I picked up the smallest of the knives.
Artur hadn’t even lifted his head to look at me.
I wasn’t certain he was even capable of such a thing. Vadim had, indeed, nearly killed him.
I dug the blade into his gut, carving out a piece of flesh.
Artur didn’t even make a sound. Frowning, I reached up and gripped his hair, lifting his head.
Fucking hell. Vadim had taken his eyes and tongue.
There was nothing left for me to do. Killing him now would be a mercy, and I didn’t want that.
I needed him to suffer as long as possible.
My gaze scanned him, stopping just below his waist. It seemed Vadim had left one part of him untouched.
I picked up another tool and soon the scent of burning flesh and hair filled the air.
It left me feeling unsatisfied. Even though I knew, could damn well see, that Artur had paid the price for his crimes, it didn’t feel like enough.
“What am I supposed to do, Vadim?” I asked.
“Let go of the anger. Be with your wife. Help her heal.” He shrugged. “If you can, love her.”
Love her? I barely knew her. Perhaps while she healed, I’d use the time to learn more about my wife.
I knew the sound of her cries when I was balls-deep inside her.
I knew that she was sweet and innocent. But other than that, there was very little I’d learned about my wife in the two days we’d been together.
And yet, I felt like I knew her better than any other women I’d ever met.
“I need you, Viktor. This organization needs you. For the longest time you’ve been a cold killer, unfeeling and remote.
It’s worked well for our needs. However, I think your wife may show you a way through the darkness, help you find another part of yourself.
One you may not even know exists. Find that, and you’ll be truly whole, and then you’ll be unstoppable. ”
I gave Vadim a nod, used the hose in the corner to make sure I was free of Artur’s blood, then stripped off my underwear and tossed them into the fire barrel before pulling my clothes and shoes back on.
He was right. I needed to be with Cerys, and I needed to let go of the anger.
Artur was punished. And Tania… I hoped she got the help she needed, but if the bitch came after my wife again, I’d end her. My sympathy only went so far.