Chapter Forty-Five
In which very few things could make Andrey Morozov speechless, but this is one of them.
Iris…
Once the tidal wave of pain dies down, my brain comes back online. “It was Elana Carrington,” I rasp, yanking on Andrey's shirt. "She runs a baby farm. Those poor girls! Sometimes, she kidnaps someone from a crime family and sells their baby to their enemies." My throat closes in horror.
Andrey grabs a bottle of water, holding it to my lips. "Hang on, sweetheart, take a drink."
"She was going to do it with our baby." I'm shuddering and he lifts me gently, putting me on his lap. "S- she was so happy, she told the doctor he was getting a bonus. Who would she have sold our-"
"Shh…" he croons, rocking me, being careful of my various injuries. "No one. No one will ever hurt our child, I swear it. Elana Carrington's ability to hurt other women is about to end in a very painful way."
I can hear a helicopter coming closer. "Please tell me that's one of ours," I beg him.
"Yes, I'm going to get you to the Morozov Clinic as quickly as possible and Rose will join you there, I promise." I'm grateful that he thought to reassure me that Rose was on her way, too.
"She's all right? You're sure?"
"Yes," Nikandr says, coming up behind his brother. "Roman just reported that Rose was retrieved. She's safe and unharmed. Though it looks like she's been in a hell of a fight. And maybe lost."
"We were," I nod.
Nikandr whistles. "Well, I want you at my back during my next bar fight."
I laugh and then wince as my sore ribs make themselves known. "You might need to give me a couple weeks. But I am there for you. I'll have your back with a broken beer bottle in one hand and a pool cue in the other."
Andrey looks vaguely horrified. "That’s… oddly specific. Don't even joke about that. On the bright side," he says, kissing my forehead, “you must be feeling better."
It's then I remember Melina and my guys and I'm so ashamed it didn't hit me sooner.
"Melina," I say, hand tightening on his. "Melina and Av and the guys. Please tell me they’re not…" I can't get the words out. It will make them true.
"I don't know their status," he says. "Once I get you to the clinic, Aunt Ella will update us, all right?"
When the helicopter lands, Andrey carries me off the plane, still wrapped in my blanket burrito. He'd pulled out his knife at one point to cut off all the duct tape, so I didn't feel like I was in a straitjacket. He lifts me in gently and straps me in before climbing onboard himself.
The pilot turns and I see that it's Alexsey flying the helicopter. "Good to see you, Iris." He glares at Andrey. "Please try not to destroy another helicopter. I'm fond of this one."
Andrey shakes his head when I glance at him. "This last one was not my fault." He does a magnificent job of somehow managing to hold me close while still keeping me strapped in for the quick flight back into Manhattan.
They were serious about taking me to the Morozov Clinic right away, because the helicopter lands in the parking lot.
The staff gynecologist is waiting for us, hands in her white coat.
She's so reassuring after dealing with that coked-up bastard at "the facility.
" Aunt Ella's sweet face crumples a bit when she sees me, so I must really look like shit.
She recovers quickly, though, and goes into doctor mode.
Andrey carries me into a suite where the ultrasound machine is primed and ready.
"I can treat your other wounds first," she says.
"No," I croak. "The baby. Baby first."
There's a commotion in the hallway and Rose bursts into the room. "Iris!" she sobs. "They hurt you."
"You don't look much better, sweetie." I cling to her, burying my face in her shoulder.
***
When they had tried to separate us, we went feral, there was no other way to describe it.
I headbutted the guard trying to hold me back and dove on the bitch trying to handcuff Rose, digging my fingers into her face, trying to claw her eyes out.
She fell back, screaming and I was yanked back by my hair, my shoulder slamming into a doorframe.
I think that's when it was dislocated, the arm hung useless and I used my teeth instead, biting the forearm of the guard trying to choke me out, tearing skin off.
Rose may have been held back by two men, but she bucked and kicked the face of another guard coming in on me, knocking him over and bashed her forehead into the face of the next nurse trying to stick a needle in her.
"No drugs for the pregnant one!" that fucking doctor shouted. So, they punched me in the face, knocking me out, and my last dimming sight was of my Rose, unconscious and dragged away.
***
Now, we hold each other awkwardly because everything hurts. Once she's calmed down enough to see the ultrasound machine glowing, Rose wipes her face with her filthy shirt, stepping back. "Andrey, come here. You need to see your baby. I can wait outside. You two deserve a moment."
Watching her step back and let Andrey take his place next to me is acutely painful. I don't want her to leave, but I desperately want him to see this with me. He missed the first ultrasound and I'd cried silently on the way home, clutching the blurry black and white pictures.
"C'mon," Aunt Ella says, putting her arm around Rose's waist. "You're running on fumes, honey. Let's get you checked out."
Dr. Sharma smiles at us warmly, preparing the transducer. "I warmed up the gel," she says. "I think you deserve a little comfort after today, yes?"
"Thank you," Andrey kisses my hand. "Iris has been through enough."
She darkens the room a bit and turns back to me, spreading the gel on my stomach. Andrey's hand hovers over me for a moment, carefully not touching my skin.
"How could I have not seen?" he asks. His tone was half wonder, and half self-loathing.
"Stop," I whisper. "You're here now, remember?"
The probe presses down on me, and I wince. "Sorry," Dr. Sharma says soothingly. "I know it's a lot. I'm just trying to get-" Her head cocks, the light from the monitor reflecting off her glasses.
Andrey leans forward abruptly, his hand tight on mine. "Why are you silent?"
"Sorry, Mr. Morozov," she says distractedly, "I'm just checking… Ah." She sits back, beaming. "I'm turning on the Doppler. Have a listen." We've been watching the screen so closely that it takes us a moment.
"The whooshing sound, that is the heartbeat, correct?" Andrey asks.
"Yes," she says, still smiling, waiting.
"Is that an echo?" I ask.
"No, Mrs. Morozova, you're carrying twins." She moves the probe slightly to the left and we see it. Two little beans, well, more like avocado size, curled against each other's tiny bodies. "They're in a single amniotic sac."
Andrey makes a little choking sound. I glance up, startled. "Honey, are you okay?"
"Identical twins? This isn't genetically- your genes, of course, twins but identical-" I've never heard him so rattled, and after everything that's happened that day, that's saying something.
"Are they…" His gaze sharpens, following every move of the probe. "Are they all right?"
My heart rate leaps into a gallop. "Are they hurt? We got banged up today, I tried to cover my stomach, but-"
The doctor deftly runs through the measurements.
"I believe they're both quite well. The amniotic sac is perfectly intact, no loss of fluid.
The babies' vitals are good. Your stomach is smaller than what we usually see at four months, but your sister Violet carries her pregnancies similarly, it must be a trait in your family.
But the babies are there, and healthy." She looks up at us, shrewd eyes twinkling.
"I think you two should take a deep breath. "
Slumping into the chair next to me, Andrey puts his head on my chest. "YA molyus' bogu, v kotorogo ne veril."
My sore fingers card through his hair. "What did you say, honey?"
He lifts his head, his reddened eyes meeting mine. "I pray to a God I did not believe in."
Dr. Sharma prints off some images of the babies, then tactfully leaves the room, letting us cry together. Happy tears, this time, which Andrey does not fully understand.
Finally, my bandages are rewrapped. My arm, cocooned with pillows so it doesn't move.
Andrey, with infinite care, settles me in the hospital bed and smooths my hair off my forehead.
His giant hand is soothing at the best of times, and right now, it is exactly what I need, a tangible lifeline back to a world that I understand.
I'm not going to think about what Elana - that psychotic bitch - said.
Not now. Later, I'm going to have to talk it out with Rose, but...
tonight's been too much. Auntie Ella gave me pain meds, I'm starting to feel that comforting numbness spread through my muscles, and I heave a little sigh of relief.
Rose had her own dose of pain meds, and she's asleep in the room next to mine.
"My sweetheart," Andrey says, giving me the lightest caress on my cheek. "I must take care of something. I don't want to leave you. I don't ever want to leave you again. But I must make sure this particular threat is neutralized for our peace of mind."
"You're gonna go kick the shit out of Elana Carrington so hard that it's going to reduce her back to her component parts, aren't you?
" I ask sleepily. Andrey's eyes are almost black again and glittering with malice.
Still, he has a faint curve on the corner of his mouth.
I've never seen him look enraged and gentle at the same time before.
"Something like that," he says, smoothing my blanket. "Violet should be on her way -"
At that precise moment, the door opens and Violet charges into the room before catching sight of me in bed, all wired up. It's a little hilarious to watch her go from full, enraged Violet speed to a delicate tiptoe.
"Oh, honey, I…" she can't finish the sentence and I hold my hand out to her. Roman's standing behind her, his face cold and remote, and behind him, there's Nikandr. He's casually cleaning his nails with that horrifyingly sharp blade of his.
“Wait.” I grab Aunt Ella’s coat. “I asked Andrey, he didn’t know about Melina and the Redwood and all the guys. Please tell me they're okay? Because they wear body armor sometimes so that would make being shot not so bad, right? They’d be okay?"
She sighs, exchanging glances with Andrey.
"Melina is alive," she says, gently. "She's in intensive care, with a significant recovery ahead of her.
But she's remarkably strong and very healthy.
Av…" She frowns. "I believe he will recover, but possibly not the full use of his legs. The bullet hit his spinal cord."
"Oh…” My poor Redwood. “What about Leonid and the others?"
"They're gone, my dear. I'm sorry."
I'm crumbling inside. All those men died because of me.
"You do not blame yourself for this." Aunt Ella says in the sharpest tone I've ever heard from her. "Every one of us knows when we commit ourselves to this family that our life could be lost at any time. All of us," she emphasizes. "Is there anything you wouldn't do to protect one of us?"
"No," I say instantly. "There's nothing I wouldn't do."
"Then you cannot blame yourself for them taking the same oath." She finds a smile for me, checking my vitals. "When you and Rose feel better tomorrow, I will take you over to see Melina and Av, all right?"
Thank you," I whisper gratefully.
Andrey takes a deep breath. "I have to leave, my sweetheart. I will be back as quickly as possible. Can you forgive me for leaving?"
"Of course," I say. "You're doing it for us. Will you be safe?"
"I'll be fine." Andrey nods.
"Would you lie about that to me?"
"Possibly," he admits. "But not in this case."
I should be so pissed at that answer. Instead, I pull him down for a gentle kiss that still stings the hell out of that cut on my lip. But it's worth it.