Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Alfonzo
Without bothering to knock first, Niran pushed open my office door and held out his tablet to me without offering a single word of explanation.
Grunting, I tossed my pen down on my desk and took the tablet from him, glancing down at it.
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him what the fuck he was bothering me about security issues for since it was his job when I saw it. Saw him.
My boy shakily walking up the driveway to the house, swaying on his feet. He was holding his shoulder and bleeding too goddamn much. Blood soaked his shirt completely on one side. How the fuck was he still alive?
“Fuck,” I snarled, shoving back from my desk.
I dropped Niran’s tablet on the wooden tabletop and hurried around him, breaking into a run once I exited my office.
Rico shouted something after me when I rushed past his office, but I ignored him.
Protecting Maksim would more than likely get me an ass chewing, but nothing more than that.
I knew Rico well enough to know he’d let me keep him if I was so attached.
Even if he hated the Russians with every bone in his body.
I yanked open the front door, then hurried outside.
Maksim’s eyes clashed with mine just as he dropped to one knee.
I didn’t hear his voice, but I saw his lips mouth my name.
I ran down the steps, catching him in my arms as I slid to my knees in front of him.
Lightly tapping his cheek, I forced his eyes to focus on mine. “Maksim, hey. Focus on me, mouse.”
“Blood loss,” he managed. His face was so pale. Too fucking pale. How long had he been fucking bleeding? He was covered in the red substance. Some of it was dried, but a lot of it was still wet and warm. He needed medical attention immediately.
I swept him up into my arms despite his protests about being heavy and hurried toward the house. Rico was standing by the open door, his jaw clenched tightly. He narrowed his eyes at me. “We need to talk,” he growled.
“Once he’s received medical attention,” I told him. “Not a moment fucking sooner. He’s not dying today.”
I hurried past Rico and down the hall where our security personal stayed, which was where the infirmary was.
When I got into the room, the doctor looked up at me from behind his wire-rimmed glasses, and his eyes widened in surprise.
Clearly, he was confused. I could see the questions glimmering in his eyes.
We only helped family, but Maksim was mine.
I didn’t give a fuck how Rico or anyone else felt about it—Maksim was getting the help he needed today.
“Alfonzo,” he greeted, quickly standing from his seat. He pushed his blonde hair back from his face. “What can I do for you?”
“He needs help,” I growled through clenched teeth. “His name is Maksim. I don’t know what happened, but he’s bleeding.”
I gently laid Maksim on the table. He frowned up at me but didn’t bother opening his mouth. He just slowly turned his head to watch Nicholas, also known as Dr. Allman, don a pair of gloves. “I need his jacket off,” Nicholas told me, falling into his role as the family doctor easily.
Nicholas had been a doctor in San Diego until he did an appendicitis operation on a pregnant woman.
Her appendix was already about to explode, and he warned her of the consequences of the procedure, that while he would do everything he could to protect her pregnancy, there was still a chance she could miscarry.
And that small chance happened to her. While the young woman had signed off on the paperwork to have the procedure done, her husband lost his shit and sued both Nicholas and the hospital.
Nicholas was immediately terminated, stating malpractice as their reasoning, which put a black mark on his career forever.
Rico, having heard of him and how good of a doctor he was, offered him a salary twice of what he was making at the hospital if he promised to only work for Rico and turn a blind eye to the shit we all did.
Nicholas Allman had been with us since, living his best life, if I had to hazard a guess.
“You want to fucking explain?” Rico growled as he came to stand beside me.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Maksim is mine,” I told him, my eyes never leaving my boy. A warning threaded through my words. “Don’t try to take him from me, Rico. You will not succeed.”
Rico frowned at my boy, who was now out of his jacket, the bloody garment tossed into the trashcan. His dark t-shirt was stained even darker by his blood, and when Nicholas ripped his shirt open, I snarled.
Someone had shot him.
Someone had dared to shoot what belonged to me.
“Who?” I snarled, leveling my gaze with Maksim’s. “Who the fuck shot you?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know,” he rasped, his voice thick with pain and his words a little slurred with blood loss. His head lolled, his eyes shutting. I stepped forward and gently tapped his cheek again, forcing his eyes open. “Hard to think.”
“I know, mouse,” I rasped, my heart in my fucking throat. “Just stay awake, okay?” I looked at Nicholas. “He’s lost a lot of blood—clearly. Find out his blood type so we can get a transfusion going.”
Nicholas sighed. “I know you’re worried, Alfonzo, but let me do what I do best, okay? He won’t die on this table. I promise.”
Rico pointed his finger at me. “My office. Now. Your… boy is in good hands, Alfonzo, and you fucking know it. But you and I need to fucking talk.”
I clenched my jaw, looking at Maksim once more. He forced a small smile to his face. “Go,” he whispered, his voice weak. “I won’t die. I swear.”
I blew out a harsh breath, then nodded, leaning down to mold my lips to his in a hot kiss that was still gentle—for him. Just for him because clearly, he’d been through fucking enough.
“I’ll be back,” I promised.
He nodded. “I’ll be here.”
He better fucking be. And the glare I threw Nicholas’s way made my threat clear. The man swallowed thickly and nodded once. “I’ll take good care of him.”
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to turn and leave the infirmary, heading up the hall to Rico’s office.