Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Annika
“Wake up, devochka. Come back to me.”
I hear Kirill’s deep voice by my side, but it’s different. His voice is deeper, thicker. It trembles slightly as he whispers the words over and over again.
Slowly I pull myself up from the dark space I’ve nestled in, and feeling hits me all at once. Pain, deep and ebbing, radiates from my shoulder and in my upper chest. It hurts so much I almost want to crawl back into the comforting blackness- but another feeling stops me.
It’s in my hand. Warm, firm, soothing, and I realize that it’s Kirill's hands, both of them, stroking and holding my hand.
“Come back,” he keeps whispering, “Come back.”
It takes far more energy than I ever thought it would, but slowly, I force my eyelids to lift, and soft white light pours in. I let out a whimper of pain as I feel myself growing more awake, and Kirill’s hands still and tighten around mine.
“That’s it, devochka, come on,” my husband urges by my side.
I struggle some more, and when I’m finally able to open my eyes fully, I see Kirill’s face staring down into mine. His forehead is etched with worry, his normally piercing blue eyes faded and watery. There are little hollows beneath his eyes, and his skin is pale- but he’s there. Alive.
“Kirill?” I croak, and the tense look on his face floods with relief.
“Thank God,” his voice trembles as he drops his head to my hand and covers it with kisses.
I try to swallow and move my body, wanting to comfort him and tell him I’m alright, but both seem impossible.
“Here,” Kirill says, reaching somewhere next to him. A glass of water with a straw in it appears, and he brings it to my lips.
“Drink, devochka.”
I obey, taking long pulls of the cool, refreshing water, and I feel some of the soreness in my throat fade away.
When my lips let go of the straw Kirill takes the glass away, and he kisses my lips softly, whispering praises in Russian.
Even though I’m weak, I manage to move my lips and kiss him back.
“What happened?” I rasp as he pulls back from our kiss.
I reach for my memories, but all I can grasp is a sense of fear and the act of pushing Kirill out of the way of something.
“You were shot,” Kirill tells me, caressing my cheek. “The bullet got lodged in your shoulder and nicked a main artery.”
Slowly, the memories come back to me. Of being trapped in my room.
Of Valya getting me free. Of Pyotr. Pyotr.
He did this. I remember now. We all thought he was dead, but as I was resting my head on Kirill’s shoulder, I saw him sit up like a mangled zombie, and raise his gun.
That’s when I pushed Kirill and that- that must have been when I got shot.
Suddenly tears spring to my eyes as my hands fly to my stomach.
“The baby-” I start to panic.
“Our baby is fine,” Kirill assured me quickly, placing his hand beside mine atop my stomach, his fingers touching mine. “And you will be too.”
I relax a little, and take a good, long look at my husband.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” I tell him.
His lips twitch as some of the sharpness returns to his eyes.
“I thought the same thing about you,” he replies. “I’m so sorry, devochka.”
My brows furrow.
“What for?” I ask. “None of this was your fault.”
As I say that, Kirill shakes his head.
“It is my fault. I should have discovered what Pyotr was up to sooner. All the clues were there but I didn’t want to put them together.
Didn’t want to believe that my brother would do something like this.
I knew he was unhappy but I- I never thought he’d try to betray me like this.
What he did to you. To Me. To Valya and Yulian. ”
At the mention of my family I tense again.
“Are they are alright?” I ask. “Kirill, I know you’re mad, but they didn’t have a choice!”
“They’re fine,” Kirill promises me. “They’re with my people right now, telling them everything, but they’re going to be fine. I’ll even make a call. Let them come see you if you want.”
I nod my head quickly, and as Kirill pulls out his cellphone, I take a look around the room.
It’s clean and white, but not a hospital.
There’s a chandelier hanging above the bed, a heavy, gray-stained bureau across from the queen sized bed I’m in, and a large, circular mirror hanging directly above it.
“Where am I?” I ask as Kirill puts his phone down.
“You’re home,” Kirill explains. “We have our own doctors and surgeons. They came here and operated on you. Once you’re strong enough, we’ll move you up to our bedroom where you belong.”
“And my family?” I ask. “Where are they?”
“Edik’s nearly finished with their interro- their interview, downstairs. They’ll be up in a few minutes. Until they get here I want to have the doctor come in and look at you.”
I don’t want to wait even a few minutes to see my family, but I nod, knowing that Kirill wouldn’t lie to me. Besides, I want to hear from the doctor myself that our baby is fine.
Kirill picks up his phone again, this time making a call, and barks an order in Russian. Only a second passes before the door my room opens, and a gray-haired woman in gray slacks and a pink sweater walks in.
“I see our patient is awake,” she says, her tone and smile warm as she comes toward me.
“Good to have you back, Annika, I’m Dr. Silinsky,” she tells me, placing a comforting touch on my hand.
“Dr. Silinsky has been taking care of my people for years,” Kirill explains as she begins to gently peel back my bandage and inspect my wound, “She’s an expert at getting us back on our feet even under the worst circumstances.”
“Well you’ve all given me plenty of practice to hone my skills,” Dr. Silinsky jokes.
“How’s your pain levels, dear?” she asks me.
Kirill’s eyes flick back to me, all the worry rushing back to his face.
“Be honest,” he urges me after I hesitate.
“It hurts,” I confess. “But it’s being than being dead I suppose.”
Kirill lets out a dry, humorless laugh as Dr. Silinsky gives me a soft smile.
“That positivity will help you heal quicker,” she tells me as she changes my bandage. “In the meantime, we have pain meds on hand that won’t affect the baby. Once we get a little something in your stomach I can give you some.”
“Speaking of stomach,” I say, moving my hand back over my womb, “Are you sure my baby’s okay?”
Dr. Silinsky gives me a kind look as she snaps off her gloves,
“Let me show you something,” she says, and pulls over one of the many monitors. “See this little line here? How it has these perfect spikes? That’s your baby’s heartbeat.”
I’m so mesmerized by watching the monitor that I barely feel her pull my dressing gown up.
“These leads track your baby,” she explains when I finally look down. I’m relieved as I see that she’s left the blankets at my waist, protecting my modesty.
“I didn’t even know they were there,” I murmur, looking from the leads to the monitor.
“Well they are,” Dr. Silinsky says in a kind voice, pulling my dressing gown back down, “And they’re telling us that your baby is perfectly fine. I’ll do another ultrasound later so you can see him.”
My head and Kirill’s whip towards the doctor.
“It’s a boy?” he asks, his eyes wide with wonder.
Dr. Silinsky gives us both a warm smile.
“It’s a boy,” she tells us, “And he’s very healthy. You’ve got a fighter on your hands.”
My eyes start to water as Kirill looks back to me and takes my hand.
“I have two of them,” he murmurs as he kisses my knuckles.
The pride gleaming in his eyes has my heart swelling with love, and I blurt out the words before I can even think about it.
"I love you."
“Oh, devochka,” Kirill rasps, opening my hand. He kisses my palm sweetly as he lets me stroke his jaw with my fingertips. “I love you too. So much.”
“Well,” Dr. Silinsky sighs, moving toward the door. “Now that you know you’re both happy and healthy, I’ll leave you two be.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Kirill calls after her, and once we’re alone again, Kirill moves onto the bed with me, and we lose ourselves in a kiss.
I’m not sure if it’s minutes or hours that pass, but we don’t break apart until we hear a knock on the door. I can’t help but smile at the annoyed look on my husband’s face as he begrudgingly pulls away, and calls for the people outside to come in.
Edik enters first, then my sister and father. Yana follows them, closing the door behind her. My heart flutters as I see them all again.
“Doch,” my father sobs as he sees me, and he rushes to my bed.
Kirill, Edik, and Yana instantly step forward as if they’re about stop him, but one pleading look at my husband has him stopping himself and the two bodyguards.
I raise my uninjured shoulder up and tightly hug my father.
I start to cry as Valya joins us. I kiss them both on the cheek and hold them tight, thankful they’re still alive.
“They told us everything,” Edik explains as my father and sister situate themselves next to me. “Pyotr approached Valya and he flirted with her. That’s how he got in.”
“He was very charming at first,” Valya tells me, regret shining in her eyes.
“He was different than how he acted at the hospital. I thought for a while that that was his true side, but then he started to change again. I could feel that there was something wrong, but by then, he’d already broken into Papa’s study, stole his accounting information.
I tried to break it off when he wouldn’t leave one night, and that’s when he told me what he’d done. ”
“That’s when he came to speak with me,” my father tells me, “He threatened to not only drain our accounts, but kill you and Valya if didn’t help with him lure the Pakhan into a trap.”
Tears coat my father’s cheeks as he looks from me to Valya, and my heart aches for him.
“I could live without the money. Without the support of our family. But I couldn’t live without you two girls.”
I lean forward, even though it hurts, and the three of us hug tightly.
“You won’t have to,” Kirill says behind me.
All of us pull away from another, sniffling, and turn our attention to the Pakhan.
“Yulian, what you did pissed a lot of people off, even if you were blackmailed. You and Valya are going to have to disappear for a while. But I’ll set up a line of communication between you two and Annika, that way you can talk until it’s safe for you to come back.”
I don’t want my family to go, especially after what we just went through, but I know my husband’s right.
“Just a few months,” Kirill insists. “Until we get this all cleaned up.”
“Just don’t let anything happen to her,” my father begs him.
Kirill’s eyes focus on me, a look of devotion and protection shining in his gaze.
“You have my word, Yulian. She’ll be safe.”
Knowing what he’s just done to protect me. That he just murdered his own brother to keep me and our child safe. I know it’s true. And I also know that even though I’ll miss them, I’ll see my family again soon.