65. Anastasia
ANASTASIA
For the second time, awareness is a slow climb up a mountain, this time accompanied by a squeeze of my hand rather than rope around my wrists.
My eyes open to a dim lamp, the sun low in the sky somewhere to the side, and Vanessa and Lev seated on either side of me.
Vanessa clenches my hand tighter and stands the second I blink, cataloguing the fact that my head is thumping, my face doesn’t feel right at all, my vision is blurry, and my side stings.
“Everything hurts.”
Her huff is concealed behind a grimace as she leans into my view.
Not having to turn my head helps. “You look like you survived hell. Your injuries are extensive. You’re in the hospital, which is where you’ll be staying for a few more days.
It’s been over three since the wedding. You were placed in a medically induced coma to ease the swelling in your body. ”
The information is a lot, making my brain feel like soup.
“I wish…” She shudders, looking at a beeping machine beside the bed. “No one knew when you left. Zeno hates it was his men who did this.”
“Vasilyev,” I gasp out, because she needs to know who’s really behind it. Somewhere to my left, a cup and straw enter my field of vision, so I suck in the tepid water, which my body takes in as if never getting enough. “He escaped, but he was there. He funded them.”
“We know.” She rubs my hand again. “We found proof in their phones. Other than the two you took out, he had five more of Zeno’s soldiers on his side. Elio’s already rounded them up.”
If those five had joined the two, it would have been seven men versus me. Even my skills have limits. I wouldn’t have made it out alive.
“They’re dead?” I check, my face tightening with the pressure. “The two…”
She nods, her lips turning down in the corners. “You took down two grown men with a knife and a chair. It’s impressive.”
“After untying myself from that very chair.”
“Only you’d be able to pull something like that off.”
I’d grin if it didn’t hurt so much. “How’d you find me?”
“It was Serafina who realized you never came back to the reception. We figured you made up with Nero or at least were together. Come morning, when no one heard from you, we started texting your phone only to get nothing. So Lev”—she jerks her chin to the other side of the bed—“tracked your location. From there, Zeno called Nero when he found it strange you were in a warehouse.”
Turning my head until my brother is in view isn’t without a tender crick in my neck. “Surprised you’re here.”
“You’re my sister,” he replies stiffly, shoulders pulling back. “I care about you.”
Turning back to Vanessa slowly, I ask what I really need to know. To know if I dreamed it or not. The fact I’m in a bed and not on top of cement means some of it must be correct.
“Nero, did he…? He—”
“He found you,” she fills in. “Once Zeno phoned him, he didn’t wait another second before searching. By the time Zeno and I arrived, he had removed you from the warehouse. He seemed a bit lost, to be honest. He looked…well, deader than you did. Zeno claimed he’s never seen him like that.”
“Irritated he had to help?”
The skin between her eyes furrows. “You don’t believe that.”
I don’t. Not when recalling his touch, which pulled me back from the sweet lull of sleeping forever. His face kick-started my heart, got me further from death when he gripped me tight to his chest, his beating heart almost erratic as mine, but soothing too. To know someone cares like he does.
Beyond that, the rest is a blur. I don’t even recall falling back to sleep.
“Where is he?”
“Out.” She glances up at Lev before adding, “They found Vasilyev at the border. Nero went to oversee it.”
“How’d you find him?”
“Two organizations were hunting his ass. He wasn’t escaping.”
Hearing that eases me back against the pillows with a sigh, which also brings the faint edges of black to my vision again. Sleep tugs on my hand, urging me back down. But I’ll be damned if I rest before seeing him.
Vanessa leaves, attention diving to her phone, stating she’ll return in a moment. Alone with Lev, I twist again to take him in. He looks as tired as I feel, with black smudges below his eyes. Dressed in sweats and a hoodie, he’s the epitome of an exhausted hospital guest.
“You and your tracking software forever save us. Thanks.”
“Always,” he replies as awkwardly as he spoke earlier. The stiffness within his tone transitions into his body as he lowers himself to the edge of my bed. A strange expression passes over his face before he reaches for my hand. A finger to the back, and then his palm on top of mine.
“Your care is astounding,” I tease.
“I’m trying. It was easier when Fina was in the hospital.”
“It was Sera, that’s why. She’s the exception to everything. It’s alright.” To drag out his pain for longer because it’s not fair that only one of us is broken. My hand flips to capture his tightly. “Be honest. How bad is it? How do I look?”
In his usual way, Lev holds nothing back. “Terrible and ugly. You’re cut up and bruised. Your face is swollen, and so are your knuckles.”
“I’d punch you if it wouldn’t hurt so badly.”
“You asked for it. Still…” He swallows, then turns to look out the far window. “I’m glad you survived. I’m not sure how to go on without you by my side. Fina might be extra special to me, but you’re my twin. With rest, time, and medication, you’ll be back to your normal annoying self.”
“You really confuse me when you get emotional.”
“It won’t happen often, so don’t stress. Speaking of stress…” He twists back to me, his expression foreign. “Don’t be too hard on Nero. Vanessa was correct. He’s a mess. He looked…”
“Like you did when we found Serafina in the crash, I’d imagine.”
Horror shudders through him. “I suppose so. He’s determined to return to your side, and I’m not sure I could prevent him from doing so without turning it into a full-blown fight, so unless you’re absolutely certain you don’t want to see him…
” His voice picks up, phrasing the statement as a question about my comfort over the scenario.
Something close to the sense of safety wraps a blanket around my shoulders and burrows me into the bed at the thought of Nero visiting.
“Are you still mad at him?” Lev asks before I get the chance to explain how much I want Nero here.
“I’m always mad at him.” Since the moment I met him.
Lev’s brows draw together, and he slowly shakes his head.
“I’m not. His actions didn’t steal from us, but helped.
Maybe it’s for the best that he’s the one who killed Papa.
He’s gone, which is what matters. There’s a reason we let him go free years ago.
No matter the hatred, no matter how much his death was deserved, our DNA wasn’t able to do it.
What’s to say our trip to the Cayman Islands wouldn’t have ended with us leaving him alive? ”
Lev’s argument isn’t one I considered. Could I have murdered my papa? It certainly feels like I could, but thoughts and actions are different. When the gun was in my hand or a knife to his throat, could I have gone through with it?
Maybe Lev is right. Maybe Nero saved me in another way.
“I called Nero after everything,” my brother continues.
“I told him that I don’t hold grudges the same way.
That whatever was happening between you two was only between you two, and not me.
” He stares down at my hand. “If you wanted to make him grovel for longer, I think finding you beat up in that warehouse might have been the ultimate retribution.”
“Who are you?”
“Just a man who knows what it feels like to nearly lose his heart. I sympathize with Nero.”
“Now you understand sympathy?” My eyes roll, only to immediately sting at the pressure.
“Blame Fina.”
The door opens and Vanessa returns, sliding her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. She looks between the two of us. “That was Zeno. Vasilyev is officially in custody. Dimitri and I will head over to where they have him. Katya and Sera are in the waiting room, if you’re up for more visitors?”
“Always,” I whisper, feeling my heart swell a million sizes. My life went from an abusive father and equally traumatized brother to an entire group of people who care. “Anything for family.”
Both toss me a confused look. It’s Lev who mutters, “Must be the drugs she’s doped up on.”