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I curl her around me and tip her chin up with one finger. “I’m not taking any more chances with you.”
Her face softens. “I’m going to be okay.”
“I know.” I look over her head to the doctor. “Because the good doctor here is going to personally make sure of it.”
The man’s mouth presses into a firm line. Then he nods. “Of course, Mr. Kulikov. Whatever you need.”
He scurries off to make arrangements and I settle Luna back into her hospital bed.
“One of the best obstetricians in the country is going to be here to see you tomorrow.”
“They already told me the baby is okay,” she insists. “You heard the heartbeat.”
I snort. “I heard a bunch of static that could have been a whale call for all I fucking know. I want to make sure everything is fine. Dr. Jenkins is flying in tomorrow.”
Her eyes pop. “He’s flying in?”
“He owes me a favor,” I shrug.
Truthfully, hundreds of thousands of people are going to owe me a favor. Dr. Jenkins has me to thank for funding his multi-million-dollar research study.
“This is too much, Yakov. I’m fine. Really. I was only there for… It wasn’t even a full day.”
She says it like she can’t quite believe it all happened so fast. I can’t, either. It felt like we were apart for so much longer.
She blows out a shaky breath and I know that, in her mind, she’s back in that cell. Just for a second.
For the same second, I’m there with her. I see Akim’s fucking goon on top of her. I feel the way his skull gives way as I smash it across the concrete.
Luna told me in the car that no one touched her, but if I’d been even a few minutes later…
I grab her wrist and hold it, feeling the reassuring thrum of her pulse against my palm. “It doesn’t matter how long it was. You shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I’m never going to let you be in that position again.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You know that, right?” she asks softly. “None of this is your fault.”
“I know. There’s only one person to blame.” I lay her hand gently across her stomach—across our baby. “I have to go.”
Luna knows what I’m saying. Where I’m going.
“Be careful,” she whispers solemnly.
As I’m leaving, Mariya calls out, “Kick Akim in the balls for me, please and thanks.”
I got the call that Nikandr was out of surgery in the middle of Luna’s second exam in the emergency room. If I’d told her, she would have shoved me out the door and insisted I go see Nik immediately. But I didn’t want to leave her.
Honestly, I don’t want to go see Nik, either. Not like this. I said goodbye to him once tonight. That was more than enough. I don’t want to have to do it again.
The nurse stops me outside his door. “The doctor isn’t here right now. If you want to know more?—”
“I want to see him,” I say, pushing past her.
She lingers in front of the door. “I can’t stop you, but you should know what you’re walking into.”
It might be easier if I don’t know. Hope would be easier without the facts. But I nod. “Fine.”
“The surgery went well,” she explains, “but he’s in a medically-induced coma. He was without oxygen for… well, we don’t know how long. It left him with some swelling on the brain. The coma will help him heal. He’s under ice blankets for the same reason.”
“Is he brain-dead?” I grit out.
