Page 148 of Fractured Ties

Konstantin.

“I cannot,” Zhatka murmured. “Vadim was clear. Not you.”

“It’s been five fucking days,” Konstantin snarled. “That’s what he said. Five days and then we can remove him. Dead or alive.”

“She may go in and check,” Zhatka returned. “And if he is alive, then you may remove him. I follow the orders I am given, Konstantin. That is all I do.”

“Then let me go in. Move and let me go.”

That voice.

That sweet, lovely voice.

Maya.

If nothing else could make Kolya wish he could call out or get up from the fucking floor … her voice was it. And yet, he still couldn’t move.

If the door was open, why wasn’t Sumerki running out? If it had been five days, the dog had to be thirsty, hungry, and terrified. Yet, Kolya felt the warmth of his pup tucked in close to his neck, and the barks continued to get sharper and impossibly louder.

He found his spot, Kolya realized.

Sumerki stayed.

Jesus fucking Christ.

“Not you,” Konstantin was quick to say. “Maya, you don’t know what he looks like or—”

“Let me go in!”

“She can go,” Zhatka said dryly. “Let her go, Konstantin.”

“That’s cruel, Zhatka. That’s Vadim being a cocksucker, yeah? Like he didn’t do enough—this is the salt in the wound, once it’s all said and done. I could go in there first; he would never know.”

“I follow orders.”

The argument continued but soft footsteps echoed closer. Kolya felt her in the room before she even made a sound. He felt her presence like the saving grace she truly was in his life.

Her ragged inhale echoed and those footsteps picked up until he felt her kneel beside him. Soft hands—God, he loved her hands—found his face, and turned his head with a gentle touch. And still, the pain reverberated.

It was too much.

He knew what she was seeing.

Vomit on the floor.

Kolya in a pool of his own mess.

Infected wounds.

Death in her hands.

“Kolya,” Maya whispered. “Kolya, look at me. Please, look at me.”

Her hands were shaking.

Or was that him shivering again?

“Kolya!”