Page 79 of The Lies Between Lovers

It could only be one thing.

22.

“Your color is a lot better than it was when I got here yesterday,” Vaslav noted.

Vera squinted despite the low lighting. “What day is it?”

“Tuesday evening.”

She didn’t really seem to register what he had just told her. Her black stare didn’t flicker with the knowledge that she had been in the hospital for more than twenty-four hours. The concern that had been gnawing at his heart since Igor got the call from Kiril that Vera had needed to be hospitalized didn’t ease up. If anything, that bitch doubled down.

“Apparently, you had a bad infection.”

“And an appointment to get antibiotics,” she replied just as fast.

Except he could see the way her fast defensiveness went away the second she couldn’t say what happened after.

“No worries,” a medsestra said as she pushed open the door and strode into the room with a wide smile. Her standard white uniform and apron only made the woman’s icy, sleek hair all the more blonde. “We’ve got you on the right antibiotics now, Misses.”

Vaslav opted to settle back in the rocking chair as the nurse came in and moved around the room. First came the rolling table that she pulled away from the wall and pushed the top to position over the bed. She picked up the newspaper and corrected it without a complaint about why it was there in the first place, and never once stopped smiling all the while.

She easily distracted Vera—bubbly, friendly personalities tended to do that to people. Vaslav didn’t mind letting the nurse wake Vera up a little more and bring back some of the memories that might be fuzzy from a long, much needed sleep and whatever medicinal cocktail they had shoved into her IV.

Antibiotics, they told him.

That didn’t mean he trusted it to be true.

Vera was happy to maneuver into a sitting position when the nurse encouraged her to do so, all the while explaining how her stop at an emergency clinic when her doctor cancelled at the last minute had landed her here.

“You don’t have any antibiotic allergies, do you?” the woman asked.

Vera shook her head. “No, but I also haven’t been on a lot of medicine to say I could be, either.”

The nurse nodded, smiling again. “The doctor will get into specifics, but you do have what is probably an allergy. Your pressure dropped, you already had a spiking fever again, and—”

“Kiril found you in the clinic’s bathroom,” Vaslav interjected, wanting Vera to know who it was that came upon her when she was most vulnerable. The nurse wouldn’t have those details, but he wanted Vera to. To the medsestra, he said, “Apologies—please continue.”

“Anyway, you’re on the right antibiotics to treat your infection now, and you’re getting a good dose through IV until at least tomorrow, so you won’t have to worry about that much longer,” the nurse continued, her gaze drifting back to Vaslav in the far-left corner of the room.

He ignored the woman.

Instead, the thick, plastic shades became more interesting to him that whatever else the nurse had to say. He pulled one of the shades away from the window to survey the manicured grounds of the hospital’s sick wing.

“And why was I brought here?” he heard Vera ask. “European Medical is closer to the clinic.”

Vaslav let the blind go and returned to his previous position.

The nurse only said, “Perhaps they diverted for whatever reason. Your chart looks like there might be a discharge tomorrow if everything stays on track. It’s a bit late, but you’ve been sleeping so even though you missed dinner, I could gather you something if you’re feeling up to eating?”

“I could try to eat, thanks.”

It was only after the nurse had left the room that Vera turned to him again. “I blame you for this.”

Vaslav’s brow lifted a bit. “Excuse me?”

“I shouldn’t have gone straight to sleep. I told you I had to pee!”

Ah.