Page 201 of Barinov

“Every thought.”

I finish with a kiss to her forehead before resting mine against hers. “And eventually when you think about that house…” I wrap my arms around her waist. “…you won’t think about him any more.”

Her bottom lip trembles.

“You’ll think about coming home.”

“I just—”

The waiting room door slams back open. I swear to God the universe has a personal vendetta against us finishing a fucking conversation anymore.

Sabine doesn’t even check the corners of the room when she walks in. Her guard is completely down. Hell, it’s nonexistent. She’s blinking in slow motion. Her eyelids drag every time they close. From the way her body’s swaying, I can tell she’s running on fumes and stubbornness.

And yet she has the balls to call me the stubborn fool.

“He’s awake, chérie.”

Bella’s hands drop from my shirt instantly. The haze of our moment shatters as she spins toward the door.

“Take me to him.”

Chapter 51

ZEKE

Manhattan, New York

The stethoscope burns cold against my bare skin.

“Take another deep breath for me,” a redheaded nurse says, her freckles blurring in and out of focus under the harsh fluorescent lights.

I rake in a breath that feels like sandpaper.

“Good.” She nods, adjusting the scope. “One more for me, Zeke.”

I try again. The air barely makes it halfway into my lungs before a hacking cough tears free. My entire body folds around the pain as another follows, then another. Beside the bed, the monitor erupts in angry beeps.

“Easy now.” The nurse’s voice cuts through the alarms as her steady hand presses firmly against my shoulder. “Don’t fight it.”

“Hard not to,” I choke out. One deep, rattling cough echoes in my chest before my breath finally decides to even the fuck out into a shallow but shaky rhythm.

“There,” she murmurs. “That’s better.”

“Zeke!”

My name is a sob and a scream all at once as she bursts in. Before the nurse can even pull the stethoscope away from my chest, Bella launches herself across the bed and throws her weight onto me.

“Excuse you!” the nurse yells, reaching out to yank my sister off me.

“It’s fine, Samantha. She’s family,” Sabine’s voice cuts through the panic. She rests a warm hand on the nurse’s arm. “And you should know by now that the heart heals faster than the lungs.”

Samantha nods reluctantly. “I’ll be back in a few hours to check your vitals,” she says, stepping away from the bed.

“Are you alright?” Bella sobs. She pulls back, her shaking hands gripping at my cheeks to yank my focus to her.

“I’m fine, Bells,” I say. “Sabine identified whatever Ivan jabbed me with in time for the doc to flush it out.”

Bella glances up at Sabine with tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she cries, reaching out to grab Sabine’s hand. “You saved him.”