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“Yes.” I stand, but the door opens before I reach it.

Irina comes in first, pale and shaken, and goes straight to Anya. “Oh, darling,” she says. “You scared us.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Anya whispers.

“I know. Of course you didn’t.”

I let her have that moment because Anya knows her and because Anya is watching me too closely already.

Then I say, “She asked for Elara.”

Irina’s hand pauses on the blanket.

“Where is she?” I ask.

“She left,” Irina says.

I go still. “Left where?”

“The corridor.”

“She would not leave the hospital.”

Irina looks at me. “You should keep an eye on her.”

“Now’s not the time to test my patience,” I say quietly.

“She’s broke and desperate. She has an ex who keeps finding her.”

I narrow my eyes. “How do you know about that?”

She looks flabbergasted I asked the question. “I-I may have had her checked.”

I shake my head. She’s unbelievable.

She comes around the side of the bed where I’m sitting. “Niko, please. Everything I’ve done is for you and my niece. My sister would have wanted me to take care of you and your problems. And Elara is one of them. Every trouble in your house began after she arrived.”

Anya looks between us.

I keep my voice low. “Not in front of my daughter.”

“Please, Sofia would really be hurt to see all of this happening,” she continues. “She would want her daughter safe, not have it all thrown away for a stranger.”

“Don’t bring her into it,” I say quietly.

“I am thinking of your daughter.”

“No. You are thinking of Elara.”

Irina’s mouth tightens. “What if she was in on it with Kirill?”

I say nothing. Not because I believe her. I say nothing because Anya is staring at me with fear in her eyes, and if I answer Irina the way I want to, I will frighten my daughter more.

But the silence is another mistake. I know it as soon as it happens.

I kiss Anya’s forehead, away from the bandage. “I’ll be right back.”

“Are you getting Elle?”