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Something is wrong.
My voice wavers with uncertainty as my heart starts thumping in my chest. “Alex? What’s going on?”
Cupping my cheek, he brushes a thumb over my jaw. “Do you remember that trip we talked about?”
I frown. “To St. Petersburg in the spring?”
There’s reassurance in the smile he offers, but I don’t miss the vigilance that makes the blue of his eyes appear colder. “Yes.”
That look in his eyes makes my throat go dry. “What about it?”
“I’m afraid it has to be accelerated.”
The suitcases and the hasty preparations… It hits me like a fist in the stomach. “To when?”
His firm reply brooks no argument. “Tonight.”
I must’ve heard wrong. “What? You want us to go now?”
“Yes, kiska,” he says, reaching for my hand. “Right now.”
I pull away, backing up. “We didn’t discuss this.”
He watches my retreat with the attention of a predator, but he doesn’t move. His voice remains calm. “I’m aware of that.”
“I can’t,” I exclaim. “It’s a hectic period at the ER. They need me now more than ever. I can’t leave them in the lurch. Anyway, I barely have any vacation days left for this year.”
Watching me levelly, he says, “Actually, you’re taking a leave of absence, as we may be gone for several months.”
“What?” I utter a soft, hysterical laugh, backtracking to the door. “You’re insane.”
He allows the distance, studying me with a disturbingly unfaltering gaze. “No, kiska. Not insane. Just determined to keep you safe.”
“Safe from what?” I look around the space as if I’ll find the answer there. “From whom?”
The men are going through the room, sweeping an instrument that looks like a small metal detector over the furniture and fixings. Some of them are standing at attention by the door while others are hauling more luggage down the stairs.
“Katerina.”
The stern yet gentle way he says my name brings my attention back to him.
“You know about the attempt on my life,” he continues. “You know it’s not safe here.”
The beat of my heart accelerates until it pulses in my temples. “Has something happened?” I’m frozen in place with a mixture of dread and fear. “Did someone shoot at you again?”
“Not me,” he says with an odd note of regret.
“If not you, then…” My mind connects the dots, but my lips go numb, refusing to form the word. Me. It takes me a moment to find my voice again. “How? What?”
Dipping his hand into his pocket, he takes out a plastic card with a clip and holds it out to me.
It’s my hospital access card.
My mind is in shambles, my thoughts a jumbled mess. I read the name printed on the card three times before my brain formulates a sentence. “I lost it today. Where did you find it?”
He lowers his hand, tracing the letters of my name on the card with his thumb. “Someone tied it with a ribbon to the fence. The guard who patrols the garden found it at the back of the property twenty minutes ago, around the same time you left the hospital.”
“Why?” I ask, my tongue tripping over the words. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would someone take my card and leave it here? Unless… maybe I dropped it and someone found it. Everyone knows we’re dating. Everyone knows I’ve moved in with you. You’re a well-known figure in the city. It can’t be difficult to find out where you live.”
“If that were the case, that person would’ve rung the doorbell like normal people do. But why even bother to find out where I live? They could’ve left it at the hospital where it would’ve been returned to you immediately. No, Katerina. Someone stole your card.”
My pulse jumps. “I don’t get it.” I pace in a circle. Someone simply returned a lost card. They must have. The alternative is too scary. I stop to face him and try again. “Why would someone steal my card only to leave it here?”
Raising a brow, he watches me quietly.
“They’re sending a message?” I ask through dry lips.
A dark look crosses his face as he slips the card back into his pocket. “A warning.”
I can only stand there like an idiot and repeat the phrase I can’t make sense of. “A warning?”
He closes the distance between us in three steps and grabs my upper arms. “I want you to think back to the moment you realized you’d lost your card.” He gives me a gentle shake. “Think, Katerina. This is very important.”
“I—” Biting my lip, I run through the busy day in my mind. “It was after lunch. I needed to access the dispensary when I noticed it was gone.”
His gaze is imploring. “Before that, when was the last time you used it?”
“When I clocked in for duty.”
“Do you remember anyone bumping into you or any out-of-the-ordinary distractions?”
I shake my head. “We were busy, but it was the same as any other day. I thought I’d hooked the card on something in my rush and the clip had come off.”
