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"He's good, Nikolai," Elena said. She sounded tired, but there was a lightness in her voice that gave me hope. "It's not cancer," she quickly added.
The relief was overwhelming. So much so that I sank back down onto the couch and pressed my head against my hand as if it had suddenly become too heavy for my body. "Thank God," I breathed.
“It's a bacterial infection."
I shook my head. "Another one?" I said in disbelief. Despite his young age, Maks had already had three bacterial infections in the last year. His doctor hadn't been able to explain them. He’d simply prescribed antibiotics and that had been it. But none of the previous infections had caused such an extreme reaction.
"He can probably go home tomorrow," Elena continued.
"Do they know what caused it?" I asked.
There was a long pause and then Elena said, "No."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," I said.
"No, Nikolai, I know you need to work. Besides, the doctors want to limit how many visitors Maks has until they're sure his body is responding to the antibiotics. Mama is watching Natalia and Papa is bringing me a few things, so we’re fine."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I knew she was right, but I still didn't like not being there for her. Despite Elena being ten years younger than me, she and I were extremely close. As much as I loved my job, my family meant everything to me.
Even as I had the thought, Jude entered my mind. I was suddenly antsy to get off the phone and find him. "Okay, call me if you need anything. Tell Maks I'll see him soon."
"I will," Elena responded.
We said our goodbyes and hung up. As soon as I did, a notification came through on the screen that had me sighing in relief. It was from Andy, the guy who covered the night shift for me. His text said that he and Jude had just arrived at Jude's office. I sent him a quick note saying that I was on my way to relieve him and then forced myself to my feet. I rushed through a shower and a shave and then hurried to the kitchen to make some coffee. I was surprised to find freshly brewed coffee already waiting for me. I knew I had Jude to thank for that because I certainly hadn’t been in any position to prep the coffee the night before.
I snagged a travel mug from the cabinet and filled it with the bitter goodness before hurrying downstairs. While Jude's office wasn't far away, I chose to grab a cab since the early morning rush hour was only just getting started. By the time I reached Jude's office, I was feeling a little bit more like myself. Despite having gotten the note from Andy that all was well, I still felt restless and on edge and knew it was because I needed to see Jude for myself. It was more proof that I was becoming too emotionally involved with my client. I really needed to figure out how to tell Mike that my professionalism was taking a back seat when it came to Jude. I could hang on another week or two until Mike had secured the contract for the business trip that Hayes’s employees were taking to Rio, but then I’d have to insist that someone be assigned to cover Jude in my place.
Even as I had the thought, I was shaking my head. Just because I needed to have someone else protect Jude didn't mean I wanted to.
Yeah, professionalism wasn't even taking a back seat anymore. It had flown the coop completely.
When I reached Jude's office suite, I saw the regular security guard standing at attention outside it. I nodded in greeting, and then stepped inside.
"Morning, Nik," Andy said as he stood up from where he’d been flipping through a magazine.
"Morning," I said. "Listen, Andy, I'm sorry I wasn't there this morning—"
Andy put up his hand and said, "No worries, Nik. Jude told me you had a family emergency. I hope everything's okay."
"It is," I answered.
"Good. Hey, if you need me to keep covering him—"
"No," I said with a shake of my head. Despite the out that Andy was offering me, I had no interest in taking it. I didn't want to examine too closely why that was.
“So everything’s good with him?" I said as I motioned in the direction of Jude's office. I felt restless as I waited for his response. I really just wanted to get in there and see Jude for myself.
"Yeah,” he said. "After I texted you last night that I was there, Jude came out of your apartment and went straight into his after telling me you had that emergency. He deviated a little from his schedule this morning by not going for a run. He wanted to come straight here. Said he had a lot of work to do."
