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“Tell me more.”
I listen carefully to Lan’s recounting of events. By the time he’s done, I’ve already formed an image in my head regarding what seems to be the issue.
Landon gets his prize and says he’s going to find his brother, who’s in a place he’s not supposed to be.
I’m still thinking about my nephew’s words when I arrive in front of Creighton’s room.
My feet come to a halt when I catch a glimpse of a petite girl in sweatpants and a hoodie, her hair falling on either side of her face, and she’s crying. Silently. As she glues her face to the glass. Both her palms are on the surface, her lips trembling as she murmurs something I can’t hear.
That must be Annika Volkov.
The girl Eli was giving Creighton shit about when they talked to Elsa once.
My wife wouldn’t shut up about it that night, retelling me every word with her bright expression and smiley face. She was so happy that her youngest was finally finding love.
She’d assumed both our boys would die alone and she wouldn’t have any grandchildren but was happy to be proved wrong.
Annika is also apparently the girl who shot my son.
The one who stabbed him in the back when it mattered the most.
I approach her with powerful strides. She doesn’t sense me, seeming too focused on the other side to notice her surroundings.
When I stop behind her, I can hear what she’s whispering in a brittle voice.
“I’m sorry…so sorry… Please wake up… If you do…if you do, I don’t mind if you kill me. I’m so sorry, Creigh…so sorry.”
“Is that all you have to say after what you’ve done?”
She flinches, and slowly turns around to face me, her eyes wide, her cheeks tear-streaked, and I realize exactly what she is.
Annika Volkov is the missing piece that’s forbidding Creighton from waking up, and I’ll do anything to get my son back.
31
ANNIKA
Ishouldn’t be here.
If Papa finds out I’ve come to the hospital, which I’m sure he will, considering the thousand and one guards he brought with him—Kolya included—I’m done for.
But I managed to sneak out in disguise while everyone was busy.
I had to see Creighton one final time before I’m dragged back to the US.
I had to hear the machines beeping, signaling that he’s alive.
But he’s not awake.
From what little info Remi fed me, his condition gets more complicated the longer he stays in a vegetative state.
Remi is the only one who talks to me, secretly, monotonically, even. Like everyone else, he hates me for putting his friend and cousin in this state, but he also said, “I understand that you did it to save your brother, but I still don’t like you right now.”
That’s okay.
As long as I’m updated about Creighton, I don’t care if I’m disliked, hated, or downright tortured for what I’ve done.
And I think that’s exactly what will happen as I stare into Aiden King’s soulless gray eyes. They’re so much like Eli’s, both in their terrifying edge and in color, that it’s absolutely horrifying.
