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“Are you okay?”
Chloe swallowed hard, squeezing Alice’s hand. “For now. But this is the third or fourth time I’ve felt this pain. I think it’s contractions.”
Alice’s pulse raced. “Oh, wow. I don’t…what do I do?”
“Can you take me to the hospital? I’ll call Alek on the way.”
“Yes!”
Alice felt like an idiot for not thinking of that herself.Of course, they needed to get to the hospital right away.
Chloe’s pain didn’t come back until they were in the car, and Alice was a nervous wreck as she drove to the hospital.
“Aren’t we supposed to be timing these?” she asked.
“What difference does it make?” Chloe replied through gritted teeth, her legs squirming as she held her stomach. “We’re already on the way to the damn hospital.”
Alice decided to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the ride. Chloe was obviously in a lot of pain, and she didn’t need to bother the woman with questions.
Chloe called Alek during the car ride, but he didn’t answer. Her message was mostly low, painful moaning, but she managed to get the information out before hanging up.
Alice held onto her arm and led her inside the labor and delivery ward. Everything was a whirlwind as Chloe was led to a room by nurses. Alice was led to a waiting area, where she paced the floor, worried about the fact that Chloe was alone. Should she have offered to go into the room with her? Or would that be weird? They didn’t know each otherthatwell.
She was alone for a while before she saw a familiar face rush into the labor ward. Alek had arrived.
“How is she?Whereis she?”
Before Alice could answer, a doctor entered the waiting area. “Are you Mr. Razin?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Miss Stuart’s doctor. She’s having Braxton Hicks contractions.”
“Braxton Hicks?” Alek asked.
“False labor. Consider it a practice run. She was a little dehydrated, but I’ve given her fluids, and she’s doing just fine.”
Alice watched as Alek seemed to deflate, relief making him sag as he realized that Chloe was okay. His head swung around until his eyes met hers. Her breath was stolen by the warmth she saw there.
She hadn’t had much interaction with Alek over the past two weeks, but when she did see him, he’d been just as cold and aloof as their first meeting. But this was different.
“Thank you for taking care of her.”
The doctor led Alek to Chloe’s room while Alice stayed behind watching him with a torrent of conflicting emotions rushing through her. She’d been trying so hard to see these people as the bad guys, the kind of hardened criminals that deserved to be in prison. Coming into this, she had the mindset that they were all one-dimensional because they were in the Bratva.
But she couldn’t deny it any longer. These people could be good too. They were complex, and there were shades of gray to all of this.
Accepting that as fact didn’t make things easier for her. How was she supposed to feel good about doing her job when she was starting to care about these people so much?
* * *
Alice left the hospital as soon as she was able to check on Chloe herself, making sure that she was feeling better. Alek fussed over his girlfriend in a way that was endearing, even if it did drive Chloe a little crazy. They were both grateful to her, even though she argued that she didn’t do much.
Going home, she debated sending an update to Roberts, just because she hadn’t had much to report so far, but she decided against it. What happened today felt too personal to share. Besides, it had nothing to do with the Bratva.
She’d just walked in the door, kicking off her shoes, when she got a text message from Nickolay. It was a simple, one line message.
Can I come over?
