Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
So I did. And they knew that I knew they’d be coming. So why the hell are they pretending like I don’t know Alina would reach out to them first thing?
Unless… she didn’t. Or couldn’t.
Everything inside me goes cold.
What if she didn’t climb out of that window on her own?
What if someone took her?
Fuck knows, her brothers and I have enemies to spare.
Goddammit. What if that’s what the Molotovs want me to think so they can get her out of Geneva without bloodshed? Is this what they’re hoping to achieve by coming here unarmed—convincing me that they’re not involved in her disappearance?
Then again, what if they aren’t?
“We’ll see her now,” Valery repeats harshly, taking a step forward, and Konstantin does the same. Their faces are hard, determined, their postures tense and combat ready—the very picture of brothers dead set on getting to their sick sister, regardless of the risk to themselves.
Ruslan was right. If it’s a fucking act, it’s an Oscar-worthy one.
The threat of violence hangs in the air, thickening the atmosphere, and I make a split-second decision. Because the only thing worse than Alina’s brothers taking her from me would be someone else doing that. Someone who doesn’t care for her.
Someone who wants to hurt me or her brothers through her.
“I don’t have her,” I say, laying all the cards on the table. “And the two of you either know that full well, or she’s in big fucking trouble.”
Chapter 5
Alina
I writhe on the bed, the pain in my skull unbearable, nauseating. In the past, I’ve had drugs—migraine meds, painkillers, or pot—to help me through these episodes. But I don’t dare take so much as a Tylenol now, not when I have yet to decide what to do about the fragile life inside me.
My baby girl. She’s still only the size of a speck of lint, and I already love her.
“Come on, let me get you something,” Birgit begs as she presents the bucket for me to be sick in for the umpteenth time. “Or let me take you to a hospital.”
“No,” I groan when I’m done heaving. “Please don’t. You… you promised.”
She nods, but she looks unsure. Probably because it’s one thing to impulsively offer to help a stranger, but it’s something else entirely to play nursemaid to said stranger for two days straight. At least I think it’s been two days. I’ve been fading in and out of consciousness, the agony in my head crowding out my awareness of anything but the pain.
And it’s not getting better. It won’t get better unless I take the drugs. And maybe not even then. Because there’s a tumor in my head, growing and spreading with each passing moment.
Now that I know it’s there, I can feel it. The dizziness, the nausea—it’s worse than it’s ever been. Each time Birgit helps me to the bathroom, I am less steady on my feet. I’ve been seeing white specks in front of my eyes, and Birgit told me I shook uncontrollably a few hours ago, as if from a seizure.
Probably because it was a seizure.
I can’t go on like this, I know that, but I don’t know what to do.
Return to Alexei? Call my brothers? I can’t think through this pain.
I do know that I need to make a decision soon. I can’t keep letting Birgit take care of me. Not that she will do it for much longer. With each hour that passes without me getting better, she looks more worried. Promise or not, she’ll call an ambulance or force me to go to a hospital soon.
I’m also worried. Not about myself but about the baby. All I’ve been able to eat in the past two days is a slice of dry toast, and I threw that up. Today, I threw up from just a few sips of water, and I haven’t needed to pee in forever. That’s bad. It means I’m getting dehydrated. If this continues, I’ll have no choice but to seek medical attention and thus bring myself to Alexei’s attention—assuming he’s looking, that is.
The fact that he hasn’t found me yet may be a sign that he isn’t.
I struggle to think through the crushing pain in my skull. I know he has a team of hackers on call, same as my brothers. If it’s been two days, that’s definitely long enough for them to access traffic cams, security footage, and whatever else they use to track down people. By now, he must know where I am… unless he doesn’t care to know.
Unless he doesn’t want me.
Maybe he’s realized he’s better off without me.
Maybe he’s always enjoyed the chase, and when I reached for him in that dressing room of my own accord, I killed his desire for me.
My empty stomach twists and churns as I squeeze my eyes shut and huddle deeper into the thin blanket, so miserable I want to die.