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)
Thank fuck for Pavel. “You did the right thing. That motherfucker was more than double your size. If he’d gotten his hands on you, you wouldn’t have been able to fight him off, and you knew that.”
“Did I?” Her tone is hollow. “I could’ve just wounded him. Or tried to get past him and—”
I press my index finger to her lips, stopping her words. “Alinyonok…” My tone is as gentle as I can make it. “Even if you’d left him alive, do you honestly think he would’ve lived for long?”
She sucks in an audible breath. She must not have considered it until now, the fact that the moment her attacker appeared in her room, he was a dead man. If she hadn’t killed him, I would have—and my method wouldn’t have been nearly as quick and merciful. Especially if he’d hurt her.
Fuck, if he had hurt her… My chest tightens agonizingly.
I should’ve been there. I should’ve protected her.
No, what the fuck am I saying? She should’ve never been in that situation in the first place. From now on, she’s going to be no farther than an arm’s length from me at all times, even if I have to literally chain her to me.
The car comes to a stop, and I realize we’re already in front of the clinic. “We’re here,” I say unnecessarily as Alina turns around to look out the window.
Swiftly, I exit on my side, then go around to open the door for Alina and help her out. Her hand is cold and clammy in mine as she climbs out of the car, and she still seems shaky on her feet, so I sweep her up into a bridal carry and bring her inside, ignoring her protests that she can walk on her own.
Even if she were at a hundred percent, I’d want to carry her. After the hell of the past two days, holding her and feeling her warm body pressed against me is the only way I can reassure myself that she’s really here, that I’m not dreaming this in an exhausted stupor.
My men already gave the clinic a heads up that we were coming, so despite the late hour, a young male nurse is there to greet us.
“The doctors are on their way,” he informs us before directing me to take Alina into one of the examination rooms.
“Wait,” Alina says as I carefully set her on the table in a sitting position. “I need the bathroom.”
“There’s one right here,” the nurse says helpfully, pointing to the other door in the room. “You go ahead, and I’ll be right back.”
He hurries out of the room, and Alina hops off the table, all but running to the bathroom. She’s about to close the door when I catch the handle and walk in after her, then shut the door behind me.
She turns with a startled expression. “Alexei? What the hell?”
I fold my arms over my chest and lean my back against the door. “Go ahead. Do what you have to do.”
If she thinks I’m going to fall for the same trick twice, she’s very much mistaken. Not that this bathroom even has a window, but still.
I wasn’t joking about arm’s length.
Some of the pallor leaves her face as a flush creeps up her neck, turning her porcelain skin blotchy in parts. “Are you insane? I’m not doing ‘what I have to do’ in front of you.”
“Why not? We’re married, and I’m not squeamish.”
She snorts and crosses her arms over her chest, mimicking my stance. “Well, I am. I’m not doing anything if you’re here.”
We stare at each other, neither willing to compromise, until a strange expression crosses her face. She swallows, and I see all the color leach from her skin.
My heart rate spikes, and I push away from the door, instinctively reaching for her. “What is it?” I grip her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
She twists out of my hold. Her voice is thick, her face back to its greenish tint. “Can you at least turn around?”
Fuck. “Okay.” I reluctantly step back and turn around, facing the door. “Just let me know if you need help, okay?”
I expect to hear retching sounds, but there’s only the quiet rustle of a skirt being lifted. And then…
“Alexei.”
I’m already turning around, reaching for her as she sways on her feet, her eyes brimming with tears as the skirt of her dress falls into place.
“I’m bleeding,” she whispers, staring up at me. “Alexei, the baby… I’m fucking bleeding.”
Chapter 9
Alina
The next couple of hours are a blur. A bunch of doctors show up, my hand is sewn up and bandaged, my blood is drawn, and an MRI scan is run. Valery and Konstantin come and argue with Alexei and Ruslan about who gets to take me and where. It’s an argument they must lose because I stay at the clinic, with Alexei grimly hovering over me at all times, even when I’m finally forced to return to the bathroom to empty my painfully full bladder with him present (but at least turned away).