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)
Pushing past my brothers, he gently helps me off the bed and onto my feet. I’m still attached to an IV, so he maneuvers the metal stand to ride alongside me as he walks me to the bathroom door, keeping his arm looped around my back for support as Chloe trails after us. Thankfully, I’m minimally dizzy, so I can truthfully tell him that I’ll be fine with only Chloe to help me.
As soon as we’re inside the bathroom, Chloe closes the door and grabs my hand. “Oh my god,” she whispers. “Alina, are you—”
“I’m okay. Truly.” I keep my voice pitched low. “You saw it yourself: he’s treating me well.”
She gives me a dubious look.
“He is. And I know, it was a shock to me too. Look…” I squeeze her hand. “You and Nikolai had your differences in the beginning too. Some men can just be… intense.” An understatement of the century when it comes to Alexei and Nikolai. “But it’s worked out for you, and I’m hoping it will work out for me too.”
She stares at me incredulously. “Are you saying you want to stay with him?”
“Yes,” I lie.
Or at least I think it’s a lie.
Either way, as much as I want to unload on her all the contradictory emotions tormenting me, I can’t do so without putting her and Nikolai in danger. Right now, because of my illness, my brothers and Alexei appear to be in a fragile truce of sorts, a temporary ceasefire that could devolve into open warfare at the smallest provocation—and I’d like to extend this truce for as long as possible, even if we all know that my brothers will try to rescue me at some point, and that Alexei will fight them to the death before he lets them succeed.
Or… maybe he won’t fight them that hard. Despite his behavior thus far, there’s still a part of me that’s convinced he’ll want to bail on this situation eventually.
Come to think of it, that could be why he’s not worried about my ability to have children.
He no longer wants any with me.
The thought sears through me like a burn from a hot poker, and I must not hide it well because Chloe’s expression grows concerned. “You’re lying to me,” she states in a low voice, and I’m forced to spend the next few minutes telling her all about how good Alexei has been to me in order to convince her otherwise.
I don’t know if I succeed or not, but Alexei knocks on the door, and we’re forced to end our private chat. Which is just as well because I’m suddenly very tired, and my headache is worsening. As soon as we emerge from the bathroom, Alexei helps me back to bed and ushers everyone out, claiming that I need to rest.
Which I do.
As I close my eyes, Alexei’s fingers intertwine with mine, and I feel the warm brush of his lips over my cheek as I drift off.
Chapter 14
Alina
On the doctors’ advice, I start radiation and immunotherapy the very next morning, and my days become all about the various treatments. In between IVs and endless medical appointments, Valery and Konstantin visit as much as Alexei allows them, and so do Chloe and Nikolai before they return to the United States. I don’t get a chance to talk to anyone in private again, but I think my family is somewhat reassured regardless because they can’t not see just how dedicated Alexei is to me and to my recovery.
He’s with me literally twenty-four seven. I don’t know why he bothered with the penthouse nearby because he sleeps, eats, and works at the clinic. The uncomfortable hospital bed next to mine was swiftly upgraded to a luxurious extra-long king, and that’s where Alexei sleeps—if he ever sleeps, that is. Whenever I wake up, he’s always either watching me or working on his laptop, presumably keeping up with his business back home. Occasionally, Ruslan is there too, and I overhear them discussing various projects and investments, many of which I had no idea the Leonovs were into.
I’ve always thought my husband’s family was more into shady, barely legal ventures, many of them involving weapons and the like. But cutting-edge pharmaceuticals and AI seem to be major interests of theirs as well, and they’re big on philanthropy and supporting the arts. My husband has apparently made a major contribution to the new opera house that’s being built in Moscow, and Ruslan is on the board of several charity organizations that oversee initiatives ranging from malaria vaccines in Africa to childhood literacy in disadvantaged areas of Central Asia.
Why aren’t they better known for this stuff? I would think they’d want to shout about their charitable endeavors from the rooftops—anything to offset their terrible reputation. Unless… they like it that people think them cruel and ruthless.