Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
“He’s in the burn unit.”
Her words punch me in the gut.
Burn unit.
Fuck.
It’s hard to keep the edge from my voice. “Show me.”
She hesitates and then nods.
It’s slow going as I follow her through the hospital corridors on unstable feet. But after several exhausting and agonizing minutes, we arrive outside Igor’s hospital room. We can see Igor through a viewing window. He’s unconscious on the bed, covered head to toe in bandages with a breathing tube in his mouth.
When I see him, I have to steady myself against the wall. I’ve known Igor since he started working as my father’s chauffeur twenty years ago. I was a bratty teenager, and he was somewhere in his twenties. He’s not just a Zarkov employee. He’s fucking family.
My jaw tightens, and I grit my teeth so hard my jawbone aches.
I’m going to find those responsible for this, and I’m going to break every single one of their bones slowly.
My hands fist at my side.
Brooke notices and slides a comforting hand up and down my back. It’s the only thing that stops me from pounding the wall with my fist.
When a doctor approaches Igor’s room, I stop him. “What’s the update?”
“Are you family?”
“Yes,” I lie easily. “Is he going to live?”
“It’s too early to tell. He’s suffered numerous injuries that are fatal on their own. Abdominal hemorrhage and perforation. Injuries to his lungs and gastrointestinal tract. Then there’s the broken pelvis and lacerations from flying debris. He also has burns to thirty percent of his body.”
The beast inside me roars to life, and it takes everything I can to tame it. Outwardly, I’m a statue. But internally, the beast is struggling to break free from my restraint. He wants out, and he wants revenge. Badly.
I hate the fear I hear in my voice. “Will he survive?”
“Perhaps. But he’s not out of the woods yet. Actually, he’s far from it. If he makes it through the day, it will be a miracle.”
“And if he does?”
“Then we take one day at a time. His injuries are so severe, he’s going to be in rehabilitation for a long while.”
I turn to look at Igor lying on the bed and feel the rage burn like fire in my gut.
“I want him to receive the best care. Do you hear me? The best specialists. The best everything. I don’t care if I have to send planes all over the world to pick up those specialists and bring them back here. I will.”
“I understand your concern. But he’s in good hands. Some of the best specialists in the world are in this hospital. You can trust us to look after him.” He nods toward the nurses’ station. “We’ve been trying to find out who he was. His wallet and identification were burned up in the blast. Since you’re family, you’ll need to fill out the necessary paperwork. Insurance. Sign a care plan. After that, you need to go home and get some rest. You look like you could use it.”
I nod absentmindedly as I watch my friend fight for his life on the other side of the window.
But I beg to differ. I’m not going home to rest.
First things first.
I’m going to get my gun back.
And then I’m going to shell out some payback.
5
BROOKE
“The doctor is right—you need to come home,” I say.
We’ve just signed all the necessary paperwork for Igor and discharged ourselves. Since then, Lev’s been glued to his phone as we wait for Feliks to pick us up, issuing orders in Russian to his men.
“I’ll take you home, but I need to move swiftly on this.”
“You have a concussion and bruised ribs,” I remind him.
“It’s a mild concussion, and I’m not going to waste time crying over a couple of bruised ribs. I need to gather my men, and we need to act now.”
“Lev—”
“I’ve already wasted too much time in the hospital. I’ve lost the night. Who knows what these motherfuckers have been able to get away with while I was out cold in a hospital bed.”
He knows about the orderly attacking me. When I told him, he went very still, and the muscle in his jaw ticked, and he drew in a deep breath through flared nostrils. It’s like he was so enraged he didn’t dare move in case it detonated that part of him that was already barely in control.
It took me talking to him calmly and reassuring him that neither the baby nor I were hurt before he could even speak. But even then, I knew it had ignited something inside him. Something dark and powerful and capable of more than I could even imagine.
But I haven’t had a chance to tell him about Agent Michaels because every time I open my mouth to tell him, his phone rings, and he starts barking orders into the phone, organizing people to do things I don’t really understand.