Champagne Venom (Orlov Bratva, #1)(116)

“I half expected you to be a twin,” she continued. “Thank God that didn’t happen. I wouldn’t have known what to do with another one.”

You barely know what to do with me, I thought. I was only eight, but I already knew something about my family was different. Something was broken. Something on a deep, fundamental level was wrong.

“I wish I had a twin sister,” I said.

“No, you don’t. If you had a twin sister, then you’d have had to share this candy bar. Now, it’s all yours.” She pushed an old candy bar into my hand. She was cleaning out the cabinet where we stored my Halloween candy from last year. It was September, so it was a year old, at least.

I unwrapped it, thinking I wouldn’t really mind sharing my candy bar. Especially if it meant I’d get to share other things, too. My problems. My pain. My crazy parents.

Life is so much easier when there is someone by your side.

“You okay, Paige?” Dr. Mathers’s voice cuts through the old memory. “I know it’s a lot to process.”

“Twins run in my family,” I say robotically, hearing the echo of my mom’s words behind my own. “I didn’t think to mention it. I didn’t think I could have one baby, let alone two.”

Dr. Mathers pats my shoulder reassuringly. “Listen, your body has been through a lot. Since you are pregnant, we’re going to need to monitor you for at least twenty-four hours before we can release you.

It’s just a precaution, but—”

“Do it,” Misha says with authority. “I want her to have around-the-clock care. I will pay whatever it takes.”

I frown. “That’s really not necessary. I feel—”

“It’s not open for discussion, Paige,” Misha intercedes firmly.

Dr. Mathers gives me another smile. “If you need anything at all, just press the red call button. One of the nurses will be right to you.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

She bows out of the room, leaving me alone with Misha.

I search his face for some evidence of a reaction. Happiness would be nice, but I know better than to hope for that. At this point, I’ll just take proof that he’s a human being.

I don’t really get it. His expression is blank. His eyes are focused on the wall, but his gaze is endless.

I’m not sure where he is, but it isn’t in this room with me.

“Misha…”

He’s standing about a foot away, but he’s made no move to touch me or offer me any comfort at all.

“Are you okay?”

Slowly, robotically, he meets my gaze. And for a moment, I feel his presence. It’s like the warmth from a blazing fire. An awareness that prickles down to my toes.

Then he shakes his head and rearranges his careful, impenetrable mask. “For a second there, I thought I was going to lose—” He stops short. “I thought we were going to lose the baby.”

That’s not what he was going to say. But I know he’d never admit as much.

I stretch out and grab his hand. He flinches, but allows me to pull him closer. “We didn’t,” I tell him gently. “We gained one, actually. We’re having two babies. I call that a miracle.”

A smile flutters across his face, faint and quickly vanished, but not before I notice it. “I can’t believe it.”

“Do you believe in miracles now?”

In an instant, his face falls. His brow lowers, he pries his hand out of mine, and he retreats towards the door. “You need to get some rest. Security will be here in a minute to watch your room. You’ll be safe here.”

I sit up, barely resisting the urge to press the call button and ask the nurses to barricade the door and make him stay. “You’re going to leave?”

I hate that idea, but I don’t feel free enough to tell him so. I’m pretty sure he can see the disappointment on my face, though. “I’ll call Nikita or Cyrille to come sit with you.”

“I… I’d rather you stay with me,” I say in a small voice.

He hesitates. I know he’s trying to find a reason not to stay without hurting me. It seems opportunistic to use my near-death experience as leverage, but I decide to use the opportunity life has handed me.

All is fair in love and war, right?

“Paige—”

“Please.” I reclaim his hand in both of mine.

He stares at our intertwined fingers. Then finally, he nods. “Okay. I’ll stay.”

I give him a small, shy, triumphant smile. “Thank you.”

He sits down in the armchair next to the bed, running a tired hand through his hair. “Twins run in your family, huh?”

I nod. “I’m glad we’re having two. Life Is always better when you have someone by your side.”

His eyes flicker to the pendant around my neck. I know he’s thinking of his brother the same way I’m thinking of Clara.

“Until they’re not there anymore,” he says quietly.

“It’s going to be different for us. We’ll always be here.”

“You mean different for our kids?”

No, I meant for each other. You and me against the world. Always.

“Sure,” I lie. “I meant we’ll always be here for them.”