Champagne Venom (Orlov Bratva, #1)(20)

A small part of me wanted her to know who I really am, too.

I stop just short of admitting to myself that maybe I grew tired of avoiding her. It’s been a week of never making eye contact, of leaving notes on her desk so she wouldn’t need to ask me what to do and keeping my door closed so I wouldn’t hear her answer the phone.

It’s been a week of torture.

But holding her limp body in my arms is worse.





14

MISHA

We arrive at Saint Mary’s in record time. I carry Paige into the hospital and set her onto the nearest gurney.

“She gets a private room,” I snap at an approaching nurse.

“You can’t just waltz in here and do what you like!” she retorts. “You don’t own the place!”

I get close enough for her to see the fury in my eyes. “You don’t know how wrong you are.”

The woman searches my face for a moment, but she evidently finds what she’s looking for, because she swallows and seems to wilt at once. Then she nods, wide-eyed and overwhelmed.

“I’ll get her to a room right away, sir.”

I follow two steps behind as she rolls Paige down the hall.

I can feel Konstantin’s eyes burrowing into the back of my head, but I ignore him. I don’t need to explain myself to him or anyone else.

I’m not sure I could if I tried.

The nurse takes Paige up to the fourth floor, but a brawny male nurse stops me at the doors to the emergency ward.

“We’ll get back to you with an update as soon as possible, sir,” he tells me. “Please wait here.”

I want to argue—actually, I want to rip this motherfucker limb from limb for daring to tell me where I can and can’t go—but I don’t want to do anything to slow down Paige’s care.

I’ll fight to see her later. For now, I nod and watch her disappear through the double doors.

When I turn around, Konstantin is there. “Okay, bro. Time to spill. What the hell is going on?”

“We’re at the hospital. We were in an accident,” I say slowly. “Do you have a sympathy concussion or something? I didn’t think you got hit.”

“Don’t give me that B.S.,” he says impatiently. “The girl. Who is she to you?”

“Nobody.”

Konstantin purses his lips and takes a step towards me. “You realize I’ve known you since the moment I was born, right?”

I grit my teeth. I know my cousin like the back of my hand, and Konstantin isn’t going to let this shit go until I tell him. It’s not like it’s a secret, anyway. “Paige and I—”

“No way,” Konstantin blurts out before I can even finish my sentence. “No freaking way.”

A nurse pushes through the double doors, and I stiffen, expecting an update already. She doesn’t even glance at us as she walks down the hallway and turns the corner.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been nervous. Even longer since I’ve been worried about one specific person this intensely.

I’m not used to it.

“No wonder you got so territorial with me the day I said she was pretty.” Konstantin shakes his head in disbelief. “Dude… I can’t believe you banged your assistant. Major plot twist.”

“She wasn’t my assistant when it happened,” I snap. “It was a one-night thing. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again, much less have to see her on a daily basis.” I want that to be the end of it, but Konstantin has an idiotic grin on his face that I can’t ignore. “What in the hell are you smiling about?”

“You clearly like her.”

I roll my eyes. But in my head, I’m still hearing Paige’s scream, echoing over and over again. It was the same with Maksim. I had my back to him when it happened, but I heard his gasp. The disbelieving exhale that escaped his lips as the bullet pierced his chest.

If only I had been standing next to him.

If only I had noticed the shooter.

If only I had followed orders.

If. If. If.

I spent the months after Maksim’s death with so many ‘ifs’ running through my head that the word ceased to have any meaning for a while.

Until it was Paige moaning next to me. Lying helpless in my arms, blood streaming down her forehead.

The male nurse with the tattooed forearms who stopped me from following Paige down the hall emerges from the back once again. “We’re still working, sir, but early signs are positive. Looking like it’s just a concussion, no brain swelling or anything urgent. I can show you two to the room where she’ll go once she’s finished with her scans.”

I nod and Konstantin and I fall in step behind him. He directs us to a bland room down the corridor, then shuts the door behind us.

“Fuck,” Konstantin says, looking around the room as I slump into a chair in the corner. “I still hate

hospitals.”

The feeling is mutual, but I don’t say so.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“Why?”

He chuckles like I’m stupid. “You were just in a car accident, dumbass.”

“I’ve been in worse.”

“I guess that’s true.” He leans against the wall and strokes his nonexistent beard. “I’ve already asked the boys to look into security cameras along the street that might have caught the collision. I wanna see if there’s something we overlooked.”