“Why didn’t I listen to you?” she groaned.
I patted her hand. “I don’t know, gazelle. They want to do more tests on you, but then we will get you food as soon as possible.”
Ivan heard a commotion outside the room we were in. He looked at me before stepping out of the room to see what was happening. He disappeared for a moment, leaving me with Sephie. He returned with Viktor, Andrei, and Adrik. As soon as Adrik’s eyes landed on Sephie, he went from being angry to relieved to worried in an instant. He rushed to her. I stepped out of the way so he could grab her hand that I had been holding so she wouldn’t have to uncover her eyes.
“Solnishko,” he said quietly.
“Adrik?” she asked quietly, not taking her hand from her eyes. He leaned down to her and whispered something in her ear that only she could hear. It brought a smile to her face.
The doctor came back in, somewhat surprised at the number of people in the room. He cleared his throat. “We’d like to take her upstairs to run a quick test to make sure there’s not further damage to her sk ull and her brain.”
“Is it this fuc king bright up there? Because that’s gonna be a no from me if it is,” Sephie said.
The doctor was unaware that she had woken up. “Oh, you’re awake. Good. Very good. Although, I still think it’s a good idea to run the tests to make sure. We can, uh, adjust the lights for you. That’s a common complaint for head injuries.”
Adrik looked at the doctor. He could be very intimidating when he wanted to be. The doctor shrunk back, looking from Adrik to the rest of us.
Sephie lifted her head and peeked through her hand at the scene in the room, when the room went silent. “Don’t worry about them, doc. They’ll only kill you if I d ie upstairs.” She laid her head back down. The doctor scratched his head, “okay then. Well, we should get on with it.” He started to pull her bed toward the door. A nurse showed up to help him push her toward the elevators down the hall. We all stood in the hallway, waiting for the doctor to come back with any news on her condition. Speaking in Russian, Adrik stood in front of me, “tell me everything that happened.”
“It was a trap, Boss. We ran our usual route, so she could stop by and say hi to Mr. Turner. After we left the hotel, there was suddenly a ton of people on the sidewalk. I was just about to stop her so I could keep her close to me when I got hit. She got hit at the same time. The guy that hit me was trying to take me down to the ground, but I managed to stay upright. I shoved him into the wall to get him off me. He came back for me, but I punched him and that’s when he passed out. I’m guessing the other guy was able to get Sephie to the ground and that’s where she hit her head. I had to pull her off him. She rearranged that guy’s face. He pi ssed her off, sir. I’ve never seen her so angry. After, she was lucid. She said she was fine until we got back to the parking garage. We were walking to the elevators, and she started to go down. She grabbed Ivan’s arm and he caught her. We rushed her here.”
He didn’t say a word, which made me nervous. He stared at me for a moment, but then patted me on the shoulder. “You did good, Misha.”
He turned to pace the hallway and I exhaled loudly. The other three guys looked at me, knowingly; all three nodded to me. I still felt responsible for this.
More time passed and the doctor finally came back. We all walked to him quickly, causing him to take a step back and put his hands out. “Whoa, easy fellas. She’s fine. She’s going to be fine. She has a really good concussion, but nothing more. They’re stitching the cut above her eyebrow right now and then she’ll be back down. Keep her quiet and in low light for the next two weeks. Try to keep external stimuli to a minimum. That means TV, radio, all of it. Her brain needs time to heal.”
Adrik visibly relaxed at the doctor’s words. He extended his hand to the doctor. “Thank you, doctor.”
“Thank you for not killing me,” the doctor said smiling nervously. “She’ll be down in just a few minutes, and you can take her home.”
I leaned against the wall, closing my eyes. I was relieved she was okay and could go home. I felt Viktor’s hand on my shoulder. “It could’ve been any one of us, kid. Don’t stress. You did good.” “It’s still my fault she got hurt. I should’ve stopped her sooner. I could’ve seen it coming.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t play the ‘what if’ game. You’ll drive yourself crazy playing out alternate scenarios. You did what you needed to do. She did too. They weren’t expecting her to fight back, I’m sure. We just have to be ready for the next time, because there will be a next time.”
I nodded. I had a feeling this was only the beginning.
Sephie came down the hallway, in a wheelchair, her hands still covering her eyes. When the nurse stopped in front of us, she started to get up from the wheelchair. The nurse put her hand on Sephie’s shoulder to stop her from getting up. Without even opening her eyes, she just said, “Ghost?”
He was there in a second. “Can you take me home, please?” she asked as she extended an arm toward him, not opening her eyes. Without hesitation, he reached down and scooped her out of the wheelchair. We all walked toward the door, leaving the nurse with her wheelchair, looking completely stunned.
Sephie hid her face against Adrik’s shoulder as we walked to the vehicles. He put her in the backseat and removed his shirt before getting in beside her. He draped his shirt over her head to make the ride home darker.
I found myself admiring him. He was so attuned to her needs. I’d never seen anything like it.
Sephie
The ride back from the hospital was somewhat excruciating. They had given me painkillers at the hospital before I left. but they hadn’t kicked in yet and my head was pounding. Adrik had taken his shirt off before climbing into the backseat with me and thrown it over my head to make it darker for me. I kept the shirt over my head and hid my face in his chest for the entire ride.
His arm stayed securely around me, keeping me stable, while his thumb gently traced circles on my hip. Once in the parking garage, I peeked out from under his shirt as he carried me to the elevator. The light wasn’t as bright, so I stole a look up at him. His face was tight, pensive. He was worried. Or angry. Or both.
He took me straight to the bedroom and laid me on the bed. I felt the bed dip as he sat beside me.
“What can I do, Persephone? What do you need most right now?” he asked, concern evident in his voice.
I groaned. “Once the painkillers kick in and my head stops pounding, I’ll be fine.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.