The Deadliest Sin Series Complete Collection, page 131
“Hospitals mean cops. There’s a chance no one ID’d him as the victim of the shooting, so we may be able to avoid any police contacts, but if we bring him to a hospital, we’ll have the last people we want digging into our affairs buried balls deep in them.”
“But what if he needs—”
He whirls toward me, stopping me abruptly in my tracks, his large, wide chest directly in my face. “We know how to take care of our own, Julia. Go back to the bedroom.”
He must be joking.
Squaring my shoulders, I do my best to hide what a fucking mess I am right now internally. “I’m not going anywhere. I can help.”
His mouth twists into a sneer. “You’ll just get in the way, kukolka.”
I haven’t the slightest clue what he just called me, but the look he’s giving me leaves no doubt it wasn’t kind. “If you want me back in that bedroom, you’ll have to throw me over your shoulder and carry me back kicking and screaming.”
The tiniest twitch at the corner of his lips tells me I’ve won this battle but not the war. He doesn’t want me around Valerian, doesn’t trust me. And he shouldn’t…
He shoves the box in his hands into my stomach. “If you’re staying, make yourself useful.”
I glance down at the various medical supplies that seem woefully inadequate for what might come through the door. “This is all we have?”
Another one of Valerian’s men glances toward me from where he stands at one of the large windows overlooking the street, likely watching for them to arrive. “We have a call into the doctor we use, too. He’s coming, but it might be a while. He’s on the other side of town.”
¡Mierda!
In all the years I lived with Felipe and then Andres, I never had to personally deal with anyone coming in with a gunshot wound. Felipe kept me locked away in the rectory of whatever church he was at, and once Andres was released from prison, he whisked me away to his estate, where none of that ever touched me.
I knew it happened, understood what he did, but it wasn’t until Kat set that bomb that blew up the meeting of the five families that I was introduced to the true violence of this world.
It left me permanently scarred and even more determined to complete the plan I had set in motion years ago. One that now relies on the man whose life hangs in the balance.
If Valerian dies, everything I’ve worked for might crumble to the ground around me.
No.
I shake off that thought because even allowing it to enter my head somehow seems like a bad omen, and the last thing I need right now is anything dark hovering around this place.
Valerian’s man at the window drops the blinds back into place and turns to where Dmitri and one other man wait. “They’re here!”
Dmitri throws opens a door in the kitchen and dashes out into what must be a garage attached to the house while I hold my breath, waiting to see how bad the damage really is.
Every second that passes tightens that vise around my ribcage until I can barely stand still and have to fight the urge to run out there myself. I tighten my grip on the box instead and wait for them to bring Valerian inside.
Muffled, indecipherable Russian words float to me through the open door, and I crane my neck to try to see out into the garage. Dmitri comes into view through the frame, his arm wrapped around Valerian, with Ivan on the other side, helping hold him upright.
Red fills my vision—both the blood soaking his white shirt under his suitcoat and the rage filling me toward whoever did this.
I shouldn’t care. Valerian was only supposed to be a means to an end. A stop on the way to my ultimate goal. A necessary piece to the puzzle I need to put into place in order to get what I want. Yet, somehow, he’s become so much more than that. From that first moment I saw him, and now, after getting so close to him, I’m not certain I can separate my feelings for him from what needs to happen.
“Valerian…”
His name tumbles from my lips on a gasp, and I set the box on the end table beside the black leather sofa to rush toward them as they struggle to get him up the single step from the garage into the kitchen. His massive, solid frame makes it nearly impossible for them to accomplish the task without turning him sideways and jostling him in a way that makes a wince overtake his already-pained face.
“Kotyonok?” His voice breaks the same way his body so obviously is.
Ivan forces me out of the way, and he and Dmitri maneuver Valerian down the hallway toward his bedroom. I snatch the box of medical supplies off the end table, snag a stack of towels someone set on another table, and rush after them, my eyes catching the drops of blood in a trail on the wood floors.
Acid churns in my stomach, but I can’t lose my shit now. Valerian’s life is at stake, and with him, the future of this city.
“Ne pooskayte eyo!” Valerian’s words come out clipped and harsh.
I stop just inside the door, watching them turn to try to get his back to the bed. “What did he say?”
Dmitri glares at me. “He doesn’t want you here. Go out to the living room.”
“What?” I rush forward in front of them, where they stand at the side of the bed we shared last night, shove the box and towels on the nightstand, and squat down so my gaze can meet Valerian’s. “If you think I’m leaving you like this, estas putamente loco.”
He mutters something under his breath and winces again as drops of blood start to pool under where he’s held erect by Ivan and Dmitri. They both glance down at it, then share a concerned look before finagling him onto the bed with a lot of grunts and Valerian gritting his jaw so tightly it looks like it might break.
Ivan digs through the box of supplies and pulls out a pair of scissors, immediately setting to work on cutting open the shirt and exposing Valerian’s blood-soaked torso.
Dios mio!
Dmitri grabs a towel and wipes at the blood, looking for the source. “Where is he hit?”
“Mudak!” The muscles in Valerian’s neck strain against the pain wracking his body, his hand clenching at the comforter beneath him. “Could you make it hurt more?”
Something tells me it’s going to.
A lot.
We need to control this bleeding until the doctor they called arrives and can actually treat him—hopefully treat him. If there is any internal damage and Valerian needs surgery, there’s no way we’re doing it here, and he’s not in any shape to be moved again with as much blood as he’s losing.
Ivan leans over Valerian and rolls his body to the right side, earning another angry litany of curses from the man bleeding on the bed. “It looks like it went through his left side.”
I round the bed to climb onto the mattress next to Valerian. He opens his eyes and glares at me like he wants to argue again about my being in here, but I grab his hand in mine and squeeze. For a split second, it looks like he might push away the touch, but instead, he squeezes back before inhaling a deep, unsteady breath while Ivan and Dmitri poke and prod at him.
With their large bodies and hands all over Valerian, I can’t see much. “How bad is it?”
Dmitri shakes his head. “Hard to say if there’s any internal damage, but he’s bleeding a lot, so it may have hit an artery.”
“Shit.” I tighten my grip on Valerian’s hand, swallowing back that acid rising in my throat. “When is the doctor getting here?”
Ivan glances at his watch while applying pressure to the wound at Valerian’s back with a towel, while Dmitri does the same from the front. “Maybe not soon enough.”
VALERIAN
Doctor Volkov zips up his bag and offers me one more look of reproach. “You're very lucky you weren't dead by the time I got here. If I hadn't been able to repair that artery, you'd be dead right now.”
“But he'll be okay?”
Sofia's soft voice drags my attention away from the doctor to where she sits beside me on the other side of the bed with her hands clasped together and brow furrowed.
Doc casts a glance her way before zeroing in on the bandage covering my abdomen. “As long as the bullet didn't nick his intestines or any other vital organs, he should recover fine.” He locks his gaze with mine. “But without opening him up fully or doing a CT scan, I can't know that for certain. If he develops a fever, call me right away.” He motions toward the bottle on the nightstand. “I gave him IV antibiotics and left oral ones to continue. He lost a lot of blood and will be weak for a few days. Stay in bed as much as possible, stay hydrated, and try to avoid stress.”
Avoid stress?
I chuckle and immediately regret it when pain slices through me the same way his scalpel did when he had to cut me open slightly to try to control the bleeding. Whatever he gave me in the IV dulled the pain and left me in a cloudy fog, but it wasn't enough to completely eliminate the feeling of someone inside me. Passing out was a blessing, but coming to was an agonizing slap of reality only soothed by focusing on Sofia’s soft hands at my face and whispered words in my ear.
She climbs from the bed and walks the doctor to the door. “Thank you, Doctor.”
Leaning in, she says something else to him, and he quickly glances my way before shaking his head and ducking out of the room. Whatever she asked him, she didn’t appear to like the answer.
Her entire body stiff, she closes the door behind him and pauses for a moment, staring at the wood. Slowly, she turns back toward me and makes her way over to stand at the side of the bed, staring down at me like I'm something broken and useless.
The worst position for a man like me, for anyone who relies on their power to control an empire. I never wanted her to see me like this. It’s the very reason I didn't want her in here. Uncle Boris always said to show no weakness, and I've managed not to until now.
“Stop looking at me like that, kotyonok.”
Her gaze softens with concern, and she brushes her fingers over my exposed arm near where the IV was. “The doctor said you’re likely still in a lot of pain. Are you okay? Is there anything you need?”
“To be left alone.”
The corners of her lips twitch. “Well, that's not going to happen. So, you're just going have to learn to put up with me.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Only this morning, you were so eager to leave, so angry at my insistence that you stay, but now, you want to? This is your chance, your opportunity to try to escape while I'm down for the count.”
She sits on the side of the mattress next to me and releases a heavy sigh. “I was mad because you were trying to keep me here as a hostage, to use me against my brothers. Staying because I want to is totally different…”
Something warm blooms in my chest. Something I can't ever remember feeling before this moment. Something I didn’t think could exist for a man like me—who has lied, stolen, and killed to get what he wants—could ever have.
“Why do you want to stay, Sofia?”
Her words in the playroom about how she wanted me from the first time she saw me return to my thoughts. Something about it has nagged at the back of my mind since. She may have said she wanted me, but she never said why. This woman now seems capable of so much more than I expected. She could have wanted me to let down my guard for any number of reasons, making her words true but hiding their real meaning.
“Why do you want to stay? To watch me suffer?”
Sofia gently spreads her hand over my exposed chest, the light touch sending a shiver through me that makes me wince. “Sorry.”
“Don't apologize for that.” The thought of her touch seems to be the only thing keeping me here, connected with this world, when the pain and darkness want to drag me away with it.
“Despite what you may think, Valerian, I don't want to see you in hurt. I don't want to see you suffer or die.”
“Would you care if I did?”
I shouldn't have asked because if she gives an answer I don't like, I’ll have to live with the consequences of knowing.
She pauses for a moment before answering, scanning my face for something, sharp nails curling into the skin on my pec. “I would very much care if you died.”
“Because you need me for your plan—whatever it is?”
Whatever Sofia has been hiding, her true intention for coming to the club and getting involved with me, isn’t yet clear, but it’s only a matter of time before I uncover her real motivations.
Her almost-affectionate gaze sweeps over me, and she presses her hand tightly over my chest. “Yes, I need you…” She releases a resigned sigh. “And maybe because I actually care more than I thought I would.”
I reach out and brush a strand of dyed-blond hair away from her face. She leans into my hand slightly, and my heart thuds loudly in my ears, the very blood that was so freely flowing from me only hours ago now pushing life through my body.
“I never thought I'd hear you say that, kotyonok.” And I want to believe she means it for one very real reason. “I never thought I would want to hear it.”
It’s as close to a proclamation of feelings she’ll ever get from me, and she seems to recognize it, swallowing thickly and pressing a kiss to my palm before lowering my hand to my side.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
I had already told Ivan and Dmitri everything while she stepped out of the room to help the doctor in the bathroom. I hadn’t intended on discussing it with her, especially not with this pain medication induced fog enveloping my brain.
“Why were you on Michigan Avenue?”
“I was getting something for you.”
Her eyebrows rise. “For me?”
I nod. “To apologize for having to hold you here against your will.”
That draws a smile across her face that warms my body for the first time since the bullet slammed into me.
“I guess I'll have to go back for it because I never made it inside.”
She offers a tight smile. “What happened?”
There really isn’t any reason not to tell her at this point. Not when she’s in so deep already. If I expect her to come clean with me, I need to reveal certain things to her, too. She isn’t some random woman being dragged into this world by my advances; Sofia has been part of it her entire life, even if her brothers tried to keep her clear of it.
In reality, she may be the only one who can truly understand any of it.
“I got out of the car and was going into a store when I was shot on the sidewalk.”
“Did you see who shot you?”
I shake my head, blurry flashes of the memory flickering in my mind. “No, no face, but I saw something?”
“What?”
“A familiar tattoo.”
She narrows her eyes. “A tattoo?”
After disappearing for so long, there’s no way to know how much of what has happened Sofia is really aware of. “A tattoo that belongs to a group that has been stirring up trouble called The Luna Cartel…”
Her entire body stiffens, her eyes widening. “Are you sure?”
I nod, trying to assess her reaction.
She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. “But why would they come after you in such a targeted attack? I thought their issue was with Galen?”
Something she shouldn’t know if she’s been in hiding this whole time.
“I've tied myself to Galen, and I helped him take out one of their primary warehouses and most of their men. They have already brought in more and retaliated against him, attacking one of his shipments. My guess is this was their retaliation against me for the same action.”
Sofia purses her lips and drums her fingers on her knee. “What about the group that attacked the church? Couldn’t it have been them, maybe trying to draw away suspicion by using the obvious tattoo?”
“You've kept abreast of all the goings on while you were away, haven’t you?”
She stills and clears her throat, darting her eyes away from mine. “Just because I wasn't living with my brothers doesn't mean I wasn't keeping an eye on what was happening as much as I could. In order to stay hidden, I had to limit what I was doing so they couldn’t track me, but I still have eyes and ears and ways to get information.”
And secrets.
My conversation with her brothers comes back to me. “Do you know who was behind the group that attacked us in the church?”
“No.” She swallows thickly and shakes her head. “And I also don't think this attack was Luna Cartel.”
“Why not? I saw the tattoo they all bear. It couldn’t have been anyone else.”
She stiffens slightly. “They’ve been focused on Galen. Even if you helped him, I don't think they'd expose themselves like this, attack you out in the open if they didn't have to. There were plenty of other places they could have come at you. They didn't have to do it there.”
“They chased after Galen, shot at his car in a populated suburban area, and were ready to blow a bomb to eliminate him that could have injured anyone near that building when it blew. They don’t seem concerned with doing things discreetly.”
“Maybe not.” She purses her lips together and stares at a spot on the wall. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I can find out.” Her eyes finally meet mine again. “You get me access to a computer, and I will do some digging. I'm sure I can find out a lot you haven't managed to about the Luna Cartel and maybe even who was behind these other attacks.”
“Won't that require exposing yourself?”
She tightens her jaw, a look of determination set in her gaze. “I'm not going to hide anymore.”
“Worried about your brothers?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “They've made their beds to lie in.”
I brush my fingers across the top of her hand. “Does that mean you're worried about me?”
The tiniest of smiles graces her lips. “Don't let your head swell too big.”
It isn't my head that's swelling at the thought that she actually gives a shit and this might not just be all a game.
