Page 75 of Protective Phlox

I stopped my pacing and stared around the packed waiting room. How the hell would I tell my son that his mother was gone if she didn’t pull through? How the hell did I wake up tomorrow and go back to work? How would I learn to breathe again?

“I’ll take your offer, Romeo, but with one stipulation. I’ll take Aldo from you now, but if my wife dies, then the truce is off regardless. My understanding only goes so far.”

“I understand.”

I ground my teeth as I fought the part of myself that wanted to kill everyone and anyone who had something to do with this. I’d never trust Romeo, not that I’d ever trust another family completely, but if I was going to topple my father’s empire, I needed allies.

“Where and when?”

“I’ll text you the location and meet you there in an hour.”

“If you double cross me, Romeo….”

“I won’t.” The phone went silent, and I knew he’d hung up.

I slowly turned to look at Goran and Vlad. “Get me ten men who you trust not to say anything to anyone, not even the other guards. We’ll also need one of our prisoner transports.”

“On it,” Vlad said as Titus walked over.

“Who was on the phone?”

I looked into my brother’s eyes and wanted to trust him. Maybe part of me needed to trust him. Titus had always wanted to keep the peace. His love for family was strong, but whose side would he take now?

“Romeo has Aldo. He offered me a deal.” I stepped in close to my brother, staring him in the eyes as I searched for any sign that he would betray me. “Can I trust you to keep that to yourself, or are you going to run off and tell Dimitri and Ronan?”

Hurt flashed behind his eyes. “Do you really think I’d do something to hurt you?”

“Honestly, I don’t know anymore,” I said. Before Titus could answer, the door to the emergency room opened, and a nurse stood there, staring around.

“Mr. Mikhailov?”

My stomach churned as my throat burned like I’d swallowed ash. I took a step forward. “I’m Mr. Mikhailov.”

Chapter

Thirty

NATHANIEL

There was no stopping my mind from replaying what the nurse had said. I’d held my breath, praying for the best but expecting the worst as she walked up to me.

“Your wife is handling the surgery well so far. She is giving one hell of a fight. It was brought to our attention that your wife is pregnant, and we wanted you to know that the bullet missed the uterus. After the surgery, we will be running tests to check on the baby and make sure everything is okay.” She looked at the watch on her wrist. “She will be at least five more hours and then will go to the ICU for recovery. We will come get you then.”

Goran had explained as the nurse walked away, leaving me dumbfounded, that my mom had dropped the bombshell on Savannah in the car on the way to the wedding boutique. Picking up Savannah’s hand—that didn’t have a gauntlet of tubes or wires running around it—I brought her fingers to my lips. The nurses had confirmed that she was two months along, which meant that she’d gotten pregnant that first week we were back together. We could be laughing about having good swimmers or us having the right chemistry if she would just open her eyes.

I would do anything to have her blink and stare at me with those stunning baby blues that had thoroughly captured my heart. With every beep of the monitor showing how hers was beating strong, I could feel mine in my chest.

“Come on, Kisa. You need to open those eyes for me.” I’d been whispering the same thing to her every ten minutes since they’d brought her into this room. I couldn’t seem to stop the panic from churning my stomach even though they’d said she and the baby were going to be okay. I wouldn’t be alright until she was home with me and in my arms. I was never letting her out of my sight again.

The door opened, and I glanced up to see Goran. “Can I come in?” Nodding, I set her hand down on the bed but refused to leave her side. “I brought you a coffee and a snack.” He held out his hand with the gift.

“Thanks, man.”

“How is she doing?”

“The same. I just want Savannah to open her eyes, even if it’s only for a minute, and then she can rest. Fuck, I’ve never felt fear like this, it’s…it’s….”

“Debilitating?”