Page 117 of Queen’s Gambit

“Your mother is on the way, but I really think we should leave now. I know how to get Lilya into the car seat,” Mylo said.

“No, you’ll still have to leave her alone, and that can’t happen,” I growled. “My daughter is more important than I am. If something happens to me, you have your orders,” I said and threw up again.

Everything was fuzzy after my mother arrived, but I heard her say she’d get Lilya ready and meet us at the hospital.

There were snippets of a drive, being carried into the hospital, and wincing as an IV was put into my hand. Blood had been taken, and they’d found a way to help me stand long enough to pee into a container. The next thing I knew I was blinking away the bright sunlight hurting my eyes.

“Mom?”

“Hey there, sweetheart, you’re going to be okay.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“You had trace amounts of two foreign chemicals in your system. One caused your breathing issues. It’s found in eye drops. Could you have ingested some by accident?”

My eyes rolled up, and I glared at the ceiling. I didn’t have eyedrops in my room, didn’t have contact lens solution, or anything else. There was only one way that a strange chemical could’ve gotten into my system, and his name was Christov.

“Mom, did something happen to Mr. Ivankov?”

Her brow wrinkled as she thought. “I’ll have to ask your father.” She gasped and grabbed my hand. “You don’t think Christov did this, do you?”

“I don’t know,” I said, but my instincts said it was him or Alina.

She’d been reclusive before the ballet outing, but now she was…strange. The tantrum fire had been one thing, but then, another day, I’d found rotten food under my pillow. A couple of weeks ago one of Lilya’s dolls was headless on her bed. She was good to her toys and would never have done that herself. When she saw it, she was hysterical. Unfortunately, I never caught Alina in the act, and I always kept the doors locked, which meant she had spare keys. My anxiety was climbing by the day.

“When can I be released?”

“I’ll go get the doctor,” Mom said.

“Wait. Where is Lilya?”

“With Frida, she was happy to look after her at my house while you were in here.”

I relaxed back into the pillow.

“Okay.”

I’d told my father that something like this would happen, but he never believed me. It was doubtful that he would now.

My eyes were just starting to shut when the door opened, and a pissed-off Christov marched inside. Mylo grabbed his arm.

“Get off of me,” Christov growled, trying to jerk away. But Mylo refused to let go.

“It’s okay, Mylo.”

Christov looked indignant as he huffed and smoothed out his suit before closing the door. Then he turned is viperous stare on me. Despite his naturally good looks, he was ugly to me. I judged people on their soul and his was rotten to the core.

“So, I hear you tried to kill yourself,” he growled.

“Excuse me?”

“The doctor says the cocktail of drugs in your system is a typical suicide attempt.”

Well, at least now I knew the game they were playing. I balled my hands into a fist.

“I didn’t do this to myself. And even if I was so inclined, I would’ve done it before I had to marry your ignorant ass.”

He marched across the room and reached for my face, only stopping when he remembered there was a window. Such a fucking coward. Instead, he pointed at me.