Page 131 of Married to My Sis’s Bratva Fiancé

"Routes can be taken back," he said. "But he knew there isn't another you."

My nose stung hard.

When the OR doors finally opened, I shot up from the chair.

The news came faster than I'd braced for.

"The bullet entered from the back of his left shoulder, broke a rib, and narrowly missed the lung. He lost a lot of blood. He got lucky—his heart and major vessels weren't hit. Surgery was successful, but the next twenty-four hours remain critical."

Lucky.

That word landed like a sick joke.

But Kiryan was alive.

Twenty-four hours turned into forty-eight.

Then the third day.

Kiryan still didn't wake up.

During the day, Olga practically force-fed me for the baby. At night, I stayed by his bed and listened to the monitor keep proving he was still here.

Without the suit and the orders, Kiryan didn't look so untouchable. His face stayed bloodless and pale. Dark brown hair fell across his forehead, silver threaded at the temples. The old scar on his jaw, the calluses on his hands, the ink peeking from his chest—everything about him screamed that he'd survived more violence than most men ever saw.

He understood betrayal better than I did.

And because of that, he wore suspicion like armor—so long it cut anyone who tried to love him.

I held his hand.

The tenderness hadn't been fake. The cruelty hadn't disappeared because of it, either.

Love didn't erase his sins.

But regret shouldn't get erased just because it showed up late.

Before dawn on the fourth day, rain started tapping the window.

"Wake up," I whispered to the man in the bed. "I don't want our kid growing up without his dad."

His finger moved.

I froze.

Then his thumb slowly brushed the side of my finger.

"Doctor!"

I jumped up so fast the chair flipped backward.

Kiryan frowned, like my voice had pissed him off. His lashes fluttered a few times, then he opened his eyes.

Those deep gray eyes looked dulled, not sharp the way they usually were—yet they still found me like a lock finding its key.

"Elena."

My throat clogged.