“Based on the scans, she should be out of the woods. But only once we get her into surgery, will we know for certain.”
Well, great. That’s not at all foreboding.
I know that there’s a chance more damage was done than what they can pick up on their scans. I just hope the likelihood is very freaking small.
“You look stressed,” Sofia croaks. “Get Massimo to help relieve it later, okay?”
Maria looks between us, her brows furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Kristi knows.” Sofia winks at me.
“You’re something else, you know that?” I say with a roll of my eyes. “Just focus on healing thoughts, okay? Forget about everything else.”
I will deal with the rest.
We may have escaped one threat but my God, there are more out there.
And it’s my job now to find each one and eliminate them in turn.
I can do that with Massimo’s help.
He saved us so many times already.
I knew he was sent to us for a reason, that my instincts about him were right.
A long, shuddering breath quakes my shoulders, and the nurses come into the room with their equipment, flashing sympathetic smiles at me and Maria.
“Positive thoughts, sweetie,” one nurse named April murmurs. “Your sister is in excellent hands.”
I nod, remembering the last time we were in this very emergency room, only weeks earlier.
But I can’t think about that day.
I can’t lament what we lost.
I need to focus on the future…for all three of us.
Because that’s what the head of a family does.
She strategizes about ways to protect and to grow.
That’s my role now.
I have to be the strength and the backbone for the Ivankov name.
Fierce, brave, and undaunted by danger.
A shiver ripples through me as the nurses prepare to wheel Sofia out on a gurney. I drop a kiss on her forehead. “I love you so much.”
“Go get some dick,” she whispers loud enough so that only I can hear her. “I’ll be out for a while so blow off some steam while you wait.”
“You’re insane.”
“Hell yeah.” Her eyes droop closed from whatever sedative they pumped into her and my throat tightens as she disappears down the hallway. I wrap my arm around Maria and start to lead her out of the room but she stops.
“I want to stay here,” she says. “I’d feel better waiting in the room.”
“Okay, sweetie.” I squeeze her hand and watch as she curls up in a chair in the corner, nestling under a blanket. “I’m going to find Massimo and see if he’ll come with me when I give my statement.”
Maria manages a smile. “Love you.”
“Love you more.”
My heart gallops with the speed of a racehorse as I walk down the hallway. Blood pumps through me with vicious force, angst flooding my insides.
She’s going to be fine.
I repeat those words to myself over and over, my lips moving in rapid silent prayer. I review each step of the investigative surgery and catalog the potential injuries and their associated repairs.
My teeth chatter, a cool blast of air rushing over me as I stop short under a ceiling vent. Quinn’s voice floats into the hallway from the room where he’d been stitched up.
And suddenly it’s no longer the air conditioning vent plunging me into a deep freeze.
I creep closer to the half-open door, my mouth dropping open when I hear his terse voice.
“Mas, how much longer can you afford to play these fucking games? Savio is threatening a hell of a lot through Lugo. I love you, bro, but my family is in front of the firing squad now, too.”
“I know, Q. And it’s not limited to Patty and the rest of your family. He’s got something for Kristina. From the beginning, he ordered me to gain her trust and to stay close to her.”
“I can’t believe he sucked you back into his twisted cyclone of a world. Jesus, I thought my father was bad. But yours is a certifiable and psychotic sadist.”
“And even that’s an understatement,” Massimo grumbles.
The rest of their conversation fades to the recesses of my mind like white noise, only a few words blaring between my temples.
Savio is his fucking father.
I clutch the sides of my head, a sudden dizzying sensation quaking my mind. My breaths grow more and more ragged as the seconds tick by, and my hand darts out to steady myself before my knees give out and I plunge into a bottomless pit of the worst betrayal I can fathom.
His father?
I blink fast to clear my blurred vision, nausea clenching my stomach and twisting it like a pretzel.
He lied.
He’s not with me after all.
He’s with Savio.
He’s my enemy!
And now I’ve told him about the will.
Ire bubbles in my veins, engulfing my insides with an all-powerful rage that begs to be unleashed. I push open the door, stalking over to him. With a loud roar, I drive the palm of my hand across his alarmed face, my skin stinging from the sudden assault.
It’s not enough.
I ball my hand into a fist and drive it straight into his throat, but he grabs my wrist before I can make contact.
“Don’t,” he hisses.
“Don’t what?” I shriek. “Don’t show you what a total piece of shit you are? How much of a lying scumbag bastard you are?” I shake my wrist to yank it from his grip. “Don’t you dare touch me. You won’t ever touch me again, you motherfucker!” I grunt, swinging my opposite elbow straight into his chest that makes him double over.
But I don’t stop there.
I pant, anger rising in my chest and squeezing out every spare bit of oxygen from my lungs. The agony of my heart being lanced by the sharpest of knives has tears springing to my eyes.
“I trusted you! I believed you cared about me, that it was more than a fucking job to you!” I scream, my fists clenched so tight my fingernails cut through the flesh. “But you deceived me. You made me fall for your bullshit. You and your father,” I choke out. “Your father!”
Massimo reaches for me. “Stop, Kristina. Let me just explain!”
I pull away. “Don’t you fucking dare! I don’t want to hear your disgusting voice. I don’t trust a damn thing that comes out of your mouth! There is nothing you can tell me that I will ever believe!” I lean closer, my voice shaking with fury. “I only wish I had a gun so I could blow off your goddamn head right now! I hate you. And you will never break me. Fucking never! So tell your daddy Savio to come for me! Let him fucking try!”
I run out of the room, gagging on the knot of tears lodged in the back of my throat. My chest heaves as I try to draw in a shallow breath, my heart thundering with such force that it rattles my ribcage. I explode out of the emergency room doors, miraculously avoiding the group of police officers congregated by the vending machines in the corner of the space. Lucky for me, they’re more concerned with who can get the last Twix bar than with me.
I collapse against the side of the brick wall, tears streaming down my face. I pound on my forehead with my fist. “How could I have been such an idiot to believe it was all real?” I yell to the air.
I scrape my hands down the front of my face, digging my fingertips into my skin.