Chapter 79 Fragments
❦ Rosalind ❦
“He’s awake,” the doctor said, barely managing to step aside before Adrian plowed him down to get into the room.
I took advantage of the opening. Freeing myself from the soldato’s grip, I barreled past the doctor, who followed in behind me.
“Viktor,” I gasped, rushing to his side and grabbing his hand.
He was seated upright, the gauge from before I left gone, leaving only a few bandages on the side of his shaved head. Tears welled in my eyes at the sight.
But when I met his gaze, my breath caught in my throat.
His eyes narrowed with cold suspicion that made my chest clench.
“Viktor, how are you feeling?” Adrian cut in, his voice urgent.
Viktor turned to him. “Adrian?” His voice was hoarse and unsteady.
“Yes. I’m here,” Adrian said, stepping closer to the bed, a rare flicker of emotion on his otherwise impassive face.
Viktor licked his lips, parched. I fumbled for the water bottle I’d brought from the cafeteria and uncapped it.
“Here,” I murmured, holding it out with a trembling hand.
But Viktor didn’t reach for it. His eyes darted between Adrian and me, confusion etching deeper into his features. “Who is she?”
The words gutted me.
“She’s your wife,” Adrian said, his tone clipped as if correcting a bad joke.
Viktor’s brow furrowed, his confusion deepening. He glanced down at the gold band around his finger like it belonged to someone else. “My wife?”
“Yes,” I whispered, my throat burning.
He shook his head slowly, eyes clouding. “I… I don’t know her.” His gaze lifted back to Adrian. “What happened to me?”
Adrian’s jaw tightened, his unshakable mask cracking for the first time. He looked between us like he didn’t trust his eyes or his ears.
And then Viktor’s voice dropped, heavy with certainty that made my blood run cold. “Where’s my brother?”
The silence that followed felt like the world had stopped on its axis.
❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎
❄︎ Viktor ❄︎
I ran my gaze over the woman.
Mentally naming my observations to distract myself from the gaping chasm in my brain.
I blamed the incessant buzz on my head injury.
Back to the woman. Her loose braid was frizzy and greasy under the sharp white light. Her clothes dirty, eyes red with bags underneath.
She looked like she’d slept little, and I wondered if she had been the source of the soft pressure on my hand in my sleep.
“Where is Paulo?” I asked again, looking up to Adrian.
Paulo should be here. He wouldn’t be anywhere else but by my side in the event of such an accident.
I didn’t like the stricken expression on the woman’s face, nor the way Adrian’s jaw clenched hard enough to cause pain.
I fixed my stare on him until he met my eyes.
“Paulo is gone, Viktor,” he said finally.
Gone? Gone where? An icy thread of dread spread from my chest throughout my limbs.
Father would hunt him down and catch him. No one ever got away from Darko Marino as long as they had his attention. And Paulo had a truckload of it.
I focused back on Adrian, about to order him to start the search, when he turned and grabbed the doctor by the collar.
He leaned into the man’s rapidly reddening face, sneering.
“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to keep your mouth shut about this. If you make any mention of this in any reports or to any third parties, I will end your life. Is that clear?”
The shorter man whimpered his agreement, not bothering to hide his terror at Adrian’s cold order.
The calm demeanor I’d tried to maintain split with a crack that rattled my brain.
“Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?!” I bellowed.
I fisted the sheets.
Everything felt wrong, my skin, the time of day, the world itself.
Paulo needed to be found before Father noticed his absence and tortured him again.
The woman beside me took my arm in hers. Her touch, warm, reassuring, and strange, only spooked me further.
“Viktor, calm down. You just woke up…”
“Who the fuck are you?” I spat.
She flinched as if struck.
The doctor approached me, calmly operating the machines beside the hospital bed.
Adrian maintained his distance, staring at me with a stricken look. Pity.
I hated being pitied.
“Find Paulo. And by God, this time I will lock him up in a room myself if he keeps disappearing on me like this. We had a plan!” I insisted.
My heart slammed in my chest. I yanked out the needle in my wrist.
A wave of exhaustion hit me like a wall.
Glancing toward the dark-haired woman, I took in the tears rolling down her cheeks. Her stricken expression. Her tired slouch.
Her tears blurred together, her sobs distant as if I was under water.
Who was she to cry over me?
My limbs started to vibrate and I couldn’t control it.
The last thing I saw was Paulo standing beside Adrian. Sharp blue jeans, a cream shirt, looking twenty. Adrian seemed older, which was impossible. Paulo was older than both of us, and yet…
I tried to speak, but Paulo’s image blurred at the edges like a mirage, darkening with every blink. Was it real, or just the buzz in my head?
The loud pounding in my chest overtook my senses. And the pitiful looks on their faces haunted me back into the darkness.