He snorted, “I… persuaded Dr. Giardo into letting me stay here, but he made it as miserable as possible.”
“He really sucks as a doctor,” I agreed, resting my head against his shoulder.
“I thought you were dead in that room,” he said, the pain in his voice evident. “Why would you do that, baby?”
“I’d like to see my fiancée!”
It’s Aleks, and he’s practically shouting outside the door. He opens it painfully slowly and I realize he’s giving Lucca a chance to back away.
“There’s my soon to be daughter-in-law!” Oh, not him. It’s Leonid Rostova, not quite shoving his son aside to get a look at me. Lucca fades into a dark corner of the room like a sentinel.
Leonid looks me over thoroughly, and apparently even being disgusting and unwashed is not enough to discourage his leering. “Bednaya malenkaya tykv, poor little pumpkin,” he croons. His gaze fixes on my left hand. “And where is your engagement ring?”
“Ah, Aleks has been keeping it for me while I’m here in the clinic,” I lie. “We didn’t want anything to happen to it.” I force a smile, pleading with my eyes for Aleks to step closer. “Hello, moy zhenikh, my fiancé.”
I see Lucca stiffen out of the corner of my eye, and he slips from the room.
“Hello, moy predpolagayemyy, my intended,” Aleks says, edging past his father, blocking him slightly. “You look much better today.”
“It would be hard to look worse,” I give a weak little laugh before I get a good look at him. “Bozhe moy! What happened to you?” He’s sporting a monster of a black eye; a split lip and I can tell he’s favoring his left side a little.
“Just a sparring session gone wrong,” he says dismissively. Aleks is huge like Lucca, though more of a gentle giant. It’s hard to picture who could have messed up his face like that unless they had lots of help.
“That you should lose to anyone is an embarrassment!” Leonid scoffs, “You will meet them back in the ring and beat them half to death. I will expect pictures of their damage.”
I take Alek's hand and squeeze it. His father is a complete bastard. “With great respect, Leonid Rostova, your son has done so much damage in the ring that I fear the administration will throw him out if he sends yet another student to the medical clinic.”
This definitely seems to cheer up the old pervert. “Well, if you say so. We do want Aleks to graduate at the top of his class.”
“He’s a true leader, even in the Leader’s division,” I smile weakly.
“Very well,” Leonid approves. “I shall tell your brother that I have seen you for myself and you are recovering nicely, Tatiana Aslanova.” His eyes wander down the front of my thin gown again and I wish there were hospital-issued turtlenecks.
“Thank you, Leonid Rostova, you are very kind,” I manage to sound pleasant, even though just looking at this man is making me nauseous. “My brothers are well?”
Why didn’t they come to see me?
“Ah, well. They are very busy, as you can imagine.” He pats my hand heavily with his sweaty one and I force myself not to cringe.
“Come father, I know your time is short.” Aleksandr thankfully intervenes and Leonid reluctantly pulls his hand away.
Lucca slips back in as soon as they’ve left the clinic. “You are not continuing with this insane agreement!” he snarls.
“I just woke up about ten minutes ago,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “Will you please just sit with me? Please?” I’m embarrassingly close to tears and he seems to understand.
“Here, you need some water,” he helps me sit up again, waiting until I’ve finished half the glass. “Good girl,” he whispers, kissing my forehead.
“Maybe you should have gone into medicine,” I sighed, letting myself slump against him.
He chuckles as if I’ve just said the cutest thing. “I’m better at taking bodies apart than putting them back together again, piccolo bacio.” Moving me with painstaking care, Lucca sets me on his lap with my cheek against his chest.
I’m about to fall gratefully back to sleep when it hits me. “Did you beat up Aleksandr?”
His entire body turns to granite. “Yes,” he admits. “Quell'inutile figlio di puttana, that useless son of a bitch was supposed to look after you and keep you safe. He never questioned why you were down in the Catacombs so long? The fucking idiot! He didn’t even try to hit me back. He just stood there.”
“That’s not fair,” I mumbled. Oh, his chest was so warm. I didn’t think I would ever feel warm again. “How long was I down there?”
“I looked at the notes,” he swallows, “they ripped off your toenail the first night and kept you hooded and soaking wet for two and a half days. Then another twelve hours in the spotlight. They never checked your vitals after the first night. No food or water for seventy-two fucking hours.”
“They must really have hated me,” I sighed.
“I called Lev for you,” he continued, “he nearly got shot at the gates, trying to get in. I’m pretty sure Dean Christie realized this was a clusterfuck, because she allowed him to stay with you for the first two days when we weren’t sure…”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, stroking his ribs with my finger.
“Stop saying you’re sorry,” he said, taking my hands and kissing it. “This isn’t your fault. That interrogator fucked up.”
“Where’s Lev now?” I groaned a little, shifting position. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” Lucca said in an odd tone.
“What does that mean?”
He curled his arms around me, bringing me closer, and whispered in my ear. “He’s in Florida. He tracked down that bastard.”
“Do you mean…”
“He took his time,” he said viciously. “He’ll be back tomorrow.”
It was too much. Too much death and pain. “Will you stay with me?” I asked, all dignity gone, “Just till I fall asleep?”
I feel his warm lips on my forehead. “Of course. And I will be here when you wake up.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
In which Mariya proves how delightfully cunning she can be.
Lucca…
When my phone vibrates in my pocket, I groan quietly. Taking calls in the medical clinic seemed like an obvious way to get caught, but when Lev’s name flashed on the screen, I had to answer.
“Hey,” I whisper.
“How is Tatiana doing?” Lev sounds exhausted.
“She’s good. She regained consciousness today. We talked for a couple of minutes and then that asshole Aleks came bursting in with his father, who is a fucking pervert. He talked to Tatiana’s tits the entire time.” Just thinking about it is pissing me off again.
“He’s a powerful Pakhan,” Lev sighs, “and yes, he is a lecherous bastard with a fondness for young girls. But our Pakhan must have weighed the risks and benefits and found this to be a sound plan.” I hear the light clink of a bottle cap.
“Are you back at the inn, having a cold one?” I ask.
“Don’t give me shit, boy. This is the first drink I’ve had in a week,” he said, belching for my benefit.
“No judgment here,” I shrug. “I am judging the Aslanov brothers for not coming to see their sister when she was in critical condition.”
“This war-”
“I understand what’s going on. My family’s been under fire before,” I said, trying to hold onto my temper. “But this is bullshit. If I found out my sister Francesa was deathly ill, nothing would keep me from getting back to her.”
If fucking Giovanni would allow me - the invisible brother - to see her, I thought bitterly.
“Never mind,” I said, “tell me what happened. I want details. Bloody details.” Every time I think of what that twisted fuck did to my girl, I’m furious that I didn’t go track him down. It would have been worth getting expelled from the Academy to end that piece of shit.