Page 9 of Bratva's Mercy
“Yeah,” he said. “It is, but your job is the only thing you do. Look at Maxim. He was just as bad as you in how much he put into his job, but now he has Wren, he’s doing way less.”
“What are you saying?”
“Fuck if I know. Maybe that it’s understandable you feel somewhat responsible for the doctor after you witnessed his meltdown. As long as that’s all this is, it’s fine, I guess, but don’t get too involved. That man will never feel anything for us but hatred.”
Leo’s BMW turned into his street lined with tidy lawns. Porch lights glowed warm against the darkness, and the whole neighborhood had a peaceful stillness to it. He slowed as he approached his driveway, and I didn’t bother hanging back anymore.
Nik noticed immediately. “Oh, we’re not even pretending now?”
“No. I’m sure he knows I’ve been trailing him. He’s really intelligent.”
“Well, don’t you sound like a proud parent?”
Leo pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. His garage door remained closed, the piles of boxes that housedhis husband’s things growing higher every day, which forced him to park on the outside. Not exactly safe.
I rolled to a stop across the street and parked along the curb.
Nik leaned forward slightly, peering through the windshield. “This is bold, even for you.”
Leo opened the car door and stepped out. If he noticed my vehicle, he gave no indication, but he was good at that, ignoring me and getting on with whatever he was doing. He moved more slowly than he had at the hospital. Maybe tonight he would be too tired to walk around his house for hours before he was finally able to sleep.
He grabbed his briefcase from the back seat and shut the door with a dull thud before heading up the short walkway toward the front porch. He stopped at the door and unlocked it. With the door held ajar with one hand, he turned his head slightly toward the street.
Toward my truck.
Nik inhaled sharply. “Are you sure he won’t call the cops?”
“He won’t.”
If he hadn’t yet, he didn’t plan on it.
Leo raised his arm and fired a very deliberate middle finger straight in my direction. My jaw fell slack, and I blinked as if the image was somehow a figment of my imagination. But nope. He was definitely flipping me off.
Nik burst out laughing so hard he shook the cab of the truck. “Oh my God,” he wheezed, slapping the dashboard. “Ilovethis guy.”
I kept my eyes on Leo, but he didn’t linger to see what I would do. The door opened, and he stepped inside and closed it behind him. A moment later, the porch light clicked off.
Nik was still chuckling beside me. “Now I understand your obsession. Your doc’s got balls. You think he’ll let me buy him dinner sometime? Maybe it’s just you he hates.”
A hot and unfamiliar feeling twisted low in my chest, and I curled my hands into fists, but if I punched Nik in the mouth, Darius would get involved, and we couldn’t handle infighting among us right now.
I let out the breath I was holding silently and let the corner of my mouth relax into a grin. For the last two weeks, I’d wondered if I’d pushed Leo too far. If the constant presence, the pressure, the surveillance finally broke him.
That small, defiant gesture told me otherwise.
My doc still had fight left in him.
And for some reason, that made me feel a hell of a lot better.
3
LEO
My last surgery had taken most of the afternoon and a good part of the evening with it. By the time I peeled off my gloves and stepped out of the operating room, my shoulders felt like someone had poured wet cement into the joints. My whole body ached. Four hours bent over an open chest had a way of leaving you feeling that way.
I scrubbed out, washed the lingering smell of antiseptic from my hands, and checked my pager. One message blinked back at me from Hargrove. This was the second time this week that he wanted to see me, and I couldn’t keep blowing him off. I could only ignore him for so long given he was my superior.
I grabbed my coat and headed down the corridor toward the administrative wing. The hospital had quieted slightly now that the worst of the afternoon rush had passed. Dr. Hargrove’s door was open, and he was alone. I knocked lightly on the frame, and he looked up from behind his desk.
