Page 14 of Bedazzled
“It was the Irish, they’re so…” Tears poured down her cheeks. “They’re the monsters my brother was with.”
I stuffed her hand with tissues and bent over, clutching my midsection. Ella’s shitty brother bought his way back into the O’Connell mob with her inheritance. When she was kidnapped, he stood there and watched them torture her. That fucker wanted to make sure she’d end up in a whorehouse somewhere to “shame” Maksim and weaken his Bratva. The piece of shit was dead, but the rest of the “family” was apparently even worse.
I could so vividly remember seeing Yuri standing there on the sidewalk with my flowers, smiling up at me with his devilish grin. The sun was shining on him like he was the brightest thing on the block. What have they taken from my Yuri? What had they left?
Another hour passed before the elevator doors opened and a clot of medical personnel surrounding his gurney hurried Yuri to his room. All I could see was the outline of his body under the sheet and I surged forward.
Maksim caught my arm. “Hang on,” he said, not unkindly. He fixed the poor surgeon with a murderous stare. “Tell us.”
The woman looked exhausted, there was blood on her scrubs and I nearly threw up when I realized it was Yuri’s. She pulled off her scrub cap, and rubbed the back of her neck. “Mr. Morozov has lost his spleen and part of his liver. Several ribs were broken. One of the broken ribs punctured his right lung. There are multiple cuts and contusions and a laceration on his left deltoid that nearly severed the muscle.”
Black spots were clouding my vision and I closed my eyes for a minute, biting the inside of my cheek.You do not get to faint. This is about Yuri.
Ella squeezed my arm. Hard. “What about nerve damage under the deltoid muscle? Were you able to successfully reattach theSupraspinusandTeres Minortendons?”
“Yes,” she nodded, clearly happy to offer some good news, “there is minimal damage in the underlying tissue and tendons.”
Maksim spoke, his voice was completely emotionless. “What else?”
She pulled in a long breath of air and released it slowly. “The most severe laceration was on his face, it required nearly one hundred stitches to close. He has a serious concussion, and he’s lost two fingernails and three toenails.”
Oh, Yuri. Oh, god sweetheart, this life is so fucking cruel to you.
“Where is the laceration on his face?” Ella’s voice was so steady. She was going to be an amazing doctor one day.
“Upper quadrant, right side,” the surgeon clarified.
“What is his condition?” Maksim was still using his emotionless robot voice. Knowing him a bit better now, I suspected he did it because if he lost his shit right now, this hospital would be nothing but rubble.
“Your brother,” the surgeon shook her head, “is the toughest individual I have ever worked on. His injuries were so severe… At any rate, his condition is critical, but stable for now. We had to put him in a medical coma. We’ll monitor his vitals and if he can stay in stable condition for forty-eight hours, we’ll bring him out, and we’ll have a better idea of what his recovery will entail.”
I looked at Maksim pleadingly, and he turned back to the surgeon. “Can we see him?”
She nodded, “One at a time, sterile conditions.”
Maksim, naturally, went first. He was his brother. Of course, he should. I also wish he would hurry the fuck up. Oh, damn it. Yuri and Ella are really close. She would go next. She should. She’s family.
“Tania?”
Oh, she has been talking to me? “Yeah?”
“Why don’t you go in next.”
My eyes were wet again and my nose was running. “Um, are you sure?”
Ella’s so fucking sweet. “Yeah,” she hugged me hard, “go in and remind him that he’s got your hot ass to live for.”
That choked a laugh out of me. “You’re so weird sometimes.”
“I know.” She tilted her head in the direction of his room. “Go.”
The room was darkened, the machines surrounding Yuri were the only light, beeping their messages about his pulse and blood oxygenation rate, his blood pressure but none of them told me if the man I love was going to live.
I tried to scooch the chair closer to the bed and winced as the metal legs screech across the tile.
Smooth, girl.
“Hey, sweetheart. You scared the shit out of me, just so you know.”
