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“So they’re letting you out?” I frown and stand, leaning in to study him closely. “You’re too thin and you got shot. Are they idiots?”

“No, they’re the best as you well know.” Ilya fluffs a pillow one-handed. “They’re not releasing me tomorrow, but… hopefully in the next few days, so long as I promise to take it easy.”

“Well, you’ll be staying at the mansion, or we’ll move to the penthouse until you’re back on your feet.”

“The mansion’s safer for you.”

“I’ll prep a room on the ground floor.”

He waves a hand at me. “Eh, I’ll be fine, you don’t need to do that.”

“Too bad.” I sit and cross my arms. “You’re staying at the mansion, close. Friends take care of friends, Ilya. Besides, Sasha asks about his uncle.” Then I take a breath. “He called me daddy today.”

“He did? Told you.”

I grumble an insult in Russian at him that makes him laugh.

Then he looks at me and takes a sip of his coffee. “And how is your love triangle?”

“My what?”

He completely and deliberately ignores the warning in my voice that would make others shake. “Your love triangle, how’s it going?”

“I heard you and it’s…” I roll my eyes again. “About as you’d expect. Stefina’s every bit of the nightmare we expected. And she’s getting worse, not better. It’s taking its toll on Erin.”

“I warned you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m taking her away for a couple of nights. A romantic weekend. I hope it’s enough to show her that my feelings, my real ones, lie with her.”

Ilya grins. “I know you think you’re a god in bed, but perhaps instead of sex and gifts and getaways, you show her by using actual words, too. Make sure she gets the message.”

“I plan to show her that and make sure she knows it with words, yes, and with every single way I can think of.”

Even if it’s just holding her.

Ilya grimaces. “I know I mentioned sex, but you don’t need to back it up, and no, I don’t need to approve your moves first. Too much information, asshole.”

I laugh. And I hope, I really hope that she sticks with me through this, because things just might get bumpy in more ways than one.

Chapter Fourteen

ERIN

The doctor,due to an emergency, is running horribly late, almost two hours, so after arriving, I did the blood tests required and we rescheduled for a little later in the day and then went for tea at a tea shop nearby, one where the smells soothed rather than turned my stomach.

Demyan had just texted a little while ago, but I’m too nervous to text him back. Not about the checkup, but about what I’m going to do.

Now, I’m sitting with Alina in the waiting room of the clinic, which is pretty much one of the swankiest waiting rooms I’ve been in.

Alina smiles as we wait for my name to be called, or… rather, Alina’s.

I turn to her. “Does she know it’s me?”

I’m clutching the clipboard with the paperwork.

“She’ll know, but it’s under your name?—”

“The initial appointment was, but I just changed it on the phone when I got up. The name Yegorov has some sway. You’re fine. Finished?” She points at the clipboard.