Page 83 of Bad Medicine

I couldn’t.

“Mia! Jasper!” I called again, my feet feeling like they were made of concrete as I hauled myself up the stairs, each step feeling like it was a mountain of its own.

I needed to get up there, but at the same time, I was fuckin’ terrified at what I might find.

Finally, I made it to the top, my chest heaving like a bellows. I could hear Jasper, his wretched sobs like a knife to my heart, and as I entered his bedroom and looked around, I froze at the scene before me.

Jasper was on his bed, wrapped in the Linny’s arms as he wailed, his little face a picture of pure devastation. Linny was trying to comfort him, but he refused to be soothed, instead crying harder every time she tried to shush him.

Mia, on the other hand, was tearing through the room like a machine, reaching inside drawers and grabbing fistfuls of whatever was inside, shoving everything into a canvas duffel bag with absolutely no care.

It only took me a moment to realize what was happening, and the cold terror in my veins flared into white hot rage.

She was leaving.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I snarled, causing every head in the room to snap to me. Mia barely took me in, her flushed face looking so beautiful, even in her terror, before turning back to the dresser with the same determination as before.

“Not now, Rock,” was all she said.

“Yes, fuckin’ now, Mia.” Stomping over to her, I reached for the bag, trying to take it out of her hand, but she whirled on me, her previous strangely calm demeanor vanishing as she screeched at me, clawing and hissing like an alley cat.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, and Jasper cried even harder. Releasing the bag, I backed up from Mia with my hands in the air.

“Alright, Doc. You got it.”

Crouching by the bed, I gently placed one hand on Jasper’s head, feeling his rapid sobs shuddering through my palm.

“Hey, buddy,” I said softly, running my fingers through his blond hair.

The same hair his father had.

I cursed silently, hating the fact that Gregor fuckin’ Belikov ever had anything at all to do with either Mia or Jasper.

“It’s okay.” His tiny shoulders shook as he looked at me with naked desperation.

“Mommy said we’re leaving,” he cried, tears welling in his blue eyes. “I don’t wanna go.”

“I know, Jasper,” I whispered, catching Linny’s eyes where she sat beside him; hers were also red from crying, and I appreciated her for the fact that she loved them, these people who had come to mean so much to me. “I’m gonna fix it, alright?” I promised, and at my words, Jasper threw himself at me, his skinny arms locking around my neck in a death grip. Holding him close, I stood and turned back to Mia, seeing her staring at me—at us—with a look of hopelessness on her face so stark it gutted me. I swore to myself right then and there that I would never let her wear that expression again.

Over my dead fuckin’ body.

“Mia,” I begged, wanting her to understand, to look at me and reallyseeme. “Please. Don’t go.”

Her chin wobbled, the bag she was clutching falling to the floor as she pressed one hand to her throat, and it was then that I saw it.

The bruise on her face.

The anger that had been building in me, briefly choked out by panic, flared back to life, glowing so brightly it was fuckin’ incandescent.

That motherfucker was a dead man.

“Let me fix it, Mia. Please.” I swallowed thickly, my own emotions bubbling over in a way I had never experienced before. “Trust me.”

She heisted only a second, before she finally nodded, collapsing against me, her face buried in my chest and for a moment, I just stood there, holding them both, knowing I would do whatever it took to keep them safe.

Then I would do whatever I needed to ensure that I could keep them forever.

Chapter thirty-eight