Page 49 of Bratva’s Vow (Bratva’s Undoing #2)
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
MAXIM
T he beeping was the only thing keeping me from falling apart.
Soft, methodical, and terrifying in its steadiness.
Wren looked smaller in the hospital bed than in our much bigger one. Pale against the white sheets, his skin had taken on a sallow undertone, making the bruised shadows under his eyes stand out.
An oxygen cannula rested beneath his nose. IV lines snaked from both arms. Monitors tracked everything: oxygen saturation, heart rate, and blood pressure. Every number was another notch of worry in my chest.
I couldn’t stop watching him. I’d not left his side but for the moment they’d wheeled him away to run tests.
Since they returned him to the ICU, I hadn’t budged.
I was the only one allowed to see him. Jess and the others were in the waiting room.
Knowing they were down the hall offered a sliver of comfort.
Though not the kind I wanted. For Wren to open his eyes and smile, and say something ridiculous .
But he didn’t.
“Come on, baby.” I kissed the back of his hand just above where the IV was inserted. His touch was cold, his skin void of its usual warmth. “You’ve got to be okay. I’ve only just found you.”
The door opened with a quiet hiss, and I straightened in the chair beside Wren’s hospital bed.
Fuck.
Bradley’s husband.
We’d met before during office parties but never really had a conversation. He hung back for a few seconds, then moved his lips silently as if talking to himself. His chest expanded on a long exhale as he walked into the room, his white coat fluttering softly against his legs.
Leo Cavanagh looked exactly like I remembered. He was a handsome man in a clean-cut sort of way—midforties, immaculately groomed, and graying at the temples.
We exchanged a brief nod. Professional. Strained.
“Mr. Morozov.” His eyes flicked briefly to the boy unconscious beside me. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I wanted to review everything myself before coming in.”
I stood, though I didn’t offer my hand. “How is he?”
“Stable. We’ve completed a full panel of tests. A few results are still pending, but his vitals have improved slightly since you brought him in.”
Good news, then. As long as he kept improving.
He crossed to the foot of the bed and pulled up Wren’s chart from his tablet. “I need to ask a few questions. I’m assuming you’re his partner, and you will be able to respond?”
“Yes. I’ll try my best.”
“When did the symptoms start?”
“A little over a week ago.”
“What about his appetite? Any changes? ”
I nodded. “He said everything tasted funny a few days ago—like metal, so he hasn’t been eating much lately.”
That made him pause. Finally, he looked up.
“Metallic taste. Progressive GI symptoms. Neuropathy. Hair thinning?”
I blinked. “What?”
He stepped around the bed, gently lifting Wren’s wrist to check his pulse manually. “Has he complained about tingling in his fingers? Burning feet? Has he been pulling hair from his brush or off his pillow?”
My heart rate kicked up. “His feet, yes, but I don’t know about his hair.”
He let go of Wren’s wrist, his expression sharpening.
“His labs are inconclusive so far, but his symptoms and the timeline suggest something more serious than a viral infection or food-borne illness. I’d like to run a heavy metals panel immediately. Especially for thallium.”
My breath caught. “Thallium?”
“It’s rare, but I’ve seen it before. Colorless, tasteless. It’s used industrially, but also—” His voice dipped. “In poisoning cases. Especially if administered slowly.”
My blood turned to ice.
Leo didn’t say the word deliberate , but it clung to the space between us.
“I need to confirm it through blood and urine,” he said.
“We’re starting chelation therapy immediately, just in case.
If we wait and I’m right, we risk permanent nerve damage or worse.
You did the right thing getting him here quickly.
Given the symptoms take a few days to manifest, he would have come in contact with the substance almost two weeks ago. ”
I sank back into the chair, my body suddenly hollow. I didn’t trust myself to speak. My thoughts spun like tires in mud, gripping nothing, going nowhere. Two weeks ago. But what had changed?
He’d gone back to classes. We ate dinner together every night. Pilar always had something warm waiting for us for dinner. She packed his breakfast, bottled his tea, and fussed if he skipped a meal. She did the shopping. Cooked everything.
Pilar.
The name bloomed like rot in my chest.
Could she have…?
No. It didn’t make sense. I ate the same food. She always labeled our meals. Wren thought it was cute and said it made him feel spoiled. I’d chalked it up to her being particular. Organized. Nurturing.
But what if it wasn’t about keeping things tidy?
What if it was about keeping things separate?
What if she was feeding him something only meant for him?
Fuck.
My heart skipped a beat as I gazed down at Wren. For days, I struggled to understand why Stone was shot that night instead of me.
I wasn’t the target.
Wren was.
“Mr. Morozov?” Leo’s voice prompted me out of my thoughts. “I know this is… complicated.”
I looked at him. Really looked. What was he blathering about?
He exhaled slowly. “I wanted to say this has nothing to do with Bradley. What he did—how he behaved—was his choice. I didn’t condone it.
I didn’t know he was being so brazen at work and still going after Wren.
He mentioned Wren to me a lot, and I should have realized he’d developed an obsession, but I thought it was just a silly crush. ”
What the hell? He thought I gave a fuck about Bradley when Wren might have been poisoned? And by someone whom I’d invited into our home. Our home, which should have been a safe place for him. Instead, I’d let my guard down.
“Maybe we should get another doctor to care for Wren,” I said. “I won’t tolerate anything going wrong while he’s here.”
“I understand, but this is my job. And Wren is my patient. If you think I’ll give him anything less than my best, you’re wrong. I took an oath to protect and care for everyone regardless of who they are. I will do everything to ensure Wren receives the best possible care.”
I stared directly into his eyes. “You should know that I won’t tolerate mistakes in taking care of him, but you make sure he’s okay, and you’ll never have to worry about anything for the rest of your life.”
“As generous as that offer sounds, Mr. Morozov, I am quite happy doing my job.” He walked to the door. “I’ll send a nurse in to collect the hair sample for the lab, and we’ll speak again once the toxicology comes in.”
The door closed behind him with a soft click. Wren and I were alone again in the silence, the hum of machines the only sound.
Seconds bled into minutes. I was too numb to move as thoughts flooded my mind. Anger seethed in my veins and churned in my gut. Wren’s openmouthed breathing was the only sign of life, accompanied by the beep-beep-beep of the monitor.
“Pilar.” I whispered the name like a curse, each syllable a twist of a knife in my heart.
The tightness in my throat made it difficult to breathe. Pilar hadn’t entered our lives by chance. Archie had hired her. Archie, who was so close to me he knew my every move. No wonder someone was always ahead of me.
But Archie ?
I rose to my feet and kissed Wren’s forehead. “I’ll be back soon, kroshka.”
The hallway outside Wren’s room was too quiet.
A hush that pressed against my ears, like the hospital itself was holding its breath.
I walked into the waiting room down the hall.
They were all there—Sergei seated stiffly, elbows on his knees, worry carved into the granite lines of his face.
Nik pacing. Jess was crying softly against Darius’s chest while he rubbed her back.
One face was missing.
“Where’s Archie?”
Sergei straightened. “I called him as soon as we got here. He said he’d hold things down at the office.”
I let out a short breath. “I bet he did.”
The others exchanged glances, tension thickening like a storm cloud rolling in. Jess stood, using the back of her hand to dry her face.
“How’s Wren? Is he going to be okay? Do they know what’s wrong with him?”
“They’re working on a theory.” I gestured to Sergei, who rose to his feet. “We need to talk on the outside. You too, Darius. Nik, can you stay here and keep guard? Jess, do you mind sitting with Wren?”
“Of course. I was so afraid I wouldn’t get to see him.”
“Only one person is allowed in at a time. Nik, don’t let anyone in who isn’t cleared by me or the doctor. Absolutely no one else is allowed to see him.”
With the lengths the perpetrator went through to harm Wren, I could no longer leave anything to chance.
Sergei and Darius stepped into the hallway with me. We didn’t speak until we walked out of the hospital. The three of us piled into the car, away from prying eyes.
“The doctor thinks Wren might’ve been poisoned,” I said, voice bitter from having to think about it again .
Sergei’s brow furrowed. “What? How? He’s with Nik all the time.”
“It’s not confirmed yet, but the doctor—who’s Bradley’s fucking husband, by the way—is running tests. Hair analysis. Blood panels. Wren’s symptoms match thallium exposure.”
Darius let out a slow breath, shaking his head. “Poison. Jesus Christ. I know he hasn’t been feeling his best, but poison?”
“The symptoms started a few days after I hired Pilar and she became in charge of our meals.”
“Oh shit,” Darius muttered. “The housekeeper? Didn’t Archie vet her?”
Silence fell as I let his question sink in to see if they arranged the pieces of the puzzle the same way I had.
“Fucking hell,” Sergei sounded as sick as I did. He knew the implication behind my words and the impact it would have on us all.
Archie was one of us. Sure, we’d gotten rid of men who betrayed us in the past, the latest being Vasiliev. But none had been as close to us as Archie.