Page 51 of Bratva’s Vow (Bratva’s Undoing #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

MAXIM

I sat in the chair beside Wren’s bed, elbows resting on my knees, hands clasped between them like I was praying. But I wasn’t. I didn’t know how to pray. And if I did, I wouldn’t know what to ask for. Probably for Wren to have never met me. Then he wouldn’t have to go through all this pain.

Did he regret it?

Wren lay still beneath the white sheets, his breaths shallow but steady now, aided by machines that hummed low in the background.

His fever had finally broken a few hours ago, but the night had been brutal.

He’d woken confused, shaking, drenched in sweat.

Mumbled words that didn’t make sense. Thought I was his father. Then begged someone not to leave him.

His fingers had curled around mine with all the strength he had left, and I’d clung to him like it would tether us both to something that felt real.

Now he slept, cheeks sunken and lashes damp against his skin. The rise and fall of his chest was the only thing keeping me breathing.

The door creaked open. I didn’t need to look to know who it was. Sergei had messaged me that he was on his way.

“Hey, how’s he doing?” He’d asked me that half an hour ago when he called. Between him, Nik, Jess, and even Dezi, I felt like I was repeating myself.

Without realizing it, Wren had wheedled his way into everyone’s heart.

“Slightly better. They’ve started him on Prussian blue.”

“What’s that?”

“Some medication to fight the poisoning.”

“So they’ve confirmed it’s poisoning?”

“They said results will be ready in a few hours, but it’s best to start treatment the moment thallium poisoning is suspected. To minimize damage to his organs.”

“What’s taking them so long?”

“They’ve already expedited testing due to me moving Wren to a private suite.” I clenched my hands into fists at my sides. It wasn’t fast enough. Nothing ever was when it mattered most. “Did you find anything out?”

It’d been almost twenty-four hours since Wren was in the hospital. Enough time for him to confirm our theories.

“You were right,” Sergei said, voice grim.

One glance told me everything. His jaw was tight and his posture stiff.

I stood slowly. “What happened?”

“We searched Pilar’s home yesterday, but she disappeared with her husband. From the way she left, it was sudden. I deployed everyone I could think of to find her.”

“And?”

“An hour ago, one of our guys monitoring the police frequencies picked up a call from dispatch.” Sergei’s voice was tight, almost clipped.

“They were reporting three bodies found in a home outside the city limits. Two women and a man. I followed up with our contact at the police station and confirmed one of the women is Pilar. Seems she fled to her sister’s along with her husband.

They had passports on them and plane tickets for later today out of the country. ”

My stomach dropped. “Fuck.”

“The house was ransacked and money stolen, so the police are calling it a robbery gone wrong.”

Of course. Tie up the loose ends. Just like Vova. Just like Stone. Just like anyone who came too close to the truth. And I knew deep down that very few people could be that meticulous. I’d worked with Archie long enough to know he was a stickler for details.

I looked at Wren, then back at Sergei. “Archie?”

“We’ve been watching him, like you said. He left the house this morning and went to the office as usual.” Sergei hesitated. “He stopped by your house, Maxim. Was inside for about twenty minutes. Came out with two duffel bags.”

“You let him go into my house?”

“If I’d stopped him, he would have figured out we were on to him.

Better to give him the space to slip up now that we have eyes on him.

I know it’s hard, but we can’t be wrong about him.

It’s better to be patient to know for sure.

We want to catch the right person and ensure there’s no one else behind this. ”

I exhaled hard through my nose. My chest ached like I’d taken a bat to the ribs. “What did he take?”

“We don’t know yet. He went to your bedroom, and the security footage doesn’t go quite that far.”

“It does,” I said quickly.

Sergei raised his brow. “Didn’t know you and Wren were that kinky.”

I scowled. “It’s from the time we locked him up after Bradley died. I had the camera installed to monitor him then, but we didn’t remove it.”

Wren shifted, and I held my breath. He seemed more peaceful when asleep. When he was awake, he complained of the pain. When he settled down again, I turned back to Sergei.

“Tell me the truth, Sergei. Is it really him? Did Archie poison Wren?”

Sergei didn’t answer. His gaze drifted to Wren, then to me. He blew out a breath. “Given Pilar and her family are now dead… the trail leads to one place.”

I stared at him. “He’s been with me before everyone else. There’s a reason I made him my sovietnik.”

“I know.”

“If I can’t trust Archie,” I said, voice low and trembling, “then who the fuck can I trust? Does loyalty mean nothing anymore?”

“It means everything,” Sergei said softly. “But people… people twist what it looks like. I think he’s still loyal to you , Maxim. I don’t believe he wants to hurt you. I’m not even sure he can. But Wren…”

“What about Wren?”

“You two used to be together. Maybe he feels Wren threatens that.”

“Archie and I haven’t been intimate in years. That can’t be it.”

“Maybe.”

Silence settled between us, thick and unbearable.

My eyes fell to Wren’s hand, pale and slack on the blanket. I walked over to him, gently lifted his hand, and brushed my thumb across his knuckles.

I’d failed him. I let this happen.

“I’ll have to kill him.” I didn’t look at Sergei.

“You don’t have to do it yourself. I can?— ”

“No, I do.”

“Maxim—”

“It has to be me, Sergei. I deserve to look into his eyes and know that he can’t hurt Wren anymore.”

Sergei didn’t argue. “Okay, I’ll stick around and relieve Nik so he can get some sleep.”

“It’s no use,” I said. “He won’t leave Wren either.”

“I’ll stick around anyway. Text me if you need anything.”

The door clicked shut behind him, and I was alone again. Nik had brought me food earlier, but I’d barely touched it. Whenever I looked at the meal, I felt sick that I’d allowed someone into my home who’d been poisoning Wren every day.

I ran a hand over my face, scrubbing away the exhaustion clinging to my skin like a second layer. The room felt colder now, quieter. Like even the machines were holding their breath. The drip of IV fluid, the soft whir of the oxygen—each sound was its own cruel metronome.

Wren’s fingers twitched beneath mine.

I snapped upright.

“Wren?”

His brow furrowed a little. Then his eyelids fluttered. Once. Twice. Finally, they opened, slow and sluggish like he had to convince himself it was worth the effort.

“Max…” His voice was dry and raspy, barely there.

“I’m here.” I leaned in, wiping his hair from his forehead. It was damp still, skin clammy. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He blinked slowly, gaze unfocused, drifting across the ceiling, then settling on me. His lips twitched faintly at the corners. A sad ghost of a smile.

“You look like shit,” he mumbled.

I huffed a short breath, choking on something that might’ve been a laugh if it hadn’t hurt so much. “Thanks. You’ve really got a way with words, solnyshko. ”

“I mean it,” he whispered, throat working. “Your eyes… you haven’t slept.”

“Couldn’t.” I traced the back of his hand with my thumb, grounding myself. “Didn’t want to miss a second in case you needed me.”

“Who’s taking care of Jellybean?”

“Jess has him.”

“Good.” He fell silent. Just stared at me, eyes glassy, like he was seeing through me or maybe into me. His lip trembled. “Don’t leave.”

“I won’t.”

His hand weakly gripped mine. “Don’t want to die alone.”

Something shattered inside me.

I swallowed hard, leaning in until my forehead touched his. “You’re not dying, Wren. You hear me? You’re not. But even if you were—if the world split in two and the sky came crashing down—I’d still be here. Right here. You’ll never be alone.”

He sighed like the words filled a hollow space inside him. His eyes fluttered closed again, lashes damp against too-pale cheeks.

I waited, holding my breath.

But his chest rose and fell.

Still breathing.

Still fighting.

I stayed there, forehead to his, whispering nothing into the quiet. Words he probably couldn’t hear, but I said them anyway. Just in case some part of him was listening.

“I love you,” I whispered.

And the machines kept beeping. One after another. One beat closer to hope.

I got a text from Nik that Archie was on his way to the hospital.

How fucking bold of him to think he could visit Wren and act like he was innocent.

Like he hadn’t hired a housekeeper with the intention of poisoning Wren.

I’d been so gullible that I hadn’t even questioned it when he offered to help me find one.

Since Sergei told me the news of Pilar’s death, all doubt had fled my mind. The one person I trusted without reservation was responsible for the love of my life being in the hospital, fighting the toxins from the poison in his system.

The results came in an hour ago. Thallium confirmed.

Leo had explained the treatment plan as calmly as if he were reciting the weather.

But nothing about it felt calm to me. He would need to take the Prussian blue multiple times a day, which would bind to the thallium in his body and flush it out through the stool.

He’d also been hooked to potassium supplements to speed up the excretion, his electrolyte levels monitored round the clock.

There’d been talk of activated charcoal too, in case any of the toxin still lingered in his GI tract.

His blood and urine would be tested daily to track progress, and he would undergo neurological observation for worsening symptoms.

For now, everything hinged on the next forty-eight hours—how his body responded to treatment, if his kidneys held up, if the damage to his nerves could be reversed.