Page 100 of Darkest Desire

I clench my hands into fists. “Was she hurt?”

“Why should I tell you that? We’re no longer partners.”

“Fuck you, Denis. You just made me an enemy. You can’t hide in your house forever.” I storm away from the door and look around, trying to find a clue. Denis said he told Sasha to leave which meant she had been here.

It’s then that my eyes see a puddle of blood down the street. It’s right in front of the neighbor’s house. A woman answers after I knock.

“Was a woman here? Hurt?”

“Yes,” she says warily, eyeing me over. “I called an ambulance for her. She was taken to the hospital. Who are you?”

“I’m her husband. I’m looking for her. Did they say which hospital?”

“No. They didn’t. But I’m assuming it’s the closest one to here. She was bleeding bad. She went unconscious.”

Fuck. The thought of losing Sasha… I can’t even go there. I’ve never felt this sort of panic and fear ever before in my entire life. The one constant I’ve been able to rely on is myself. My ruthlessness and my cold nature. I could scare anyone that I wanted. Put anyone in their place.

But right now, I feel out of control. Sasha is hurt and I didn’t save her. I broke my promise.

I call Mikhail and let him know I’m heading to the nearest hospital.

“Is Natalya hurt?” he asks.

I have to quench down my annoyance. It’s Sasha I care about. Not Natalya. “I don’t know. I just know that Sasha is hurt. I’m going to get her back.”

“If my wife is with her, don’t you dare hurt her, Nico,” he growls.

“Get over yourself, Mikhail.” I hang up the phone and drive to the nearest hospital. I walk right past the line of all the people waiting in the ER and head to the front desk. “Is Sasha Bernardi here? She’s my wife.”

The nurse behind the desk checks the computer, then shakes her head. “No. Not by that name.”

Think, think. If Natalya is with her, she’d use Sasha’s maiden name. “Sasha Petrov? That’s her maiden name.”

She checks again and this time, she nods. “She is here. I’ll have a nurse take you in to see her.”

I pace around the waiting room until Mikhail arrives. He storms right over to me.

“Well?” he asks.

“Sasha is here.”

“Is Natalya?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

Mikhail grumbles under his breath and talks to the nurse who says that she’s not sure. She’s not a patient.

“Fuck,” Mikhail growls, running his hands over his face. I’ve never seen Mikhail this frazzled before. It’s quite satisfying.

The nurse comes to get me. Mikhail starts to follow when the nurse stops him. “Just family.”

“She’s my sister-in-law,” he says.

She hesitates, then motions us both to follow. She takes us to a private room in the ER. “She’s in there. She’ll need surgery. But she’s alive. You can go in to see her.”

I open the door and go over to Sasha, who’s laying on a table, a tube in her mouth and nose, not awake. A few other nurses are standing nearby. Mikhail waits outside. Despite our differences, he’s giving me this moment.

“Sasha?” I murmur, running my hand over her hair. She doesn’t move. Doesn’t give me any indication that she hears me.