Page 84 of Love Me in the Dark

A violent need to smash things surged through me, but it was immediately drowned by the guilt that riddled me. Why did she run?

My name. I saw the change on her face as soon as she heard it. Wasn’t that the reason I’d locked her door—the reason I’d asked Nik to take her food but not let her out? I clenched my fists to prevent lashing out and punching the wall.

The clock in the corridor ticked slowly, and I had never felt so impotent, even after years of my father keeping me under his thumb, suppressing my ideas and plans for our organisation. Suddenly, it all felt like nothing compared to seeing her injured. Even now, the feeling of being unable to help her except cradle her bleeding cheek and shout for Nik to call an ambulance was like a torment from the nine circles of hell. Waiting and putting my faith and trust in the staff was agonising.

The euphoria of our intimacy the night before, holding her afterwards as she fell asleep, and gazing at her beautiful face while planning how to keep her for the rest of our lives felt like a bright spot in a distant life, not something from just over twenty-four hours ago.

Nik appeared, his suit similarly marked with her blood. The deep, dark circles under his eyes probably mirrored my own.

“Any word?”

I shook my head, the lump in my throat preventing me from speaking. He took up position at my shoulder, and we waited.

Hours passed, and my whole body ached by the time a man in scrubs approached us. His mask hung off one ear, and he still had a blue hairnet on.

“Are you Angel’s family?”

“I’m her husband, Viktor.” I stepped forward. “This is Nik, my brother.”

Nik showed no surprise at the lie as the doctor ushered us into a private room. The fact that I’d had the presence of mind to come up with the whole cover story while Angelina lay bleeding and broken was testament to the ruthless way my father had trained me. It also reminded me I had a lot of work to do.

“My name is Mr Halstead. I’m the consultant neurosurgeon who operated on your wife. We’ve stabilised her, but her condition remains critical. The orthopaedics will be along to speak to you shortly with their plan for her leg, but as far as her head goes, she’s suffered a traumatic brain injury, which caused bleeding on her brain. She’s in a medically-induced coma for now, but the next forty-eight hours are critical. We are doing everything we can to prevent further swelling of her brain, but I have to warn you her survival is touch and go at this stage, and if she does, she’ll have a long recovery ahead of her.”

My heart clenched. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

He asked if I had any more questions, and despite my brain being crowded with them, I shook my head. There was no point in speculating. Angelina was strong and would pull through; no other outcome was conceivable to me. He nodded and left.

“Fuck,” Nik muttered, leaning against the wall.

“I need you to go and see Vlad and get us papers and a marriage certificate.”

Nik lifted his head and blinked at me. He didn’t question what probably sounded like an insane plan.

“Might as well fake your mother’s death, too, and bring her to the house. She’s a nurse and can help Angelina recover,” I added.

We’d been working on a plan to get Nik’s mother away from his psycho father for a while, and it looked like the perfect time to implement it.

“Damn. I have no idea how you come up with this shit so quickly.”

I grunted. I knew. My father was a calculating, heartless monster, and I learnt from the best. But the difference was that I would use that to protect Angelina.Angel, I reminded myself, because she would recover, and when she woke up, she would be my wife.

11

Rada

An itch ranunder my skin, and I scrubbed at myself. My bones ached, and the concrete floor did nothing to help the chills that ran through me, and I blinked to clear my vision. I’d been awake for a while, but organising my thoughts or even keeping my eyes open long was hard.

Five other women lay around me in varying states of unconsciousness, each of us chained by the ankle to a central peg. The damp, cold room was windowless, and I had no idea how much time had passed since they took me away from Lina. I didn’t need to be a nurse to realise it was heroin they’d injected me with, and I was in the first stage of withdrawal.

Mumbling drew my gaze to the corner where one woman in dirty jeans and a top was rocking back and forth, deep scratches on her arms were raised in angry welts, some of them bleeding.

Goosebumps broke out across my exposed flesh. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Our plans to come to the UK had gone to devils, and it was my fault. I closed my eyes, regretfully. Where was Lina?

Blinking furiously, I fought against the brain fog that wanted to pull me under again, vowing to escape. I dug my nails into my palms and promised myself I’d never give up until I found my sister.

To findout howRadauses her nursing background to escape her captors, but ends up falling into the lap of a huge and instantly obsessed Irish mafia enforcer nicknamed “The Butcher”, readCraving Revengeon Amazon and KU.

https://books2read.com/u/4AazDK