Page 2 of Toxic Salvation (Krayev Bratva #2)

VESPER

When someone says my name from behind, I scream and spin around so fast I nearly give myself whiplash.

“Christ, Vesper!” Waylen hisses as I turn on him, his eyes wide with alarm. “I was saying hello, not trying to mug you.”

“Sorry.” I press my hand to my chest, willing my pulse to slow down. “I was distracted.”

“Yeah.” His jaw ticks with irritation. “You’ve been ‘distracted’ for weeks now.”

Before I can protest, he grabs my elbow and starts steering me down the hospital corridor. His grip is firm but not painful—the same way he used to drag me away from trouble when we were kids.

“Waylen, what are you doing? Let go of me.”

He doesn’t respond. Just keeps walking until he finds an empty stairwell and pulls me inside. The heavy door swings shut behind us, muffling the sounds of the hospital beyond.

“Okay.” He plants himself directly in front of me, blocking any chance of escape. “Start talking.”

I cross my arms over my chest, trying to look defiant instead of terrified. “You didn’t have to kidnap me for this. The surgery went well. Mom’s stable. They still need to monitor her progress, but Dr. Nass is optimistic?—”

“I’m not talking about Mom,” he interrupts. “I mean, yes, I’m glad she’s okay. But right now, I’m talking about you.”

I’ve been dreading this conversation for weeks.

I’ve known it was coming—I have watched Waylen get more suspicious with each passing day.

He studies my face when he thinks I’m not looking.

He asks careful, pointed questions about my health, my mood, my sleep, my dreams. He doesn’t know exactly what he’s hunting for, but he knows there’s something there—and I should’ve known I couldn’t keep him in the dark forever.

That doesn’t mean I won’t keep trying, though.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Spare me.” He rolls his eyes. “Don’t you dare stand there and lie to my face. Not again.”

I try to sidestep him, but he moves to block me. “This is ridiculous. I’m fine. You’re fine. Mom is fine. Everything is?—”

He pulls out his phone. “You want to keep playing games? Fine. But I’m done pretending everything’s normal when you’re clearly falling apart.”

“What are you doing?”

“Calling Kovan.”

My breath catches in my throat, and for a moment, the stairwell swims before my eyes. “You… you wouldn’t.”

“Try me.” His finger moves toward the screen. “I know you hate his guts right now, and trust me, I’m right there with you. But something is seriously wrong with you, and if you won’t tell me what it is, maybe you’ll tell?—”

“Wait!” I reach out to grab his wrist. “Don’t call him. Please.”

Waylen’s eyes narrow, but he lowers the phone. “Then talk. And I mean really talk, Vesper. No more deflecting. No more changing the subject. What the hell is going on?”

I lean back against the concrete wall, suddenly exhausted. The weight of the secret I’ve been carrying feels like it’s crushing my chest, making it hard to breathe.

“It’s complicated.”

“I’ve got time.”

I study my brother’s face—the stubborn set of his jaw, the worry lines creasing his forehead. He’s not going to let this go. And maybe that’s for the best. Maybe I’m tired of carrying this alone.

“It is about the breakup,” I admit finally. “But not in the way you think.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning I fell in love with him,” I confess. “God, it sounds so stupid when I say it out loud. But I did. I fell hard, and I thought… I thought what we had was real.”

Waylen’s head tilts to the side. “V…”

“Please.” I hold up a hand. “Don’t give me the ‘there are other fish in the sea’ speech. I know you think he’s an arrogant asshole, and you’re probably right. But that doesn’t change how I felt about him. How I still feel about him.”

“He hurt you.”

“He ruined me,” I correct. “Yeah. But that’s not even the worst part.”

“What’s the worst part?”

I close my eyes, gathering what’s left of my courage. When I open them again, Waylen is watching me with an intensity that makes my skin prickle.

“I’m pregnant.”

It takes a long time for my brother to even react. When he finally does, he goes completely still, his face cycling through confusion, shock, horror.

“You’re…” He swallows hard. “You’re pregnant?”

“Three months.” My hand moves instinctively to my stomach, which is only just now starting to curve beneath my oversized sweater. “And before you ask—yes, I’m keeping it.”

For a long moment, neither of us speaks. I can hear the distant sounds of hospital life beyond the stairwell door—voices, footsteps, the beeping of machines. Normal sounds from a normal world that feels impossibly far away.

“Holy shit,” Waylen breathes finally.

“Pretty much.”

“Does he know?”

“No,” I say hurriedly. “And he’s not going to. Ever.”

“Vesper—”

“I’m serious, Waylen. Kovan made it very clear that I was disposable. A convenient arrangement that he was done with. Why would I subject my child to that kind of rejection?”

“Because it’s his child, too.”

“Is it, though? A father is someone who loves you unconditionally. Someone who shows up when you need them. Someone who fights for you.” Tears start to spring up, so I turn to hide my face. “Kovan walked away the second things got complicated. That doesn’t sound like father material to me.”

Waylen shoves both hands through his hair, making it stick up at odd angles. “This is huge, V. You can’t just make this decision on your own.”

“I’m not making it on my own. I’m telling you.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

I do know it. But the thought of facing Kovan again, of seeing that cold indifference in his eyes when I tell him about the baby… I’m not strong enough for that. Not yet.

Maybe not ever.

“I need to sit down.” I sink onto one of the concrete steps, suddenly dizzy. “This conversation is not going the way I planned.”

Waylen sits beside me, close enough that our shoulders touch. “What did you think was going to happen?”

“I don’t know. I thought maybe you’d be happy? Excited about being an uncle?”

“I am.” His voice is gentler now. “But I’m also terrified. Vesper, you can barely keep a houseplant alive. How are you going to raise a baby?”

“Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I’m not trying to be cruel; I’m trying to be realistic. You work eighty-hour weeks. You survive on hospital vending machine food and four hours of sleep. That’s not sustainable with a newborn.”

“Actually, the work thing might not be an issue much longer.” I pick at a loose thread on my jeans. “I’m suspended pending investigation.”

“Suspended?” Waylen recoils. “You told me that you took a leave of absence to be with Mom!”

“It’s a little bit of both.”

“V…” He rubs at his eyes. “What’s the investigation?”

With a deep breath, I tell him everything.

It doesn’t take as long as I expected, honestly.

The gist of the story is pretty simple: Jeremy is a monster backed by monsters even worse than himself, and he’s out to ruin my life before I can ruin their sordid little business.

I’m powerless and stuck, and they can continue doing whatever they want.

There’s no happily-ever-after to bother with.

“Jesus, Vesper,” Waylen says when I’m done. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before now?”

“Because I didn’t want you to know what a failure I am,” I whisper. “I wanted to believe I could handle it on my own. Also, admitting it out loud makes it real, and I wasn’t ready for it to be real.”

Waylen is quiet for a while, processing everything I’ve dumped on him. When he finally speaks, he’s got that stubborn grit in his face that I’ve always loved.

“What do you need from me?”

Tears spill down my cheeks before I can stop them. “I need you to help me figure out how to do this,” I say. “I’m so, so terrified I’m going to screw this up. And I need you to be there for this baby when I inevitably fall short.”

“Hey.” He bumps my shoulder with his. “You’re not going to fall short.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I’ve watched you these past few weeks with Mom.

You’re a fighter, Vesper. You’ve fought for her like you fought for Dad and for every patient who’s ever crossed your path.

If it was me in that bed, I know you’d fight like hell for me, too.

” He pauses. “You’re going to be an amazing mother. ”

“Even if I have to do it alone?”

“You’re not alone. You have me. You have Mom, once she beats this thing. You have Charity.” His mouth quirks up at the corner. “Hell, you probably have Osip, too, if Charity has anything to say about it.”

Despite everything, I find myself smiling. “They’re still dating?”

“If you can call whatever twisted dance they’re doing ‘dating.’ But yeah. He’s completely cuckoo for her.”

“That’s actually kind of sweet.”

“Don’t let Osip hear you say that. He’s got a reputation to maintain.”

We sit in comfortable silence for a moment, and I feel some of the tension leave my shoulders. For the first time in weeks, I don’t feel like I’m drowning.

“I should probably go check on Mom,” Waylen says eventually.

“Yeah. I should get back, too.” I start to stand, then pause. “Hey, Waylen?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. For not running away screaming when I told you.”

“Where would I run to? You’re stuck with me, remember?” He grins. “Besides, I’m going to be the world’s most badass uncle. I need to start preparing.”

“Don’t buy him a motorcycle.”

“Too late. Already ordered a matching pair.”

I’m laughing when my phone starts ringing. The sound echoes in the stairwell, making me jump. I dig it out of my pocket, expecting to see Charity’s name on the screen.

Instead, I see Cordingly Prep.

My blood turns to ice.

“Hello?”

“Is this Vesper Fairfax? This is Janet from Dean Thomas’s office at Cordingly Prep. There’s been an incident involving Luka Krayev. We need someone to come pick him up immediately.”

I clutch the banister to stop myself from fainting. “Is he hurt?”

“He’s physically unharmed, but he’s quite upset. We’ve been trying to reach his uncle, but we can’t seem to?—”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

I hang up before she can say anything else. Waylen is staring at me with concern.

“What’s wrong?”

“Luka is in trouble.” I’m already moving toward the door. “Something happened at school. They can’t reach Kovan.”

“Vesper, wait?—”

But I’m already gone, running through the hospital corridors like my life depends on it.

Maybe it doesn’t depend on it, but Luka’s emotional wellbeing might.

And despite everything that’s happened between Kovan and me, despite all the hurt and betrayal and broken promises, I can’t ignore a child who needs help.

Even if helping him means walking straight back into the fire that burned me alive.

“Luka, baby…” I pant as I run. “I’m coming.”