Page 24 of Toxic Salvation (Krayev Bratva #2)

KOVAN

“Go after her, Kovan,” Annabelle pleads from her hospital bed. She’s struggling to push herself upright despite the obvious pain.

Every instinct I have screams at me to chase Vesper down the hall, to corner her until she lets me fix this. But I force myself to move toward Annabelle instead. I rest a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“The chemo takes everything out of you,” I tell her. “Don’t try to get up.”

Even the smallest effort leaves her gasping against the pillow, her skin taking on that gray pallor of those who’ve accepted what’s coming. She’s fighting a war she cannot win. A war she doesn’t even want to win.

“One of us needs to talk to her,” Annabelle insists.

“She needs space right now. Pushing her will only make things worse.”

Annabelle’s chin trembles. “How is it that you know what she needs and I don’t?”

I sink into the chair beside her bed, studying this woman who raised the most stubborn, brilliant, infuriating person I’ve ever met.

“I’m not sure I do,” I admit.

“No, you understand Vesper in ways that I never have.” Annabelle pulls at her thinning hair.

The chemo has stolen its thickness, its luster, its life, but the dignity she’s retained makes her beautiful still.

“She’s always been a daddy’s girl. Even when she was little, when she was sick or scared, she wanted him. Never me.”

I sigh, knowing what she’s really saying. “She doesn’t blame you for staying with Thomas.”

“Yes, she does. And she should.” Annabelle reaches for the water cup with shaking hands. “I know most people won’t understand the choice I made. How could I stay with a man like Thomas and just ignore what he was doing? It makes me complicit.”

“He was the father of your children.”

“Yes, but that’s not why I looked the other way.” She takes a careful sip. “When you’re younger, you think life is black and white. Right and wrong, with no room for middle ground. But it’s never that simple.”

I help steady the cup when her grip falters. This woman is dying, and she’s still trying to protect her daughter from hard truths. I have to admire her bravery.

“Trust me, I know about impossible choices,” I tell her. “My father created the Keres. The whole operation exists because he built it from nothing and recruited your husband.”

Annabelle stares at me. “No…”

“I found out a few months ago. Until then, Vesper was just a doctor who happened to work at the same hospital where the ring operated.”

“Did you know from the beginning? When you met her?”

“No. That night at the hospital was completely random.” The memory feels like it happened to someone else now, though. “Neither my brother nor I wanted anything to do with the organ trade. We were old enough to know better when we took over.”

“Does Vesper know that?”

“Yes. But she’s having trouble believing it.”

Annabelle nods slowly. “Can you blame her? She spent thirty-one years idolizing a man she adored, only to discover he betrayed everything he claimed to stand for. And now, she finds herself loving a man she’s not sure she should trust.”

“Maybe it’s better that way,” I say, even though it hurts to suggest. “No good can come from us being together.”

“Good has already come from you being together,” Annabelle points out. “That baby she’s carrying is proof of it. Are you telling me you can walk away from that?”

“I’ll be there. I’ll make sure they’re safe and comfortable. I won’t disappear on either of them.”

“Then why wouldn’t you try to make it work with Vesper?”

I open my mouth but nothing comes out. Annabelle fills the gap for me.

“You’re scared of losing her. I’ve been there. But take it from someone who’s running out of time: You’ll regret not being with her far more than you’ll regret taking the risk.”

I study the worry lines etched deep in her forehead. “Why are you encouraging this? I’m not exactly the man most mothers want for their daughters.”

“I’m not most mothers and Vesper isn’t most women.

” Pride fills her voice despite her exhaustion.

“She needs someone who understands her past and her pain. Someone who can handle her strength and her ambition. She needs you, Kovan. Your shared history might be twisted, but it’s also what makes you right for each other.

You just need to admit how you feel about her. ”

I stare at my hands. Scarred hands, tattooed hands, hands that have been doused in so much blood and wrongness. “I’ve never been in love before.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t recognize it when it happens.” She waits, watching my face. “Do you recognize it?”

Tap, tap, tap. Knocking starts up outside the door, but I ignore it. Probably a nurse with Annabelle’s next round of medications.

I look up at her. “I’m in love with your daughter.”

Annabelle exhales like she’s been holding her breath. “About time.”

“That only makes everything more complicated.”

“It always does. Don’t you think my decision would have been easier if I didn’t love Thomas?

I could have packed up my children and started fresh somewhere else.

But I did love him. So, I stayed, even though what he was doing disgusted me.

I chose him over my conscience, and there are days I regret it. But there are more days when I don’t.”

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

“She doesn’t trust me, Annabelle. I don’t know how to change that.”

“Start with the truth,” she says simply. “The truth always helps.”

Tap, tap ? —

“Goddammit! What?” I bark at the door.

Osip’s face appears in the crack. “Sorry, Ko, but we have a situation you need to know about.”

I touch Annabelle’s hand once, then step into the hallway. “What situation?”

Osip shifts uncomfortably. “It’s Vesper.”

Pavel rounds the corner, slightly out of breath. “She’s barricaded herself in your office and she’s tearing the place apart. We figured we’d let her. All the sensitive intel is on your laptop behind the firewall anyway.”

I start walking toward my office. “Right.”

“What do you want us to do?” Osip asks, falling into step beside me. “If you don’t want to be the bad guy, I can go in there and drag her out.”

“That won’t be necessary.” I take a deep breath. “I’ll do it myself.”

We stop outside my office. I can hear drawers slamming, papers rustling, the sound of someone searching desperately for answers I’ve been keeping from her.

“Do you have a plan?” Pavel asks. “She seems pretty upset.”

“I have a plan.” I look my brother in the eye. “Bring down the firewall.”

Pavel’s mouth falls open. Osip chokes on nothing.

“Excuse me,” Osip sputters. “Did you just say what I think you said?”

“You’re talking about classified information,” Pavel hisses. “Intel that could blow up everything if it gets out.”

“I’m aware.”

“Then why would you expose it?” Osip presses. “Especially to someone who’s clearly losing it right now?”

“She’s losing it because she doesn’t know the truth. She needs answers—and I’m going to give them to her.”

“Can she handle it?”

“I don’t know. But she needs to stop feeling helpless.”

Pavel grabs my shoulder. “You know what’s on that computer. She could destroy everything.”

“She doesn’t want to destroy us. She wants to understand us.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

“Then I’m wrong and I’ll deal with the consequences. But right now, I think I can trust her.”

“You’re asking all of us to trust her, too.”

“Maybe that’s what it takes to get her to trust us back.”

“Are you sure that’s why you’re doing this?” Sweat drips down Osip’s forehead. “Are you sure this isn’t just some desperate move to win her over?”

All I can do is shrug. “I can’t deny that might be part of it.”

“Kovan!” Osip’s voice breaks. “If this goes wrong, we could end up in prison. Luka could end up back with Ihor and Yana.”

“I know the risks.”

“How can you be so certain about this?”

I listen to the sounds coming from my office—Vesper searching for proof of who I really am, fighting for answers I should have given her months ago.

“Because I think she loves me back.”