Page 93 of Twisted Pact

Alexei looks like hell.

He’s sitting in a plastic hospital chair beside my bed with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. His hair is messed up, and his shirt is wrinkled. I’ve never seen him look anything less than perfectly composed.

“Hey,” I whisper.

His head snaps up, and relief floods his face. “Thank God. How do you feel?”

“Like I got hit by a truck.” I try to sit up, but my head starts spinning. “What happened?”

“You collapsed. You’ve been unconscious for more than an hour.” He reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “Scared the hell out of me.”

The memories come flooding back. Papa’s kidnapping. The rescue planning. The argument about me staying behind. Then everything went black.

“Is the baby okay?”

“Dr. Orlov is on his way. He’ll tell us for sure, but your vitals are stable.”

I look around the sterile hospital room. White walls. Beeping machines. The smell of disinfectant that makes my stomach turn. “Where are we?”

“A private medical facility. Same place they treated you after the university incident.”

“You mean after you beat up my ex-boyfriend.”

A ghost of a smile crosses his face. “Yeah, that place.”

The door opens, and Dr. Orlov enters carrying his medical bag. His face is serious as he approaches the bed.

“How are you feeling, Mila?”

“Dizzy. Tired. Like my head is full of cotton.”

He pulls out a blood pressure cuff and wraps it around my arm. The squeeze is uncomfortable as it inflates.

“When did you last eat?”

“A few hours ago. The borscht Alexei made.”

“Anything since then?”

“I’ve been too worried about Papa to think about food.”

Dr. Orlov frowns at the reading and takes it again.

“What is it?” Alexei asks.

“Your blood pressure’s dangerously high—one-sixty over one-ten. We need to bring it down fast.”

My stomach drops. “What does that mean?”

“It means your body’s under too much stress,” he says quietly. “If we don’t calm it, you and the baby are at risk.”

“Easier said than done,” I mutter.

“Mila, I need you to understand how serious this is. Your body is responding to emotional trauma in ways that could harm you and your baby.”

“So, what do we do?”

“Immediate stress reduction. Bed rest. Monitoring. No emotional triggers or situations that could elevate your anxiety.”