Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 118309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
There’s a glint in his eyes that announces I don’t need to hear his words to know I will always come first, but it isn’t enough.
“When my sister died, my parents promised I’d never experience that type of pain again.” Maksim’s eyes bounce between mine when I choke on a sob. “They lied.” I speak faster before he can interrupt me. “My mother had no choice. She was taken from me. But my father could have chosen to stay. He could have picked me over vengeance.”
“No, Doc. He wasn’t given a choice.”
I act as if he never spoke. “Promise me, Maksim. Promise you will never do anything that will put you in a predicament where you could be taken from me as well.”
“That won’t happen—”
“Promise me!” I shout, my words on the verge of a sob. “Or I’ll walk out that door and go straight to Myasnikov PD.”
The slap mark on his face reddens when anger engulfs him, but he tries to downplay his fury. “Shit. Fucking. Liar. Doc.”
Heartbroken, I push him back with enough force he crashes into the brash steel doors with a thud before I jab the emergency stop button. “And as I said, you don’t know shit.”
As the elevator jerks back into action, Maksim glares at me like it is taking all his restraint not to retaliate with the same level of violence I instilled on him. His fists are balled at his sides and his jaw is so firm it appears seconds from cracking, but the only time his resolve breaks is when the elevator dings, announcing it has reached the penthouse.
He blocks the exit with his burly frame for several heart-thrashing seconds before his standoff is broken by the person responsible for half of the confusion swamping me. “Missy Moo, the only sunshine in the world is you.”
When I peer past Maksim’s shoulder, I’m given an excuse for the wetness on my cheeks. My grandfather is no longer bedridden. He’s seated in a bulky hospital chair only the wealthy can afford, smiling larger than the oxygen mask covering half his face.
Maksim stops me from racing to his side by snatching up my wrist. His hold isn’t firm, but it announces his struggle to let me go is as tortuous as it was for me when I threatened to walk out of his life.
His chest inflates and deflates numerous times before he presses his lips against my temple and talks through their sternness. “Our vows said until death do us part.” He inches back to ensure I can see the honesty in his eyes before saying, “But not even he is stupid enough to come between us. Remember that before you ever try to downplay what we have again.”
He guides me into the foyer of my grandparents’ apartment before he returns to the elevator and selects his floor.
When he raises his eyes, there’s so much pain—so much angst. I almost race for him, but before I can, the elevator doors snap shut, and I’m left alone to battle through my confusion for the umpteenth time in my life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dr. Muhamed snorts when I purse my lips while reading my grandfather’s latest medical assessment.
“I’m not saying your reports are inaccurate. It’s just…” I’m at a loss for words now as I was earlier. My grandfather’s health is going in the opposite direction a patient with stage four lung disease should. He is still a very sick man, but his oxygen levels are back to what they were at the beginning of the year.
I prayed for a miracle, but this is still above and beyond anything I thought I could achieve.
“The pharmaceutical company must have mixed things up.”
“It could be the new trial medication…” Dr. Muhamed’s words trickle to silence when I snap my eyes to him. He nervously shifts foot to foot at the end of my grandfather’s bed. “I thought you were aware of his inclusion in the program. That’s why I didn’t mention it.” He gathers a box from a medicine cabinet similar to the ones behind locked doors at Myasnikov Private. “It’s a difficult trial to be accepted into, but for the right amount of money, Maksim found a way in. The results of the first-trial participants have been quite outstanding.”
This is the exact reason my confusion is so high. Maksim has done so many wonderful things. When forced to remember the kindhearted, generous man who has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a stranger is the same man who can take the life of another with no remorse, my confusion becomes a slab of concrete I can’t crack.
I’m so over my head instead of seeking a way out when Maksim left hours ago that I’ve done nothing but sit at my grandfather’s side and relish his alertness. His cheeks have color. His chest represents the rattle of a baby’s toy instead of the clatter of a train over old tracks. He’s smiling and laughing, and as much as I want to take credit for his second grasp at life, I can’t.