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Chapter 15

Tatiana

"It's not broken," the doctor, Monica, proclaimed as she pointed at a specific area on her ankle on the x-ray machine. "You just have a minor fracture, nothing too serious," she further explained. "You must've landed pretty hard, though."

"Yeah," Tatiana said, massaging her leg just for something to do—to keep her hands moving. "My footing was bad when we crashed down on the road."

The doctor nodded, turning the light off for the x-ray. "As far as I can tell, it's the only place where you are injured." She wrote something on her plain, black clipboard. "I'll prescribe you some painkillers and I'll call in the nurse to make the mold and place the plaster on you in a bit. You will need to wear it for at least three weeks, then we'll see how you're doing after that."

"Three weeks?" she asked, horrified, looking towards Zeke who has kept silent the whole time. He had insisted on staying with her while she was with the doctor and no matter what she said, he wasn't taking no for an answer.  "What about France?"

Zeke shrugged, contemplating the situation while the doctor stood by her office table, going through papers. "We'll have to ask our fathers about this. But I think we should push through with it. That explosion was just more proof that you're in danger and that we have to leave and hide you as soon as possible," he replied quietly to her.

She sighed. "For how long, do you think?"

"At least until we know you are no longer in danger, or we catch whoever is targeting you. Whichever comes first," he said coolly, clenching his fist.

"Hey," Tatiana reached out and squeezed his hand. She wasn't sure why she did it—but it felt like the right thing to do. "I'll be fine, you know," she said after a moment. "After all, for now I have you to protect me." She smiled, hoping to lighten up his mood.

He gave her a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "For now."

"Well, here's your prescription," Monica said, turning back to them and snapping their attention back to hers. "Take these twice a day and don't drink alcohol when you're on medication," she remarked.

"I also have a request from a Mr. Antonio Belluchi to give you the hospital suite until you are discharged from the hospital," she added, holding up a piece of paper.

Tatiana groaned. "This is exactly what I was trying to avoid," She rolled her eyes. "They're blowing this out of proportion, I don't need a suite when I'll be leaving in a few hours."

"Well, you have no choice," the doctor said. "They already paid for the room and specifically instructed that we tend to your every need."

Tatiana sighed while Zeke chuckled quietly. She shot him a dirty look and he promptly stopped, amusement still dancing in his eyes.

"Anyway, here's the key card to the room." Monica them a card. "It's room two on the 20th floor. Your other companion, Jared Flynn has also been set up on the 20th floor but he's still deeply sedated."

"Thank you, doctor," she said to her sincerely.

Monica waved off her thanks. "Just doing my job," she said before turning away, getting back to work.

Zeke helped her get off the bed and onto a wheelchair that they had provided her. She hated it, feeling helpless and weak having to rely on a chair to move around but she didn't have a choice. Zeke had outright refused her request to just walk—albeit slowly—towards the room but he had given her a look that made her shut right up, not wanting to push him.

Once she was settled on the chair, Zeke opened the door and wheeled her out and through the hospital to the hospital suite her family had provided.

***

"My God, detka," her mother had said when she entered the room, gasping at the sight of her foot wrapped in plaster. A kind nurse named Linda had come in a few minutes ago to get a mold of her leg and place the plaster on so that her ankle couldn't move to further injure itself.

Behind her, her father and half-sister Lucia walked in, approaching her.

Tatiana held a hand up. "I'm fine!" she droned as her mother approached her side and moved some stray hairs in her face, stroking her hair lovingly. Her mother frowned in disapproval.

"What the—" Lucia started to say, her eyebrows pursed at her behavior when Zeke walked in with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"It's a little hard to get a coherent sentence from her right now," he said by way of explanation as he nodded to her father and sister in acknowledgement before lightly pressing his cheek to Agnieska's in greeting. "She was in pain earlier so they gave her more painkillers. I think it was too much for her to handle," he added in amusement before standing beside the glass window on the other side of the room.

Her hospital room suite was big. A double bed had been given to her with satin sheets, a flat screen TV, couches where her visitors could lounge, a small kitchenette and a big bathroom to complete the space.

"Huh?" Tatiana asked slowly, her thoughts spacing out.

"Oh," Lucia said, the worry leaving her face. "But she's fine, yes?"

Zeke nodded in acknowledgment before settling down on one of the many seats available in the room.

"Was she hurt anywhere else?" Antonio asked, standing at the foot of her bed. "Other than her fractured ankle."

Zeke shook his head. "No, sir."

Antonio nodded that he heard before turning to her mother. "I should go back and help Matteo deal with some arrangements. Call me when she wakes up." And then he left the room.

"Papa?" Tatiana asked a few moments later, a little out of it.

"He's not here, detka." Her mother soothed her from beside her bed.

She groaned in pain, turning over before darkness enveloped her vision and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

***

Zeke

"Will she be alright?" Agnieska asked him after Tatiana had passed out. "Is she supposed to be like this?"

Zeke nodded. "The nurse said that it's normal. It's better when she's unconscious so that she doesn't feel any pain," he assured her.

Agnieska only nodded back, continuing to stroke her daughter's hair.

"What happened, exactly?" Tatiana's sister, Lucia, he believed, asked him from the seat across from him.

"To be honest, I don't know." He furrowed his eyebrows. "We were at Hazel's Place, discussing the agenda for our plan to hide her in France and after she was going to leave. We were still conversing a few meters away from the car. We had just said our goodbyes when Jared opened the passenger door for her as she was still walking towards the car and next thing we know, the car exploded and the two of us flew back." He rubbed the side of his face, reliving the scene again in his head.

The feeling of fear that had spiked through his whole being when he heard the distinct sound of the safety pin being pulled from the bomb was indescribable. He only had a second to think before grabbing her back and turning her around so that he was between her and the car before they both had been flung back by the shock of the explosion. That terror that had coursed through him that her life was in danger once again, had shook him to the core.

"I see," Lucia said quietly, staring at her sister. "You know, she's had it rough in the past. Being targeted for either being a part of the mafia, or a princess, no longer surprises her."

He looked at her, confusion in his eyes. "What do you mean? Was she hurt like this in the past?"

She shook her head. "It's not my place to tell." She sighed. "But just know, not all scars leave a mark."

Her last statement terrified him. Endless possibilities suddenly went through his head, wondering how she was hurt in the past before a knock on the door thankfully lifted him out of the terrible thoughts that were running through his mind.

He looked up to find Francesco as he entered the room. "How is she?" he asked Agnieska as he went up to her in greeting.

"Resting," Agnieska replied. He only nodded before looking at the two and greeting them.

"Zeke." He looked up. "Father wants to talk."

He nodded, standing up and turning to Agnieska. "I'll be back soon." He grabbed his coat. "If she needs anything, call me. I'll be close."

Agnieska nodded at him as he and Francesco left the room, closing the door behind them.

***

"Tell us what happened," his father said as they settled into one of the private lounges on the 20th floor of the hospital.

With that, Zeke recounted the story he had told Lucia once again to his father and Francesco, as well as her condition and that she was fine.

Pavel nodded, leaning back on his seat. "I see. That's not all that recently developed, however."

Zeke furrowed his brows. "Another attack somewhere?"

"Yes," Francesco said, updating him on the situation. "Two, in fact. One from the Belluchi's and another on one of Verratti's warehouses."

"The attacks are getting more frequent," father added, his hands tenting underneath his chin as he thought more about the current situation. "And whoever is behind this is getting bolder. Now, they are targeting other powerful organizations as well. I had thought that after the attack on us, they had moved on, attacking the mafia in general was a feat in itself but after the attack on Tatiana again, I'm no longer sure."

"I think we should push forward with France, once Tatiana has healed," Zeke suggested. "She is at more risk staying here than being in Saint-Tropez."

"We will, but we should postpone it. Get a better hold on the situation," their father said. "Verratti wants to meet with us sometime soon. I understand he even went to the trouble to go here to discuss the current state of affairs. I plan to invite him to the estate for more privacy in talking over such matters and I'm thinking of bringing Antonio with us."

Francesco nodded in acknowledgement. "I have to check on Ivanov," he said, standing up along with their father. "See what he found out about the car explosion."

Zeke only nodded, watching as they stood ready to leave.

"Send Tatiana my regards and that I hope she is well," Pavel said, patting Zeke on the shoulder before leaving, Francesco following after.

"I will," Zeke said into nothing.

***

Tatiana

"No, you can't come in here, Dimitri." Tatiana recognized her mother's voice as she stirred awake due to the whispering voices. "It's not the time!"

"When will it ever be time, Nieska?" the deep voice of a man demanded. "I, of all people, have a right to see her and make sure she's okay after you outright refused me visiting her at Vasiliev's estate. At the time, I allowed it but now, we are on hospital grounds and I can come without raising anyone's suspicions."

After a few moments of silence, her mother finally replied, "Fine, but only for a few minutes. The Vasiliev's are still here and Zeke might come back any minute."

"As long as I get to see her, I don't care," Dimitri said.

In her dazed state, she felt the warm caress of a man's hand. "She's grown up so much," he said in wonder. "Is she alright?"

"She was flung back from the explosion. Luckily, Zeke was there and she only injured her ankle," her mother said from somewhere to her side.

Tatiana groaned slightly and they both quieted, before she turned over slightly.

"She's beautiful," the man said quietly.

"She is," Agnieska agreed. "She has your eyes, you know."

The man chuckled quietly. "Really? She mostly takes after you, though. Did you know, not once have I seen her eyes?" he asked and she felt his hand in her hair, brushing it away. "When she was a babe, she was asleep the whole time I held her."

"It's funny, a few nights before you came to see her she hadn't slept a wink, crying all the time." Agnieska said, reminiscing the memory. "But when she was in your arms, she fell fast asleep. It was almost as if she knew who you were."

They continued to converse back and forth until she drifted back into unconsciousness.

Translations

detka - baby (Russian)

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