Page 79 of Seduction (Wicked Vows)

But I can save Markov. I have to.

This is my moment. This is what I know. I’m trained to handle intense, high-stakes medical situations under pressure.

The guards snap to attention, hesitating only a moment before moving to comply with my commands. They quickly observe the still body of Irina, ensuring she poses no further threat, while others rush to my father’s side, checking for signs of life that I already fear are absent.

I kneel beside Markov, my hands trembling as I assess his wound. I blink back tears and push every thought aside. I have to focus on saving him.

I can do this.

Blood blooms across his shirt, a stark red against the white fabric. His eyes meet mine, filled with pain yet revealing so much strength. “It’s okay, Vera,” he whispers, his voice strained. “I’ll be fine. You are the one who has to remain safe. Now that Irina and your father no longer pose a threat, I’ll have to trust his guards. . .”

“Shhh,” I whisper. One of my tears drops to his shirt, a dark circle spreading alongside the blood.

Ignoring the tears that blur my vision, I press my hand firmly against his wound, trying to staunch the bleeding. Around us, the room is a flurry of activity—guards shouting, the distant sound of sirens approaching, the heavy footsteps of medical personnel arriving. Someone here at the hotel’s made some calls.

“Stay with me,” I whisper. “Let me see how badly you’re hurt.”

I tear open his shirt and assess the wound with a frown. I need to assess the wound—location, size, and type. Prevent the loss of blood.

Please be only a graze. . . please be only a graze. . .

“It looks like a flesh wound,” I whisper, frowning at the sight of his blood on my hands. I’m shaking, but stay calm. “Potential superficial muscle injury but we’ll only know with further testing. It hasn’t hit any major arteries, and you’ve lost a lot of blood, but you’re a big guy?—”

“Vera.” Markov holds my hand, blood making our grip slippery. “Go with your father. I’ll be taken into custody by the rest of his men. Even if my injury is minor, my life is forfeit for treason.”

I break out in a cold sweat. Markov isn’t…Markov. What does that mean for us? What does that mean for him?

His life is forfeit, yet…he saved my life.

It’s then that I realize we’re surrounded by my father’s men, EMTs putting my father and Irina on stretchers. I watch in shock as they pull a sheet over her body.

I look at the men who stand above Markov. “He kept me safe. That bullet was meant for me.”

“We have our rules, Ms. Ivanov.”

I blink back tears.

“You can’t take him. You can’t!”

I’m pulled away from Markov by strong hands, everything passing in a blur. I struggle and scream and rail against them, but I’m overpowered. I can’t stop them. I watch in helpless agony as the emergency team takes my father but the Ivanov men take Markov.

A sob catches in my throat when I see my father taken away.

Despite everything, he’s still my father. I never allowed myself to believe that his end would be so abrupt, so violent.

As they wheel my father away, I stand on the threshold of the now eerily quiet room. The weight of leadership in the wake of tragedy settles on my shoulders.

A uniformed officer speaks to me in Russian. I didn’t even know they’d arrived. When he realizes I don’t understand him, he gets a younger female officer to translate.

“Your father was a friend. As the daughter of Petr Ivanov, you’ve been exonerated from questioning,” she says. He knew people, he must have. I swallow hard. “Is there someone you can call?”

I do the only thing a strong, independent woman whose world has been shattered does.

I call my mother.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Vera

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