Page 58 of Caught By the Bratva Beast

“Get the fuck out of my way. Now where is my fucking wife?”

Yegor grabs me, forcing me back down on the bed, his hands sinking into my shoulders and pressing me hard into the mattress. “You need to calm down.”

Uncertainty in his eyes as he looks down at me like he's torn between telling me where she is or keeping me here and shooting me up full of painkillers to put me back to sleep.

I swing my arm at him, but he dodges out of the way, but my knuckles punch his nose.

“She is fine, you need to stop.” He drags them of his shirt to his nose, dabbing at the blood that trickles down his face. “Fuck, that hurt.”

“What do you think you're doing right now? If you don't tell me where she is, I'm going to kill you.”

“I'd advise against doing that. We may pay for the private medical center, but nothing is stopping them from calling the cops if you decide to kill me. Either way, Pearl’s here. She's just outside taking a walk. She needed some fresh air. You’ve been unconscious for the last day or so and it’s been a lot for her.”

“What do you mean I've been unconscious?” It's only then that I notice the dull throbbing in my head, my fingers drifting up to my forehead and touching the edge of a bandage. “What the hell happened?”

“It looks like when you're in the car crash, you took a hit to the head. Some man was hunting you through the woods. Although it wasn't much of a hunt. You went off the road and he found you pretty quickly.”

“Where is he now? I'm going to kill him.”

“Unfortunately, Pearl already beat you to the punch.”

“What do you mean? What did she do? Was it only one guy or were there more?”

“Only one. From what she says, she took your gun and shot him between the eyes.”

“She shot him? Impossible. I took the fucking woman hunting and she was hopeless.”

“Yeah, I think there's probably some things you need to talk to her about.” Yegor clears his throat, glancing toward the door like he's expecting Pearl to walk through at any moment as if his loyalties lie with her and not me anymore. “She bandaged your head, tore off a piece from her dress, and wrapped you up. She's kept you upright until I got there, trying to stop the bleeding the best that she could.”

“Was she hurt? “

“I don't think so, but she hasn't spoken since I came to get you. Shocked me a little on the phone and she sounded like she was fine, maybe a bit shaken up but nothing too bad. But then when I arrived her mouth sealed shut and she hasn't spoken a word since.”

Just as he speaks the tip tap of heels against the floor comes down the hall.

Pearl appears in the doorway like an angel, though there are deep purple circles beneath her eyes like she hasn't slept in a week. She tucks her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, her head hung like she's not expecting to see me there.

“You're not even going to say hi to me?” I ask, my voice raspy as I try to get out of bed again.

Yegor grabs me by the shoulder and shoves me back down. “You're going to end up unconscious again if you don't stop this shit.”

Pearl's eyes widen as she looks up. Her lips press into a tighter line, but she doesn't say a single word, instead crossing the room and pulling me into a tight hug.

She buries her face in my shoulder, her dark hair tickling the underside of my chin. Yegor stares at us for a minute, shaking his head before he walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

I run my hands up and down her back, trying to soothe her as her body shakes. “It's okay. We're fine. We're going to be safe. I promise. Nothing will happen to us.”

Pearl pulls back to look at me, perching herself on the edge of the bed. She toys with a thin hospital bang blanket, picking at one of the little pieces of fabric pilling on the surface.

“Why did you kill that man?” I ask. I put my fingers beneath her chin, tilting her face up so I can look her in the eyes. “You're going to have to talk to me, Pearl.”

She takes a deep breath like she's trying to steady herself. “He was going to kill you.”

“He could have killed you too. You should have run. I told you to leave me if anything happened.”

She chews the inside of her cheek, shaking her head as a tear slips out of her eye.

I catch the tear before it can fully fall. “You should have run.”

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