Page 56 of Defiant Devotion

Lev spun, furrowing his brow at me. Vik faced us too.

“Holy shit.” Vik coughed out an incredulous laugh.

“Sonya?” Lev asked, glancing at Ben.

I nodded. “Yes, it’s me.”

Lev scowled at Ben. “You piece of shit. How many damn secrets are you going to keep from me? From this family?” He gestured at us holding hands. “What’s going on?”

“Will it appease you to know that I asked him to keep it a secret for a little bit?” I asked.

Lev turned his stunned expression back to me as he walked closer. “Not really. But you’rehere. You’re alive after all.”

I laughed at his blunt tone, detecting the joy in it too. We hugged, and Vik wasn’t far behind. In a blur of smiles, hugs, and more confused expressions, we embraced each other in this initial return.

Irina was introduced properly. As was Kelly, who was Rurik’s wife.

Ben didn’t leave my side, and I was proud when Lev and Vik snapped at him and said he had a lot of explaining to do.

“Sonya can explain on her terms,” Ben said. “She should be in control of her return.”

Okay, that settled it. I wassoin love with this rugged man. The idea of his letting me call the shots was a huge thing to me.

“Eva won’t believe it. She’ll—” Lev laughed once. “My God. She will be stunned.”

“I can’t wait to see her. I’ve worried about her all the time that I had been gone.”

“Just as I’ve worried about you.”

We all stopped, going still at that remark. It hadn’t come from anyone standing in the room, but from the bed.

In unison, we faced Uncle Oleg. He was lying in the bed, fully alert as he gazed at me.

He was awake!

“I’ve worried about you every day you were gone, Sonya.” A tear traveled down his cheek.

I choked on a sob, rushing to hug him.

22

BEN

We all stood back as Sonya hugged Oleg. No one would dare to interrupt their reunion, one I doubted either thought they could have.

One second, he was unconscious, and now, he was awake, alert and speaking. The old man didn’t seem weak or worn down from being sedated and then slowly coming back to health after his heart attack.

After the team of doctors came into the room at Lev’s request, they confirmed the drugs that one nurse had been giving him were what held Oleg back from waking.

“I assure you, Mr. Kvashnin, that we will find that employee and hold her accountable,” the head doctor said.

No, you won’t.

I helped Rurik drag her dead body out so he could dispose of it. No one would find her, but I imagined this doctor was extra worried about having the Baranov family upset with him or the hospital. Having the Baranovs displeased with their service was a grave mistake they wanted to avoid.

After I left Sonya to be checked out in the maternity ward downstairs, I came back up here and told Lev what I’d found. I handed over the syringe the nurse had, too, and that was what the doctors were given with the expectation that they’d check over Oleg.

All the medical staff members promised that Oleg was stable and wouldn’t be permanently harmed by the sedatives that nurse had. If she had given him that dose, he might have died. They insisted that he’d wake up soon, and lo and behold, he did.

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