Page 16 of Silenced

The hand I placed on Cassiopeia’s forearm tightens slightly.

Dmitri had dragged Grigoriy out of the vehicle after he’d attempted to tug on the sheet covering her not once, but twice.

Dmitri, fearing for the safety of our doctor’s carotid, had been swift to explain the lay of the land.

Grigoriy must have more of a death wish than usual because he demands, “What’s he going to do? Stick that fucking knife of his in my neck? I think he needs me more—”

“He doesn’t. If you touch what belongs to him, you’ll regret it,” Dmitri states, tone grim. “You’ve been warned.”

Grigoriy grunts but stomps back to the ambulance that’s parked beside the jet on my privately owned airfield.

As he climbs aboard and shuts the door behind him, he frowns at me. “This is irregular, Pakhan.”

I arch a brow at him and press myself deeper into the corner beside her head so that I’m as out-of-the-way as a man my size can be within these small confines.

He sniffs at the sight but takes that for the answer it is and starts to check her over.

When his stethoscope begins to nudge the sheet aside, I growl.

“Sir!” he complains.

I merely narrow my eyes at him, snag the chest piece from the stethoscope, then carefully raise the sheet so he can’t see skin that belongs to me and place it above the swell of her breast.

Though his gaze effectively transmits his belief that I’m insane, he doesn’t say anything, just shifts his focus onto Cassiopeia, where it should be.

Then, he sighs. “I need to check her pupils.”

Pleased that he’s finally started to fucking listen, I gently lift her left eyelid as he flashes a light into her eye, then I do the same with the right once he gestures with his hand that he’s done.

Which is how the rest of the checkup goes.

When he’s about to touch her, he explains where and how, and he lets me move his equipment so that he never comes into contact with her.

It’s not the first time I’ve played nurse, nor is it the first time my actions matter, but this is different.

This is her.

This is my little sun, andherlight ismine.

To shield, to protect. To care for, to defend.

All mine.

“Without running a full bloodwork panel, I can’t confirm—”

I shove the bottle of drugs we found at him. “Rundel wouldn’t waste money he doesn’t have on these if he wasn’t going to use them. She’s been drifting in and out of consciousness since we found her and she’s dazed and disoriented whenever she awakens, which is only for a few moments at a time.”

“Dmitri said that her…” He clears his throat. “…husband—”

Rage surges through me. “Do not use that label again.”

“Did he r—” As my eyes narrow, he quickly corrects, “—sexually assault her?”

If Rundel had to leave his captive to go and buy Viagra, then I’m going to assume that erectile dysfunction is an issue with him.

“I doubt he penetrated her.” Just signing the words has fury filtering through me.

“Could he have used something else? His fingers? A dildo?”

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