Page 25 of The Twins

Exhaling as the automatic doors of the hospital open, I walk through the lobby to the elevators. Tovah’s been in surgery and I’ve been sifting through dead bodies.

I’m so fucking pissed at her. She put everyone in danger, including herself and Vandy. And the bitch of it is, her actions have yielded results. Those bodies have given us so much information regarding Joseph Baird’s movements. The men who tried to take Dottie work for the railroad company Baird chairs. He might be smart enough to limit his digital trails; his hired goons are not. I left Yak at the office, his programs running through each man’s phones and records.

We’ll find something. But first…I’m gonna wring Tovah’s neck.

Most of our family is in the hospital waiting room. Dottie is sitting on Ezra’s lap, and one look tells me she’s the only thing keeping him from finding Tovah and finishing what that guy who shot her started. He can’t see it now, but she did the right thing. The thing we were all too nervous to do. We went on the defensive and we should have been thinking offensively.

“I fucking hate when Tovah is right.” Moshe sighs as he comes to greet me. I smirk, my own anger simmering now that I’m with everyone. Vandy gets up and rushes into my arms. “Right or not, she’s gonna have to pay for acting without permission.”

“I’m sure she’ll welcome your version of punishment.”

“Damn masochist.” Moshe shakes his head, pats Vandy on the shoulder and takes his seat next to Seril.

“Dad?” My mom and dad come over and fill me in.

“It was close,” Mom whispers. Vandy detaches from me and hugs my mom.

“The bullet bounced off her collarbone and travelled down. It was less than an inch from her heart when they opened her up. She’s stable. Still out from the anesthesia. They plan to keep her sedated overnight.”

“Can I see her?”

“Yeah, we’ll go down with you.” I follow Mom and Dad down the hall, Vandy’s hand clutched tightly in mine. My heart stops when I see Tovah. Tubes and wires, she’s larger than life but so small in that bed. Well, maybe not, her feet hang slightly off the bottom. That makes me laugh and I can’t stop. The steady beep of the heart monitors the only reason I don’t lose my shit right here.

At the side of her bed, I grab her hand, not liking how cold her fingers feel. “You couldn’t let me have this to myself?” The dam holding everything in weakens. “I’m finally getting feelings, and you steal my thunder by getting shot!” My voice rises, Vandy steps next to me, her hand on my back. “You selfish fucking cunt!”

An inhuman sound from the hallway is the only notice we get before a dark blur rushes through the hospital room. A hand on my throat, my back slammed to the wall, people shouting. I blink several times and stare up into the blazing eyes of The Pharaoh. He’s like 7 feet tall, always serious, silent, but never mad. Rage. Fury. Anguish. His eyes glisten with it all.

“What the fuck?” My voice is strained, his hand tightening around my throat.

“The Pharaoh! Stand down.” Moshe demands from the doorway. “Your services are not required here.” His voice lowers, “Why is he here?”

“I don’t know,” Zilv responds.

“Let me go.” His hand squeezes a little harder.

“Excuse me, Mr., uh, The Pharaoh.” I wave Vandy off, but she’s undeterred. “Can you please let him go? I’m rather fond of him. And he wasn’t being mean to Tovah, he’s still getting a handle on emotions and feelings and he was just expressing his fear. He could have lost his twin.”

The Pharaoh’s eyes flash, before he steps back, releasing me. I hunch forward catching my breath. Vandy positions herself in front of me and God help me, it’s adorable she wants to protect me. I find Yak leaning against the opposite wall, sporting a smirk, his arms crossed casually across his chest. Fucker. I glance between my sister’s unconscious body and the big fucker looming over her.

“Why are you here?” I ask hoarsely, my spidey senses tingling. “We’re her family.”

I watch his giant Adam’s apple bob in his throat as he swallows hard. He moves his jaw a few times and I realize he’s trying to talk. I can’t recall a single time I’ve heard his voice. But he had to have said something at some point, right?

Mom sucks in a harsh breath when The Pharaoh picks up Tovah’s hand I dropped when he came at me. Hesitant, unsure, with halting movements, he brushes a lock of her hair away from her face.

When he looks up, he stares my father down from across the bed. So quiet, if you weren’t paying attention, you’d miss it; The Pharaoh’s words have the effect of a nuclear bomb, “I’m her husband.”

The Pharaoh 18.

It’s very loud. The small private hospital room filled with Tovah’s family is too much. Too many people. But I can’t leave. She’s unconscious. Injured. She came so close to dying…

I will not live in a world where myomridoes not. I can’t bear it. It’s stifling, pressing down on me, stealing my breath…but Tovah makes it better. Just looking at her eases the pressure. Hearing her raspy voice is like basking in the sunshine after a long, dark winter.

And my entire life has been an interminable winter.

“We brought you here, saved your life! And this is how you repay us? Marrying my daughter in secret? How dare you treat her like she’s something to be ashamed of!”

She is…everything. I am the one to be treated like a dirty secret, yet if I gave her permission, she would let everyone know that I am hers. She’s proud of me, and I don’t know why. She should be ashamed of me; I’m not even a real husband. Tongue tied, I can’t say any of this to Steven or the others. The words get caught in my throat. It took everything I had just to tell them I was her husband.

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