Page 167 of Bratva's Vow
“Don’t move.”
He froze midstep. His gaze found mine, then dropped to the barrel of the gun pointed straight at his chest.
“Mr. Morozov,” he said, voice carefully calm, “why are you holding a gun at me?”
I cocked the gun. “What the fuck are you doing here?Talk fast and speak low. You wake him up, you’ll have a devil of a time putting the pieces of your brain back together.”
Sergei slipped into the room behind the doctor and slowly closed the door. He crossed his arms, his jaw set. The doctor glanced from my bodyguard to me.
“You had me followed?” he asked.
“I had someone followed, and they went straight to you.”
The doctor’s face paled, and he shook his head. “You got it wrong. I swear.”
“What’s your relationship to Archibald Mayfair?”
Leo stood frozen inside the room, palms up like he’d walked into a hostage situation instead of a hospital room. His face was pale, mouth working soundlessly. Then he found his voice.
“It’s not what it looks like.” The words tumbled out in a panicked rush. “Please. I would never hurt Wren. I didn’t become a doctor to hurt anyone.”
I didn’t say a word but stared at him, the Glock aimed at his head.
“I became a doctor to help people,” he went on, voice cracking. “To heal. Not to be used. Not to be manipulated.”
And then—to my surprise—his body … withered. The tension bled out of his shoulders, and tears tracked silently down his face.
“This is not what I signed up for, but it’s like everyone wants to manipulate me. My patients, the board, the administration… Even my own husband.”
He choked on that last word.
I didn’t care about his grief. Not when Wren was lying behind me, fighting for his life because of what this man might have done.
“Answer the question. How do you know Archie?”
“I only knew him through Bradley,” he whispered. “We never really spoke. Not until two days ago.”
I didn’t blink.
“I was working the floor when I was told someone had made an urgent request to see me. I assumed it was for a patient. But it was Archie. He was waiting for me in one of the side rooms.”
His gaze flicked toward me, then dropped again.
“He told me I should misdiagnose Wren. Delay treatment. Make sure he didn’t get better.”
I moved before I even felt my body react. Two days ago. That was the day Archie had tried to see Wren. So that was where the thirty minutes went that it took him to get to Wren’s room.
Shoving my gun back into my waistband, I collared the doctor, driving him back into the wall. He didn’t put up any resistance. I slipped a hand around his throat, pinning him there.
“You fucking bastard.”
“I didn’t do it!” he cried, eyes wide with fear. “I swear, I didn’t. I told you I won’t hurt anyone! What kind of doctor would I be if I broke my oath?”
“Then why did you meet with him again? Tonight?” I snarled. “Why are you even here, Leo? You said you were off duty.”
“I didn’t agree to anything.” He pulled at my hand. “He just showed up at my house. I didn’t invite him. I didn’t know he was coming.”
I pressed him harder against the wall. His feet scuffed against the floor.
