Page 118 of Bratva's Vow
I stared straight ahead, eyes fixed on the automatic doors. People kept streaming in—some panicked, some too calm. Time moved strangely in places like this. Moments dragged, then snapped.
I kept thinking about the look on Maxim’s face when he’d left. The worry. The tension.
If Vova didn’t make it…
I shoved that thought down and gripped the edge of my seat.
“Nik, do you know what happened to Vlad?”
Nik didn’t answer. His jaw flexed, the muscle twitching like he was chewing on something bitter. I waited, but he exhaled through his nose and leaned back in the chair.
“I think it’s better if you ask Maxim.”
I curled my fingers in my lap. The only thing Maxim hid from me was his secret identity. Did that mean Vova was also in the mob? He looked so different from Maxim. So happy. So sweet. Maxim was loving to me now, but he hadn’t always been that way.
“Come on. Just tell me something. Anything.”
“Wren.” Nik’s tone was softer than I expected, but unshakable. “It’s not my place to say, so don’t ask.”
I turned toward him fully. “Is he going to be all right at least?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you call Maxim? Let him know you’re here. He’ll come find you.”
I fished out my phone and pressed the redial button. He was the last person I’d called. The phone didn’t ring and went straight to voice mail.
I tried again. Same thing. And again.
Still nothing.
Frustration rose, sharp in my chest, burning behind my eyes. I didn’t say anything, just let the silence stretch between us. The waiting area buzzed around us. People came and went, nurses called names, the television mounted on the wall played a muted nature documentary no one was watching.
I kept glancing at the hallway. Hoping. Worrying.
Nik sat unmoving beside me, but I could tell he was tense too. He might have been trying to act like this wasn’t eating at him, but it was. The silence between us was thick, heavy with everything unspoken.
Fifteen minutes passed.
Then the doors slid open again.
I looked up and froze.
Maxim walked in with Sergei at his side and Archie next to him. Archie had his arm draped over Maxim’s shoulders like he was holding him upright.
Maxim looked wrecked.
Pale. Hollow. His mouth was set in a grim, exhausted line.
My heart dropped into my stomach.
I rose slowly to my feet, afraid to breathe.
Vlad…
Please, God, no.
Maxim saw me.
He stopped walking.
