Page 154 of His Forced Bride
"Family only, I'm afraid."
Yuri steps forward, and something in his posture makes the doctor reconsider immediately.
He swallows hard and blinks a hundred times in less than a second.
"Of course, she's practically family. Just… keep it brief," the cowardly man says, backing away under Yuri's shadow.
Her room smells like disinfectant and the particular staleness that accompanies serious illness.
Alina's breathing is shallow but steady, assisted by machines that hum and click.
When I take her hand, it feels too cold, too dry, nothing at all familiar about the touch.
She's sleeping, but her fingers twitch in mine and it almost brings me to tears.
"I'm sorry," I whisper, though I don't know if she can hear me through the sedation.
"This is my fault. All of it."
Her fingers don't respond to my pressure again, but the heart monitor continues its steady beeping.
She's alive, but barely, suffering because she chose loyalty over safety, because she refused to believe that loving me could be dangerous.
I stay until the nurses insist that visiting hours are over, until Yuri's gentle pressure on my shoulder reminds me that we can't linger indefinitely in public spaces.
The drive back to the compound is silent, but I spend it crying softly into his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around me.
When will this end?
When will my mother stop what she's doing and the pain finally cease?
At home, I drink vodka right from the bottle Yuri keeps in his office and gulp it without tasting anything.
The alcohol burns away the antiseptic smell that clings to my sinuses, but it can't touch the cold fury that's still searing through my chest.
"She's going to recover," Yuri says, sitting down on the large leather sofa.
He pulls me down onto his lap and pins me there, but he doesn't take the bottle from my grip.
"This time. What about next time? What happens when my mother decides that sending messages isn't enough?"
"We don't give her the opportunity for a next time."
I take another gulp and then turn to look at him directly.
"No more defensive strategies. No more careful planning. No more waiting for the perfect moment to strike back."
"Inessa—"
"She poisoned my best friend to prove a point. Not killed—poisoned. Made her suffer just enough to show me that everyone I care about is within her reach."
I take another drink, my hands shaking with the rage coursing through me.
"She wants to play games with people's lives? Fine. Let's play."
Yuri's arms tighten around my body and I feel him steadying me.
"There's no coming back from the level of warfare you're talking about. Once we cross certain boundaries, we become different people entirely."
