Page 148 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

“I don’t need you to watch over me,” I say imperiously. “I can handle myself.”

He laughs softly. “I believe you, little bird,” he nods. “You were always the stronger of the two of us. You should have been the heir, not me.”

“I will be,” I nod. “Then you don’t have to be. Then you’ll be free to be a doctor.”

Cesar smiles. “You’d do that for me?”

I squeeze his fingers as tight as I can. “I’d do anything for you.”

40

Artem

One Day Later

“Don Kovalyov?”

It takes me a moment to realize the man is talking to me. I’m still unfamiliar with the title.

Igor is standing off to the side of the hospital bed, wearing an expression that’s a cross between discomfort and sympathy.

I ignore him and turn my attention back to Esme.

She’s been lying in the same bed now for almost twenty-four hours. She hasn’t woken once.

I reach out and push back her matted hair. Her skin is sallow and she looks so tiny amongst the tangled sheets. Is it possible for someone to lose weight in so short a span of time?

I glance up at the IV that’s hooked up to her hand, feeding her energy and nourishment directly so that she can take her time waking up when she’s ready.

Except that she doesn’t look close to being ready to becoming conscious.

It’s started to grind on my soul.

What the fuck happened in the safehouse? I’d been talking to Cillian in the second bedroom when we’d heard a crash.

I’d bolted into the hallway to find her crouching there, pale and wide-eyed, with broken ceramic and glass scattered around her feet.

She’d looked at me as though she couldn’t recognize me and in the next second, she’d lost consciousness.

I was close enough to catch her before she hit the ground.

But since that moment, she hasn’t opened her eyes.

Cillian and I rushed her to a private facility that the Bratva uses when we want privacy and a medical staff that doesn’t ask the wrong kind of questions.

“Don Kovalyov?” Igor repeats.

“What?”

“Your uncle is on the phone for you.”

I don’t take my eyes off Esme. “Tell him I’ll call him back.”

Igor nods and backs out of the room just as two nurses walk in. I turn to the blonde one holding the clipboard.

“Well?” I ask.

She looks at me without giving anything away. “The doctor will be here in a moment to speak with you, sir.” She moves forward to check Esme’s IV.

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