Page 149 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

She’s the only nurse who doesn’t seem completely intimidated by our presence here. An impressive feat, considering there’s an entire contingent of Bratva soldiers outside the facility, four armed guards stationed outside Esme’s private room, and two more in the room at all times.

I know my wife is strong. I’ve seen her fire. I’ve felt it.

But I can’t stop worrying until she opens her eyes and tells me she’s going to be all right.

That’s another wife you stand a chance of losing.

I push away the unwelcome thought, trying to get ahold of myself.

It’s not just Esme I need to worry about. I have an entire Bratva under my control, not to mention an unknown enemy out there, waiting to finish what the bastards started.

I can’t afford to remain stationary at her bedside.

And yet, this is the only place I want to be.

“Artem?”

I turn at the sound of Cillian’s voice.

“Yes?”

“Budimir has been trying to get a hold of you,” he tells me.

“Well, he can fucking wait,” I hiss.

Cillian walks to the opposite side of Esme’s bed so that I can’t avoid looking at him.

“She’s going to be okay, Artem.”

“We don’t know that.”

“She had a panic attack,” Cillian continues. “The attack on the funeral must have shaken her worse than we realized. She’s not used to this. Not the way we are.”

“But I should have realized.”

“You were dodging bullets and fending off enemies,” he reminds me. “How could you have?”

“I mean afterwards,” I explain. “When we were alone together.”

But that’s exactly what has me so fucking pissed off, not to mention confused.

Esme seemed fine when we’d gotten back to the safehouse. Fine enough, at least. She’d taken everything in stride.

She was fucking phenomenal through the whole damn thing, and afterwards, she’d been the one to initiate sex.

So what the fuck had gone so wrong between then and the moment I’d crashed into the room to find her staring at me, dazed and glassy-eyed, like I was some fucking freak?

“Artem, I know you’re worried about her,” Cillian says. “But we need to have a meeting. This situation needs to be dealt with.”

I nod. I know he’s right. He’s my best friend for a reason.

“Set it up,” I tell Cillian. “But first, I’ll speak with Esme’s doctor before I leave.”

I sense Cillian is about to say something else, but he stops himself at the last moment. A call comes in on his phone and he glances at it before looking up at me.

“Budimir again?” I guess.

“Yes.”

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