Page 127 of Midnight Sanctuary

Grigory frowns. “An epidural won’t affect your ability to remember this. It will only numb you so that the experience isn’t as painful. Considering what you’ll go through after this, I’d want to avoid as much pain as you can beforehand, if I were you.”

It’s a strange and terrifying warning delivered like run-of-the-mill medical advice, which only makes it all the more chilling. But I shake my head anyway. “No. I want to have my babies naturally. Like I said, I want to feel everything.”

Grigory shrugs. “It’s your call.”

I collapse back against my pillow. My sweat is soaking through the sheets until they stick to my bare skin. For a while, all I can feel is the rattle of my breath in my lungs. Then, out of nowhere, another contraction starts up with a vengeance.

As my spine arches once more and that splitting-me-apart pain reaches its fever pitch, I keep my mouth sealed shut, even when it’s almost impossible not to scream. This might just be the most painful one yet. Surely, whatever Boris has in store for me is nothing compared to this, right?

Somewhere in the midst of it, I hear Grigory whisper out the door, “It’s almost time.”

“Oh, God,” I moan deliriously, staring up at the ceiling. I close my eyes and whisper a prayer.

Please help me. Send Uri to me. This can’t be how it ends. Not for me and not for my babies. This can’t be the end.

More feet approach. I want to look, but my head is getting heavier and heavier by the minute.

“Jesus!” the black-haired nurse exclaims. “That’s a lot of blood. Is that normal?”

“No.” Grigory’s voice is low and urgent. “No, it’s not.”

“Well? What do we do?”

“Go get Boris. Something’s wrong.”

56

URI

There’s a moment of silence on the other line after I give Dominik the location.

“Are you sure?” he asks again. “That’s a house in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.”

“In a way, it’s genius,” I point out. “No one will suspect the kind of depraved shit happening in the basements of some of these nice little suburban homes. People see picket fences and think ‘wholesome family life.’”

“I can be there in thirty with backup.”

“Bring every man you can spare. This is it.”

He hangs up and I jump into the passenger seat while Nikolai takes the wheel and Dimiv climbs in the back. We’ve got half a dozen cars filled with armed men trailing us, but nothing about our current situation reassures me.

I fucked up.There’s no way to get past that. I lapped up every last morsel of the bullshit that that bastard, Grigory, fed me. I believed him over Alyssa. I trusted him over my own brother. I left my woman exposed and vulnerable and I beat Nikolai’s face into a bloody pulp.

If my father were here, he’d have put my ass into the dirt and I’d deserve it. I glance over my shoulder at Dimiv. “Check in with Stepan. I need to know the moment Lev and Polly are back in the estate.”

“On it.”

I can’t stop thinking about Alyssa and what she must be going through right now. If she or one of those babies is hurt because of this, I’ll never forgive myself. I may as well just step down aspahkanand hand the mantle over to Nikolai. He deserves it more than I do, anyway.

I glance his way. His driving is fast and decisive, despite the crusted blood gluing his eyes shut and the swollen bruises I can already see forming high on his cheekbones.Idid that to him.Ihurt him.

I’m not my brother’s keeper, apparently; I’m my brother’s would-be murderer.

Idiot.

Fuckingidiot.

“It’s going to be okay, you know,” Nikolai says, tossing me a concerned glance as we whip around a corner. “We’ll get there in time.”

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