Page 87 of Born into Chaos

“I will. Thanks, Val.”

I watch them walk away, and before he opens the door, he leansdown and kisses Yelena. It’s not a deep, passionate kiss because now just isn’t the time, but his lips linger on hers, and I can feel the love in it all the way across the room. Cupping her face, he pulls back and gives her a wink before caressing her cheek one last time and opening the door. He drops his hand with a sigh, going fully back into cousin mode with her as they walk out and leave me alone with Vitya.

“You can wake up now,” I tell him. “Just in case you were waiting until we were alone.”

His eyes stay closed, no matter how hard I keep wishing they’d open. I kiss the back of his hand, breathing in the familiar scent of him.

“Samantha misses you. She’s upstairs being passed around and spoiled in the best way possible. You’d be so proud of how well she did while we were with Shane. She was such a good baby.”

My voice is shaking so badly I can barely get the words out, but I want him to know I’m here. I want him to know that I’m not going anywhere, that I’ll stay by his side for as long as it takes.

I brush a strand of his dark hair off his forehead and keep talking. I speak to him in Russian, telling him everything I can think of. I start off with the details of how Shane took us and what happened in the motel room, and then I keep going, telling him how much I love him, how I’ve thought of little else but him since he started watching over me, and then I remind him of his promise.

“You promised me you’d always come back, Vitya.” I get on my side, resting my body close enough to his to touch while also being careful to not put any pressure on him. My hands never leave him. I touch and stroke and caress his face, shoulder, and arm, unable to break contact with him for more than a few seconds.

“I’m holding you to that promise,” I remind him. “You can’t go back on your word. I won’t allow it.”

When he still doesn’t wake up, I add, “I talked to my dad. I told him he can’t cut your dick off, so it’s safe to wake up now.”

He doesn’t budge. There’s no sign that he even knows I’m here with him, but I don’t give up. I’llnevergive up.

Over the next three days, I fall into a routine that I wouldn’t wishon anyone. My mom and dad take turns forcing me to eat. They try their best to get me to use one of Dominic’s spare rooms and get some sleep, but I refuse to leave Vitya’s side. The only time I’m not right next to him is when I’m forced to take a shower, but even then I insist on using the bathroom that’s attached to this room.

On the fourth day, I’m sitting on the edge of Vitya’s hospital bed, working on a drawing for him when the door opens and Mia comes rushing in. My cousin pushes back her pink dyed hair and rolls her eyes at me while the light catches on her newly pierced nose. She manages to pull a small smile from me because Mia always has a way of lightening the mood.

“It’s not my fault,” she says, her tone making it clear that she won’t be admitting to any wrongdoing anytime soon.

Dario is right behind her, a grim look on his face as he holds a bloody towel to his arm. “Well, who the fuck’s fault is it then?”

Dominic’s cousin looks pissed off, but when he glances over at me, he gives me an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Sveta.” He jerks his chin at Mia. “This one decided to try and stab me during her first lesson.”

“I was just doing what you told me to do,” Mia says, scooting out of the way when Tony comes in.

He scrubs a hand through his dark hair and adjusts his glasses before digging through his supplies and motioning for Dario to take a seat. The ease with which everyone takes their places makes it clear this is a pretty common occurrence. Before he looks over Dario, Tony glances at Vitya, making sure everything looks good on our side of the room. When he’s satisfied there’s no change, he puts his focus back on the angry Italian who’s starting to bleed through the towel he has pressed against his forearm.

Mia steps closer, not even slightly squeamish when Tony pulls the towel off, revealing a deep cut that has me quickly looking away.

“Just a scratch,” Mia mutters. “You can stop being such a baby about it. I was just doing what you taught me to do.”

Dario barks out a laugh and says something in Italian that has Tonyholding his hands up while he says in English, “I’m not getting involved in this one. I’m just here to sew you up.”

“I was explaining the rules to you, Mia. For fuck’s sake, you couldn’t even let me get through the rules without slicing me up.” Dario ignores what has to be a really painful series of injections that Tony is giving him to numb the wound as he keeps his focus on Mia.

Mia leans her hip against the counter and crosses her arms over her chest. “And what was rule number one?”

Dario glares at her. She laughs and holds a finger up. “Rule number one: Don’t ever let your guard down.” She gives him a huge smile. “Looks like someone was paying attention after all, and you really have only yourself to blame. You forgot rule number one, Dario.”

Tony tries to cover his laugh with a cough, but Dario catches it and lifts a dark brow at him. “Just here to sew me up, remember, Doc?”

Mia watches while Dario gets a line of stitches, and I keep working on my sketch, stopping every once in a while to caress Vitya’s cheek or squeeze his hand, constantly letting him know that I’m here.

Once Tony is done, he cleans everything up and checks on Vitya before squeezing my shoulder and heading back out. Dario and Mia step closer. She’s a tiny thing, and Dario towers over her. I can’t help but be impressed that she managed to cut him. I’m guessing that’ll be the last time he underestimates her.

“Any change?” Dario asks me. He scrubs a hand over his face, not seeming to be bothered in the slightest by the line of stitches he just got.

“No, not yet,” I tell him, “but he has to be sick to death of hearing me tell him all the boring details of my day, so he should be waking up soon to tell me to shut up.”

He gives me a ghost of a smile and pats my back in support. “I’m sure he will. He’s just taking his time about it. Remember, he’s a goddamn saint when it comes to you, Sveta.” He gives me a friendly wink. “Infinite patience.”

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