Page 87 of Born into Darkness

I see the regret in his eyes and the worry for me, so I quickly add,I’m fine. I promise.

He nods and squeezes my shoulder as he walks by. I lead Max to the chairs in the corner and turn them so they’re facing one another. Putting a pillow on my lap, I motion for him to lay his hand on it and then get to work. I do exactly what Dr. Bennett showed me, carefully removing the hand splint. Starting with his pinkie finger, I undo the tape and work through each finger at a time.

“Does it hurt too much?” I ask when I get to his index finger. “Do you need me to stop?”

“No, it’s fine,” he says. I know he won’t lie to me about this, but I keep watching for any signs that it might be too much. His idea of what’s acceptable is probably different from mine, and there’s no way I’m going to let him push himself too hard with this.

“The swelling’s gone down a lot,” Niki says, leaning over to study his brother’s hand. “Your doctor mentioned in his notes that he was very pleased with how it’s looking so far.” He looks at his older brother and laughs. “He also mentioned you insisted he put you on a milder painkiller, said it was affecting your ability to perform.”

“Jesus,” I whisper.

“What’d you just say?” Dima asks, and I quickly lower my head, putting all my focus on fitting the splint back onto Max’s index finger.

“Oops,” I hear Niki mutter before he says, “I said that his doctor is really pleased with how good his hand is looking.”

“Not that part,” Dima says. “The last bit, the part about the painkillers and his inability to perform.”

“Okay, well we can stop spreading that particular rumor around,” Max says. “Because that’s not at all how I worded it.” Despite the fact that my two brothers are looking less than thrilled right now, Max laughs and says, “I mean, that’s what it boils down to, butinability to performjust sounds really bad.”

Dima sighs while Bran, having lip-read the entire conversation, crosses his arms and shakes his head.

Undeterred, Max looks them in the eye and says, “I love your sister, and I’m going to marry her.”

“We know that,” Dima says, “but that doesn’t mean I want to hear about anything that happens in this bedroom.” He laughs and smacks Bran’s shoulder. “Or doesn’t happen.”

Bran smiles while Max says, “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. My pride can take the hit.”

When Bran signs something, Max asks, “What does that mean?”

Dima laughs. “He said if you hurt our sister, you’ll never see the bullet coming, and it won’t be a quick death.”

Max nods at Bran, not even slightly offended at the death threat. “I’ll never hurt her, and you two are welcome to visit anytime you want.”

I’m not ready to face the idea of not seeing my brothers every day, so I fix the last velcro strap and say, “Okay, all done. Are you ready to go and see if your nephew is here yet?”

“Ournephew,” Max corrects, and then he leans in and kisses my cheek. Bringing his mouth to my ear, he whispers, “Thanks for doing my hand, baby. We’re going to talk about that look you just had on your face later, okay?”

Of course he didn’t miss the sadness that had briefly crossed my face at the thought of not seeing my brothers.

“You’re way too observant,” I mutter.

He gives a soft laugh and kisses my cheek again. “No, I just love you,svetik moy,and I don’t like seeing you sad.”

Standing up, he reaches for my hand and asks, “Ready to go meetournephew?”

Chapter16

Maxim

By the time we get to the hospital, everyone else is already there. Talia’s family chose to stay behind, even though we assured them they were welcome to come. Her uncles and cousins were going to join them at the penthouse so they could discuss their plans to go back to Oregon. When Talia asked if she should stay back with them, the look I’d given her had her quickly shutting her pretty little mouth. She’s a part of my family now, and where I go, she goes.

The waiting room we step into is filled with familiar, smiling faces, and as soon as Isabella sees us, she comes running over, too excited to keep still.

“Uncle Max,” she yells, and since my sling is off, I’m able to bend down and lift my hand out of the way so she can throw her arms around me in a big hug.

“Hey, Bella,” I say, kissing her cheek. “Are you excited to be a big sister?”

“Yes,” she squeals, hugging me tighter.

---