Page 104 of Filthy Lies

The doctor exchanges a glance with Rowan. “Mr. Akopov, your daughter presents with classic symptoms of a viral infection, likely influenza or RSV.”

“Test. Her. Anyway.”

“Vince, you’re scaring the staff,” Rowan hisses, cheeks flushed with embarrassment or anger—not that I give a fuck which it is.

“Good,” I growl. “Fear makes people thorough.”

The next hours blur together. More doctors arrive; more tests are ordered. Hospital administrators appear, demanding the removal of armed men from their facility. I meet each challenge the same way: with an unblinking stare and a wordless grunt.

They get the message pretty fucking quickly.

Sofiya’s fever remains stubbornly high, though it responds marginally to medication. The toxicology screens come back negative. So do the tests for biological agents.

Each negative result only deepens my certainty that we’ve missed something.

By evening, the hospital is a fortress. It doesn’t make me feel one fucking bit safer.

I stand at the window of Sofiya’s room as I watch the sun sink below the horizon. Rowan sits beside our daughter’s bed, gently sponging her forehead with a cool cloth. The sight of them together tightens the knot of dread in my gut.

“The hospital administrator is threatening to call the police,” Arkady informs me quietly at the door. “Says you’re ‘disrupting patient care.’”

“Let him. I’ll have the chief of police here in twenty minutes explaining why that’s a bad fucking idea.”

Arkady hesitates. “Vin, do we really need to be doing all this? We’re causing a scene, you know. Besides, the doctors are saying Sofiya’s getting better. Her fever’s down to 101.2. Whatever this is, it’s responding to treatment.”

“Or they’re lying to get us to lower our guard.”

“Why would they?—?”

“Because they’ve been compromised.” My jaw is so stiff that it’s hard to speak. “Nowhere is safe.”

Arkady’s silence says more than words could. Evenhethinks I’m overreacting.

But to his credit, he remembers the pecking order. He sighs and retreats. When the door closes behind him, I cross to Sofiya’s bed and stroke her damp hair. Her skin still sizzles beneath my touch, but her breathing seems easier.

“The fever’s breaking,” Rowan murmurs without looking up. “Just like the doctors said it would.”

“We can’t be sure until?—”

“Until what?” She finally looks up, eyes blazing. “Until you’ve terrorized every medical professional in this hospital? You’re gonna get yourself arrested, and then we’re worse off than ever, Vince.”

“I’m protecting our daughter.”

“No.” She stands, bristling with restrained fury. “You’re protecting yourself from your own fear.”

“That’s not?—”

“It is. This isn’t about Sofiya. It’s about you not being able to control the fact that sometimes, children get sick. You know what, Vince? Sometimes, bad things happen that have nothing to do with enemies or threats or your father or mine. Bad shit justhappens.”

“You think I’m wrong.”

“I think you’re terrified.”

I step closer, towering over her. “And ifyou’rewrong? If this isn’t just a fever? If someone did get to her?”

“Then we’d know by now. The tests would have found something.” She doesn’t back down. “This is exactly what the doctors said it is: a virus. Nothing more.”

“You’re too willing to believe that.”

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