Page 110 of Shadows of the Past
A nurse comes over a moment later, and I hear Amalia’s voice, trembling.
“They need blood. B positive. I’m AB positive; I can’t donate.”
“Test me,” I say, shoving out my arm.
No translation needed. I have no idea what my blood type is, but if I’m not a match, I’ll tear this place apart to find someone who is.
They take a sample, and a nurse waves me over. I’m O positive, apparently, so I can give her what she needs.
For fifteen minutes, I watch a bag fill with my blood. When the nurse removes the tourniquet, I grab her hand and grit out, “It’s not enough. She’s lost more than that. Take more.”
She doesn’t fully understand, but something in my eyes must get through.
“Señor, we need a lot,” she says, her accent thick.
“Take as much as you need.” I tighten the tourniquet myself.
I would bleed til the last drop for her. If they needed the heart from my chest, I’d cut it out myself if it meant she could live.
After another bag, dizziness sweeps over me, but I don’t care. The nurse assures me it’s enough, so I stagger back to the waiting room, wishing with everything I’ve got that I was the one bleeding in that room.
The other soldiers are out hunting Aleksandr. I know they’ll catch that cockroach sooner rather than later, and the only consolation I have is the way I’m gonna make him bleed. Right now, all I care about is Julia making it out of surgery alive and well. Guilt crushes my chest because I wasn’t there when she needed me.She wanted Amalia safe.I know that, but she’s my priority.
Time blurs. Amalia sits beside me, cheeks streaked with tears, nervously picking at her nails.
“He told us you were part of a trafficking ring. He showed us photos of you with malnourished kids,” she whispers, and I close my eyes.
There are thousands of photos like that. I was there for every convoy Ivan brought in, not to hurt those kids, but to see how many needed urgent medicine. Sometimes they arrived in shipping containers, packed in with other cargo, tied down so they couldn’t run. We treated infected wounds more times than I can count.
Ivan and Aleksandr never noticed; we always made sure they didn’t, especially after what happened with Vera. We wiped the security footage for a few minutes, kept Ivan busy in his office while Akim or Julia snuck medicine down to the basement.
But if you only hear Aleksandr’s side, of course we look like the villains. The only real victim among us is the woman fighting for her life behind those doors. If I’d forced her to leave, if I’d made her run when she had the chance, maybe she wouldn’t be on an operating table now.
“Do you think she’ll forgive us?” Amalia asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Without a doubt.”
It’s the only truth I have. Julia would forgive anything. She’d do anything for the people she loves.Even let me keep breathing while she fades away.
That’s when I sense him before I see him.
“You made it,” I say to my twin, eyes still glued to the hospital floor.
“Max.” That’s all he says, but something inside me shatters.
His voice is gentle, full of understanding, like he’s telling me it’s okay to drop the tough act for once, and suddenly, a knot forms in my throat, my chest feels like bursting, and tears sting my eyes. The first one falls, and I realise I’m fucking crying only when I see it hit the hospital floor.
“I can’t lose her. Not her. Never her.”
I can’t sit still anymore. I get up, fists pounding against my chest, desperate to dull the ache in my heart, to make it stop hurting so much.
Strong arms wrap around me, pulling me into a rough embrace, and I want to fight it because I never had this. Every pain, every tear, every fucking moment I screamed, there was no one there to hold me. I hear his voice, even though my vision is blurred, his face nothing but a haze.
“You won’t lose her. If there’s anyone on this earth who would fight for you, it’s her,” Roman says, his conviction grounding me, letting me finally breathe for the first time in what feels like forever.
My fist keeps thudding against my chest, right where my heart is breaking for her.
“Stop hurting yourself,” my twin brother grits out, trying to reach me, but he can’t.
