Page 44 of Toxic Temptation
Kovan mirrors my position on Luka’s other side, his jaw already tight.
“Is that from?—?”
“Cigarette.” His voice turns to gravel. “Ihor did it three weeks after we buried my brother. Said he was tired of listening to Luka whine about missing his father.”
My stomach lurches. I reach out without thinking, brushing the hair from Luka’s eyes with trembling fingers, softer than his own mother would ever do. “That man is a monster.”
“So then you understand why I need to get Luka away from him.” Kovan reaches across me to join, stroking his nephew’s hair with impossible gentleness. “I can storm in there, cause a scene, take Luka for a few weeks. But eventually, he has to go back. This time, I need a permanent solution.”
I swallow. I shudder to think what Kovan’s “permanent solution” might look like if I don’t play along. Something tells me it would involve a lot of blood.
“Can I ask you something? And I want you to be honest.”
He nods. “Always.”
I take a breath, dreading what I’m about to say. “Why don’t you just kill Ihor?”
Even before the words have finished leaving my lips, I can’t believe I’m saying them out loud.
Kovan’s mouth curves into something that might be a smile if it weren’t so sharp. “Dr. Fairfax, you continue to surprise me.”
“I shouldn’t have?—”
“Do you know how many times I’ve fantasized about putting a bullet in his head?” His face is utterly emotionless, but the sound of his feral snarl does things to me it absolutely shouldn’t. “Every time I see a new bruise on Luka, every time he flinches when someone raises their voice, I dream about watching the light leave Ihor’s eyes.”
“It’s not easy to kill someone.”
“It is for me,” he says. “Especially someone who deserves it. And Ihor deserves it a thousand times over.”
I sit up, wrapping my arms around my knees. “Jesus, Kovan. We shouldn’t be talking about this here.”
“What better place to discuss Luka’s safety than somewhere sacred to him?”
“We’re discussing murder. I save lives for a living. This goes against everything I believe.”
“Trust me,” he insists, “killing Ihor would save more lives than you know. Starting with Luka’s.”
“Then why haven’t you done it?”
“Politics,” he spits in disgust. “”Ihor has history with my family. Undeserved loyalty from men who knew him before they knew me. If I move against him without cause, I risk a war. And wars contain casualties.”
My blood turns cold. “You’re talking about this like it’sactuallya war.”
“Because that’s exactly what it is.” His green eyes find mine in the dim light. When he looks at me like that—intense, unblinking—my breath catches in my throat. “The only difference is, I’m willing to fight dirty to protect what matters. The question is, are you?”
I pick at my cuticles, a habit I haven’t had since medical school. “Your world scares me.”
“Good. Fear keeps you alive.”
“Would agreeing to this make me a fool?”
“Maybe. But it would also make you the woman who helped save a little boy’s life.”
The words bludgeon me right in the chest. I think about every child I’ve lost, every time the equipment failed, every budget meeting where Jeremy smiled while cutting funding. How many kids have I watched suffer because I was too afraid to fight dirty? How many times have I wished that I just had a little more power, a little more strength, a little more willingness to do what must be done?
And what is Kovan if not a man who does what must be done? I saw him in the hospital. He didn’t hesitate, not once. He did what needed doing. He saved lives. He saved mine.
He’s the answer to a prayer I never dared voice aloud. Who am I to tell him no?
