Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 39046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“Just get here.”
He ended the call before I could say another word. Snarling, I stormed out of the room, heading for the room next door while still buttoning my shirt. Denis answered the door in a hurry when I banged my fist against it. “Sir?”
“Car keys,” I growled, holding my hand out. “Where is the car parked at?”
“In the parking garage on the first floor, sir.”
He didn’t question me or attempt to try to drive me himself. Instead, he simply reached into his pocket and grabbed the keys to the SUV, placing them in my palm. I turned on my heel and stormed off for the stairs. I didn’t have time to deal with the goddamn elevator. I was coming unglued.
If something was wrong with my Shadow, I was going to burn this world to the fucking ground, starting with Anatoly mother fucking Balakin. And I would dance in the ashes of it all after I was fucking done.
The receptionist working the front desk looked up in alarm when I slammed through the stairwell, but she smartly kept her mouth shut and cast her eyes away from me. I made my way out through the exit that led to the parking garage, easily finding the gleaming, black SUV amongst all the other vehicles.
Once I was inside, I quickly backed out and headed for the exit. And when I hit the highway, following the GPS to the hospital, I pressed my foot down on the accelerator, breaking numerous laws as I rushed to get there.
If Malik was not waiting there for me, alive and fucking healthy and unharmed, I was going to snatch the leash Anatoly had on me right out of his cold fucking hands. And I was going to turn into the feral dog he’d done his damnest to train.
“Where are you?” I snarled into my phone when I walked inside and didn’t see Anatoly or any of his men waiting on me in the emergency room lobby. I prowled toward the heavy steel doors that led into the emergency department, ignoring the nurse who was shouting at me to stop and trying to tell me I couldn’t go back there.
I’d like to see her fucking stop me.
I barged through the doors, my eyes scanning the alarmed workers for any sign of men in black suits. And there they were—triage room thirteen.
“Room thirteen,” Anatoly told me just as I started making my way in that direction.
I hung up the phone and shoved it into my pocket. The guard standing outside of the room swallowed thickly when he saw me and quickly moved out of my way, casting his eyes away from me. I could only imagine what I looked like—cold and fucking empty. Why the fuck did I need to fake anything or wear that goddamn mask when I knew in my fucking gut that I was going to walk into my worst nightmare as soon as I opened that damn door?
Gripping the handle, I shoved the door open—
And immediately stopped in the doorway.
Anatoly was standing beside the hospital bed, which meant he wasn’t the one in it. For the first time in my long, cold existence, I prayed one of his men would be in that bed instead and he’d called me to come here so we could figure out a plan of retaliation.
Steeling myself, I turned to face the bed, already knowing in my gut I’d find my worst nightmare come to life.
Shadow was laying in the bed, his eyes closed, and his skin too pale. He was hooked up to a blood bag, an IV line, a heart monitor, a blood pressure cuff, and an oxygen sensor. My hands curled into fists, and my breathing grew heavier as that monster beneath my skin clawed its way to the surface.
“He’s alive,” Anatoly told me as if that was supposed to somehow calm me down. “He took the bullets for me.”
I swung my gaze to his. A lesser man would’ve at least flinched, but Anatoly just met my gaze, more than aware of the monster I truly was. “He took bullets?” I growled. He’d put a mother fucking s on the end of that word, and I didn’t miss it. “And he took them for you?”
Anatoly nodded once as I walked further into the room, coming to stand beside him as I stared down at my man. He was so fucking pale, the color leeched from his skin. He was damn near gray, and seeing him so weak and helpless shook me to my fucking core.
“Took two—one to the chest and one to the shoulder. Damn near killed him. Help got to us in time.” Anatoly sighed. “He saw what I didn’t.”
Anatoly didn’t see my fist coming. It was the only explanation for why he didn’t block it. His back slammed against the wall with the force of my swing, and numerous medical items crashed to the floor as his hip knocked into the cart next to him. I pointed a finger at him, my hand trembling with my rage.