Page 113 of Sinful Wrath

“We were able to repair it, but your father lost a lot of blood, which put a lot of strain on his heart. He also received a significant blow to the head which caused internal bleeding in his brain. Our surgeons were able to stop the bleeding but because of how severe his injuries were, we had to put your father into an induced coma to help his body rest.”

Mikhail squeezes me closer to him. “Is he going to be okay?”

“We need to get through the night, and then we’ll go from there. We’ll keep you updated on his condition.”

I glance at Mikhail, and he offers me a grim smile, and I know these next few hours are going to be the longest of my life.

26

MIKHAIL

I was supposedto spend my wedding night worshiping my new wife, not sitting at her father’s bedside as he fights for his life while we’re both wearing blood-stained wedding clothes like some fucked up scene from a horror film.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. The whole point of moving the wedding to Alexei’s place was to avoid Igor’s attack and yet, somehow, we still ended up in the hospital with Massimo barely clinging to life.

My phone vibrates constantly with incoming calls from my brothers, but I send them all to voicemail.

I know I should be focused on interrogating the fucker that put Massimo in the hospital, but I can’t bring myself to leave Lucia’s side when she’s in such a state.

I have no idea how many hours it’s been since we arrived, but the sun set a while ago.

“Solnyshka, you should try and get some sleep.” I place a comforting hand on her shoulder as she watches over Massimo.

“I need to be here in case he wakes up.” She clutches her father’s hand.

She hasn’t moved from his side since we were brought up to the ICU to see him, and she looks exhausted.

I want to remind her that the doctors will have to manually wake him up from his coma in a few days, but I don’t want to squash the hope that she’s desperately clinging on to.

“Will you at least try to eat something?”

“Not hungry.”

I give her shoulder a squeeze, deciding not to push her further.

“Is everyone else okay?” She glances up at me, her brown eyes red-rimmed and swollen from crying. “Leo…a-and the twins?”

“They’re all safe. A few of our guards were wounded but no casualties.”

“That’s good. If anything happened to your family because of me?—”

“Lucia, this is not your fault, do you hear me?” I crouch down beside her. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I’m the one who thought moving the wedding to Alexei’s place would be the best option.”

“You were trying to keep us safe.”

And I failed.

A soft knock on the door has us both looking up to see Elle hovering in the doorway.

“I thought you might want to change.” She holds up a duffle bag. “How is he?”

She steps inside, looking anxiously at Massimo.

“Stable.” I get to my feet.

Elle’s throat bobs as she drops the bag down on the small cot that was set up for Lucia so she could sleep.

“How are you doing, Lucia?” Elle moves to stand at the end of the bed.