Chapter Ninety-Four

Chapter Ninety-Four

Adrik

"What the fuck happened?" Dr. Williams asked as we pulled Sephie from the backseat of the SUV. He immediately started to look her over as we transferred her to the hospital bed.

"She and Ivan were kidnapped," Misha said.

Ivan had walked up. "Her left shoulder is dislocated and that arm is likely broken too. She has broken ribs on that side and I'm almost positive she has a punctured lung. I'm sure there's more, but that's all I know for sure," he said.

Dr. Williams nodded as we walked quickly down the hallway. He looked to Ivan, "And what about you? You also look like holy hell, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm terrified to look at you without her."

"I can manage until she's fine, Doc," Ivan said.

"We need to get her x-rayed to find out what we're dealing with. I can hear her wheezing. She's having trouble breathing. I know she reacts differently to anesthesia. Anything else I should know about?" Dr. Williams asked Ivan.

"Yeah, she doesn't go anywhere without him," he said pointing to me. "He is to her what she is to me. Keep him with her."

"Noted."

We walked onto an elevator while the guys stayed behind. Dr. Williams looked at me, then looked at my hands. "I'm hoping the guys that did this to her are in much worse shape than she is?" he asked.

"I'm just getting started," I said.

"Good. What about the brawn situation? I heard about the explosions throughout the city. I'm hoping it had to do with taking care of that?" he asked.

"Taken care of. They grabbed her when Ivan was getting her to safety before we blew the warehouses," I said.

"That's a small relief," he said as we exited the elevator. The nurses gave me funny looks as we walked into the x-ray room. "Make a note in her chart that this man stays with her, no matter what. There's also five more downstairs that are to stay with her overnight. I don't want any problems from any of the nurses." The nurses looked puzzled, but didn't argue.

Dr. Williams liked to talk while he worked. "What about Ivan? He doesn't look so good. I'm not sure I believe him that he can last until she gets well enough to work her magic on him. Do you have any other way for me to look at him without him killing me?"

I felt Sephie squeeze my hand faintly. When she did, the memory of Misha recording her playing the piano came into my head. I knew Sephie put it there. Even unconscious, she was still trying to help Ivan. "I have one idea that might work. He's generally okay with minor stuff. If it's something that would require anesthesia on a normal person, that's where the real problem is. She's the only one that's ever been able to calm him like she does."

"I've never seen anything like it in my life. What's your idea, if you don't mind me asking?"

"She plays piano. She's incredibly talented. Ivan gets stuck in his memories when he has to go to the hospital. He'll wake up fighting like he did with you regularly. It's a waking nightmare for him. In his mind, he's back in his past, fighting for his life. In reality, he's fighting us and we're just trying to keep him from hurting himself or someone else. She can break him out of it, but it means she can't sleep while he sleeps. One of the guys recorded her playing the piano and that's enough to keep him from getting sucked back into his nightmare. He knows she's close by as long as he can hear her playing," I said.

Dr. Williams had continued to take x-rays of Sephie's entire body while I was talking. He stopped briefly to look at me. "That's incredible." He motioned toward Sephie. "I need to turn her onto her side," he said, indicating for me to help him. Her body was covered in bruises already. When he saw her back, he gasped. "Holy shit," he said, looking to me again.

"Her uncle," I said.

"Fuuuuuuck," he half-whispered as he continued taking x-rays.

Once he was done, he let me know what needed to happen next. "Her left shoulder is definitely completely dislocated. Her humerus is also fractured. She has five broken ribs and one of them has punctured her left lung. It's difficult to tell from the x-ray, but she does have some blood in her lung and air is escaping into her thoracic cavity. Fortunately, her right lung looks fine. Unfortunately, she's going to need to stay in the hospital for a few days to make sure her lung doesn't collapse. She'll need a chest tube to help give the air a place to go, so her lungs can re-expand, and oxygen to help her breathe easier. She's going to be in a lot of pain for a day or two," he said.

"Pain meds knock her completely out and make it so she can't eat for days at a time," I said. "The last time she got seriously hurt, she took ibuprofen. When she got those scars on her back, she said she just took ibuprofen then too."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. We couldn't believe it either, but apparently that shit works for her," I said, smiling at her. I still had a hold of her hand, not wanting to be apart from her.

We left the x-ray room and went to a surgery room, so they could fix her arm. "We're going to need to sedate her to fix her shoulder. That's going to be painful if she's awake. I'll let the anesthesiologist know about her reaction to normal pain meds. Redheads really do react differently to drugs than everyone else. That's a real thing," he said.

It took them a while to put her shoulder back and set her arm. She would have to wear a cast for a few weeks while her bone healed. They put a chest tube in, which made her breathing quieter. She'd been on oxygen since we got to the hospital, but I could still hear her wheezing. Once the chest tube was in, she started to breathe quietly again. My own anxiety started to calm down once she started to breathe quieter too.

We went to a room once they were done. "I've sent a nurse down to get the other guys. I'd like to take a look at Ivan, if that's possible. He looked rough before," Dr. Williams said.

Once the guys walked into the room, they all looked exceptionally worried. I said, in Russian, "She's okay. She's going to have to stay here a few days, but she's okay." I looked to Misha, then to Ivan. "Misha, do you have the recordings of her playing on your phone still? The doctor wants to look at Ivan, but Sephie won't be awake for a while. They had to sedate her to fix her shoulder, so it might be a couple days before she wakes up. You should get looked at before that, Ivan," I said.

"Yeah, Boss, I have them. Do you think that'll work?" Misha asked Ivan.

"It's worth a shot, I guess, but it's probably best if you guys are there, just in case," Ivan said. He was visibly nervous.

"I'm not leaving her. Do you four think you can handle him if it gets bad?" I asked.

"We'll make it work," Viktor said. "You don't need to leave her."

I looked at the doctor. "Ivan will go with you, but they're going as well, just in case they need to hold him down. We have the recording of her playing, so hopefully that will help keep him calm enough. Let's just pray you don't need to do anything invasive on him," I said, in English.

"You ain't never lied. Follow me, gentlemen," he said, walking out of the room and leaving me alone with Sephie.

I leaned over her, kissing her forehead. "I'm so sorry, solnishko. Once again, you were never meant to get hurt. I'm so proud of you though. I heard you with Armando. You got the information we needed out of him. You continuously surprise me with your intelligence. It's more than that though. You're street-smart as well. This business. It takes a certain level of cunning. It takes most people a lifetime to figure it out and you just come by it naturally. You're just amazing, Persephone. You make me want to work harder every single day to make sure I'm worthy of your love." I grabbed her hand as I sat next to the bed to watch over her. I felt the faintest squeeze on my fingers. I picked her hand up, kissing the back of it. "Sleep, love. I'll be right here the whole time."

It took a little over an hour before Ivan and the other guys came back to Sephie's room. He had a few sets of stitches in various places, but nothing major. I raised an eyebrow, curious how it went. Misha looked proud of himself. "The recording was enough that the doctor could check him over thoroughly. He didn't break anything. Just some stitches," he said.

They had put Sephie in a double room, with strict orders that no one else was to be placed in that room. The doctor was trying to give us an extra bed, since he knew we were all going to stay with her. I appreciated it. Ivan stretched out on the other bed. He looked exhausted. We all looked exhausted. We were quiet for a few minutes, then curiosity got the better of us.

"We know Armando was a part of it, but did you find out about anyone else?" Viktor asked.

"Sal was there the first night. Or first morning. To be honest, I have no idea what day it is. They took my watch, so time was meaningless while we were in that room. How long did it take you guys to find us?" Ivan asked. He had a bit of a grin on his face when he asked, like there was a joke we weren't privy to that he was thinking about.

"From the time they grabbed you until the time we got to you, it was right around thirty hours," Viktor said.

Ivan chuckled. "She's gonna be so mad and so impressed at the same time." We all looked to him for further explanation. "That was one of her first questions. How long it would take you guys to find us. I said no longer than a day and half. She said three days. She was worried when they found her tracker and pitched it. She didn't know you'd be able to track us with the earpieces. I may have neglected to tell her that," he said, his devious grin on his face.

Andrei snapped his fingers and pointed at Ivan. "Rude."

"You guys heard her. That's how she was the entire time. Hell, she shot the guy that grabbed her off the bike in the face. She had them all worried anytime they talked to her." He looked at me. "Did you see her eyes this time?"

I nodded. When Stephen and I got to her, her eyes were as dark as I'd ever seen them. "They were almost black when we got to her. Were they that dark the whole time?"

"Yeah, but she kept her cool the entire time. She had one conversation in Italian that I couldn't understand, but everything else I heard. She was incredible. She was messing with their heads the entire time," Ivan said. You could hear the pride in his voice when he talked about her.

"What happened when they grabbed you?" Misha asked. I knew he was likely wanting to see how accurate his visions were. I had to admit I was curious as well.

"They had to be waiting on us. They came out of nowhere and caught me slowing down to turn onto a street. They blocked us in, but I made a move to drive down the sidewalk. The vehicle in front cut me off. The guys in the vehicles behind us got out and grabbed her off the bike. I didn't see how she got away, but that's when she shot the guy in the face. She was on the way to help me when two more guys rushed her and slammed her into a parked car. One of them held a gun to her head, so I stopped. I'd killed two guys that were on me, but I froze when I saw the gun on her. They took everything off us there and threw us in a vehicle, then stopped along the way to drop the helmets and tracker. I'm sure you guys found everything though," Ivan said.

"She headbutted the guy that grabbed her before she shot him in the face," Misha said. "We went to the scene and I was able to see what happened. It was like it was when she and I saw Trino. I've never been able to see something happen in the past before."

Ivan raised his eyebrow. "She really did unlock a new level for you then."

"What happened when Sal was there?" Viktor asked.

Ivan laughed. "Oh, dear God, she's just so funny without even meaning to be sometimes. She asked what Sal wanted with her. He told her he was originally just going to use her as bait to draw out Boss so he could kill him, but since she'd killed so many of Sal's men, she was now in his debt. He said there was also the matter of his son and her making him look like a fool. He kept trying to touch her, but she kept moving away from him, even though we were tied to the chairs. He unzipped her shirt and just stared at her boobs for a minute. She asked if it was his first time seeing boobs. He slapped her and told her she had a smart mouth and that she'd learn to keep it shut. She told him she didn't care for school and she likely wasn't going to learn it anytime soon. She said she told Anthony the same thing. Oh, I should mention that she called Anthony his ‘idiot son.' Sal punched her so hard that her chair tipped over backward. The two guys that grabbed us had to set her back upright. When she could look at him again, she told Sal he punched like a weak old man." Ivan started laughing, but continued. "She said something like she bet he couldn't even get it up and then asked him how many dick pills he needed to even have sex." We all laughed.

"What happened then? I'm sure that didn't go over well with Sal," Viktor asked.

"Mando stepped in. He told Sal that they wouldn't get as much for her if he kept hitting her. So, Sephie was able to get their plan out of them with her dick joke," Ivan said. "She's like a bloodhound when it comes to information. But that's when Armando looked at her for the first time and saw her eyes. He was visibly frightened when he saw her. She took advantage of it too. She told them both they were going to die slowly and painfully. It shook them both enough that they left the room immediately. She did the same to the guys that grabbed us. Apparently, they were discussing whether they could get away with stopping along the way and taking turns raping her. It was in Italian, so I didn't understand it. She didn't say anything to me at the time, but later, she let them know she understood. She told them she was going to enjoy sending them to meet their dead friends."

We all sat in stunned silence. We knew she was incredible, but she just kept impressing us with her ability to withstand whatever was thrown at her.

"Did Sal come back after that?" Andrei asked.

"No. I was expecting him to. I was surprised when it was just Armando. I'm still not entirely sure which one of them is in charge. From what Sephie pulled out of Armando at the end there, I don't think he's ever been in charge. We need to confirm with her when she wakes up, but I'm guessing it's either Ricardo or Giana's father that has been pulling the strings all along for Armando," Ivan said.

"I need to do more digging on Ricardo to see if I can find out more about him," Viktor said. "Armando is still alive. They took him to a room. Keith and Chris are making sure he stays there."

I felt Sephie's hand start to jerk. She started to mumble in her sleep, which likely meant she was having a nightmare. I put my hand on her stomach and felt her body shaking. I started talking to her, trying to coax her out of her nightmare. She was still mumbling, but I couldn't understand what she was saying, as she was still having trouble speaking. I leaned down, talking softly in her ear, but it didn't stop. The shaking started to get worse.

"Get in bed with her, Boss," Stephen said. "She's probably freezing on top of everything else." He and Andrei stood up to help move her over, so I had room to lay beside her. We moved all the tubes coming out of her as carefully as possible and I laid down on her right side, which had the least amount of damage. Andrei raised her shoulders up, so I could slide my arm under her. When he eased her back toward the bed, she tried to turn toward me. Andrei and Stephen both saw it and tried to help her roll on her side, so she could lay on me as much as possible. Her head rested partially on my shoulder, partially in her usual spot on my chest. Her left arm was in a sling that was secured to her waist to keep her shoulder immobile, so she couldn't lay across my chest like she normally did. Her body started to relax as soon as her head was on my shoulder and my hand was running up and down her back. I felt my body relax being able to hold her once again.

"Fucking adorable," they all said at once.

Stephen said, "You guys should get some sleep. I'm still very much on a caffeine high, so I'll take the first shift. I don't like that Sal is still at large."

"Once he finds out about Anthony and Lorenzo, he's going to be unpredictable. Let's hope she doesn't sleep for three days. We may not have that long," Viktor said.

"I can buy us a day or two with that," I said, wiggling my phone out of my pocket. I nodded to Stephen to watch the door to make sure no one came in, then dialed Trino's number.

"Jefe, any word?" He picked up on the first ring. He sounded worried.

"She's fine, Trino. She's going to need to stay in the hospital a few days though. Armando beat the shit out of her before we could get to her," I said.

"I hope he's already dead."

"He wishes he was, I can tell you that. He's still alive though. I plan on drawing it out as long as possible. I want him to suffer."

"I love this line of thinking, Jefe."

"That being said, Sal is still at large and I'm a little worried about what he's going to do once he finds out about Anthony and Lorenzo. I'm not leaving her until she can leave the hospital."

"Say no more, Jefe. I have the perfect solution. I'll take care of everything. Sal won't find out until I'm sure that Sephie is okay and can leave the hospital. No matter how long it takes."

"Thanks, Trino. And thanks again for sending Oscar. He's been an integral part of our fireworks show."

Trino laughed. "I love that guy. I've never met anyone who gets as excited to blow shit up as that dude. He's great."

"He's good at his job, I will definitely give him that," I said.

"Keep me updated on Sephie's condition. How bad is it?" he asked.

"He dislocated her shoulder and broke her arm. She also has five broken ribs and a punctured lung. She's more blue and purple than anything right now, but she got more information out of both Sal and Armando despite everything that was happening to her. There's another player behind Armando that we don't know much about."

"Fuck, Jefe. How did you not kill him?"

"I was well on my way to doing so, but she stopped me. She was having trouble breathing," I said.

"She's even more special than I thought if she could stop you in the middle of that," Trino said.

"You have no idea, Trino. I'll keep you updated and let you know when she can leave. Thank you again for everything, Trino."

"De nada, Jefe."

Viktor ran to one of the vehicles to get a charger for Misha's phone, so we could plug it in for Ivan. Nobody had slept in over two days, so nobody wanted to be woken up to him fighting his past. I didn't want to put Sephie in danger either. Knowing her, she would wake up just to help him, knowing he was struggling.

I had to admit that listening to her play helped me relax and be able to sleep better, given the situation. Because of her arm in a sling and cast, I couldn't hold her as close as I wanted to. Because of her chest tube, she needed to be partially sitting up. She was as close to me as her arm in a cast strapped to her waist would allow, but I still managed to pull her legs over mine partially so she would feel even closer. It was frustrating and not ideal, but I found myself drifting off to sleep despite everything.

We were all woken up periodically by nurses coming in to check on her. One nurse clearly wasn't happy with me being in bed with her, but she didn't say anything. Perhaps it was the gun on my hip that she didn't like. Dr. Williams came in that evening to check on her before he left for the day. He chuckled, "One of my nurses went on a rant about you being in bed with her. I told her I could send her home for the day if she had that much of a problem with it. She decided to let it go."

"She doesn't know I basically pay her salary. She'll be out of a job if she doesn't let it go," I said sternly.

"I'll make sure she takes care of everyone else on the floor instead," he said. "How is she?" he asked, pointing at Sephie.

"She's been mostly quiet. Like Ivan, she has demons that resurface anytime she gets hurt. She started fighting, but as long as she can feel me next to her, she stays calm." As I said that, she struggled to snuggle closer to me.

"Let's make sure you stay next to her then. She needs to stay quiet, so she can breathe easily until her lung has a chance to heal a little more," he said. He looked toward Ivan, who was still sleeping. "How's he doing?"

"Good so far. As long as he can hear her playing, he stays calm. I assume he was okay when you checked him out earlier?"

"He was as calm as he was when she was with him. You were right too. She is incredibly talented."

I smiled, feeling that familiar pull in my chest. I loved it when other people saw the greatness in her too.

"I'll be back in the morning to check on her again. If something happens overnight, the nurses know to call me," he said.

"Thank you, Dr. Williams. For both of them. I understand it's a bit of a unique situation we've put you in. I appreciate everything you've done," I said. He nodded his head and left quietly.

Sephie stayed quiet for the entire night, as long as her head was resting on my shoulder. She would periodically try to get closer to me, but would struggle to do so each time. Her ribs made it difficult to move without severe pain and her arm in a cast and sling made it awkward for her to lay against me. I tried to hold her as close as possible without hurting her.

Dr. Williams came back the next morning to check on her. He looked at everyone in the room. "You're all looking slightly more refreshed this morning. I take it you all got a little sleep at least?" he asked. One of the nurses had brought in an extra bed the night before, so the guys rotated through the beds during the night. Each time a nurse came in to check on Sephie, they would rotate. It wasn't ideal, but they weren't going to complain if it meant staying close to her.

There were quiet grunts in response to Dr. Williams's question. He chuckled. "I'm guessing you guys likely haven't eaten either. I can have food sent up. You'll feel better once you can eat as well." He turned to me. "How did she do last night?"

"She was quiet. She's tried to move closer to me a few times, but struggles to do so. It makes her frustrated, even in her sleep," I said.

"She's going to be in a good bit of pain for a while. Her bruising is deep. And I know I don't have to tell you how painful broken ribs are." He walked to the side of the bed opposite from me. He put his hands up, looking at me. "I need to check her," he said, before he touched her, like he was asking my permission.

I tried to sit up, so I wouldn't be in the way. He lifted the blanket off her, then lifted the hospital gown she was wearing to look at her chest tube. I heard the guys cursing quietly as they saw the bruises that covered her body. Dr. Williams checked everything, then said, "I need to roll her onto her back. She has so much bruising that I want to be sure I didn't miss something that's causing her to bleed internally."

Andrei and Misha stood up immediately to help shift her onto her back. They gently lifted her and turned her, so the doctor could have access. As he palpated her abdomen, she started mumbling. He heard her and took note of it, but continued his exam. I could see her body start to shake the longer she was away from me. Dr. Williams felt it too. "That's concerning," he said.

"That's what happens when she's away from him," Ivan said.

"It'll stop once we put her back on him," Misha said.

"Intriguing," he said as he continued his exam. When he was satisfied that there was nothing going on internally that he needed to worry about, he stepped back to let Andrei and Misha move her back closer to me. Dr. Williams stood and watched as the mumbling quieted and her body relaxed as soon as her head was on my chest once again. "That's not something I see, ever," he said as he stared at Sephie, like he was completely lost in thought over what he'd just witnessed.

Ivan didn't say a word, but he stood up and walked silently to the bed, standing in between Sephie and the doctor, his arms crossed across his chest. It was enough to break whatever thought pattern was going on in his head. "I'll come back in a few hours to check on her again. From what I can see, she's doing well. She might be able to get the chest tube out earlier than I thought, but she'll still need to stay here for observation for a day once it comes out. We want to make sure it won't need to go back in," he said as he walked toward the door. "I'll have food sent up as well." He closed the door quietly behind him.

We all looked at Ivan, somewhat puzzled. "Doctors are all the same. As soon as they find something that can't be explained with their science, they want to study it. I'll die before I let that happen to her," he said, clearly bristled. "I've seen that look way too many times before."

"Let's hope she continues to make improvements quickly, so we can get her out of here," Andrei said. "I'd also rather get my own food than rely on what he sends up."

"Fair point. I'll tell the doctor it's not needed," Viktor said. We could hear the edge to his voice as he stood to leave the room. I smiled, as I kissed the top of Sephie's head. Viktor rarely got angry, but when it came to her he would destroy whatever he perceived to be a threat, no questions asked.

Viktor had Chris bring us food. We were trying to keep our location as quiet as possible, so Chris knew to be as discreet as possible. Now that Armando was at the building in a room, it was less likely anyone would pay attention to him. He also made regular trips to the hospital for his mom, so this wouldn't seem out of character for him.

"How is she?" he asked when he walked in.

"She's going to be okay, but it's going to take a few days," Viktor said. "Armando beat the shit out of her."

"Armando did this to her?"

"He was planning on selling her to the highest bidder, Chris," Stephen said.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Not even in the slightest," Stephen said. "Now you see why Armando looks the way he looks and is in a room."

"Fuck. I didn't think that guy had it in him. He's such a moron most of the time," Chris said, still completely taken aback.

"She got information out of him despite his beating. We think he's being controlled. We think he's always been controlled. Where's Giana?" Ivan asked.

"She's still at the building. A couple of Armando's other guys are on her. She hasn't asked where Armando is though. That's weird," Chris said.

"Make sure she stays there," Ivan said.

"Yes, sir. Armando has been trying to talk his way out of the room. He's been saying that you've lost it and put him in there for no reason. If I'd didn't know better, he'd be quite convincing," Chris said.

"Let him talk, but don't respond. Don't tell him you've seen Sephie either. Or you know anything else. The silent treatment will drive him mad," Ivan said.

"On it," Chris said as he got up to leave the room. "Let me know when you guys need more food."