Dimitri

by April Zyon

  “What?” I heard the nurse asking. “Do you know how far along?”

  My brother went from leaning against the wall to my side in a heartbeat. “How far along what, Scar?” he demanded.

  “About two months. I know exactly what night I got pregnant.” Yeah, there probably weren’t many people who could possibly know when they got pregnant, but I did. “In fact, two months, five days, if I got pregnant that night,” I told the nurse.

  “I will make certain your chart is updated.” The nurse looked at Vince, then at me. “Are you going to be okay?” she asked, like she was ready to force Vince out if he was a threat to me.

  “I will. He’s my overprotective older brother and sadly he just saved me from hell, so he’s allowed to be all kinds of overprotective.” I would give that to Vince because it was true. He had pulled me out before anything happened, carried me, and didn’t freak when I passed out on him—well, I don’t think he did.

  “You are damn right I’m allowed to be overprotective, especially since you aren’t allowing me to tell Mom and Dad that they can come yet.”

  “I want to make sure that I’m cleaned up and in a room and okay before they come, Vince. You know them. They would start to order people around and they would begin to get nervous and then the care would drop.” I tried to joke, but sadly it wasn’t a joke. It was reality.

  “Is Dimitri the father?” my brother, ever to the point, wanted to know.

  “Yes. The night of the masked ball. I’m sorry, but I wanted freedom and I never got that with you guys. I mean, you saw the gown Mom had bought for me to wear.”

  “I thought that you had seemed off that night. Whomever you hired to play you did a damn good job. They fooled all of us. We all just thought you were in a snit and not talking to us when in reality it was her speech, wasn’t it?”

  “Yep, she had most of it down, but not all of it. She was good, but not perfect. She wasn’t me.” I snickered because Vince looked like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to spank me or high-five me.

  “Don’t tell Mom and Dad that, or you will never live it down,” Vince told me and shook his head, laughing now. He then sobered up and added, “Mom and Dad won’t like you having Dimitri in your life. You know that, don’t you?”

  “I know, but I don’t care. I’m a big girl and can make my own choices, and he means something to me.” Whatever the nurse had given me for the pain was working. “I’m done talking, though.” I saw the doctor walk in with a nurse. “And you are about to get kicked out.”

  “Not happening, you are in danger and I’m staying at your side, sis. I’m your guard, so deal.” He stuck his hand out for the doctor. “Hello, sir, I’m Vincent Vanderwall Jr. and this is my baby sister, Scarlett Vanderwall. She was taken hostage and harmed, her guards murdered, so I’m sure that you can understand the need for me to remain for her protection?”

  “Of course, son.” The doctor shook Vince’s hand and I groaned. Leave it to Vince to just lay everything out there, put on the charm, and have everyone eating out of his hand. He had to teach me that trick, dammit. He just had to be so freaking likable, damn his eyes.

  “Oh, now that’s new,” I whispered with a frown tugging my lips down. I hadn’t expected to feel quite so dizzy or so sleepy already, so I told the doctor, who seemed to pale.

  “Give her ten cc’s of adrenaline. She’s starting to crash on us,” the man said when he looked at the blood pressure monitor that was now only a blur to me.

  “Vinny?” I was scared, I won’t lie. I was freaking terrified. I realized then that I was numb. Pain meds wouldn’t make me numb and fuzzy like this. Even saying my brother’s name took effort and the word came out all wrong. I could tell it worried him, too. He looked like he had when I had fallen out of the tree and scraped my hands and knees and twisted my arm up really good. Thankfully I hadn’t broken it. Weird how I thought of that.

  “I’m right here, sis.” He cupped my cheek. “Listen to my voice and don’t you dare pass out on me.”

  I could vaguely hear the doctors and nurses asking me questions, and I answered them as best I could, but then the doctor touched a place on my head and I was out. I saw the look on Vincent’s face when I slid into unconsciousness and knew that this was really bad, but I couldn’t have stopped my body’s reaction had I tried.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dimitri

  When I arrived at the hospital, I knew that the shit had hit the fan and something was seriously wrong with my woman. Vincent was sitting there by the entry doors, his head in hands, looking down at the floor with absolute pain radiating off of him. When the doors had slid open, he hadn’t even flinched, not something I would have expected from the soldier.

  I approached him and asked, because I was trying to make nice with my woman’s family, “Where is Scarlett?”

  When he looked up, there was hate in his eyes, and it looked as if he had been crying. What the fuck? I felt my heart pounding in my ears. “Vincent, where the fuck is Scarlett?”

  “Where is she?” he asked and got up into my face. I lifted a hand to keep my men from advancing because Vince was chest to chest with me and the anger was easily felt all around the room right now. “She’s getting an emergency full-body MRI because she fucking passed out, Dimitri. When I caught her, and we stripped her, we saw the damage that your fucking father did to her. Fuck, she’s fucking pregnant and the doctors don’t know if the child will survive or not. Goddammit.” Vince ran his hands through his wheat-colored hair and turned to pace away from me. I heard him taking in a deep breath and his voice catching. Fuck, my heart was blowing up, too! My child might die before it even had a chance to live? Unacceptable. “I can handle the men and women around me in the field dropping because we signed up for this shit, but not her. She had a knife wound on her fucking head, Dimitri. What kind of sick fucker slices someone’s head open, especially a pregnant woman?”

  “A dead one,” I said calmly. I had to be calm, or I was going to go off the rails as well. “We will get her anything she needs. The best neo-natal physicians, the best head trauma doctors, and the best counselors, but we have to hold our shit together. Have you called your parents?” I asked the younger man. No, I didn’t want anyone there, but I knew Scarlett. As much as she railed against her family, she loved them and she needed them all there.

  “I just got off the phone with Dad. He’s brining everyone now,” Vince said and shook his head. “How the hell can you be so cold and calm about this? Do you not give a flying fuck about her?”

  “I love your sister,” I said with an angry growl, only then realizing that I had Vince by his collar and pulled him to my face to shout at him. Fuck, I hadn’t meant to lose it, but in less than half a second I had. I released him and repeated, “I love your sister, but I can’t allow myself to get lost in the pain I’m feeling inside right now. That will be later. Right now, she needs me to be strong and thinking clearly for her and for our child. I need to plan, and planning I’m very good at.” Among other things, it was one of the reasons I was as successful as I was.

  Vincent nodded and ran his hands over his face. “The family should be here soon. I’ve already told them about you and that Scar wants you in her life, but you should be prepared for opposition.”

  “And from you?” I asked.

  “I’ve seen you and I’ve seen her. I’ve seen you both together. None from me. I know when something’s real, and you are real, otherwise you wouldn’t be as fucking scared as I am right now.”

  That was the emotion I was feeling, damn the man. I was fucking terrified because the woman I was in love with might die and it was all my fault. I should let her go, release her, but I couldn’t. No, I had to have her far more than I needed my next breath. “Thank you for that.”

  “I wouldn’t thank me yet. You still have to convince Mom. Scar’s her baby, even though we have a younger brother. She’s the only girl, so good fucking luck trying to get moved anywhere other than this city with my sist
er.”

  “Good thing I am perfectly fine living here,” I said with a twitch of my lips, then looked up at the ceiling. “I hope they can save both. If not, as long as they bring my Letty back to me, I’m happy. We will work everything else out later,” I admitted to him and to, well, God. I had to have Scarlett in my life. She was as necessary to me as oxygen.

  “They are going to try to save both,” Vincent said.

  We all settled in for a long, long wait.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Scarlett

  I woke up and my head was killing me, again. My throat was dry and while I ached all over, it wasn’t a searing pain like I’d felt last time. I heard voices, very quiet but close. Squinting, I tried to beat my way through the haze that filled my head. Then the room came clear. Lifting my hand, one with an IV on the back of it from the looks of it, I placed it to my head. That seemed to get everyone’s attention. Within a second, Dimitri was there at my side. “Moya lyubov,” he whispered when he took my hand and pressed a kiss to the inside of my palm. “You are awake.” I saw Vincent Jr. hand him a white foam cup that I prayed held ice water. When Vinny put a straw in it and the straw made a little circular dance in the cup, I knew it was and could have kissed my brother.

  “Mom and Dad just went home to grab clothes for us all about ten minutes ago. Do you want me to call them back?” I looked at the other side and saw Tomas and smiled. Lifting a hand and taking his, I shook my head, then turned back to Dimitri.

  “Water?” Oh God, my throat was dry. It felt like someone had poured sand down my throat and then I threw that up.

  “Of course.” Dimitri took the cup from Vince and placed the straw at my lips. “Take a small sip and swirl it in your mouth, darling,” he told me. “Let the cool water sit on the back of your tongue for a moment before you swallow. We have all night, and you need to allow your body time to adjust to the drink.” He stroked a finger to my cheek while giving me a small drink. He pulled it away before I was finished, but I did what he told me and it was absolute bliss. “I will give you another drink in a moment.” He looked to my brother, Tomas, and said, “Yes, you need to call your parents. I swore to them I would call the second she woke, and I won’t break a promise, never to your mam. Call them now so that they can come back. Have one of the guards go for clothing for you all. I understand that you were worried about them, but they will both benefit from seeing Scarlett awake finally.” He looked down at me and smiled. “You’ve had all of us very worried. You’ve been out for two days, sweetheart.” Dimitri leaned in and kissed my forehead. He then whispered in my ear, “I’ve missed your smiles, baby.” He pulled back and offered me another sip of water, which I gladly took.

  I waited for a few minutes, and a few more sips, before I asked him, “And the baby?” He had to know that I needed to know about our child. Anyone would want to know that.

  “Is fine, moya lyubov.” He placed his massive hand over my belly. “You protected our child, and he or she is healthy and safe. It was you that we were all so worried about.” His thumb rubbed over my belly and made my insides melt. God, this man did things to me with just a touch that had my body ready to go and my heart gone to him.

  “Good.” I sniffed and felt the tears. I knew I shouldn’t cry, but dammit with everything that had happened I couldn’t stop myself. Dimitri passed the water off to my brother, and weirdly enough my brothers vacated the room to give us privacy. Dimitri sat at my bedside, and in a move that was so gentle, he took me in his arms and simply held me. He brushed his hands up and down my naked back—thank you to whoever invented the insanity that was hospital gowns—and let me cry out what I was feeling.

  I don’t know how long I cried, but I soon heard my mom’s voice and felt Dimitri kissing the side of my neck. “I love you, Scarlett.” He loved me? How could he love me when he barely knew me? He didn’t know all the bad things about me. He only knew we had really good sex together. Granted, we had talked for hours and hours after sex, but love me? Then again, I loved him, so what the ever-loving hell? “I understand if you will need some time, darling, but please don’t take too much time? I need you in my life. Our child needs its mother and father both, and I want to be there every step of the way. Don’t shut me out?” he asked softly.

  “I will think about it?” The statement came out a question instead of the firm statement I wanted to make and that was okay. It was okay because truthfully, I wasn’t certain about anything right now except the fact that I really enjoyed having him holding me, and I knew that I was in love with him. “Can we talk when my mom’s not right here, though?”

  He laughed. The sound was deep and rich and made me think he didn’t do it often, so I took it as the gift that it was. I smiled, I couldn’t help it. “Yes, little one, we can talk in private another time.” He cupped my cheek and nodded as he pulled back. “I just wanted you to know where I stood on things,” he told me and winked. I then watched Dimitri stand and face my parents, greeting them by first name. I was shocked when he shook my dad’s hand, then gave my mother a kiss on her cheek. I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t give up his place at my side, however.

  My parents both moved in to hug me, my mother in tears and my father looking older than I had ever seen. Mom took a seat on the opposite side of Dimitri and held my other hand. “You had us all terrified, young lady. I thought I had raised you better than that,” Mom chided me in that voice that said she was upset with me, but happy I was okay. It was a voice I was used to hearing her use on the brothers, never me.

  “Sorry, Mom, it won’t happen again.”

  “No, it will never happen again.” Dimitri’s grip on my hand increased. Abruptly he released it as if realizing how hard he was squeezing. “I will make sure of it.”

  I looked to my father and saw his nod of approval, wait, what the hell? Had I hit my head so hard I had fallen down Alice’s hole and was now in some kind of Wonderland myself? My father disliked Dimitri. I had heard him talking to my brothers on more than one occasion after the Gala because of the way he had looked at me, and God help Dimitri, had my father known about the way we had behaved at the masked ball? He would have to know.

  I was so lost, I really was. Maybe I’d hit my head harder than I thought and I was in a coma? Thankfully my mom took pity on me and, laughing, told me, “Honey, they’ve already had their knock down and drag out. Your daddy and Dimitri had a bit of a fight yesterday, sweetheart, so that’s why they are so calm today. They came to the understanding that he’s going to be in your life, and your father loves you and wants the best for you and understands that so does Dimitri.”

  I looked over at my father, then at Dimitri. I smiled. I don’t know why, but I smiled. I was happy. I was also thankful that I’d slept through the conversation they had, I supposed. “O-kay.” I dragged that one word out because I simply didn’t know what else to say. I truly hoped they wouldn’t question me too much since I didn’t want to go into details on anything. What Dimitri and I had shared should be for the two of us and only the two of us. It shouldn’t be up for discussion. Although, truth be told, I really wanted to talk to him about it and wanted to relive it over and over again, only this time in a bed or in the privacy of his home or something similar.

  Shit, that was so not something I should be thinking of right now, not with my family in the room with us. No, right now I should only think of getting better and getting out of here so I could talk to Dimitri and find out exactly what had happened after Vince Jr. swooped in and took me out of the warehouse. Everything had gone totally foggy once my brother had taken me into his arms, and that fog was what had me all pissy right now. The not knowing bothered me a great deal.

  I looked around the room and realized that my whole family seemed to accept Dimitri and his friends. I hadn’t expected it, but I was thankful for it all the same. Shaking my head, I just smiled. I couldn’t do anything else. I smiled and went back to sleep. Thank God for the fabulous drugs the hospital nurse gave me!
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br />   Chapter Seventeen

  Dimitri

  One month later

  I loved looking at her. She fascinated me, and everything she did was my obsession. She had this slightly rounded belly now, and she would touch it with this little smile that had me smiling every single time I caught her doing it. She wasn’t living with me yet, but that was going to change, today. I had been patient with her and her family. I had played to their tune and let all of them get to know me. Her father wasn’t a stupid man and neither was her mother a stupid woman. I realized that now. While I was trying to hide my less than law abiding ways from them, they saw right through me, and I wouldn’t have known that they saw the real me until her mother of all people spoke to me two weeks after Scarlett was released from the hospital.

  The woman had laid down the law to me, telling me as plainly as I would tell my men exactly what she expected of me and what the consequences would be if I should ever, ever make her little girl sad or unhappy. She had told me that I had also better never cheat on Scarlett, or she would personally do everything in her power to ensure that it was the last thing I ever did, and damn if I didn’t believe her. The men in the family were capable, they were trained, but hearing this woman tell me she would kill me if I ever cheated on her daughter—yeah, I believed her. While she might be a blue blood and from old money, she had a steel backbone and I was certain that she, just like her daughter, could do anything she put her mind to.

  After that conversation with her mother, however, things got better and everyone accepted me, even if begrudgingly. Scarlett and I spent every second together we possibly could so that she could get used to being around me, and I found myself falling deeper in love with her. Her laugh enchanted me. Her sense of humor was amazing, and the way she saw life was refreshing. We still were going to have our difficulties, but we would work through it together, because that was what couples did. They worked through their shit together, which was why I was bringing her home today.