Her face is pale, lips parted, and there’s blood on her palms as if she scratched herself.
“What happened?” Ruslan runs toward me, followed by Katia, their attention on Rai in my arms.
“Get the car,” I bark. It would be better to wait for an ambulance, but we don’t have time for that.
“Yes, sir.” He storms out of the house. Katia and I follow and she opens the door for me.
“What happened?” she asks.
“I should be the one to ask you that. Why weren’t you with her?”
“She sent me on an errand, and Ruslan was getting the car ready.”
Fuck.
I get in the back seat, and Katia helps in positioning Rai’s head on my lap before she slides into the front seat.
“Get us to the hospital,” I tell Ruslan. “Now.”
His nod in the rear-view mirror is my only response as the car leaves the house with a loud screech of tires.
I run my forefinger under Rai’s nose. She’s breathing, slowly, but it’s there. However, she’s not showing any signs of consciousness.
“God damn it, Rai.”
I try to keep her steady as Ruslan flies through the traffic, cutting in front of cars as if he’s on a chase.
Katia keeps staring back at us as if to make sure Rai is still alive. I’m the same. I check her pulse every chance possible.
In that moment, before I feel her breath, my heart hammers so loud like it hasn’t worked for a long time and is now resurrecting back to life.
It’s a painful sensation. To have your heart rise from the ashes, but the person behind that change not be present to witness it.
“Come on, Rai. We didn’t even start yet and now you’re bailing out? You’re not a coward, are you?”
I stroke the ruffled hairs away from her face. She always ties it up outside of our bedroom, but now, the clip is loose, probably because of the fall.
I hold her hand in mine, and her pulse keeps weakening by the second. This is bad.
“Faster, Ruslan.”
“Yes, sir.” He hits the gas, and I hold Rai tight so she doesn’t fall.
My forehead meets hers and I close my eyes, inhaling her in. Her scent is a mixture of roses, citrus, and something exotic just like her. Her scent used to give me calm, but it’s now filling me with terrifying dread.
Tentacles of fear tighten around my throat, stealing my breath and sanity. The thought that I won’t be able to smell her again makes my entire body fucking cold.
The car comes to a screeching halt in front of the emergency room and Katia rushes out to open the door. I carry Rai in my arms and barge inside.
“She fell down the stairs,” I tell the nurses who rush to us. “I don’t care what you have to do. Give her back to me.”
One of the nurses stares at me, then at Ruslan’s bulky frame and Katia’s unwelcoming expression. She must realize what type of people we are because she gives a curt nod.
I begrudgingly put her on the rolling bed and let them wheel her into one of the exam rooms to which we’re not allowed entrance. I could storm in there, but that would distract them from Rai, and I need all their attention on her.
I remain in the waiting area with Ruslan and Katia. It’s white and smells of antiseptic and death. Unlike what people think, death isn’t rotten; it can be as clean as a hospital smell.
Over time, Katia and Ruslan take seats on the bland green chairs. I don’t. The adrenaline wave that’s been gripping me since the moment I saw Rai lying at the bottom of the stairs still beats under my skin.
It’s different from the residual burn in my chest from the gunshot wound.
The wait takes forever. It’s probably half an hour but feels like fucking years. I travel the length of the area back and forth like a trapped bloody animal.
The fact that I can’t do anything messes with my fucking brain. It’s so similar to that time when I watched my parents die and waited for them to move to no avail.
No. The verdict won’t be the same this time.
“How did she fall?” I catch Ruslan whispering to Katia.
“How would I know?” she murmurs back. “I was out, remember?”
“It doesn’t make sense for the miss to fall down the stairs. It’s just not her.”
“I know. Unless…”
He faces her fully. “What?”
“Do you think…do you think someone pushed her?
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I snap, glaring at them.
They stare at me right back. Ruslan and Katia have never hidden the fact that they don’t like me, probably because of the stories Rai fed them about me or because they think I’m controlling her a bit too much. Or maybe it’s because I’ve been occupying most of her time lately, and she can’t sit down and play with them anymore, or whatever the fuck it is they do when they’re together.