Under Control: Chapter 24

Hospital equipment beeps. The stink of acrid cleaning supplies makes me lightheaded. I pull my knees to my chest and close my eyes as I remember only a few hours earlier when I found Valentin collapsed in the back yard of my mother’s house with Mama lying right beside him.

It was tied for the worst moment of my life, only equaled by the moment my father passed away.

I was frozen. I stood there, horrified, staring at Valentin’s smoke-and-fire scorched clothes, at Mama’s unmoving body, and I was broken. Everything in my brain short-circuited. Everything inside of me shattered.

Until Anton grabbed me and pulled me away, and Valentin’s soldiers took over.

Everything after that is a blur. I moved in a haze of pure horror. The firemen arrived and began to douse the building, and they made sure the blaze didn’t spread to the entire block. An ambulance arrived moments later, and I caught a glimpse of my husband and my mother getting driven away.

Anton ushered me into his truck and followed, not saying a word.

The memory is too painful. I have to push it away. I wipe tears from my face and notice a smear of dark soot. I don’t know when that happened—probably when I tried to get in through the front door, but the fire was too hot and I couldn’t get through.

“She’ll be okay.”

I look up. Valentin’s standing in the doorway with a weak smile on his lips. He’s wearing fresh clothes and leaning slightly on an IV drip, and I jump to my feet. I run to him and bury my face in his chest, and he laughs softly as he kisses my hair.

Behind me, Mama’s lying in bed, unconscious and burned, but alive.

“She’d be dead if you hadn’t gone in after her,” I say as I help him into a chair. He sighs, leaning his head back.

When we reached the hospital earlier, he was already awake. Apparently, the doctors had to hold him down and sedate him to keep him from trying to come find me. Since then, I’ve been splitting time between his room and Mama’s room, but now he seems well enough to start moving around on his own.

I touch his bandaged arm gingerly. It’s still burned and painful, but he’ll survive it. The smoke inhalation is worse; the doctors say that will take longer for him to recover from.

“I did what I had to do for my wife,” Valentin says, staring at me. He reaches out and pulls me into his lap. I resist at first, but he’s unyielding, and finally I let him draw me down against him. I breathe in his smell, a musky scent mixed with the unmistakable stench of smoke.

“You shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have asked you to. I’m sorry, Valentin. I really am. I don’t know what I would have done if I lost you.”

“I would have expected you to end your life. You know, to accompany me to the next world.”

I lean back, eyes wide. “Seriously?”

He barks a laugh and ends up coughing. “No, of course not. I’m sorry, that was a dark joke.”

I pat his face and kiss him. “I forgive you. Mostly because I still feel guilty.”

“Stop then, what’s done is done. How’s she doing?”

I look back at Mama and go quiet for a few moments. “The doctor says she’s in bad shape. They think she could wake up on her own, but they’re keeping her under for a while until her burns heal some more.”

“That bad then? I’m sorry. I wasn’t fast enough.”

“This isn’t your fault.”

He lets out a low rumble. “Speaking of fault.” He pulls me into him. “I’m going to find them.”

“Don’t start talking like that,” I whisper, not sure if I can handle the thought of him out there risking his life for me again.

“I’m going to find them,” he repeats anyway. “We both know this was your uncle, and I’m going to make sure I hunt down all the men responsible, and I am going to kill them nice and slowly. I promise you that, malishka. They will suffer.”

“Valentin—”

“This isn’t only about you,” he says, a sharp anger bleeding into his voice. “This is about sending a message. The Brotherhood killed two of my men. They burned your mother’s house to the ground and nearly killed her too. That’s unacceptable. There has to be a response.”

“I feel like I got a second chance with you.” I lean back for a moment and study his face. His hard, masculine jaw and full lips. His light eyes and sharp chin. He’s so damn handsome, it kills me.

“This is important.” He touches my cheek softly. His knuckles brush down to my mouth and I kiss them. “I have to take care of my business.”

“I know you do. I know, I just—” I let out a long, shuddering breath. “I’m just afraid.”

He hugs me close against his chest. I feel bad, dumping my emotions on him—Valentin doesn’t need my stress on top of all his other responsibilities—but I can’t help myself. He’s the only person in the world that might understand what I’m going through, and I’m desperate to make sense of it all.

Until recently, I didn’t even know I had an uncle.

Now I find out he’s the head of a vicious Armenian crime family, and it turns out they’re trying to shake down my mother for the money she borrowed from them.

Oh, and my husband wants to slaughter them all.

This isn’t the world I grew up in. My father was a kind, quiet man, and my mother was a strong and independent woman. We were normal people.

And now, we’re in the middle of a war.

There’s a knock and the door opens.

I stare as my older brother, Luka, enters the room.

In all the excitement, I forgot about him. I should have called or texted, but it just didn’t occur to me, and now⁠—

“Karine?” he asks, frowning from me to Valentin.

I hurriedly get out of Valentin’s lap. I can tell he doesn’t like that. “Luka, shit, I meant to call.”

“What’s going on?” He looks over to Mama and his face pales. “It’s seriously true? Mr. Papazian called to say there was a fire at home, and I had to ask a few people I know working at the hospitals if they knew anything, and now—” He drifts to Mama’s bed. “How bad?”

I tell him everything I know as he flips through Mama’s chart. Luka’s taller than me and looks exactly like Papa. He’s got dark hair and bushy eyebrows, and it’s like he’s never able to shave enough. He’s skinnier than I remember and he looks exhausted, and I’m guessing medical school hasn’t been easy.

“I’ll talk with her doctor,” he says when I’m finished. “Maybe they’ll tell me more if there’s anything else to say. But god, this is crazy, I can’t believe—” He stops himself, swallowing hard, and looks at Valentin. “Sorry, who are you?”

Valentin pushes himself to his feet. I walk to his side, heart racing, not sure what to say. Clearly, Luka doesn’t know about my relationship.

My brother and I aren’t close. We never were, not even when we were younger. Luka got everything, all the new clothes, the praise, the love, the opportunity, and everything I have was a hand-me-down at best. I grew up in boy’s clothes, in shoes that were falling apart, and made do with half-meant compliments and just enough attention to keep from falling apart.

Luka’s the golden boy. He’s the future doctor, the star of our little nuclear family. It doesn’t matter that he was barely around when Papa was dying; he was too busy in college and Mama would never, ever burden poor Luka. It doesn’t matter that he wasn’t saddled with debt. Why ruin his life when he has such a promising future?

Of course, the same logic was never applied to me.

I know that isn’t his fault. Maybe he accepted the differences between us too readily and he never pushed back against our parents, but I don’t totally blame him for that. I’m bitter toward him, and our relationship suffers because of it, but I don’t hate him. I never have.

I’m just reminded of everything I was never given when he’s around.

I touch Valentin’s chest. “Luka, this is my husband. Valentin, this is my brother.”

Neither man moves. Valentin puts an arm around me and pulls me close against him, almost like he’s being protective. Which is absurd.

After a shocked silence, Luka puts out a hand. “I didn’t know Karine got married, but, uh, it’s nice to meet you.”

Valentin hesitates. I elbow him, and he finally shakes. “You as well,” he says.

My brother looks like a little boy next to my husband. Luka clears his throat and backs away, almost like he’s afraid of Valentin, and it’s not like I can blame him.

Even diminished and hurt, Valentin’s a gorgeous, vicious god of a man.

And my brother’s just a regular mortal.

“How did you two meet?” Luka asks, sounding extremely awkward.

“Work,” Valentin says.

“Oh? What do you do?”

“I run businesses.” Valentin’s grip on me tightens. “It’s funny. We’ve been married for a couple weeks now, and yet this is the first time I’ve seen you.”

Luka’s gaze flips to me and there’s a look of panic in his eyes. “I’m in med school. Just busy and stuff. Right, Karine?”

“Yeah, he’s busy,” I say, gently extracting myself from Valentin.

I know the truth is that Luka and I barely ever talk unless we have to, but I don’t need to see my husband make my poor brother squirm more over my mother’s unconscious body.

I pull Valentin from the room. He clearly doesn’t want to leave. “I’ll wait in the hall.”

“Luka’s my brother,” I say, exasperated. “Could you just give us a few minutes to talk?”

“Fine,” he says, jaw flexing. “But I’m still waiting in the hall.”

I roll my eyes, but good enough.

Luka’s sitting next to Mom and gently looking her over. I watch him work, impressed with how steady he seems. I’m barely keeping it together, but it’s like Luka’s falling back on his med school training and turning this into just another learning experience, even though it’s his own mother lying half dead in front of him.

“She’ll be okay,” he says after a short silence.

“I know.” I go and sit in the chair across from him. “She missed you a lot, you know.”

He grimaces and doesn’t look at me. “I visited as often as I could.”

“You’re only up at Temple. You could’ve visited a lot more.” I’m too tired to be kind right now, and there’s a lot of baggage between my brother and me.

“What do you want from me, Karine? I have a life.”

“You think I don’t?”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Mama’s been drowning. You know that, right? We barely have enough to get by.”

“I send money home,” he says, sounding frustrated. “And you know I have my own debt.”

“Right, your med school. What a burden.”

“Are you seriously doing this right now?” He cocks his head, glaring at me. “You think I don’t love our mother?”

“I know you do,” I say but refuse to let him goad me. “I just don’t want you to be here now, when you have to be, and disappear again once it’s convenient. That’s all I’m saying.”

He doesn’t look at me. I’m suddenly aware that Luka’s only twenty-six, a few years older than me, and still very much a young man. Honestly, compared to Valentin, he seems like a child.

“I get it. I haven’t been as present as I should be. But you and Mama always were so much closer, and after Dad died—” He clears his throat. “You two have your own thing going.”

I laugh at him. I can’t help it. He’s so damn dense that he doesn’t even see past his own privilege. “I’m close with Mama because she did everything in her power to keep me in the house. You went to college. You went to med school. You think I didn’t have good grades? I could’ve gotten in anywhere.”

“Karine—” he says, frustrated.

“No, you listen to me. I’m tired of being quiet about this. Mama and Papa gave you everything because you’re the oldest boy, and I was expected to stay home and be a good daughter. You think that means I’m closer to them? Of course I am, I was stuck in the house while you were out having a life. Don’t give me that excuse, because I don’t want to hear it. I have no sympathy for you. When Mama wakes up, if she gets through this, you’re going to be around more for her. You’re visiting on weekends. You’re coming over for dinner at least once a week. Do you hear me?”

Anger flashes across his face. I’m sure he wants to argue right now. That’s the dynamic we’ve always had: bickering siblings.

Except his rage slowly fades as he looks at Mama’s unconscious body.

“All right,” he says at last. “I’m sorry, for what it’s worth. They should’ve done more for you.”

“Yeah, I know.” I sink back, suddenly so tired I can barely keep myself upright. “But that isn’t your fault.”

Quiet falls over the room. Luka’s in his own thoughts, and I’m in mine. After a while, he asks me about Valentin, and I tell him a sanitized version of my marriage to the Russian Pakhan. Part of me wants to drag Luka into this mess, but it’s better if he doesn’t know anything.

“The guy’s scary,” he says as he gets up to leave. “Seriously, everything’s good there? You know, with him?”

“Yeah, it’s all good, but what would you do if I said it wasn’t? Try to fight him?”

He snorts and waves a hand in the air. “Hell no. I’d call in the National Guard.”

That makes me laugh, and a lot of the tension between us fades. We’re never going to be best friends—but maybe Luka and I can have a civil future together.

Valentin’s waiting in the hallway, as promised. He gives me a hard stare once Luka’s out of sight then roughly pulls me into his arms. He buries my mouth with a kiss like he’s marking his territory.

The possessive psychopath.

“You need to get in bed,” I tell him, pushing him away.

“I’d prefer getting into bed with you.” A dark smile comes across his lips. “Come upstairs with me. I have a private room.”

This man. He’s absolutely insane.

“Give me a few more minutes with Mama, then I’ll come up.”

“Fine.” He kisses my neck. “I’ll have my men guarding the room.”

This time, I don’t bother arguing, because even though I don’t think my uncle is evil enough to try to kill someone in a hospital, I can’t put it past him.