“There’s no definite answer to that. It can be a few days or a few decades. Most likely, she will never recoup those lost memories.”

Fuck!

“One more thing,” he says.

“What?”

“She needs patience and care during this period so she can get back to the outside world. Everything has changed for her, and ten years is a significant gap for a woman her age.”

I nod sharply. “But is she physically okay?”

“Aside from the neck sprain that should heal in a few days, she has no serious injuries.”

At least she’s safe. I’ll find a way to deal with her brain.

Ignoring the doctor, I step past him toward Rai’s room.

“Sir?”

“What?” I stop but don’t turn around.

“It would be better if you didn’t go inside. She had a strong reaction toward you, and if she has a panic attack while she is very confused, it might lead to serious health complications. Please limit your contact with her—for now, at least.”

My fists clench on either side of me, but I don’t step inside. The doctor leaves after I flop down in a chair in front of her room.

There’s no way in hell I will stay away from her, but at the same time, I could never put her health in danger.

I keep watching from the window. Ruslan stands beside her bed, both hands in front of him. The reason she’s not rejecting him like she did me and Katia is obviously because he’s been by her side for more than ten years.

He and Vladimir were always there, like fucking shadows.

“Katia,” I call out without ripping my gaze from Rai. “Go get her clothes and anything she’ll need for her stay in the hospital.”

She doesn’t make a move to leave.

“What are you waiting for? An invitation?”

“Do you want to go home to rest? Your injury must hurt,” she offers. “I’ll stand guard here.”

“I’m fine.” I throw up a dismissive hand. “Go home and bring the little rascal, Peter. Ask Sergei to send more guards here until her discharge, but don’t disclose anything about her condition to any of the Vory’s members. Rai wouldn’t want them to witness her in this weak state.”

She nods and storms out of the hospital.

I don’t care if Rai won’t see me now. I’m not leaving this place until she does.

Ever since I saw her lying at the bottom of the stairs, the thing beating in my chest has been burning and roaring like a volcano on the brink of eruption.

And the only way to extinguish that fire is through her.

My wife.

My Rai.

We spend three days in the hospital.

Three days of CT scans, analyses, and whatever the fuck the doctors come up with. None of them seem to provide the solution to making her remember.

Whenever I go near her, she screams at me to get out. When I don’t, she starts to hyperventilate and cry.

Every time I do that—insist on being by her side while she chases me out—Ruslan and Katia glare at me as if they are ready to cut me up limb by limb. Fuck them and fuck the doctors. No one keeps me away from my wife.

She’s slowly accepting Katia as her second guard, but Ruslan is the one she looks at the most, probably since she clearly remembers him.

After waking up, she asked about her grandfather. When Ruslan told her he’s dead, she spent the entire night crying.

Even though I was sitting by the door, I could hear her sniffles and deep intakes of air that came after a long time of crying.

I listened to her all night in silence, and when she fell asleep, I quietly stepped inside and watched her sleeping form in the darkness. I wanted to hold her and wipe the tears on her cheeks, but she has become a light sleeper and would’ve started a riot if she found me touching her.

So I spent most of the night watching silently like a fucking creep.

The fact that she recalls and accepts most people except for me has been slowly but surely eating away at me like acid.

She was friendly with the fucker Damien when he showed up to visit her. Even though Katia kept quiet, the elite group learned about her being in the hospital, and eventually found out about her amnesia. Sergei and Vlad came, too, obviously. Her only remark to them was that they’ve gotten old.

Sergei asked me about the baby, and I told him everything is fine. He naturally didn’t want to talk to her about it because it would freak her out in this situation. Since she’s not pregnant, the doctor didn’t mention anything about that, so she’s still clueless in that regard, and it’s best it remains this way until she hopefully gets her memories back.

Rai’s accident shuffled Sergei’s cards, and I could see the doubt about the future in his wrinkled eyes. Rai holds V Corp upright, and if she doesn’t remember the last ten years of her life or the education and experience that came with it, there’s no way she will be able to finance the brotherhood’s war with the Irish.

It’s a legitimate concern, but I don’t give a fuck about any of that.

Kirill is now inside with his closest guard, Aleksander. Damien came again, too, even though I told him to stop showing up. He just gave me the middle finger while strolling inside.

Kirill is here to confirm that his greatest foe is indeed out of it and won’t hurt him in the long run. Damien, on the other hand, is being a fucking leech who’s enjoying the fact that she doesn’t remember me a bit too much. Needless to say, I stand at the entrance to eavesdrop on their conversations.

The two leaders are sitting casually on either side of her while Ruslan, Katia, Aleksander, and Damien’s guard stand by the walls.

“What are you doing here, Kirill?” Rai slowly peels the skin off her apple with a small knife. She’s sitting, the hospital table in front of her. Thankfully, she appears healthier despite the brace around her neck. “I didn’t know we were close enough for you to pay me a visit.”

He readjusts his glasses with his middle finger. “We’re not. But you’re not close with Damien either.”

“Hey, motherfucker.” Damien snaps his fingers at him. “Shut the fuck up and fuck the fuck off.”

“He’s tolerable.” She points her thumb at Damien, then directs her attention to Kirill. “You’re not.”

“Wise. Very wise, indeed.” Damien retrieves a cigarette and places it in his mouth.