Lies of My Monster (Monster Trilogy #2) by Rina Kent

I smile, but the small motion triggers a throbbing pain in my chest. I cough, and that nearly makes me throw my guts up.

Fuck.

I was really hit in the heart, wasn’t I?

“Oh, Kirochka.” Anna takes my other hand, her eyes molten, face sunken as she brushes my hair back with her soft palm. “Do you need anything?”

I do need something, but she’s not the one who can bring it to me, so I shake my head.

She continues stroking my hair and pats my face with tears rimming her eyelids. If anyone was watching this scene, they’d think Anna was my mother. It doesn’t matter that we have a different skin color or that she didn’t actually give birth to me. This woman has given me more affection than my actual mother—who’s probably doing some satanic rituals to pray for my death as we speak.

The doctor comes to check on me and helps me to sit up. He does a few tests and some speech, memory, and mobility exercises. During all the time, Anna, Karina, Viktor, and almost every single one of my guards stack up at the entrance of the room to watch.

The idiots are leaving their positions to be spectators of an utterly boring show.

After the doctor finishes his checkup, he discloses the good news. There’s no permanent damage from the fragments that hit my heart, and I’ve also been recovering during the five days I’ve spent slipping in and out of consciousness.

I shouldn’t strain myself for the upcoming two weeks. I need constant checkups, and no surprise here, the bullet wounds will scar.

My men basically fight over who gets to buy the medication when the doctor writes a prescription until Viktor glares at them and pushes the piece of paper into Yuri’s hand.

As in, the only mature one who didn’t take part in the watching or the fighting. Maksim, who was the first to quarrel, insists on joining Yuri.

They’re both here, but their closest friend isn’t.

I know because I scanned the crowd earlier, and there was no sign of her fucking presence.

Not that I expected her to come back after what she’s done.

The doctor insists that I need rest, so Viktor kicks everyone out—Karina and Anna included, though he does use more diplomatic methods with them.

Once it’s only the two of us, he clicks the door shut and stands by my side like some fallen angel.

“Didn’t you hear the doctor?” I speak like I’ve gained a few decades of age. “I need rest. Pretty sure that means you should leave, too.”

He glares down at me. “What happened after we separated? Who did this to you?”

Interesting.

When I woke up to find myself in New York, I was sure that Viktor had followed me, saved me, and brought me back here. But according to his words just now, that wasn’t the case.

Was that dream where a soft voice was calling my name and crying not a dream, after all?

“How much do you know?” I ask instead of answering him.

“Nothing except that the fucker Lipovsky somehow got you to the hospital and called me from there.”

My eyes narrow.

What does that mean? She had no reason to take me to the hospital after she led those men to ambush me.

The thoughts that plagued me when I was getting shot weren’t losing my life, my ambition, or leaving everyone I cared about here unprotected. It was the very fact that she’d betrayed me.

And for one foolish moment, I actually lost all fight and surrendered to the implications of that knowledge.

But that moment has ended. That foolish, sentimental, absolutely illogical part of me was killed by those two bullets.

“Is he behind this?” Viktor insists. “Give me an order. Anything.”

“I want you to turn Russia inside out. Find him.”

His brow creases as if he hasn’t heard me right. “Why would I do that? He came back with us.”

My lips fall open. “He’s…here?”

Viktor nods slowly, still appearing bemused.

That doesn’t make sense. Why would she accompany me back to New York after that stunt? If she thinks she can fool me, I swear to fuck—

Pain throbs in my chest. Maybe the doctor needs to give me more painkillers so I can deal with this situation more efficiently.

“Is he not supposed to be here?” my guard asks in his usual suspicious tone.

“Where is he? He wasn’t with the others just now.”

“Probably training and punching things. He’s been doing that a lot since we came back. And you didn’t answer any of my questions. Did Lipovsky have a hand in what happened to you?”

The short answer is yes, but if I give it to Viktor, he’ll torture and kill Lipovsky without giving it a second thought.

It’s not that easy and can’t be that easy.

I’m the only one who’s allowed to deal with her.

No one but me.

So I shake my head.

“If it wasn’t him, then who was it?” Viktor asks.

“Mercenaries.” I tell him part of the truth. “They had masks on, but I recognized them from the way they handled their weapons. They could have been my father’s enemies or my own from the army.”

“I will look into this.”

I nod in agreement. “Make it discreet. I don’t want anyone else to dig into this incident.”

“Could it be your mother?”

“She’s not the type who sullies her hands.”