The hospital hallways were bright, cold, and smelled like floor wax and bleach. Fiona sat on a hard plastic chair, her eyes fixed on the double doors of the emergency wing. She was still wearing still wearing her dress, but it wasn’t perfect anymore. It was stained with the dark, dried blood of the man she loved. Every time she closed her eyes, she felt the weight of Nathan falling on her, taking the bullets that were meant for her heart.

Duncan sat next to her, his head in his hands. He looked like a broken man, but Fiona didn’t have the energy to comfort him. She was waiting for a sign. She was waiting for a heartbeat.

Finally, a doctor in green scrubs walked out. He was wiping sweat from his forehead, and his face didn’t look good. Fiona jumped up so fast her head spun.

"How is he? Is Nathan okay?" she asked, her voice cracking.

The doctor sighed, looking at his clipboard. "Mr. Keith is in critical condition. He lost a lot of blood, and one of the bullets is lodged very close to his spine. We need to go into surgery immediately to stop the internal bleeding, but I have to be honest with you—it’s a fifty-fifty chance. He might not make it through the night."

Fiona felt like the floor had opened up beneath her. "Fifty-fifty? No, he’s Nathan Keith. He’s strong. He has to survive."

"We’re doing our best," the doctor said, his voice professional and cold. "But we need someone to sign the surgical consent form and the liability waiver. Since the risk of paralysis or death is so high, the hospital cannot proceed without a legal signature. If anything goes wrong, the hospital cannot be held responsible for the outcome."

(Doctors often require a signed consent from a legal "next of kin" for high-risk surgeries to protect themselves from lawsuits if the patient dies or ends up disabled. If the patient is unconscious and there is no spouse or family, it becomes a huge legal mess.)

"I’ll sign it," Fiona said, reaching for the pen.

The doctor pulled the clipboard back. "Are you his wife? A sister? A parent?"

"I’m his girlfriend," Fiona said, her heart hammering. "We’ve lived together for years. I know him better than anyone."

The doctor shook his head, looking at the nurse next to him. "I’m sorry. Hospital policy is very strict on high-risk procedures. We need a legal family member. Is there a parent or a sibling we can reach? If we operate on a ’girlfriend’s’ signature and he dies, the Keith family estate could sue this hospital for everything we own. We won’t take that blame."

Fiona felt a surge of pure, hot rage. She stepped into the doctor’s space, her eyes flashing. "You all know who he is! He’s Nathan Keith! He’s the reason this city has half its charity funding! Are you seriously going to stand here and talk about lawsuits while he’s bleeding out in that room? Do you want him to die?"

"It’s not about what I want, Miss," the doctor said, sounding annoyed now. "It’s about the law. Without a legal relative, we have to wait for a court-ordered emergency guardian, and that could take hours. Hours he doesn’t have."

"I am his father-in-law!" Duncan suddenly stood up, his voice booming in the quiet hall. He walked over, his face stern. "I am Duncan Brown. Nathan Keith is... he is engaged to my daughter. I will sign the papers. I’ll take the responsibility."

The doctor looked at Duncan, then at the mess Fiona was in. He knew the Brown name. He hesitated, then handed the clipboard over. Duncan signed it with a shaking hand, his pen nearly ripping through the paper.

"Get him into surgery," Duncan commanded. "Now."

As the doctor hurried away, Fiona collapsed back into the chair. She looked at her father. "Thank you, Dad."

"I should have been signing papers for you years ago, Fiona," Duncan whispered. "This is the least I can do."

#######

Two hours later, as the red "Surgery in Progress" light stayed lit, Dr. Aris walked into the waiting room. He looked furious. He was holding a tablet.

"Fiona, we have a problem," Aris said, his voice low so the other people in the waiting room wouldn’t hear.

"Is it Nathan?" she asked, her heart jumping.

"No, Nathan is still in the OR. It’s Nikolai," Aris said. He showed her the screen. "His lawyers are already at the courthouse. They are moving fast, Fiona. Very fast." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Fiona squinted at the screen. There was a photo of Nikolai’s lead attorney, a man known for getting monsters out of jail.

"What do you mean?" Fiona asked. "He shot Nathan! He tried to kidnap me! The police saw everything!"

"It’s not that simple," Aris explained, his voice full of bitterness. "Nikolai is a high-ranking foreign national with ’diplomatic’ ties. His lawyers are arguing that he was in that house to ’rescue’ his wife who had been kidnapped by Nathan Keith. They are saying the shooting was self-defense because Nathan pulled a gun first. They are filing for an emergency bail hearing, and they’ve already frozen the security footage from the villa as ’disputed evidence.’"

Fiona felt sick. "He’s going to get out? He’s going to walk free while Nathan is fighting for his life?"

"If he gets bail, he’ll be on a private jet back to Moscow before the sun comes up," Aris said. "And if he goes back to Russia, we’ll never get him back. And more importantly... we’ll never get Mateo."

Fiona stood up, her legs feeling like lead. The mention of her son’s name sent a jolt of electricity through her. She looked at her bloody hands, then at the double doors where Nathan was.

"He thinks he can just win," Fiona whispered. "He thinks because he has money and lawyers, he can just erase what he did to me."

"Fiona, stay here," Duncan said, sensing the change in her. "Let the police handle it."

"The police are being tied up in red tape, Dad!" Fiona snapped. She looked at Dr. Aris. "Where is the police station where they’re holding him? I want to see him. I want to look him in the eye."

"Fiona, that’s a bad idea," Aris warned. "His lawyers will use anything you say against Nathan."

"I don’t care," Fiona said. She felt a coldness settling into her soul, the same kind of coldness Nathan had when he went to save her. "Nikolai thinks I’m his ’perfect Viktoria.’ He thinks I’m a drugged-up puppet who doesn’t remember. He’s about to find out that Fiona Keith has a very long memory."

She turned to her father. "Stay here. If Nathan wakes up, or if... if anything changes, call me immediately. I have to go stop a monster from leaving."

Fiona walked out of the hospital, the cool night air hitting her face. She didn’t look like the scared girl from the fair anymore. She looked like a woman who had been through a war and was ready to finish it.

######

As the taxi pulled up to the police station, Fiona saw a crowd of reporters and a line of expensive black cars. Nikolai’s team was making a scene, playing the victim for the cameras.

Fiona pushed through the crowd. She didn’t care that she looked like a mess. She didn’t care that she was covered in blood. She walked straight up to the lead detective who was trying to push the reporters back.

"I am Fiona Brown," she said, her voice clear and loud enough for the microphones to catch it. "The woman Nikolai Volkov calls his wife. I have a statement to make, and I want it on the record before that man is allowed to take one step out of this building."

The reporters went crazy, flashes going off everywhere. The detective looked at her, his eyes wide.

"Miss, you should be at the hospital," he said.

"I’ll go back to the hospital when I know the man who shot my man isn’t getting on a plane," Fiona said.

Inside the station, behind the thick glass of an interrogation room, Nikolai was sitting calmly, a smirk on his face as his lawyer whispered in his ear. He looked up when the door opened, expecting more police.

When he saw Fiona standing there, his smirk vanished. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t confused. She looked at him with a hatred so pure it made him flinch.

"Hello, Nikolai," Fiona said, her voice like ice. "Did you tell your lawyers about the boosters you gave me every morning? Or should I tell the judge myself?"