The Russian's Secret Baby (The Tonov Triplets Series Book 3) (6 page)

When Kaleb found Dimitri two hours later, he was sitting up in his chair, his journal still open, his pen lying half-open to his page. He was the only one left in the cafeteria since it was near closing time.

Kaleb approached him quietly. Even though Dimitri usually didn’t make a habit of sleeping upright, it had been a long day and anything was possible. “Boss,” he whispered. “It’s time to go. Let’s go home.”

Dimitri opened his eyes, completely awake, much to Kaleb’s surprise. “Kaleb,” he said, his voice unnaturally calm. “How is Ian?”

“He’s good,” he said, and then hesitated. “He made a new friend today. A recent admission named James.”

Dimitri smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Kaleb sat down in the seat across from him. “Is everything okay?”

Dimitri hesitated and then nodded stiffly. “Yes. Everything is perfectly fine.”

“Okay,” Kaleb replied, knowing it wasn’t. “You want to get out of here? I think we both need some sleep.”

Dimitri nodded and stood up. He grabbed the journal and the pens and walked with Kaleb to the door, heading to the exit. Kaleb kept glancing at him, unable to keep from worrying. It felt like Dimitri was in a trance the entire time. But it was probably nothing. After all, he had much to think about and a very important choice to make. 

***

The next morning, Kaleb got up at five, like he usually did, and checked the video surveillance for disturbances that might have occurred in the middle of the night despite the heavy security system he had put in place. He frowned when he saw Dimitri in the living room, his head in his hands.

Usually his boss wasn’t up for another hour. After checking to make sure that was the only oddity, he walked out into the living room. “Dimitri?” he called out, approaching him slowly. “Everything okay?”

Dimitri picked his head up and stared at him. His eyes were bloodshot and he didn’t look as if he slept at all. “Shut it down. Shut all of it down.”

“Boss?”

“Just do it,” he said. “I’m done. I’m done with all of it.”

Kaleb nodded and smiled. “Right away, Boss.” 

Carmine looked at James sleeping peacefully and smiled. One of the night nurses had brought her a pillow and a blanket, but she had still spent an uncomfortable night in the chair by his bed. Definitely worth it though.

There was no way she was going to leave her son. She stood up and stretched, just as an orderly came in with food for both of them. She smiled at her son and looked down at the standard breakfast platters with toast, eggs, and fruit with coffee for her. It was definitely better than some of the hospital breakfasts she had as a kid. 

As she sipped at her coffee, a doctor came in, one she hadn’t seen before.

“Carmine?” he said, looking at her.

She nodded. “Yes? Is something wrong?”

“No, not at all. I’m Doctor Collins. I’ve been in contact with your cardiologist in DC and he asked me to check on you when he gave us James’ medical history. He wants to know how you are doing.”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Carmine replied. “Just a little shaken up is all.”

“And?’ he asked, eyebrows raised he glanced down at her chest.  

“Shaking her head, “No attacks or tremors. I’m as healthy as a horse.” She gave a nervous laugh.

“Glad to hear it. If you do start feeling unwell again, please let someone know. This is a stressful time for you right now what with the break in and then your son, we want to make sure you are okay, physically as well as emotionally.”

“Thank you for your concern, doctor, but I’m okay. Really.”

“Your doctor said you were refusing treatment,” Doctor Collins continued. “I don’t think that is wise. Your condition will just get worse without treatment. If financials are an issue, there are grants and loans for your situation.”

“I’ve applied to them all but the money is simply not in the budget at the moment. I’ll seek treatment after James completes his current treatment plan.” She forced a smile. “I promise.”

Doctor Collins looked skeptical but nodded. “Well, have a good day, Carmine. If you need anything, let one of the nurses know.”

“I will and thank you.”

After the doctor left, Carmine sipped her coffee, just as James was waking up. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and turned over, not ready to face the world of the awake just yet. 

An elevenyearold boy wearing Spiderman pajama bottoms and a grey sweatshirt stuck his head in. He looked like a ghost of a healthy kid with his bald head, no eyelashes or eyebrows but he grinned when he saw her. “Hey,” he said, his voice quiet so he wouldn’t disturb James. “Just wanted to tell you that there’s going to be a Disney movie marathon in the lounge today and you and James are invited.”

Carmine smiled. “Thanks, Ian. “We will probably get discharged today, but we’ll definitely visit for a little bit.”

“Cool,” Ian replied. He hesitated and then said, “Hey, I don’t suppose you saw a big guy with dark hair and a Russian accent downstairs yesterday, did you?”

She raised her eyebrows. “I saw three,” she said. “Triplets. Why?”

He shrugged. “I was just curious. Usually Uncle Dimitri visits me when my dad does, but he didn’t come up yesterday. Dad didn’t say where he was, but he was acting kind of funny.”

I’m sure he was
.
“Is your dad’s name Kaleb?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Yeah,” he said, grinning. “How did you know?”

So this was Kaleb’s son. No wonder he had seemed sad when he talked about his son. “I met your father,” she said, trying to get over her shock. “He loves you very much.”

Ian grinned again. “I know. He’s pretty cool. Well, see you.” He waved and then was gone, leaving Carmine to her thoughts. 

Uncl
e
Dimitri? What happened to no attachments means no liabilities? He probably visited often if he went with Kaleb every time to visit Ian. And Ian seemed to like him quite a bit if he was asking after him.

Maybe he would be good for James. He could never be seen in public as his father, of course, at least not while he was in this particular treatment program. But maybe they could arrange times to meet in private so they could at least see each other… 

What was she thinking? Even if Dimitri would agree to that, it would confuse the hell out of James and would probably cause all of them more pain than it was worth. Besides, Dimitri’s criminal empire was in Maine, while her life was in DC. It couldn’t happen. Ever.

Her reputation would be ruined if it ever got out that her son’s father was a dangerous criminal. If she had any hope of going back to work, it made no sense to continue having a relationship with Dimitri. So why did the thought of never seeing him again make her want to cry?

Dimitri arrived at the hospital that afternoon after a long morning of ordering terminations of everything he had, wiping everything clean. The thought of having no income running at any given point still made him cringe, but he made the right decision.

A fresh start was what he needed if he had any hope of getting Carmine back, and being a father to James. He went to the nurse’s station and asked what room Carmine and James were in. He had tried calling her, but her phone went straight to voicemail 

“Are you a relative of the family?” the nurse asked, frowning at Dimitri.

“No. I’m a friend of Carmine’s. I just want to visit her and deliver some news.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But unless you are on the approved visitors list, I can’t tell you what room she is in.”

Dimitri nodded, clenching his jaw. He should have figured as much. 

Kaleb pushed him gently aside. “Well, I’m here to visit my son, Ian, in room 305. And Dimitri is definitely on the approved visitors list for him.”

The nurse pursed her lips and then tapped a few keys on her keyboard before nodding and handing both of them visitor’s passes. “Have a nice day,” she said tersely. 

Dimitri smiled coolly. “Same to you,” he replied as he pinned the pass to his pocket. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s my reputation or my accent that makes people dislike me.”

“Give her a break,” Kaleb answered. “She’s probably been working for ten hours straight and it was clearly a ruse to get around the very necessary and logical policy.”

“Whatever,” Dimitri muttered. 

“I hope this isn’t the attitude you’re going to have when you’re around Carmine. She’ll throw you out on your ass, reformed criminal or not.”

“Isn’t it a little early to be calling me reformed? Two hours ago, I was still leading the largest criminal empire in Maine.”

“Do you have any intention of going back to that life?” Kaleb asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Of course not, but let’s not pretend that I was able to change my habits completely with a few phone calls. It will be a long time before I’ve fully changed.”

“Maybe not as long as you think. After all, you do have a good motivation.”

Dimitri smiled softly. “That I do.” 

They rode the elevator up to the children’s wing. When the doors opened, nurses ran down the hall in the direction of the lounge. Kaleb immediately tensed beside him and swore. “Ian,” he said. 

James
, Dimitri thought.

Both men broke out into a run following the nurses to the lounge where a crowd of kids were milling around. The sounds of
Mula
n
was coming from the television, long forgotten as they crowded around a collapsed body. “Ian!” Kaleb shouted, grabbing his son into a hug. 

Dimitri looked around, trying to find James and Carmine. His eyes trailed to follow the sound of a child’s wail and he saw James crying in the arms of a wideeyed older kid.

“Mommy!” he screamed. Dimitri looked back to the crumpled form that was now being placed on a stretcher. “No,” he whispered. 

He pushed aside some of the kids and saw Carmine on the stretcher just as she was being carted away. He followed the nurses. “What happened?” he demanded. 

“Do you know this woman?” one of the nurses asked. 

“Yes, she’s my…” he swallowed the word
girlfriend
.
　He couldn’t make any assumptions just yet. “She’s my son’s mother,” he said. “What happened?”

“She’s had a heart attack,” the nurse said as the elevator opened. Dimitri pushed his way in with them before anyone could stop him. “Do you know if she was on any medication or has any medical conditions?” she asked. “Medical history of heart disease or failure?”

“No,” Dimitri said. “I don’t know. Her son has congenital heart disease.” 

The nurse nodded. The elevator doors opened and the stretcher was rushed through. “Sir, I’m going to ask you to stay back,” the nurse said. “You need to let us do our job.”

Dimitri swallowed, but his mouth was dry. He watched mutely as they rushed Carmine away into a nearby room. He wanted to go in there and push past the nurses and doctors to see her, but fear kept him where he was. If he went in there, God knew what would happen if he got in the way and he didn’t want to watch her die.
She’s not going to die! Yo
u
didn’t rip apart your entire life just for her to die!
 

He paced around the hall, running his hands through his hair as he tried to calm down and force back the panic rising in him. He needed Carmine. If she died then there was no point in him living. She was his entire life. Her and James…. 

James! 

He took the stairs back up to the children’s wing. He needed to find James and comfort him somehow. At least he would be of some use up there instead of pacing a hole in the ground down there. 

When he came back up, many of the kids in the lounge were trying to focus on the movie again. Kaleb and Ian were off to the side, comforting James. Ian looked at the younger child, his hairless brow furrowed in concern. “She’ll be fine, you’ll see,” he said. “Let’s just watch the movie, okay, James? Or if you want, we can go back to my room and play a game.”

Kaleb stood up when he saw Dimitri approaching. “You know anything, Boss?” he asked as they moved away from the boys. 

Dimitri shook his head. “They’re taking care of her right now. She had a heart attack.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Dimitri nodded. “How is James right now?” he asked rubbing his eyes. “He looks calmer at least.”

“Ian is able to distract him well,” Kaleb replied. “But mostly I think he is confused and misses his mother more than anything. He exhausted himself out by crying.” He glanced at the two boys and then turned back to Dimitri. “He really needs a father right now.” 

Dimitri nodded and went to where the two boys sat. James was staring blankly at the TV screen, his eyes half closed. Dimitri knelt down next to him. Ian smiled at him and moved out of the way. “Hey, James,” Dimitri said awkwardly. “How is it going?”

James looked at him blankly. “Dim dim,” he said. 

“Yeah,” Dimitri said. “That’s right. You’re going to be okay, you know that?”

He continued to look at him with that blank stare and Dimitri wasn’t sure if he even understood him. Then he nodded. “Okay,” he said. Dimitri smiled and stayed seated on the ground, watching his son.
It’s going to be okay
.