My bundle of joy had arrived. But his father was nowhere to be found. I was happy and sad at the same time, and the only thing I could do was cry.
“He’s beautiful,” Hilda whispered, towering over me.
I glanced up at her with a faint smile and eyes filled with tears.
“Don’t worry about Artur, my child,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “That man has cheated death so many times, and I’ve come to the conclusion that he just can’t die.”
I chuckled amidst sobs.
“So wipe your tears.” She reached out and wiped them with her thumb. “I’m sure he’s fine, and he’ll find his way back to you.”
I took a deep breath, hoping she was right, even though deep down, I was afraid of hearing bad news about him.
Epilogue – Artur
The familiar sound of the EKG beeping steadily filled the air as I finally came to. The voices around me were echoing in my head, my vision still a bit blurry.
The beeping EKG, the smell of antiseptic solution in the air, and the choice of window blinds told me where I was. A hospital.
I blinked a few times and rubbed my heavy eyes just before my vision and hearing cleared.
“How’s he still alive?” a feminine voice caught my attention from across the room. “His car was a complete wreck.”
“His will to survive is like none I’ve ever seen,” a masculine voice added.
When I looked in their direction, I realized the man was a doctor, and she was a nurse. I guess they were the ones who nursed me back to life.
Then I heard another voice, a familiar one. “He has every reason to survive. His wife just put to bed.”
It was Konstantin. He found me.
“Who did you say who are again?” the doctor asked him.
“He’s my brother,” I answered.
“Oh, my God!” the nurse yelped at the sound of my voice, almost jumping out of her skin.
I hopped off the bed, ignoring the pain in my shoulder and my back.
“Thank you, Doc. I’ll take it from here now.” Konstantin tapped his chest and walked over to me. “You’re a hard man to kill,” he said to me, his lips curled into a faint grin.
“Yeah, well, you said it yourself. I have every reason to survive.”
He slipped into my arms and embraced me for the first time. “I’m glad you’re not dead, Boss.”
“Me too.”
He stepped back and cleared his throat. “Rocco’s men were behind the attack. But as we speak, they’re all dead. All of them.”
I locked my jaw as I recalled how those assholes tried to kill me last night. “Take me to my family.”
He nodded.
It turned out that someone had found me at the crash site and rushed me to the hospital. Konstantin had gifted the good Samaritan some money in exchange for his silence. He paid off the doctor and the nurse as well, closing that chapter of my life.
They were right. I wasn’t supposed to have survived that crash. Yet I did. The only injuries on me were the flesh wounds I sustained during the fall and a broken shoulder. Which the doctor had fixed.
My guardian angel must be working overtime. Or maybe it just wasn’t my time to die yet. Not now that my best years were just beginning.