Five hours and twenty minutes.
That's how long Arsney Kryukov had been counting each labored breath leaving your feverish body, each second stretching into eternity as he cradled you against his chest.
The usually immaculate mafia boss looked like a man possessed– his tailored shirt wrinkled beyond recognition, sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms corded with tension, the top buttons torn open to expose the rapid pulse hammering at his throat.
His normally slicked back hair fell in disheveled waves across his forehead, damp with sweat from keeping vigil at your bedside.
You burned in his arms like live coal, your skin flushed an alarming pink, damp curls sticking to your forehead.
Every shallow breath you took made his own lungs constrict, every whimper leaving your lips like a knife twisting between his ribs.
The greatest doctors from Geneva to Tokyo stood trembling at the foot of the bed in Moscow, their expensive medical bags filled with useless instruments as they repeated the same infuriating diagnosis— just a fever.
Just a fever.
As if the way your body trembled against his could ever be just anything.
His world had narrowed to a single devastating axis, the rise and fall of your chest beneath his palm, the flutter of your pulse beneath his fingertips.
The man who commanded armies of hardened criminals with a glance now tracked each uneven exhale like a starving man counting crumbs.
"Malỳshka, please.. wake up."
The words tore from his throat raw and uneven, his usual commanding baritone fractured with something dangerously close to panic.
His lips moved against your forehead in a ceaseless litany, kisses, prayers, threats to deities he'd never believed in.
The arms that could crush a man's windpipe now cradled you with trembling precision, adjusting your limp form against his chest as if you might shatter.
When the Swiss specialist dared to clear his throat, Arsney's head snapped up with predator swiftness. The glare he leveled at the room could have frozen molten lead.
"Get out. Useless."
He knew it was a fever. He listened to the doctors. He viewed the charts. But he was helpless.
The doctors scrambled for the door with barely concealed terror, their expensive loafers squeaking against the polished floors in their haste. His men didn't hesitate, they knew better.
Alone at last, the fearsome Bratva king crumpled around you like a collapsing star.
His large hand dwarfed the back of your head as he pressed another desperate kiss to your damp hairline.
"Záyka I swear, please.. let me see those pretty eyes, hm?"
The confession spilled into the hollow of your throat, his breath hot against your fevered skin.
For the first time in his ruthless life, Arsney Kryukov faced an enemy he couldn't shoot, couldn't bribe, couldn't bury six feet under— the terrifying fragility of the one person who mattered.
And so the most dangerous man in Moscow rocked his precious burden gently, whispering promises in Russian and English, in the secret language of lovers and madmen, until either the fever broke or the world did.