"Viktor," Xin greeted him with a curt nod. "Mrs. Viktor." He did not look at Audrianna's guilty expression.
Audrianna, unutterably embarrassed, covered her face with the pillow. In a muffled voice she replied, "Daddy."
His eyes locked on Viktor, he spoke sternly, "A word with my charge." Xin stood in the doorway, waiting.
Incensed, Viktor turned and walked pass Xin, who summarily kicked the door closed behind him.
Clear blue skies in the distance met Viktor as he walked onto the third-floor balcony of the hospital, which faced the yard's entrance nearly one hundred feet away. To his left was a small reception area. The desk was a semi-circular structure painted a mild lemon yellow. The worn, marginally chipped counter top was varnished cherry wood. An old computer and overly used red and blue ledgers covered the desk. There were two uniformed nurses at the reception. One nurse read the daily papers while the other rapped specifics over the phone curtly. The atmosphere felt uneventful, a far cry from the drama that had unfolded hours earlier.
Viktor walked a few steps away from the reception area to his left and kept to the balcony overseeing the spacious, well-kept green lawn that extended fifty feet towards the highway.
The calm, scenic view that greeted him did nothing to soothe his turbulent thoughts.
How could I have let this happen?
Viktor reviewed in his head all the protocols he had created to protect himself and his family from intruders such as Dr. Eli. Notwithstanding his obvious proclivity to attract crazies who wish to test their might against his, Audrianna was a different story. Obviously someone had sicced Dr. Eli onto his wife. Someone who was aware of her status, but who? No one else knew of the power she possessed but him, and Grigori.
Grigori was a loyal busybody who had served the Maxcks' family for generations. It was impossible to think of him as a traitor. No. Viktor's features grew into a mask of heated displeasure.
His familiars were mechanically loyal to him. The only other default option was that someone had done their own research and zeroed in on Audrianna. Audrianna herself could not have spoken of the phenomenon to anyone. The only other person to have been revealed to the truth was dead.
Leaning against the railing, arms crossed, he decided on a series of further measures that would protect his wife. He smiled without mirth. They would probably anger her as well…but Viktor wasn't afraid of becoming necessarily rough with her in order to secure her own protection.
Lost in his deep musings, he appeared not to have noticed Xin's approach to his side.