Page 117 of Brutal Union
NADIA
A YEAR LATER
“Who the fuckputs baby’s breath in a winter wedding bouquet withredandblackas the main colors?!” Gwen screeches into her phone, pacing the width of the bridal suite like she’s planning a hit, not a ceremony.
“Language!” Lily snaps, scandalized, as she gently covers Ashley’s ears. The little girl sits between her thighs, head tilted back, curls tumbling like dark silk down her back while Lily attempts—futilely—to tame her hair into something wedding-appropriate.
Mia, lounging nearby with one leg kicked over the arm of a plush chair, giggles. “Mommy says bad words all the time.”
Gwen spins, eyeing her daughter like she’s just committed high treason. “One—Mia, you are a traitor. And two—both of those children are mine!”
Lily gasps, clutching a hairbrush like it’s a dagger. “That doesn’t mean you get to curse like a sailor in front of them! Have some decorum, Gwendolyn!”
“Oh, please,” Gwen scoffs, flipping her off with the same hand holding her phone, manicured nails catching the light. “They’ve heard worse from you in traffic.”
Lily glares but doesn’t argue. Instead, she sighs and turns back to the girls, wiggling in her hair station. “Don’t listen to your mother,” she murmurs, parting Ashley’s curls with practiced ease. “You two are angels. And today, we’re going to make you look like princesses.”
Ashley beams and leans back into Lily’s touch, and Mia wiggles closer, looping her pinky with her like they share some sacred, unspoken promise.
They’ve been inseparable ever since the rescue.
Mia wouldn’t let go of Ashley—not for the doctors, not for Gwen, not even when offered the safest, warmest home imaginable. Her little arms wrapped around Ashley’s waist like armor, and when Nikolai suggested rehoming her to a “loving family,” Mia cried until Gwen agreed to adopt her.
“Don’t mess with the curls,” Mia warns Lily, leaning over. “She likes them wild.”
Ashley nods solemnly. “Like a lion. Rawr!”
“Great,” Gwen mutters, still half on the phone. “We’ve got two mini lions and a florist who thinks baby’s breath is a good idea in this color scheme. I swear to God if someone messes up one more thing for this ceremony, I’m lighting the whole chapel on fire.”
Lily snorts, brushing hair off Ashley’s shoulder and I yell across the room. “You meanmyceremony!
Gwen scoffs. “Sure that’s what I mean.”
“Alright girls, go meet the boys downstairs,” Lily smiles, kissing Ashley’s head before she scurries out of her seat and across the room Mia in hand.
Mia stops by the door and scowls. “Aunty Nadi, do we have to walk with the boys?”
“They’re smelly!” Ashley adds, pinching her nose tight.
I turn in my seat, facing away from the mirror just as Aoi wraps another section of hair around the iron. She sighs sharply, her teeth clicking.
“Stop moving,” she says, her voice calm but with that warning edge I’ve come to recognize.
“Yes, but if you want to scare them down the aisle, I think that would be fun,” I murmur, keeping my voice low as I glance at Gwen. Her fingers fly across her phone screen, face tight with concentration. “I’m thinking… flower zombies.”
“Ooo, flower zombies,” Mia giggles, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “We can drag our feet and make gross noises. Like this—” she tilts her head and lets out a dramatic groan.
Lily joins in immediately, flinging her arms forward. “And you could drop the petals like they’re pieces of our rotting hands.”
Gwen still doesn’t look up. “If you little monsters ruin my aisle walk with a horror movie tribute, I swear I will cancel the reception and make you eat leftover pizza in the parking lot.”
“We like pizza,” Mia says brightly.
Ashley nods. “Especially cold pizza.”
Lily snorts, trying and failing to hide her laugh as she adjusts the bow on Ashley’s dress. “They’re not scared of you.”
“Of course they aren’t,” Gwen mutters, finally lifting her head with a sound of pride in her tone.
