Page 118 of Brutal Union
Mia and Ashley make zombie noises out the room, grabbing the baby’s breath Gwen just yelled about. Lily starts to fling her stuff around and murmurs under her breath.
She skids past me, the red silk dress billowing around her like a runaway bride as she tears the bridal suite apart. “Nadia, did you see my hair pins? They have little gold leaves with pearls? ”
I raise one brow slowly. “I didn’t touch your glittering nonsense.”
“They’re vintage!” she wails, clutching her heart like I stabbed it. “Gwen will murder me if she walks down the aisle without them. Not like… regular murder, but, like, Gwen-murder. With icy looks and thatvoice.You know the one.”
“Oh, I know,” I mutter, glancing at Gwen mid-rant, her hand slicing through the air like she’s about to summon a lightning bolt and smite the florist herself. “That voice could freeze vodka.”
“Lily!” Gwen barks suddenly, still on the phone. “Where are the back up wedding bouquets?"
Lily fumbles with her clipboard, mouth opening and closing as she skims through the list.“In the lobby!”
“Go get them because I swear if I see another baby’s breath plant I will scream!”
Aoi pauses behind me, curling iron in one hand, and leans in. “If I had friends like this,” she says quietly, “I would’ve eloped.”
Gwen doesn’t even turn. “I heard that.”
Aoi straightens like she’s been caught doing something illegal. “I’m a trained killer,” she says, shaking her head. “But she’s scary. You’d think it was her wedding.”
“It kind of is,” I reply. “She’s been micromanaging it since the moment Sho proposed to me six months ago. The only thing she let me pick was the dress and the colors.”
And even then, she fought me tooth and nail on them. Gwen hated the black, gold, and red palette—said it was too aggressive. I told her to get used to it, because if I had to stand around all day smiling in white I was going to be looking at my favorite colors.
Aoi whistles as she keeps working through the next section of my hair. “Still this wedding is like…weird.”
I glance at my reflection but let my eyes drift lower, away from the bold smokey eye Lily spent months practicing to look bold but also natural with limited glitter for my sake, down to my hands. My thumb grazes the ring, turning it slightly.
I never imagined myself here.
Not in a bridal suite. Not surrounded by dresses and perfume and women screaming about flowers like it’s life or death. Not sitting still long enough to be pampered, dressed, styled like I belong to something soft.
Marriage wasn’t a thing I pictured for myself—not once. I used to tell people love was a distraction. A weak point. A liability that gets you killed or worse, owned.
But then I woke up with a ring on my finger.
Not just any ring—a heavy 18k yellow gold band, thick and warm against my skin. At the center, a flawless 4-carat marquise diamond, so clear it looked like a drop of frozen fire. Wrapped around it, instead of standard white pavé, were blood-red rubies set in a perfect halo. The contrast was brutal. Beautiful. Like something meant for me.
Accompanied with an Italian sunrise, fresh black coffee and Sho in a full suit as he waited for me to wake up felt right. I mean I never corrected him when he called me his wife. I knew just as well as he continuously told me that we were inevitable. All this fanfare is just for show. Sho is mine, and I am his. We bled, cried and killed for this.
Aoi gives one final spritz of something floral and expensive, that makes me want to cough. “All done.”
She gently pulls the pins free, and the curls cascade down my back—thick, glossy waves that look too elegant to belong to someone like me. Aoi truly is a master of beauty. Not the fake, polished kind. The kind that makes you look exactly like who you are, just sharper. Watching her now, I’m reminded of how far we’ve come.
We started out as enemies. Circling each other. Testing limits. Waiting for the other to strike first.
Then somewhere between the betrayals, near-deaths, and watching her quietly love Bhon with everything she doesn’t say out loud… she became something else. Not just an ally. Not quite a sister. A friend—at least, as close as Aoi will let herself have outside of Bhon.
She doesn’t trust people. Not really. I don’t either, but she trusts Sho, and Sho trusts me. For now, I think that is enough for her to stop threatening to kill me.
“You look... terrifyingly beautiful,” she says, stepping back with a grin. “Sho’s going to combust.”
I stand slowly and walk to the full-length mirror by the window. For a second, I don’t recognize the woman staring back. Not because she looks soft, but because she looks like she is seconds from conquering a part of herself I never thought she would conquer.
I drag my finger across the stone again.
He’s still an arrogant asshole. Still impossible. Still taunts me every time I pretend I’m not in love with him. But he keeps showing up. Keeps holding my hand when the world burns. And somehow, that’s enough.
