Page 41 of Brutal Union
“You’re useless,” I grumble, already scrambling to my feet with a wince. “I smell like the inside of a tire fire.”
“You still look good,” he says, too easily.
“Flattery won’t save you,” I snap, already limping toward the bathroom. “God, I reek. You could’ve at least lit a damn candle.”
“I littwo,” he calls after me. “They just couldn’t compete with ‘Eau de Combustion.’”
I slam the bathroom door behind me, his laughter echoing in the hall like a smug drumbeat.
The lock clicks under my fingers, and I quickly move to take off the oversize sweatshirt Sho grabbed for me earlier. My ripped t-shirt and dirty panties are still on. They peel off in layers—stiff with blood, soot, and whatever misery clung to me after the explosion. I kick them into a corner, and move to the shower.
The shower hisses to life, steam billowing into the room and curling around me like a phantom embrace. I step in, flinching at the first touch of heat against bruised skin, but I don’t retreat. I force myself to breathe through it as the water washes over me.
At first, all I can do is stand there. Then I let my head fall back, letting the stream beat against my scalp, my neck, my shoulders. Slowly, the tension begins to melt—muscle by muscle, ache by ache. The pounding behind my eyes dulls. My ribs stop screaming.
And with that silence comes something worse. Thoughts of Sho.
That damn smile. That too-casual way he holds a gun and kills a man. The way he looks at me like I am something precious rather than the killer I have trained myself to be. The way his voice curls around my name—Hime.
I press my palm flat against the cool tile, water streaming down my spine.
In another timeline, maybe I could’ve loved him.
Maybe we wouldn’t have blood between us. Maybe there wouldn’t be scars with his name carved into the skin beneath my clothes. Maybe he would’ve been just the reckless, charming bastard who makes bad coffee and worse jokes.
But not here.
Not in this war-torn universe where my love would cost my family legacy and his loyalty to himself is worth more to him in the long term.
I let out a slow breath and whisper to the water, to the silence, to whatever part of me still wants to feel something softer. I could have loved Sho, just not in this life. In this life I will be his downfall, and I will rue the day that truth is revealed.
11
NADIA
Fourteen hourslater and every inch of my body hurts more than before—because the adrenaline’s gone, and all that’s left is pain. The ache is deep, marrow-deep. The kind of pain that doesn't just sit in your skin, it becomes your skin.
The scar from the cauterization on my right side is an angry, bright pink—raised and swollen like something alien is trying to claw its way out of me. I should be horrified. But I’ve got too many scars to count. This one just happens to be the biggest.
And it came from Sho.
From him trying to save my life.
He leans against the edge of the bed now, watching me dress with that unreadable expression he gets when he's trying not to argue but can’t help himself.
“I still don’t think you’re ready,” he murmurs.
I’m standing there in boy shorts and a thin white tank top—no bra. I tried putting on my sports bra and nearly passed outfrom the fire that lit up beneath my ribs. Now I move slowly as I inspect the wound on my waist.
“You said twenty-four hours,” I say quietly, adjusting my hips to test the stretch. “And I gave you thirty.”
“I was hoping you’d realize you needed more.”
I don’t answer. Instead, I cross the room slowly, as I push down my shirt and walk to the little desk in the corner, grabbing a pair of stretchy skinny jeans that lay over the chair.
“I need to talk to Nikolai before he spins this into a story where I ran, disappeared, or worse—died. If he convinces enough people of that, I am looking at a coup, which means they will kill me dead, and instead of one random guy, the entire Bratva will be looking to kill me.” I glance at him as I pull the jeans over my hips, swallowing the wince. “I can’t afford to look weak in front of my men.”
Sho’s voice is low. “I don’t like when you say that.”
