Page 60 of Brutal Union
“Go ahead,” he presses. “Ask her. Ask Nadia if she has a hit out on you.”
I let the silence settle, heavy and cold. My hand is still on the knife at his throat, as I place my knee into the center of his chest.
I study his face. The blood running down his neck. The broken smirk twitching at the corner of his lips. He’s not bluffing—at least not the way amateurs bluff. This is the kind of lie that’s coated in enough truth to make it dangerous.
Nadia would never bring me to the Yakuza. She knows what they’d do to me. She knows the price on my head, and despite her not knowing every scar, she claimed to understand me. To see me. Towantme.
It doesn’t fit. It can’t. She wouldn’t?—
But she would if she had no choice.
Would she?
I press the knife a fraction deeper into Boris’s throat, watching the pulse stutter beneath the blade. My knee shifts slightly into his sternum, not enough to crack, but enough to make it hard to breathe. He wheezes, but still grins.
Boris coughs under me, his voice hoarse now. “You think she loves you more than she hates me?”
I can’t say she does…she’s never said--
“I don’t believe that’s Nadia,” I whisper more to myself than him.
Boris watches me carefully,a smarmy smile on his lips. “Why would I lie?” he says. “You’re already here to kill me.”
Boris looks so sure of himself I can’t breathe. There’s not a bluff in sight, and I can’t trust myself to blindly believe her, not in this world. Revenge is so sweet to people like us. I can’t be certain of all the things I would do to eliminate my father. Why would I expect her not to sacrifice all she can for revenge and the security of her empire?
“If you’re lying,” I hiss into his face. “I will beat your skull in with this rock and leave you for the fucking seagulls.”
15
NADIA
Aleksandr sitsacross the table from me. A steaming cup of breakfast tea in his hand and his eyes locked on Lily, who’s perched at her desk, munching on a Granny Smith apple as she flips a page inPet Sematary. Her lips move silently with the words, her brow furrowed in concentration. She’s so invested in King’s twisted little world, she doesn’t even flinch when Aleksandr shifts in his seat.
I drop into my chair across the room, black coffee in hand—strong enough to strip paint, just the way I like it. Aleksandr lifts his eyes to me just as I sink into the plush leather with a satisfied sigh.
“One of these days,” I nod in the direction of Lily. “She will feel you looking at her like that. Scream and I will never see my sweet girl again.”
He growls,turning to face me.
“My bad,”I smirk, raising the coffee cup to my lips. “Oursweet girl.”
He glances toward Lily again,his voice low. “You shouldn’t have let her read that book.”
I swallow the faintly chocolate-tasting bitter coffee and slide my chair forward, tugging it closer to the desk. “She’s a grown woman. She can choose her own books.”
“She’ll have nightmares,” he mutters.
At the desk in the hallway, Lily leans closer to the book, her apple now resting half-eaten on the desk. Her lips have stopped moving—whatever part ofPet Semataryshe’s in, it’s gripped her tight. She reads too fast to whisper now, and her glasses have slipped to the tip of her nose.
“This is the same girl that thoughtThe Human Centipedewas ‘kinda scary,’” I shrug, placing my mug down on the desk. “She’ll be fine.”
The elevator dings open and the quickened steps reveal a lanky delivery guy, holding a medium-sized package awkwardly under one arm. His uniform polo is wrinkled, his eyes sparkle a beautiful shade of brown as he smiles down at a book-obsessed Lily.
Clearing his throat, he pushes her book down with the tip of his finger, and softly speaks. “Hey Lily…I got a package for ya.”
The sexy way he sayspackagemakes her ears turn a faint color of pink, and she startles looking up with an embarrassed smile.
“Oh! Who is it for?” She says quickly, cheeks flushed. She stands and moves toward him, brushing her hair behind her ear as she reaches for the package.
