Page 62 of Brutal Union
Aleksandr closes his eyes. Nik shoots to his feet, the chair scraping hard against the floor.
“You want us to give up ourbiggest bargaining chip, ouronly leveragewith the Yakuza—for yourboyfriend?” he snarls, pacing as his hand grip his hair at the root.
I stay seated, as calm as I can. “Yes.”
“You’ve lost your goddamn mind,” Nik snaps, pointing toward me. “Aleksandr told you who Sho was. I thought you had a cute crush, not this. This is too fucking far--”
“I am not asking for you to go to war with them,” I bite back. “I am just not giving him over to the Yakuza. ”
Alek leans back, running his hands over his face, before huffing out a sound of annoyance. “Would you give up the Bratva for him?”
“No.” I meet his gaze. “I want both. And if you are truly loyal to me, as your flesh and blood, then you will help me have both.”
“You cannot have both, Nadia. You choose this family. You choose the Bratva, or you choose him.”
“Nikolai--”
Aleksandr sighs. “Nik’s right. You can’t have both. You know what the council will say if they find out?—”
“I don’t care what the council says,” I snap. “I care what you say. I care that you will stand beside me and help me. Nikolai, we did everything for Gwen. You never had to choose between us and her.”
Nik leans back slowly, rubbing a hand over his jaw, eyes dark with conflict.
“I am not asking you to like this,” I continue, the words catching on the dread curling like smoke in my chest. “I am asking you not toabandonme. Don’t make me choose.”
The silence stretches. Aleksandr looks away first, jaw clenched so tight the veins in his neck stand out.
I zero in on him. “Let me ask you this, Alek. Would you give up the throne? Would you give up us… if it meant keeping Lily alive? If it meant you could be with her?”
Aleksandr stiffens, his eyes glancing towards the double doors.
For a moment, he doesn’t speak. Doesn’t breathe. His shoulders rise and fall once. Then he meets my gaze and nods.
“Without hesitation,” he says, voice low. “But don’t mistake my answer for approval. Nadia, you will get us all killed.”
“You don’t have to agree,” I reply, softer now. “You just have totrustme.”
Aleksandr mutters a string of Russian curses, half under his breath, and sinks back into the chair. “Like you trust us?”
I hold his stare, unflinching. “Thisishow you prove your loyalty to me.”
“And if we say no?” Nik asks, looking between Alek and me.
My eyes sharpen. “Then I’ll do what I have to, and whether you both survive or not is your business.”
“Fuck,” Nik hisses. “You better reinstate me.”
Aleksandr leans forward, hands on his knees. “This is your fate, Nadi. I will not stand in your way, and I will stand with you when this eventually explodes in our faces.”
The breath I didn’t realize I was holding slips from my lips, slow and shaky. Every muscle in my body unwinds like string, the tension bleeding out of me until all that’s left is the after-burn of holding on too much, for too long.
Then my phone rings. The sharp trill rings through the room. I glance down.
The caller ID shows the name Asshole which is still Sho’s name in my phone. This man has perfect timing.
I rise slowly from the chair, lifting the phone just enough to show the screen.
“You’re dismissed,” I say quietly. “Both of you.”
