Page 71 of Brutal Unionn
“I know that?—”
“No. Youdon’t.” My finger jabs into his chest. “You’re playing soldier while your family could be halfway across the world, safe, untouched.”
“I cannot let you fight this alone!”
“Wealldie alone!” I snarl.
“I will not let that happen to you!”
“Youareleaving for Bali first thing in the morning,” I snap, eyes locked on his. “You, Gwen, Mia, Toni and Gio. No arguments.”
“Nadi—”
“This is not a discussion,” I growl. “This is a direct order. If I see you on American soil again, I’ll put a bullet between your eyes myself.”
He jerks back like I slapped him, but I see it—his lip twitching, his fists clenched, that same defiance we were both raised with.
“Nadia, don’t do this,” he pleads, his voice cracking slightly. “If we leave, then you haveno one.No protection. No backup. And they will?—”
“I can protect myself!” I explode, stepping so close I can smell the cinnamon on his breath, our foreheads nearly touching. “I’vealwaysprotected myself. I protectedyou.I can protect us. Iwillprotect us. You just have to trust me Nikolai.”
He breathes hard, jaw working, eyes burning into mine.
“You’re not invincible,” he whispers.
“Neither are you,” I whisper back. “But they needyoumore than I do, and I will not be able to forgive myself if anything happens to you.”
Nik breathes hard through his nose, his chest rising and falling in uneven waves like he’s trying to hold something inside and failing miserably. I expect him to argue again. To shout. To fight me the way we always do when everything feels too dangerous to name.
But instead, he steps forward and wraps his arms around me.
The hug isn’t gentle—it’s bone-deep and suffocating, like he’s trying to fuse our blood back together. His grip tightens around my shoulders with the desperation of a man hugging his last family member goodbye. I go stiff at first, caught off guard. I can feel the tension in his back, the strength in his arms, and the way his heart is pounding hard enough to echo through his chest. I haven’t been held like this in years. Not like this—without caution, without an agenda.
His voice is quiet against my temple, barely more than a breath. “I know you can protect yourself… but I’d still rather someone be here. With you.”
For a moment, I’m not standing in my kitchen. I’m somewhere else—in some other time.
A rooftop in Osaka. A hotel room in New York. A warehouse floor covered in blood. I’m thinking about calloused hands, cold steel, and the only man who ever made me feel like I could fall and still be dangerous. I think of his smirk in the dark. The weight of him behind me. Sho Matsumoto—my enemy, my mirror, the one person I’ve never been able to eraseno matter how hard I try. Even now, he’s here—in the pit of my stomach, in the ache in my chest, in the memory of what I never got to say.
But I don’t tell Nik any of that.
I press my lips tightly together and force the truth out before it sticks in my throat.
“There’s no one.”
18
NADIA
This nightmarealways starts the same.
I am at the edge of a field filled with daisies and wild roses, the air thick with the scent of honey and sun-warmed petals. The horizon is endless, painted in hues of lavender and gold, and for a moment—just a moment—it almost feels like peace.
My mother is there, radiant in the center of the field like a goddess carved out of light and memory. Her long blonde hair cascades down her back like liquid gold, shimmering with an ethereal glow as it dances in the breeze. It covers every inch of her skin, wrapping her like a robe of sunlight, and somehow, I know—this is how I envision heaven.
I’m calling out to her, my voice high and desperate. I’m barefoot, small, no more than six or seven. The wind steals my cries before they can reach her, and still I call, arms outstretched like if I just try harder she’ll turn and see me.
But her shoulders roll back, her air tangles in the wind like the world is trying to hide her from me.
