26
ROMEO
I’m soaking wet, trudging through the hotel lobby. Herbert, the receptionist, is glaring at me. I don’t fucking care. Don’t give two shits about what he thinks or wants because who fucking cares about anything. Everything is a fucking lie.
After heading up the elevator, I stop across the hall into my suite. I promise I will never look at Lydia— Kira’s face again. It fucking sucks that every time I close my eyes, I break that promise to myself. As I pull off my wet clothes, sticking to my body as I attempt to break free of them, I turn on the shower to the hottest it will go.
After I’ve finally gotten out of my clothes, I step into the shower. This time, instead of going into the searing water, I turn it warm. I don’t know why. Normally, I want it scalding, want it to burn me, so I don’t have to think about anything but the pain. But tonight, I just want to be warm and clean.
The longer I shower, the more my thoughts begin to surface and along with them, feelings. I wonder if this is what showers are like for everyone or if I’m just fucked up in the head. The majority of what I feel only makes me hate my thoughts, hate the idea of Kira’s body being touched by someone else or never seeing her smile because of something stupid I said. But most of all, I think I’m finally grieving, and I don’t think I can stay here because seeing her will only make me weak. Susceptible to her touch and lure.
I jump out of the shower when I realize this, grab a towel and quickly dry off. I leave my wet clothes on the floor and rummage through my bag until I’ve found my raincoat, knit sweater, thick tourers, and Prada Oxford platforms. Quickly, I slip those on and shove a black, thick beanie over my wet hair. The rest of my things are strewn around the room. For only being here a few hours, it’s rather messy. Doesn’t matter now. I’m leaving this fucking nightmare and finding an old inn or something up the road.
Just as I’ve zipped my bag, there’s a knock at the door. I think about hiding, but there’s nowhere to go, and if it were Kira, she would call out. I slowly approach the door and peer through the peephole. The person is turned around, but I can tell it is a man. Not Kira’s brother or someone else I might recognize. Interesting.
I unlock the door and creek it opens, then immediately regret it when the man turns around. Kias Mikhailov. Fuck me.
“Kias.” I flatly glare.
“Romeo.”
“What’d ya want?”
“To come in.” He offers me a fake, lip-pressed grin, and we have a stare-down for a moment over the idea of him joining me in this room. He can’t be doing any more harm than he has already to my life, so what the hell. I step back to let him in, holding tightly to the outline of the .22 in my raincoat pocket.
I close the door behind him as he steps through like he’s made of sticks. He sits at the edge of the bed and pats it, welcoming me to my own hotel room. Well, I guess it’s not anymore, but whatever. I sit anyway, irritated by the mere proximity to him.
“I’m just going to get right down to business.”
“The only business we have is your sorry-ass attempts to stop our New Era Initiative.” He laughs in a sickening way that makes me want to smack him.
“Is that what you think we’re doing?” I narrow my eyes at him, so he knows I could literally not give two fucks. “No. Actually, I won’t spoil the big surprise about that… What I really would like to chat with you about is something I hope you can relay to your brothers.”
“I’m not a fucking messenger.” He shrugs with a sarcastic snarl.
“You might want to think about that after I tell you what it is.” I lift my chin for him to get on with it, and he continues. “Your brothers made a deal with my family not too long ago. They haven’t seemed to hold up their end of the bargain, and I’m here to remind them of their agreement.”
“What?” I curtly ask because I’m genuinely interested, but hate his fucking existence.
“I was promised to one of your sisters.”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, they didn’t tell you? Yes. Interesting. Well, I guess I lied a little because I do have a message for your whole family as well. Any breach of this contract that we have, say attacking my family, will ultimately result in a war. I don’t think you want to be a problem in the Bratva’s eyes.”
“I’mnot the problem.” I bite my tongue as soon as I say this. Kias tilts his head as his eyes narrow for half a second. He can tell I meant someone else, and he’s put it together before I can lie overtop of my outburst to confuse him. I’m mad enough to never want to see Kira again, but not angry enough that I would ever want anything to happen to her. I don’t know what that makes me, but at least I’m not a fucking monster like Kias. And furthermore, there is no way I am letting him anywhere near my family— especially not my sister. It must be Espie—she’s the eldest, and the one most likely to be valuable for an alliance, as much as I hate thinking about my sister like that.
Why the fuck would my brothers make a deal behind everyone’s back? Especially a deal of this caliber. No wonder they have been so adamant about resisting us. The Russians have always been the “trouble child,” but this is not the way we deal with shit.
“Interesting that you and Kira have gotten so close. Excuse me— Lydia.” Why would he blow her cover so intentionally?
“Don’t fucking talk about her to me.” He tilts his head again, standing to his feet. I don’t let him stoop down on me, so I stand up. I’m taller than him by an inch or two, but he doesn’t seem intimidated. Doesn’t matter, though. I’ve got a gun in one pocket and a knife in the other. Those are the only things I need to win in a fight against him. He knows it. Kias is famously known as a poor fighter. It’s why daddy keeps him at home all the time and why he keeps trying to marry him off. More power by alliance and more control by ordering others around instead of making mistakes with a lack of brute force.
“I underestimated you.”
I blink at him, threatening him to continue.
“It’s interesting because I thought your weak points would be fairly complicated to infiltrate. So much so that I missed the most obvious one,rightin front of me.”