Page 106 of Sinful Bride

I’m not usually one to rub things in. But this? This is a special occasion.

She brought this on herself.

“That’s right, Brittany. He’s dead. Conrad is fucking dead and it’s all because of you.”

She takes a moment to let that sink in. I’m not going to hold my breath over it, but maybe now, she’ll realize the gravity of her mistakes and back the fuck off.

Or maybe not.

With a sudden blur of motion, Brittany hurls something at my face. Gravel flies into my eyes and I scream and back up. As I go, my shoe catches and I fall back to the earth again.

I hit the ground all wrong. Something pops out of place and sends searing pain through my shoulder.

I don’t care how bad it fucking hurts to do it—I reach for my bracelet and squeeze the shit out of that panic button.

Because now, I’m panicking. Brittany is coming at me, flailing and screaming and lashing that foot at me again and again.

“When—” Kick! “—are you—” Kick! “—gonna fucking—” Kick! “—learn?” She pauses just to wipe her face again. “This is how it always goes, NayNay. This is how it will always be. You think you’re on such a high horse, always better than me, until I drag you back down and remind you—” Kick! “—where you fucking belong!”

My head snaps back. I pray to God nothing’s broken. She rears back for one more and I know in my heart of hearts that this one will do it. This one will kick me. It’ll connect with my temple, the world will go black, and it will never, ever be light again.

All I can focus on is her foot. Looming closer and bigger and bigger and closer and it’s almost here and?—

A blur of leather flies between us.

Lev.

He hits Brittany and sends her soaring. Before she’s even hit the ground in a pile of limbs against the alley wall, he’s pulling his gun out and aiming it at her.

She moans and tries to move and he unloads a shot into the bricks next to her head. She screams.

“Move one more fucking time,” he snarls, “and I won’t miss.”

I try to push myself up. I can’t. I don’t even realize I’m groaning in pain until Lev whirls his gaze to me. He still has his gun trained on Brittany, but my unintentional distraction gives her the space to slip away.

Dammit.

He notices, too, but doesn’t hold it against me. He holsters his gun and whips out his phone. “Yeah, I need to report a mugging. She’s in bad shape.”

38

PASHA

I want to strangle this motherfucker.

But he belongs in the Smithsonian next to the dinosaur fossils, not on the Senate floor. I’m pretty sure one squeeze of my fist around that turkey neck would shatter his brittle bones.

“I’m sorry, Pasha.” Senator O’Cronin sighs. “I just can’t get the rest of the Senate to agree to this. It’s regrettable, indeed. But that’s just how things are.”

I frown at him. “A few months ago, you didn’t have a problem with any of the terms in the contract. Neither did your colleagues. Brennan was the only obstacle, but?—”

“A few months ago, things were different.”

I hold back my frown from turning into a glare. I still need this ancient specimen to agree to my terms. Offending him will get us nowhere, and we haven’t yet reached the time for threats. “Please explain.”

“What is there to explain?” O’Cronin shrugs again. “Time changes things. New policies have been enacted since our last review?—”

“Which policies?”

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