Page 109 of Shadows in Bloom

That was true, but for some reason, none of this was sitting right with Ledger. This give-up attitude wasn’t sitting right with him. “I’m giving you a chance to walk out of here.”

An unlikely chance, admittedly, still, a chance all the same.

“If you let me go,” Nikita said, voice unwavering, as though they were talking about what they might serve in the school cafeteria for lunch tomorrow, “I’m dead. If I stay here, I’m dead. I’m dead either way. At least with you, I can hope for it to be quick.”

“Who else wants to kill you?” Ledger clenched his hands and held himself back from shaking him. Not because he wanted to hurt him, but because he wanted to find a way to wipe that blank expression off his face. “Your brother? Come on. Does he really want to take things that far?”

Nikita snorted dryly. “I lied.”

“About?” His gaze swept over him. The bruises were very real, so that couldn’t have been it. Unless he was going to say that it hadn’t been his brother who’d injured him. The two of them might not know one another personally, but clearly Nikita had heard enough about Ledger to know a thing or two.

Like how, for instance, sibling relationships were his weakness.

He had a soft spot for them. For that kind of familial bond. Probably because he’d been gifted with one of his own and understood how important that type of brotherhood was. Pavel always had his back, outside of everything else, against everything else. That was an absolute. The one absolute in Ledger’s otherwise chaotic life.

It was hard for him to comprehend why all siblings didn’t share that same type of close bond, though he knew, obviously, that wasn’t always the case. Still, there was a difference between not being close and actively going out of your way to hurt.

Pavel had been secretly devastated every time someone dared tell him he wasn’t Ledger’s real family. It baffled Ledger that Nikita’s brother could supposedly be the one to deliver that kind of harm directly.

Unless that was where the lie was? But no. That wouldn’t make sense. Nikita would have had to plan all of this out well in advance, known without a shadow of a doubt that Ledger would be the only Devil walking in here tonight to interrupt his plans. Not even Ledge had been aware of that, so he could rule that out.

Ledger sighed. “Spit it out, Tiger. What was the lie?”

“I didn’t just come here to steal something,” Nikita confessed.

It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together from there. “You were put up to it.”

“Oran said if I broke in and proved that I was here, he’d go to the Docks himself and correct them.”

There was only one thing that happened down at the Docks. Illegal hovercar racing. A good portion of the city's gambling took place there, and more than one person had found themselves in trouble, unable to pay what they owed.

“He signed all of the paperwork with my name,” Nikita continued, obviously seeing that Ledger understood where this was going. “I’ve tried to correct it, have gone myself a few times, but no one will take me seriously. He promised if I did this, he’d fix it.”

“Prove it how?” Ledger asked. It wasn’t like there was anything special in here. High quality and expensive, sure, but even the pricy bottles of booze across the room at the bar could be bought elsewhere. It wasn’t like they had some logo they plastered over things. “Does your idiot brother think we print t-shirts with the name of the club on them or something?”

“I just have to take a photo,” Nikita said.

“A photo?” Lame.

“Yeah. Of me in here.”

“Right, and how many times exactly has this Oran guy been in here?”

Nikita’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Like, has he ever actually seen inside of this place?”

“He’s tried.” Nikita glanced away, as though embarrassed for his brother.

No, that wasn’t right.

“You’re embarrassed by him.” That was interesting. “Is he a groupie?” Ledger snickered. “That’s rich. I bet he has a favorite, doesn’t he? Who does he fanboy over the most? You can tell me.”

Nikita shifted on his feet but, after only a moment of hesitation, replied, “Saint.”

“Boo.” Saint was a member of the Brumal. “The Retinue guys are way hotter.”

Nikita nodded his head and Ledger chuckled.

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