Page 4 of Kings of Cruelty

“Decide now,” one of the medics interjects. “We’re taking her.” Without waiting for a response, the two of them start wheeling Sierra down the hall.

“She’s my—” I stop myself, because I don’t know what she really is to me.

But I know I won’t give her up. I know she’smine.

Silvano Cresci approaches and puts his hand on Kyran’s arm. “Konstantin, you can go. Since she’s your… something.”

Kyran lets out a choked sound. “Silvano, no.”

“You can see her at the hospital. You’re next of kin,” Silvano says. “We’ll follow the ambulance.”

There are tears in Kyran’s eyes, but he says bitterly, “You and I will have a long talk about this later, Cresci.” He looks at me, sneering. “Well, go then. Don’t fucking hold them up.”

“We’ll follow, too,” Nikolai says. He glares at Yura. “Well. I will. I don’t know if Yuri fucking cares.”

It doesn’t escape my notice that he’s no longer calling Yura by his nickname, but I don’t have time to care about that either.

“I’m.. I’m coming,” Yura says quietly. He gets to his feet, stumbling a few steps in my direction.

I sneer at him before turning to follow the medics.

I’ll deal with him later.

Sierra is the most important person right now.

She’s the most important person.

TWO

Sierra

Beep.Beep. Beep.

I hear the sound from a distance, and I will it to stop.

It doesn’t.

It must be my alarm clock. I have a feeling it’s been going for a while because my head aches and my limbs are stiff, but it’s so hard to wake up. I try to lift my arm so I can grab my phone, half-wondering when I changed the sound of my alarm, but I can’t. My hand twitches the tiniest bit, and I blink my eyes open.

Fuck. I can’t bring anything into focus, and I close them again. I’m exhausted. I should go back to sleep, but the beeping doesn’t stop, and as I wake up, I start to understand.

That beeping isn’t an alarm clock.

It’s the steady beep of some kind of hospital machine, and I’m pretty sure it’s connected to me.

I look around the room blearily. There are two large men sitting in the available chairs. I recognize Kyran immediately, and I sigh in relief. My big brother is here to protect me.

Then I remember what he and his boyfriend did.

Silvano Cresci killed my father, and Kyran not only helped Silvano cover it up, he’s still sleeping with him.

My heart rate ratchets up, and I force myself to focus on the other person in the room.

Konstantin.

I don’t know why he’s here. I don’t know why I care that he’s here, or that it’s a relief, or that I’m grateful he’s alive.

Because he could’ve died, I think.

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