Page 8 of Kings of Cruelty

“Why isn’t Yuri here?” I whisper, realizing that I’mhurtby his absence. Does he not care?

Konstantin scowls, and his hold on my hand tightens. “Yura does not deserve to see you. I will personally whip his back raw when we get back home.”

“What?” I burst out, the exhaustion and pain taking a back seat to the shock. “Why?” I can’t imagine any offense he could’ve committed that would have earned himthat.

Konstantin releases my hand and cups my cheek. “He shot you, Sierrochka. It’s his bullet that ended up in your chest. We are lucky he has bad aim.”

I freeze. “W-what?” I whisper. I don’t understand. “Why?” I ask again, and those fucking tears are rolling down my cheeks again. Does Yuri really hate me that much for what happened to him? Had he taken advantage of a chaotic moment to try to kill me?

Konstantin averts his gaze. “He claims he was trying to shoot Kyran. But that doesn’t matter. He should have held his trigger finger the moment you were within bullet range.”

Kyran.

Yuri had been trying to shoot Kyran.

I can’t process that information any more than I can process the fact that I’m apparently fucking pregnant.

As much as I hate my brother right now—and I do, I really do—I don’t want him todie. My oldest brother has been dead for years, my middle brother is in jail, and Kyran… Kyran’s the only sibling I have left.

“Oh,” I say, my voice sounding dull.

“I will punish him,” Konstantin repeats. “He will regret hurting you.”

He hurt me, but not in the way Konstantin means. No, this goes deeper, and it’s harsher, and I don’t know what to make of it.

I lick my parched lips. I can’t deal with this anymore. “Water? Meds?” I prompt. I may not be able to have anything strong enough to make a difference, but I find that I do need a second to think after all.

“I will call the nurse,” he says.

I nod and close my eyes. I’m exhausted, and there’s nothing left to say or do. If I was less selfish—less fucked up—I would tell Konstantin to leave me alone.

But all I can do is be grateful that someone’s here with me.

THREE

Sierra

I knowit isn’t fair to expect the guys to put their entire lives on hold to keep me entertained while I’m in the hospital, but I don’t particularly like being alone here. It’s only been hours since Nikolai left, but I’m already itching to have him or Konstantin return.

Or to have Yuri here at all.

I should be furious that he shot me for that reason alone, but I’m not. Mostly, I’m pissed and wounded that he tried to kill my brother, when he knows I don’t have anyone except Kyran and Ma anymore.

Sure, I have my sister-in-law and her two kids, in theory, but they got out of town as soon as they could. I don’t blame them.

I wish Ma and I had gone with them.

But no, we’d stayed here, andthisis what happened to us because of it.

The door opens, and I perk up. Even the company of one of the nurses is preferable to boring reruns on the TV.

It isn’t a nurse, though.

It’s Silvano Cresci, and my blood boils when I see him standing there. I glance behind him, but Kyran isn’t with him.

“Get out,” I tell him as he closes the door, fighting the urge to throw something at him.

Silvano ignores me and moves to the other side of the room, where a chair is set up near the window. He pushes the curtains aside to reveal the view of Benton City’s—frankly unimpressive—skyline.

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