Page 28 of Kings of Cruelty

If Sierra can be strong, if she can defy her father and brothers to be independent—so can I.

I’m going to show them that I’m not merely an interim leader. This American branch of the Voronkov Bratva ismine.

EIGHT

Yuri

My hair is freshly bleached,and now I’m staring at the bathroom mirror with scissors in hand. I keep waffling about how short I want the hair.

I don’t want to go too short, but my skin is itching. I need a change. A new tattoo would take too long to heal, same with a piercing, so hair it is.

I’ve almost made up my mind when I hear my bedroom door open. I groan in annoyance and head out of the bathroom.

“What?” I ask the intruder.

It’s Nikolai and Sierra.

Sierra arches a brow. “Hello to you too. I’m having a wonderful day. Thank you for asking,” she drawls.

Nikolai snorts. “He’s gotthatlook on his face.” He glances down at his hand. “And scissors. For fuck’s sake, don’t tell me you’re going to try to cut your hair by yourself.”

I hold up the scissors and glare at him. “Why not? It’s just a cut. I’ve got a razor too, if I need it shorter than that.”

“No,” Sierra says firmly. “You’re not going to shave it, you heathen. You already bleached it again. Which looks good, by the way.”

“Give those to me,” Nikolai says. “You can tell me how short you want it.” He smirks. “I might even listen.”

Sierra elbows him hard in the side.

“I wasn’t going to shave it all,” I protest. “I was going to make it shorter. And if that looked bad, then I’d shave it.”

Now that they’re here, I don’t know if my original plan is a good idea or not. I eye both of them before passing the scissors to Sierra. “Here. Make it look good.”

She takes them, but she shakes her head. “I don’t know the first thing about cutting hair.”

“I do my own haircuts,” Nikolai says. “I know what I’m doing.” He takes the scissors. “Go back into the bathroom. You can tell me how short you want it. Assuming our zaya here is all right with that?”

Sierra glares at him. “He can cut his hair if he wants. But it’s a big change.” She gestures to him. “At least he was half blond before.”

“It’s only hair,” I grumble, but I head back to the bathroom and sit down on the toilet seat. I pull the towel tighter around my bare shoulders, too. “Don’t cut my ears.”

“I’m not—” Nikolai lets out an exasperated sound. “I’d stab you with them on purpose before I accidentally cut your ears. Don’t fucking tempt me.”

“Gentlemen,” Sierra interrupts. “Less violence, more playing hair stylist.”

I look at her reflection in the mirror. There’s nothing to hint that she’s pregnant, nothing that shows off how soundly she belongs to us.

Except the branding that I wasn’t even there for.

“What kind of haircut should I get, Sierra?” I ask.

“Not too short,” she says. “Oh, I know. What about a side cut? But we leave the hair longer on one side?” She eyes Nikolai. “Do you think you can dothat? Or do we need to go to a properstylist?” She pulls a phone out of her pocket and taps around for a few seconds before showing the screen to Nikolai. “Like this.”

Nikolai rolls his eyes. “I can do it. It’s not that fucking hard.”

“You do need the razor for a side cut,” I point out. “And can you show me what style you’re giving me?”

“No,” Sierra and Nikolai answer simultaneously.

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