Page 28 of Then We Shatter

“You look well, Katarina,” he says before glancing over his shoulder. “Doesn’t she, Sasha?”

His wife steps had been deliberately silent up until this point, but Sasha’s stiletto heels click sharply on the polished timber floor as she steps deeper into the room. She’s kept up with her training too.

My sestra doesn’t hide her murderous expression as her gaze settles on the hands pawing my flesh. “You never could keep your hands off my husband.”

My bodyguard has turned back around, and Alexei’s smile of amusement is another reminder that protecting me isn’t high on his list of priorities, if at all.

“Now, girls, play nice,” Grigor warns. He shifts position to face his wife, his arm sliding around my back. “You know I could never choose between the two of you.”

Our old camp commander had played us off against each other for the entire six months of our training. Sasha had been added to my group as a replacement for Tanya, planted by Vasili with the sole intention of breaking the bonds of my sisterhood and ultimately, breaking me.

She and I were positioned in direct competition for our commander’s attention and protection. Either I won the honor of pleasing Grigor, or men like Oleg would continue to take their pleasure from Yana and Kiri, as they had done from day one.

I won my sestras a temporary reprieve but Grigor’s transfer of allegiance was inevitable. He was only an aspiring Brigadier back then and I was the prize Vasili would never allow him to keep. And once Sasha replaced me, there was nothing I could do to keep my sestras safe. Kira didn’t make it out alive, and in a way, she was spared a much worse fate. Yana was sold off in a private auction. Bad things happen to people I care about. Every. Fucking. Time.

Sasha lifts a black and gold gift bag hooked on one curled finger. “I have something for you, sestra.”

“Does it tick?”

She laughs. “No, but it does vibrate. I thought you might need it for when your husband gets tired of fucking someone with as much warmth as a week-old corpse,” she replies. She cocks an eyebrow. “Call it a memento of what it was like being fucked by a real man.”

Grigor chuckles to himself. The arrogant pig presumes I’m thinking about him, but it’s Killian who invades my thoughts. Only he could fill me so completely. So perfectly. I hate the emptiness no other man is ever going to fill, and certainly no toy. If only I could go back to being that hollowed-out version of myself that survived Grigor’s camp, but it’s the void Killian left that crushes me.

Needing space, I bend my arm and prepare to stab Grigor with my elbow. Middle-age and married life has softened him around the middle and his potbelly is an easy target, but before I can complete the move, another visitor joins our group.

Eric wears a charcoal grey tailored suit paired with a blue button-down open at the collar. His hair, now dry, shows even more grey, but it suits him. He doesn’t speak at first, and simply nods to Emily, who has her cell phone in her hand. It’s an acknowledgement. She’d called for reinforcements.

When his gaze shifts, it’s to stare at the arm Grigor rests around my semi-naked body. The Bratva brigadier doesn’t withdraw his touch.

Eric exhales. Loudly. “Everybody out. Now.”

I feel the thrill of anticipation, if only because I’m not expecting Grigor to take orders from anyone other than Vasili. The situation will descend into violence, giving me the perfect opportunity to relieve my ex camp commander of the gun I can feel attached to his hip. He’d get the first bullet right between his eyes, then another to the balls.

Unfortunately, Grigor lets me down and simply kisses my shoulder before stepping away to follow Emily and Vivienne out of the room.

Eric stops him as he passes. “There are limits to my generosity as your host,” he says. “Some things I won’t share.”

Sasha drops her gift bag on a dresser and we share a look. Mine says, You’re the last person I want here. Hers says, I don’t give a damn what you want. Some things never change.

As she strolls past my fiancé, Sasha trails her fingers over his chest. “For the record, Grigor does share.”

Alexei is the last to leave, but I’m watching Eric as he steps towards me. I’d estimate he’s over six foot, but not by much. The same as Killian.

“Do I need to arrange for my security to watch you?” he asks when he stops in front of me.

“I can look after myself.”

He hooks a finger under my chin to hold my gaze. Did he think I was about to melt under his gaze? Never going to happen. “You misunderstand me,” he says. “As my wife, I expect you to behave a certain way. Next time another man puts his hands on you, you do not make yourself a willing victim.”

So, my future lord and master has teeth. Good to know.

Eric tilts his head, examining my blank expression. “Did you like Grigor touching you?”

“Not at all,” I confirm. “But in the spirit of full disclosure, he does have carnal knowledge of me.”

Eric’s pale cheeks redden. “Consensual?”

“Coerced might be a better description.”