Mihai
MIHAI
I knock on Nikolai’s door, the sound echoing through the silent hallway. For a moment, there’s no response, and I almost turn away, thinking he won’t answer. But then the door creaks open, revealing Nikolai on the other side.
He looks like shit. His face is a mess of bruises and cuts, his lip still split, and his eye swollen nearly shut from Connor’s fists. But even through the wreckage, he stands with his shoulders squared, his head held high, like he refuses to let it break him.
The composure of a Crown.
He steps aside and lets me enter, walking over to the couch and falling down in it. “Back to finish the job, Vasile?”
I shake my head, crossing my arms over my chest. “If I wanted to finish the job, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
His smirk fades, and he lets out a long breath, leaning back against the couch. “So what do you want, then? A confession? An apology? Because I’ve already said my piece.”
“I want to understand,” I say, my voice steady but firm. “I want to know how the hell we got here. How you, of all people, let this happen.”
Nikolai sighs. “It’s not like I planned this, ,” he mutters. “It just… happened.”
“Bullshit,” I snap, stepping closer. “Things like this don’t just happen, Nikolai. You’re not an idiot, and you’re sure as hell not reckless. So start talking. How did it start?”
Cat already told me, but I need to hear it from his side.
He sighs, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “It was after Legacy Week,” he begins, his voice low. “Cat was… different. She wasn’t the shy girl we all used to look out for. She had this fire, this confidence, and I—fuck, I don’t know. I noticed her.”
I grit my teeth, but I keep my mouth shut, letting him continue.
“It wasn’t supposed to be serious,” he says, his tone defensive now. “We fooled around a couple of times. I tried to stop it, but… I kept going back. She made it easy to forget everything else for a while.”
“Forget what?” I press, narrowing my eyes. “What the hell are you running from?”
He tenses, his jaw tightening, and I see the flicker of something in his eyes—something he’s not saying.
“Don’t,” I warn, stepping closer. “Don’t lie to me, Nikolai. I know you too well.”
For a moment, he says nothing, the silence stretching between us. Then he lets out a harsh laugh, shaking his head. “You always could see through my bullshit, huh?”
“Start talking,” I demand, my voice sharp.
He sits there, his jaw tight, like he’s trying to decide whether to tell me the truth or keep whatever he’s holding inside buried. Finally, he lets out a heavy sigh and drops his head back against the cushions.
“I’m a fucking idiot,” he says bluntly. “I was trying to... I don’t know, distract myself. Forget.”
“Forget what?” I ask again, narrowing my eyes. “Or who?”
He flinches and looks down, his hands curling into fists on his lap. “Chiara,” he admits after a long pause, the name barely audible.
I stare at him, my mind reeling. “What the fuck did you just say?”
Nikolai doesn’t look at me, his gaze fixed on the floor. “You heard me.”
“You’re telling me,” I say slowly, trying to wrap my head around it, “that you went after Cat— Connor’s little sister —to get over your fucking step-sister?”
He winces at the accusation in my tone but doesn’t deny it. “I know it’s fucked up,” he says quietly. “I fell for Chiara long before she got with G.”
My mind races, piecing together what he’s saying. “You’re in love with Chiara.”
It’s not a question, and his silence is all the confirmation I need.
“Fuck, Nikolai,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair. “Do you have any idea how much worse you’ve made this for yourself?”
He nods, his shoulders slumping. “Believe me, I know.”
“You’re out of your goddamn mind,” I snap, my hands balling into fists at my sides. “You don’t just use Cat to get over Chiara. Do you have any idea what you’ve done to her? To Connor? To all of us?”
“I know,” he says quietly, his voice breaking. “I know I fucked up. It was an asshole move, and I hate myself for it. But I didn’t know how to reject her, . I didn’t know how to stop.”
The vulnerability in his voice throws me off, and for a moment, I don’t know what to say. This is Nikolai, the cold, calculating bastard who’s always two steps ahead of everyone else. Seeing him like this, broken and raw, is like seeing a stranger.
“And now?” I ask, my tone unforgiving. “What about now, Niko? Because you didn’t just hurt Cat. You’ve shattered whatever trust Connor had in you. You’ve torn apart the brotherhood we’ve built. So tell me—what the fuck are you going to do to fix it?”
He lets out a humorless laugh, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I don’t know if I can fix it,” he admits. “My father’s already spoken to me and I’ve never seen him so disappointed. That’s worse than any beating Connor could’ve given me.”
I study him for a moment, trying to gauge how much of this is genuine. Nikolai might be an asshole, but I’ve known him long enough to recognize when he’s being vulnerable. And right now, he’s wide open.
“You still see Connor as your brother?” I ask after a moment.
His head snaps up, his expression pained. “Of course I do. I fucked up, . I know I did. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’d take a bullet for him in a heartbeat.”
“Then act like it,” I say sharply. “Own your shit, Nikolai. Face the consequences and figure out how to make this right. Because if you don’t, you’re going to lose all of us.”
He nods slowly, his jaw tight. “I’m trying, man. I really am. But every time I think about what I’ve done, I just... I don’t know how to undo it.”
“You can’t undo it,” I say bluntly. “But you can start by being honest. With Cat. With Connor. With everyone.”
He lets out a shaky breath and I see the resolve settle in his eyes. “Thanks, ,” he says quietly. “For not... you know, finishing the job.”
I smirk, shaking my head. “You think I came here to beat the shit out of you? Trust me, I wouldn’t stop at a black eye.”
He actually chuckles at that, the sound dry and humorless. “Noted.”
“?” He calls out as I turn to leave, his voice hesitant.
I glance back, raising an eyebrow. “What?”
“Please don’t tell G,” he says, his tone pleading. “About Chiara. I don’t want to make this worse than it already is.”
I study him for a long moment before nodding once. “That’s your secret to tell, Nikolai. But don’t make me regret keeping it.”
He nods, his expression grateful but weary. “I won’t.”
I leave and make my way back to my suite, the heavy conversation with Nikolai still weighing on my mind. The guy’s made a mess—there’s no sugarcoating it—but at least he owned up to some of it. Whether or not he can fix it… well, that’s on him now.
When I step inside my suite, the silence wraps around me like a blanket. I can still smell Maddy on my pillows and my cock gets the message. I lean back and let out a breath before pulling out my phone.
I don’t even have to think about who I’m texting. My fingers fly over the screen.
Me:
Goodnight, baby.
God, I’m whipped.
I find myself scrolling through her social media again, then my smile starts to fade. My thumb hovers over a post she made months ago—a photo of her with her mother and sister, all of them beaming at the camera. The caption reads: “My whole world.”
My chest tightens as I scroll further, seeing post after post of her life before everything fell apart. It hit me then—she came to our estate three days after they died.
She never got to say goodbye to them.
Of course she didn’t. Everything happened so fast—Santiago’s death, the ambush, being swept into our world. She didn’t even have time to grieve, let alone properly say goodbye.
It’s not fair. None of this is fair. She’s been robbed of so much, forced into a life she never asked for.
I sit back, staring at the screen as a surge of anger rises in my chest—not at her, but at the situation. At all the shit she’s had to endure.
So I do the only thing I can think of. I open a new message and text my father.
Me:
I need to talk to you. It’s about Maddy.
His reply comes almost immediately, as if he’s been waiting for something like this.
Ion:
Call me.
I glance back at Maddy’s socials, my chest aching as I think about how much she’s been through. She deserves closure, deserves to say goodbye properly. And if I can help her get that… I will.
I switch over to my father’s contact and hit the call button. His voice is calm and steady when he answers, but there’s a sharpness to it, a readiness for whatever I’m about to tell him.
“?”
“It’s Maddy,” I say, leaning forward, my elbows resting on my knees. “She never had a funeral for her mom and sister.”
He’s silent for a moment, and I can picture him sitting back, his mind already working through a plan. “I see. And what do you want to do about it?”
“I want to give her that chance, Tat? ,” I say firmly. “She deserves to say goodbye to them.”
Another pause, then a soft sigh. “You’re serious about her, aren’t you?”
The question catches me off guard, but I don’t hesitate. “Yeah. I am.”
There’s a warmth in his tone when he speaks again, one that takes me by surprise. “Then we’ll make it happen. Let me know what she needs, and it’ll be done.”
Relief washes over me, and for the first time since stumbling across her profile, I feel like I can breathe again. “Thanks, Tat? .”
I stare at the screen for a moment, my grip tightening on the phone. Maddy deserves closure—deserves to say goodbye to the people she loved.
And I’ll make damn sure she gets it.