Chapter 12 Don’t Break My Sisters Heart
Don’t Break My Sisters Heart
Carina to Nate: Do you think they’re really fucking? [delivered]
Tess
Carina and I sit cross-legged, facing each other on my bed. When did I start thinking of it as mine? I've been at Kai’s for less than a week, yet I already feel more at home here than I ever did in my tiny flat.
I hadn’t noticed it earlier, too caught up in the chaos, but now it’s hard to miss—Carina isn’t wearing her usual pink or black.
“What’s with the blue dress?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
She laughs softly. “I’m experimenting. Figured it was time to branch out.”
I glance at her, a little curious. “How come you wear so much pink, anyway? You’ve got pink hair, pink clothes, even your car is pink. I’ve always wondered but never asked.”
Her smile falters, and she hesitates for a moment before speaking. “When I disappeared. I wasn’t kidnapped. My dad sold me.” I suck in a sharp breath, but for once in my life I stay quiet, letting her continue.
It was all over the news when Dominic Beckett's daughter resurfaced. Engaged to some tech mogul no less. I’ve asked her about it all before, but she’s always brushed me off.
“Once I escaped, I had to reclaim my identity, and pink was part of that. I know it sounds... odd, but it was something that was mine. My choice. It represented freedom. But... It's been a year since I killed the last of the men who hurt me.” She exhales, a small, bittersweet smile flickering across her lips. “It’s time to move on. I realised that by clinging to pink, I was still letting them control me. It kept me tied to that past.”
She grins suddenly, her eyes sparkling with resolve. “But my hair is never changing. That stays. Just expect to see a lot more colours in my clothes from now on.”
I sit back, processing her words, and for the first time, I truly understand the weight behind her choices. And I’m proud of her—proud of how far she’s come, how much strength she’s found to change and take back what was once taken from her.
"So that’s why you started killing? Revenge?" I ask, piecing things together in my head.
"Yeah.” She grins wide, her eyes gleaming. “And boy, did I get it."
Before I can respond, she raises an eyebrow and leans in, her voice teasing. "Now, tell me about you and Kai." She wiggles her eyebrows, and I laugh, masking my face, embarrassment burning my cheeks.
“Ugh. I don’t even know what’s going on there.”
“Talk to me.”
I take a deep breath, gathering my thoughts.
"Okay. Well… on Sunday, just before we found out about the break-in, he kissed me…
" I tell her everything—the way his kiss silenced me, how he pulled away almost immediately. I explain how comforting he was after that tense encounter with the Russian outside the gym. Then, when I get to last night, my face turns beet red. "And last night… I made a huge lapse in judgment. I’ve never done that before, ridden someone’s face.
But now, all I want is to find him and do it again. "
Carina’s face fills with amusement, but I can’t hide my embarrassment.
“I’m pretty sure he’s going to push me away again. I can already feel it coming.”
She pauses, her expression thoughtful, before responding.
“Kai is... complicated. He’s a little hot and cold, honestly.
That’s probably the best way I can describe him.
When he’s with Nate, he’s way more relaxed.
But… he struggles with opening up to people.
And he’s not great with change. You just have to give him time. ”
I shake my head. “I don’t think time will help.”
Carina doesn’t look convinced, and I can’t help but hope she’s right.
Kai
“I need you to go with Tess when I send her to a safe house.”
Enzo’s words snap my head toward him.
“Huh?”
He sighs, running a hand over his jaw. “Look, I have to get back to New York, but I want someone I trust with her.”
“What about your men?”
“They’ll protect you both. But I don’t want her alone. And I don’t know how long this might take.”
“How long what will take?”
“Finding Petrov. The other Russians. She needs to stay hidden until it’s over.”
I lean back in my chair, staring up at the ceiling like it holds the answers. This can’t be happening. It’ll throw my already fragile routine into chaos. Too much time around her is a disaster waiting to happen.
But there’s no way I can say no. Not with Enzo staring at me like that.
“What about my work?” I ask, trying to find an escape hatch. Any excuse.
Nate, silent until now, finally speaks. “Don’t worry about Haven, man. We’ll figure it out.”
“You won’t have anyone to clean up your messes.”
He just shrugs, utterly unbothered. “So, we don’t kill anyone for a while. And let’s be real—if Carina finds out you refused to protect her best friend; you’d be the next dead body.”
“Fuck.”
“So, it’s settled, then.” Enzo’s voice is final. “You’ll go with Tess, watch out for her, keep her company. I’ll handle finding the Russians and eliminating the threat.”
He stares me down, waiting.
I nod, my throat too tight to respond.
“And Kai?” His voice hardens, his gaze sharp as a blade. “Don’t break my sister’s heart.”
His words hit like a punch to the chest. They echo in my head, bouncing off the walls of my mind for the rest of the day. Don’t break my sister’s heart.
This is my nightmare. This entire day has been a slow-motion train wreck.
Before Tess, the only person who’d stepped foot in my space was Nate. I don’t let people in—not into my home, not into my life. People are loud. They leave messes. They disturb the careful balance I cling to for control.
And now Tess is a whirlwind in the middle of all that. Her laugh, her energy, her presence. It’s too much. Too dangerous.
Everything feels like it’s spiralling out of control, slipping through my fingers, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop it.
And that’s what terrifies me the most.