Chapter 20
Kaz
Six Months Later
It’s been six months since I lost my soul.
Six months since I watched my moon’s body crumple to the ground, blood pooling beneath her like spilled wine.
I replay that moment constantly—day and night.
The way she fell almost gracefully.
The order to shoot her.
The way she didn’t make a sound when the bullet tore through her.
How I wasn’t fast enough when I heard the venom-laced command barked out in Russian.
They gave her five months.
Lily and Max kept her alive that long—five months on machines that breathed for her, pumped her heart, kept her tethered to life with wires, tubes, and stubborn loyalty.
They told us if she didn’t wake up by then, they’d let her go.
We missed it.
I missed it.
Because I was too busy chasing a fucking imaginary throne—trying to reclaim what was “rightfully” mine.
My father’s legacy.
The Bravata crown.
An empire built on blood, pain, and control.
What a fucking joke.
I traded the chance to see her one last time for power I don’t even want without her.
And now? We don’t know if she ever woke up before the deadline. We have no idea if she’s alive.
The only reason we even knew about the five-month mark was because Lily and Max told us when we handed Barbra over—gift-wrapped for their revenge.
So here I sit.
In this gilded prison of the Bravata throne.
Shackled.
Broken.
Empty.
“Kaz?” Dario’s voice cuts through the silence—softer than usual.
Even he hasn’t been the same. His golden-retriever energy replaced by shadows and silence.
I glance up. “What is it?”
He steps inside my office and drops into the chair across from me.
The study in this cursed mansion reeks of death and destruction.
“This came for you,” he says, handing me a letter. “And… there was a hit on facial recognition.”
I blink. “And?”
He grins faintly. “Vegas. We got a hit in Vegas.”
Even with everything going on, we’d continued searching—what we thought was my half-sister turned out to be my full sister.
Selene had planted that seed before everything went to hell, and we hadn’t let it go.
“So… we go back to Vegas,” I say, trying to keep my voice casual, even as a tightness coils in my chest.
Dario nods and stands. “I’ll go find Keir and fill him in.”
I give a curt nod in return as he leaves, the door clicking shut behind him.
In this life, grief doesn’t come in waves—it bleeds out in slivers, through stolen moments and quiet agony.
No time to fall apart.
Not when you’re holding the reins of a kingdom you never asked for.
While I’ve been dismantling the Bravata’s human trafficking rings, Keir’s been running his syndicate. We forged a pact—Selene’s idea.
Now we’re two of the most powerful men on the East Coast.
And none of it means a damn thing without her.
I pick up the letter Dario left behind. No return address. No markings. Just my name.
My pulse kicks up as I open it.
I barely breathe as I unfold the page.
Dear Kazimir,
I don’t even know if I’ll send this. I’m not sure I have the lady balls for it.
But I needed to write it—needed to get the weight of it off my chest.
There’s so much I want to say, but maybe it’s all useless. Because you left.
All of you left me.
I woke up in the hospital alone.
My heart shattered into a million pieces when I found out you were gone—gone as if I meant nothing more than a fleeting distraction.
Maybe I should’ve seen it coming. It had only been, what, a week?
A shrink would probably say I’m crazy.
And maybe I am.
Because the moment I saw you, it felt like something inside me snapped into place.
Like my soul had known yours forever. Like we were echoes of lovers from another life.
It sounds insane, right?
The connection I felt—to all of you—defied logic. But I’ve never been one for logic. Nor am I normal.
I read enough books to know how stories like this go.
But maybe I let myself believe in the fantasy.
That it could be real.
That you’d come back.
Instead, you broke me.
At first, it was in the most beautiful way.
But when I woke up and you weren’t there… it was the cruelest kind of destruction.
I want to hate you.
God, I wish I could.
But I can’t. Because the truth is, I let myself fall. I let myself believe.
And somewhere deep down, a part of me thought you left to take your place—your legacy. That you’d come back for me once the dust settled.
But you didn’t. And I have to live with that.
I’ve been out of the coma for three weeks now.
And every single day, I’ve thought about writing this letter.
Even if I never send it, I needed to get out how it felt—howyoumade me feel.
So, I hope, you are getting everything you wanted.
The worst part is… I would’ve done anything for you.
All of you.
You just had to ask.
I turn twenty-four in a week.
And the people I want to celebrate with most… are now just ghosts haunting my memories.
Sincerely,
Selene
My hands shake as I read it again. And again.
She’s alive.
She’s fucking alive.
I grab my phone and call Dario. He picks up on the third ring.
“Hey, I’m with Keir. What’s up?”
“When did that letter arrive?” I demand.
“This morning.”
“Tell Keir to ready the jet. Pack what you need. We leave within the hour.”
“What the hell—Kaz, what’s going on?” Keir’s voice cuts in.
“The letter. It’s from Selene.”
Silence. Then a sharp intake of breath.
“She’s alive?” Keir says, stunned.
“Yes. And if the letter’s right… her birthday’s tomorrow.”
“Fuck. Then let’s go get our girl,” Keir says, a spark of life in his voice for the first time in months.
We hang up. I don’t waste a second.
I head to my room, throw what I need into a bag, and rush downstairs.
One of the guards spots me. “Sir, is everything alright?”
“Call Lilith. Tell her I’ve got business out west. She’s in charge until I’m back.” I don’t even break stride.
Lilith—my second-in-command—ruffled a lot of old timers feathers when I promoted her.
But she’s sharp, ruthless, and loyal to the bone.
She reminded me of Selene. That’s why I chose her.
She’s helped me rebuild the Bravata from the inside out.
In the garage, I jump into my SUV and peel out toward the syndicate’s high-rise.
We’d moved into a penthouse at the top of the building after claiming power—neutral territory for all three of us.
I’m coming for you, malyshka.
And nothing—nothing—will stop me.