Page 139 of Fractured Ties

Konstantin then added, “And he’s left to go back to Chicago. The morning after you were admitted, actually.”

“I should probably thank him for not staying long enough to visit.”

“Or run,” Konstantin returned.

Kolya met his brother’s gaze, unafraid. “I’m not running from that man.”

“You know he’s going to—”

“Punish me for this, and her, and all the rest? Quite aware, yes. I’m still not running.”

“Then you are crazier than I thought.”

“Or I’m just tired of this, Konstantin,” Kolya murmured. “I have been tired of being this man for him for a long time. Between the two of us, we both know I am not the better fit, no?”

Konstantin’s jaw ticked once but he nodded. “When do you want to get out of here and go home?”

“Any time would be great.”

“You got it.”

Konstantin was quick to leave the room then, leaving Maya alone with Kolya once again. She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to say, but her first thoughts slipped out of her mouth before she could think better of them.

“I don’t want you to be punished for me, Kolya.”

His gaze never left the doorway. “As long as it’s always me, and never you, dushka. I will always take it.”

And that was why, she knew.

Why he’d given her those stars—his stars.

He’d made her untouchable.

And in the process, ruined himself.

• • •

“Blyad,” Maya heard Kolya curse the second she walked back into the hotel suite. “Stupid fucking thing.”

Yeah, they were back here—although, a new and bigger suite with more rooms and space—for a spell. She was hoping it wouldn’t be too long. She set Sumerki down and undid the straps on his ThunderShirt. It was supposed to help the pup with the pain of his cracked rib, apparently. All she knew was that he hated it.

“Stay,” she told the dog.

Sumerki gave her a look with those big yellow eyes of his and then wandered off toward the bedroom where his bowls of food and water were set up. Not to mention, his bed. Really, she thought the pup was just happy to have Kolya back.

Maya found Kolya in the small kitchenette of the hotel suite. It was attached to a much larger dining room. With a kit of bandages and creams set up on the counter, Kolya bent over the edge to rest as he attempted to clean his arm.

Three times a day, that bandage needed to be changed. Each time, he refused to let her help for whatever reason. Maya had been fine with letting him grit his teeth and curse his way through it before, but not so much now.

This was ridiculous.

Kolya didn’t even notice Maya was in the room with him until she slid in beside him and took the cold cloth right from his hands. Those blazing eyes of his turned on her, and had it been someone else, they might have shrunk under the weight of his anger. She, on the other hand, stared back unbothered.

“Let me do it,” she said, “you hate doing it, anyway.”

Kolya sighed. “You don’t need to do it, dushka.”

“But I want to, so …”