Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

159 Chapter 159

Seraphina’s POV 1

The water in my tiny shower ran lukewarm at best, but I stood under it anyway, letting it wash away the smell of that alley. The fear. The

violence. The blood that wasn’t mine.

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I scrubbed at my skin with the cheap soap I’d bought at the dollar store. Every time I closed my eyes,

I saw his face. Felt his hands on me.

I turned off the water and wrapped myself in the threadbare towel that had come with the furnished apartment. In the mirror above the sink, my reflection looked like a stranger. Pale. Hollow-eyed. Hair dripping wet and hanging in tangled strands around my face.

I looked like exactly what I was: a woman who’d nearly been assaulted in an alley and was now standing alone in a dump of an apartment, trying to pretend everything was fine.

The adrenaline was finally wearing off, leaving behind exhaustion so complete I could barely stand. My legs felt like jelly as I made my way to the bedroom, pulling on an oversized t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that had seen better days.

I collapsed onto the mattress, and that’s when I felt it. The sharp edge of something in my pocket. 1

The business card.

out, staring at the simple black text. *Rico

Good money. Very

my brain immediately rejected the idea. I wasn’t a fighter. What happened in the alley had

skill. I’d gotten lucky. That man

I be that lucky next

would be a next time. Women like me-alone, vulnerable, obviously struggling-we were targets. Tonight had proven

edge of the bed, turning the card over in my hands. The back

fighters are

my skin crawl, but they also made something else stir

kitchenette and opened the cabinet where I kept my meager food supplies. Half a loaf

nearly empty jar of peanut butter. And

sitting by the front door

the food had survived, it would have lasted maybe three

and checked my bank account. $247.83. After rent was due next week, I’d have less than fifty dollars to my

when I’d first found it. A cushion. A safety

just two weeks of city living. And I still didn’t have

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