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.

staring at the simple black text. *Rico Santos.

Good money. Very

of my brain immediately rejected the idea. I wasn’t a fighter.

ago, not skill. I’d gotten lucky. That man had been drunk and

would I be that lucky next

next time. Women like me-alone, vulnerable, obviously struggling-we

on the edge of the bed, turning the card over in my hands. The back was blank except for a

are especially

skin crawl, but they also made something else stir in

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

empty jar of peanut butter.

grocery bag from tonight was still sitting by the front door where I’d dropped it. The bread was completely

if the food had

out my phone and checked my bank account. $247.83. After rent was due next week, I’d have less

so much when I’d first found it. A cushion. A safety net. But

living. And

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