Bloom

Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Also by Brooke Harper About the Author Bloom © Copyright 2023 Brooke Harper Visit my books at https://authorbrookeharper.com/ All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher/author. This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. H.A.B. Publications LLC Cover Design: EmCat Designs Interior & Formatting: Formatting by Jennifer Laslie Editor: The Fiction Fix Editing Trigger Warning THIS BOOK CONTAINS Dark Themes Sexual Assault/Abuse Stalking/Obsession Murder Violence Revenge Light BDSM Edging/Forced O’s Kidnapping Age Gap (10+ years) Mafia/Gangs Torture Traumatic Past Blood Play Bloom I’ve weathered the storms. Now, it’s my time to bloom. I came too close to losing Nikolai, and it almost destroyed me. I’m not sure why, but it’s getting harder to hate him every day. Something is blossoming between us—something more than lust—and it scares me. It’s more powerful, more magnetic than I can explain, and that makes it dangerous. For both of us. To make matters worse, Nikolai’s driven by more than revenge now. He still wants to kill my father and rule over the coast, but with our enemies closing in, he’s just as determined to keep me safe. He says he’ll do whatever it takes, even if that means making me his forever. To save my life, I may have to let the man who ruined me into my heart. But how can a rose bloom when surrounded by so much darkness? For the ones who thought I was crazy for writing in this genre and still cheered me on every step of the way. Chapter 1 Rosalind Nikolai is dying. “Don’t die. You fucking bastard, don’t you dare die.” I try to scream at him, but no sound comes. I push down on the wound, but the blood won’t stop, and he isn’t moving. He’s barely breathing, and my heart is utterly shattered. Blood. Everywhere. Nikolai’s blood. Soaked deep. Into my dress. My bones. My soul. Now, my fingers slip in the blood as I feel for a pulse. He’s cold, a weird waxy white. Oh God. Oh, God. Nikolai is— I scream and shoot upright, clawing the air like I’m mad. I suck in giant, gasping breaths and open my eyes. My heart slams, and I’m slick with sweat. “Jeez, Roz,” says Genius, hair poking up in all directions, a rainbow of colors. “That must have been some nightmare.” Nightmare. If only… The air is thick as I try to draw in breath, trying to calm my heart and racing pulse. I reach for the bracelet, but it’s not there. You’d think after two months, I’d be used to it gone, but I’m not. “I’m okay.” I’m not, and the rasping pull in my voice gives that away. I’m not okay, but I will be. I have to keep telling myself I will be. “Look.” Genius stands and puts her hands on her hips in the bedroom of my beachside bungalow. “This is me, Roz, your best friend. You can tell me anything.” I half laugh, a pathetic laugh that I don’t feel in my bones. “I’m okay, I swear.” She sits next to me. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but c’mon, like what the fuck? It’s gotta be over a boy.” Nikolai isn’t just a boy. Genius thinks I’m nursing a broken heart, but I’m nursing a broken everything. So much blood. I can’t stop thinking about it. The numbness when he was rushed into surgery. Sitting by his bed in the ICU because it would have taken bigger, stronger, better men than Tony and Rush to move me. Yes, the bullet somehow—miraculously—missed his major organs, but it still tore him up, hit an artery and he… So much fucking blood. Even now, it’s staining my hands. I can’t unsee it. It’s like my hands are having a real Lady MacBeth moment or something. I was going to leave. I didn’t just think about it; I’d been at the door. Who in the world would blame me if I’d left? He’s still alive. He’s still alive and… I squeeze my hands into tight fists. He’s still alive and he sent me away. Here. I need to focus on that. “Roz, you can tell me what happened.” Genius squeezes one of the fists I’ve made in the bed sheets. “Look at these fucking shoulders, girl. They’re like eighties-style shoulder pads. Made to take on everything.” Now, I laugh properly. “Idiot.” “Me?” “You.” She laughs with me. “But I got you to smile!” I roll my eyes. “Because you’re insane.” “I’m not.” Her silliness fades, and she squeezes my hand again. “What happened?” Hell, I know I can’t tell her everything. My father’s out there still. Father. He doesn’t deserve that title, not with everything he did. He shot Nikolai, the man I— The man who kidnapped me. The man who touched me, woke things in me. Nikolai, the man I have big, complicated feelings for that don’t seem to want to go away. If I tell