Chapter 150: The Unthinkable Apology

After a while, Nikolai lifted his head, and the expression on his face made Mikhail’s attention sharpen. "What are we going to do now?"

Mikhail frowned. "About what?"

"Starlight and Okami, obviously." Nikolai hesitated before continuing, his voice quieter than before. "Do you think we’ve lost her to him?"

Mikhail studied him for a moment. There was no mistaking the concern in his brother’s eyes, and suddenly, the destruction surrounding them made a little more sense. Nikolai hadn’t simply been angry about the humiliation at the Red Lounge. He had been watching Starlight slip further away from them, and the sight of her with Okami had apparently struck a nerve he hadn’t known how to deal with.

"Lost her?" Mikhail repeated. "We never had her in the first place."

Nikolai’s mouth tightened.

Mikhail sighed. "You know what I mean."

"Yes, I know." Nikolai leaned back against the seat, but he looked no less troubled. "And from the way things are going, I don’t think we’ll ever get the chance to."

"You’re being dramatic."

"Am I?" Nikolai gave him a disbelieving look. "Did you see the way she was with Okami tonight? She leaned against him like it was the most natural thing in the world. They looked comfortable together, Mika. Far too comfortable for two people who supposedly don’t know each other that well."

Mikhail’s eyebrows lifted.

"Seriously? That’s what you’re worried about?"

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It means I sometimes wonder what goes on inside that head of yours." Mikhail shook his head. "Starlight is using Okami to get us off her back. It’s obvious. She knows she can’t easily deal with us alone, so she’s using him to keep us at a distance while making it clear that she has no intention of cooperating with us."

Nikolai’s expression remained unconvinced.

"You’re saying she isn’t interested in him?"

"I’m saying we don’t know whether she’s interested in him, and you shouldn’t confuse one evening’s interaction with something more. She probably did it because she wanted to annoy us. You should know what kind of girl she is by now." Mikhail paused, then added, "For all we know, their interaction might end tonight."

Despite himself, Nikolai let out a short, humorless breath. "So, does that mean we still have a shot with her?"

Mikhail stared at him. "You seem to have taken quite an interest in her. I thought you hated her guts."

Nikolai looked away, his jaw tightening. He had thought so too. Who could have imagined that seeing her with that annoying son of a bitch would irritate him this much? The memory of the scene at the Red Lounge replayed in his mind.

He remembered how Starlight’s expression had softened around Okami, the ease with which she had leaned against him, and the casual familiarity between them. Perhaps Mikhail was right. Starlight might only have been trying to provoke them. His brother usually had a good understanding of these things, and now that Nikolai thought about it, Mikhail’s explanation made sense. Starlight had always been determined to resist their attempts to control her, and using Okami to push them away was exactly the sort of thing she might do.

Yet something about the sight had felt disturbingly familiar, stirring a memory he had spent years trying not to revisit.

It was like history repeating itself.

The thought settled heavily in his chest, and his fingers curled against the armrest.

Mikhail noticed the change in his expression but didn’t ask about it. He had seen that look before, and he knew better than to press his brother when he wasn’t ready to talk. Whatever Nikolai was remembering, it clearly had something to do with why Starlight and Okami’s closeness had affected him so deeply. Mikhail could only hope that whatever ghosts his brother was fighting wouldn’t be allowed to dictate their next move.

After a moment, Nikolai turned back to him, his expression caught somewhere between uncertainty and reluctant hope.

"So, what are we going to do now? How are we going to get her back?"

Mikhail watched him, a thought slowly taking shape in his mind. His brother kept talking as though Starlight already belonged to them, as though they had some claim over her. But could he really blame Nikolai for thinking that way?

Mikhail had played a significant role in shaping his brother’s expectations, allowing him to believe that if they wanted something badly enough, they only needed to find a way to get it. They had grown accustomed to getting their way, and neither of them had fully considered what would happen when they encountered someone who refused to be controlled. Perhaps it was time they stopped treating Starlight like someone they could simply bring around to their way of thinking and started taking her feelings and wishes into consideration. It was time to fix the mess they had created, even if it meant putting their pride aside. If there’s one thing that evening had taught Mikhail, it was that their usual methods weren’t going to work on Starlight Dawson.

They needed to change their approach and stop trying to force her into cooperating with them. They couldn’t order her around, corner her into an agreement, or assume that their status would eventually make her yield. Every time they tried to control her, she found a way to turn the situation against them. If they wanted any chance of changing their relationship with her, they would have to start by understanding what she actually wanted. But before they could do that, there was something else they needed to do. They had to apologize to her.

"Nikolai," Mikhail finally called.

His brother looked up. "What?"

"I think we need to apologize to Miss Dawson."

"WHAT?!"

Nikolai sprang to his feet, his eyes widening in disbelief as he stared at Mikhail, as though his brother had just suggested something utterly outrageous. His disbelief quickly gave way to indignation. "Apologize to Miss Dawson?" he repeated, as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. "Are you being serious right now?"