ONE
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DMITRI Kozar is dead. The horrors I suffered when I first arrived into Russia had been pushed to the back of my existence, and there they’d stayed for ten long years. I didn’t see a way out of the darkness that had been buried deep inside me, until today. My only options before this day were to remain the property of the Bratva. But Dmitri is dead, and I’m free.
I cradle into Luka and cry harder as he holds me tight.
My head spins at the possibility that the evil in my life can now all be over. I open my eyes and stare into the shadows of Luka’s embrace. Dmitri, Dima, the devil himself, was shot right in front of me, but no one will ever know the truth about the person who killed him. The assassin was my friend, and she has shown me a way out of my life as I know it. They will search for the assassin, but she just left with one of their own. She was allowed into the inner circle of the Bratva, just like me. Now, I can use whatever advantage the Bratva has given me, and kill them all.
The warmth and support of Luka’s strong arms make me wonder how someone like him could still want to be near me. I’m damaged goods. He knew me before I was Russia’s most loved ballerina.
Luka is the only man I have ever loved, but my love for him is forbidden.
Men yell orders to one another from the unglazed window of the building. They fuss over Dima’s mangled body that fell from the room in the ten-story building where I’m standing now, and landed on the street below.
The joy of watching Dima die has evoked something deep inside me; it has awoken the dark beast that has lain dormant since the day I arrived into Russia. This feeling is addictive, and I’m already a slave to it. I need more joy in my life; I need it to mend the piece of me that’s broken.
My rambling thoughts are swept away by Luka’s touch as he gently strokes the back of my hair. He’s risking so much by touching me like this, but he’s never cared about the repercussions. I want nothing more than to be loved by him, but he can never know the things I’m about to set out to do. He will never understand why I need to do this—no one will. No one truly knows the extent of what the Bratva have done to me, and most of it I would rather forget. But to release the evil, I need to keep those memories close, to fuel my hate for the men who have made me the person I am today. They took so much from me so in return, I will take their lives.
“I want you to free all the girls at Dima’s house,” I whisper to Luka, “You’re in charge now, right?” I finally find the strength to look him in the eye.
His vivid blue eyes are my home. They are the most beautiful color and when he looks at me, everything is okay, and safe.
His eyes soften. “Of course.”
Now that Luka is in charge of the Bratva family in Russia, I can do anything I want. Right now, that means freedom for so many young girls.
The room of the abandoned building becomes a bustling scene as heavily armed guards of the Bratva gang scour, looking for Dima’s killer.
“It must’ve been a sniper from another building.” The head guard, Boris, tells Luka.
Luka nods. “I told him to keep away from that empty window.” He looks down at me under his bulging arm. “It’s just lucky you weren’t near the window either.”
I smile back at his words. He really cares more about my safety more than the fact his cousin is dead?
“Come on, Tia, I’ll get you home. We just have one stop off on the way.” Luka shoots me a quick wink.
Every time he calls me Tia, it warms my fractured heart.
I dare to glance at Boris. His brow is furrowed tight and his eyes beam nervously, not able to remain in one place. His whole demeanor looks distraught over his boss’s shock assassination, and thankfully pays no notice to Luka touching me like this.
“It was awful, Luka,” I say, purely for Boris to hear. “We were just talking to Dima when his chest started to burst, blood exploded out of his body. I knew exactly what was happening to him, and then he fell out of the window. I thought we were next so we hid in the corner. Luka, I’m so sorry about Dima. I’m so sorry.” I start crying again, and Luka holds me to him.
Boris sigh heavily. “I think it must’ve been the gang from the southern border, near Ukraine.” He spits on the ground after speaking about them. “They have wanted this port for many years. Now that their boarder is under watch from the world’s media, business is too difficult to negotiate in those territories . . . Pakhan.” He bows his head in respect. “What retaliation do you want to organize against them?”
I smile at Boris calling Luka Pakhan, so I push my face into Luka’s chest, hoping it shields my satisfaction. Pakhan is the highest position within the family, and Boris is now paying Luka the utmost compliment by acknowledging him as the new leader. The man who I love more than anything on this earth has now been deemed the godfather of the family. For as long as this remains the case, I am protected from everyone.
“Gather the soldiers. I want to show our friends in the east exactly who they attempted to terrorize. We will not be intimidated. Bratva will remain the authority within this country,” Luka responds defiantly.
I squeeze Luka. His strong words make him sound like a man rather than the boy that I’ve known for six years.