Chapter 1 Sergei
SERGIE
“Sergei. Hold up.”
“I’m done talking.”
“You’re making this personal.”
“It is personal!” I gave him a hard look. “You think it was easy to walk away from all that?”
“I know it was rough.”
“You have no fucking clue.”
He didn’t have a clue how hard it truly was.
None of them did. I was only able to walk away because of the secrets I carried with me. I knew names, routes, and favors called in and never repaid. They kept me and my brothers breathing when the bratva wanted to cinch the noose.
Those same secrets keep me looking over my shoulder.
I might’ve left New York, but it hadn’t left me, not completely.
A debt of silence stood between me and the people I hold close, and because of that, I would walk around the rest of my life with a cold glass in one hand and a list of people who might turn on me in the other.
I was struggling to maintain my temper when I snapped, “I burned bridges and broke ties with the worst of the worst, and I didn’t do it to end up right back in the middle of it!”
I was trying to rein in my anger when I heard the deep rumble of Bogatyr say, “Hey, Boss.”
Bogatyr was one of my most trusted guards. Most called him Bog, and the name fit. He was built like a wall, and he didn’t back down from anyone. He was my head guard and knew not to bother me unless it was important. I turned to face him and snapped, “What is it?”
“There’s a woman out front.” His thick brows furrowed. “She’s asking for Viktor.”
Viktor was one who typically kept to himself, but like me, there were times when he’d enjoy the company of a woman.
It wasn’t completely unusual for a late-night mistake to come back around, hoping for another round or a payout.
He’d already gone for the night, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any bullshit, so I told him, “Send her away.”
With anyone else, it would’ve been the end of it. I’d given an order and expected it to be carried out, but Bog didn’t move. He just stood there giving me one of his looks.
“You should see her.”
His voice was calm and showed no disrespect, but it was firm in a way that left no room for dismissal. If it had been any other guard, I’d have had their throat. But Bog had been with me since New York.
He’d stood by my side through blood and fire. I knew he’d step in front of a bullet without hesitation, and I couldn’t say that about anyone else. I knew he wouldn’t press me on this unless he believed it mattered. If he was insistent on me seeing her, then there had to be a good reason.
Against my better judgment, I placed my drink on the table and groaned, “Fine. Let’s see what Viktor’s latest stray has to say.”
I made my way downstairs and weaved through the crowd until I reached the front foyer. That’s when I saw her, and my step faltered.
Alina.
It had been years since I’d last seen her, but I would recognize those green eyes anywhere.
She was no longer the gangly shadow of a girl who used to trail behind Viktor with her timid smile.
That little girl was long gone. In her place stood a woman, and God help me, she was beautiful.
Too beautiful. The kind of beautiful that twisted something deep in my chest and brought thoughts to my mind that I had no business thinking.
I was taking her all in when I saw it.
The deep bruise marring her pale cheek and the faint swell of her bottom lip. She shifted her weight, and there was an undeniable hitch in her step, one that she was doing her best to hide. Those first flickers of desire quickly rolled into a burning rage, and I was struggling to contain it.
I barely knew the girl. I certainly held no claim to her.
But whoever had laid their hands on her was dead.
They just didn’t know it yet.