The Last Chance, Vol 1 (The Ivanov Brothers #2)

Prologue

Chapters

Seven years before Antonio Rasili’s death…

The alley was dark, the ground slick with rain that had not stopped falling in a light drizzle since morning.

I shivered as a cool draft brushed against my skin and pushed the heavy metal door open a little wider, stepping into the alley, lit only by the moon.

I strained my ears. He was there, I knew it.

He liked to get some air at nightfall. It was what he had done these past months, ever since he had been here. Chained here.

I wanted to see him. Had to. I had not seen him for almost a week since my punishment, his punishment because that was what it was, wasn’t it?

My punishment was his. He was my Shadow, the one fate had shackled to me without giving him any say.

We were bound, in the worst possible way, bound by suffering and blood.

I froze when I heard sounds. Growls and…

of a struggle ? I leaned out of the doorway and looked toward the dead end of the alley where the sounds were coming from.

and felt my blood turned to ice. Two figures stood there.

He was there, pinned against the wall, my Shadow cornered by another Shadow, far larger and older, far stronger and darker.

My Shadow was almost as young as I was. Only seventeen, one year older than me, already marked for life because of me.

“My poor boy, you really are unlucky. Being bound to that bitch, I wouldn’t give you a year.

Today it’s a scar, tomorrow an arm, then your head.

That whore is going to get you killed,” the old Shadow sneered, shoving my Shadow violently against the wall, making him groan.

“No talk her like that,” my Shadow replied between clenched teeth, his accent strong, thick, his English broken.

He tried to straighten up, but the old Shadow struck him in the stomach, forcing him to fold over, knocking the air from his lungs.

“Looks like you need to be trained too, just like that bitch. You’re nothing but a kid!

But I’ll teach you all about life. A second scar won’t hurt,” he spat, pulling a knife from his boot and grabbing my Shadow’s shaved head to force him upright, bringing the blade toward his face.

I was on the old Shadow’s back before I even realized it.

I screamed and he shouted as I drove my fingers into his eyes.

He stumbled back, his free hand tangling in my hair, and hurled my frail body over his shoulder.

I hit the ground hard, sobbing as something warm ran down my temple.

“Fuck! I don’t give a damn if the Master has plans for you!

I’ll kill you, bitch!” the Shadow roared with the knife inches from my face.

My Shadow suddenly knocked him down by some miracle, given that he barely reached half the man’s height.

The old Shadow’s knife slipped from his grasp as he was already throwing my Shadow to the ground, straddling him, his fist crashing down on his face.

“I’m going to kill you! Both of you!” the old Shadow screamed, his voice echoing through the dark, empty alley.

The music from the party inside reached us, muffled.

No one would hear us. No one would come.

No one would save us. The old Shadow wrapped his large hands around my Shadow’s neck and began to squeeze.

The choking sounds my Shadow made echoed as his legs kicked against the wet asphalt, but he couldn’t break free.

He couldn’t. He was just a kid, like me.

Boom. Boom. The bass from the reception hall pounded in my head. Boom. Boom. Against my temples. Boom. Boom. Not the bass, it was my heart. Boom. Boom. He was dying. He was going to die. My Shadow was going to die.

My lips trembled as I pushed myself onto my knees. He couldn’t die. I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t want to be left alone with the monsters. I couldn’t. I was afraid.

I grabbed the old Shadow’s knife with shaking hands, freezing terror, and a scream of rage, I plunged it into his throat.

Blood sprayed across my face and across my Shadow’s as he drew in a huge gasp of air, finally freed from the old Shadow’s hands.

The man tried to grab the knife lodged in his throat, but before he could even touch it, he collapsed to the ground, choking on his own blood.

I stared at him without moving. I watched him gurgle in his blood, his eyes rolling back, his legs kicking uselessly before he went completely still. Dead.

I lowered my gaze to my hands, soaked in the blood of the man I had just killed.

Memories surged up, screams and blood. Again.

I had killed a man. Again. I had taken a human life.

Again. Rougher hands seized mine, pressing them against a warm chest beneath a damp T-shirt as I lifted my wide eyes to my Shadow’s bloodied face.

To his marked face. Marked by my punishment, by my fault.

The rain soaked our clothes, plastering my hair against my cheeks and mixing with my blood running down my temple.

“I killed him,” I whispered, never taking my eyes from his as he looked at me with concern.

My Shadow was still trying to catch his breath, coughing and gasping.

He had almost died. Death, that was what my life was made of now, wasn’t it?

“Calm down. I’m here,” my Shadow said, one of his hands resting against my blood-smeared cheek. Mine? Or the old Shadow’s?

His hand slid to the back of my neck, pressing our foreheads together. He had no right. Shadows were not allowed to touch the Stars. It was forbidden. Abnormal. But nothing was normal between him and me, was it?

“I’m here. Together, Sienna. Together,” he murmured.

“Together, Kenji,” I repeated in a broken voice, my tears mixing with the blood. I had killed once again and it would not be the last time.