Chapter 2
ERYX
I was hoping to be done with this place by now, had I not taken a year off I would be.
But my time away wasn’t wasted. I’ve been working as a paralegal at my uncles firm these last two summers, so luckily it’s kept my mind sharp during that down time.
Still, coming back after a year away feels like trying to reinsert myself into a life that has already moved on without me.
My father, Viktor, is head of the Bratva. Not the version you hear about in Netflix docs, the real thing. Quiet, ruthless, and efficient, no theatrics. Just power, passed down through generations.
I’ve always looked up to him. Not just because he’s powerful, but because he’s precise.
Everything he does is with purpose. My brother, Roman, is next in line.
He thrives in this world too, just in a different lane.
He’s the heir; I’m the weapon. And I’m good with that.
Collecting what’s owed. Officially I’m working on being the family lawyer.
Unofficially, I’m our enforcer. Situations where talking is over and action takes its place.
I don’t flinch. I don’t ask questions. I handle it.
I’ve always been his best fighter. After all, I learned from the best.
Most kids get grounded for skipping class.
I was thirteen and getting pulled out of school to break a man’s jaw in an empty warehouse.
At 15, I held a guy's head underwater for two minutes, just long enough to make a point. My father called it restraint. He was right. Back then, I had rage to burn. I still do. But now I’ve learned to focus that rage.
To control it. I’m undefeated for a reason.
When he calls, I answer. Not because I have to, but because I want to. Because I can. My father taught us loyalty. Family first.
This is the life that was picked out for me. Built for me around who I am. Coming back here isn’t about finding myself, I know exactly who I am. Yet, something felt like it was missing.
The faces here were mostly the same, but something felt different, as if something had shifted the scales.
I’m sitting in my usual spot with Roman and best friend Caine.
He’s telling us about a new recipe he came up with for stuffed peppers, when she walks in.
A ghost of my past. I have to admit, watching her walk in for breakfast today wasn't on my bingo card for this year. I’ve tried keeping tabs on her with the help of Caine and his special skills, but this must not have come up on his radar.
She’s even more beautiful than the last time I saw her.
Her hair is longer and her eyes are haunted.
To be honest, I didn’t know when I’d be seeing her again.
I’ve been thinking about her for so long now.
Thinking of ways to get her. To bring her into my orbit.
And like an answered prayer, here she was being delivered to me.
I’ve thought of what I might say to her, how I might act, but for some reason all I feel is anger in this moment.
Because how dare she waltz in here like she hasn’t consumed my whole mind.
Like she hasn’t tormented my dreams and infiltrated every crevice of my being.
I almost lost her and I won’t forgive her for that.
I’ve been starring daggers into her since she sat down.
So when she starts making her way to me, I’m trying to think of how many ways I can make her life hell while she’s here.
“Hey Pendejo, do you mind? Some of us are trying to enjoy our breakfast, I don’t need your peeping eyeballs burning a hole though my damn head!”
Oh how I love the mouth on her, so feisty, not at all the docile girl her father made her out to be. Has she always been this way, or have the traumas of her life—just as mine—made her like what she is today?
I’m focused on her lips and the way her mouth moves as she’s trying to insult me. She has plump lips, that I want to take into my mouth, bite on them and suck her bottom lip between my teeth. But I’m supposed to hate her so I stay my cold, collected self.
Hold on, is she really snapping her fingers in my face? I catch her wrist in my hand, “You’ll want to watch that pretty mouth when speaking to me, Moya Vorona, before I make you eat your words.” Disdain dripping from my voice.
Roman and Caine are enjoying this too much trying to muffle back their laugh as their eyes go back and forth between us both.
They’re the only ones who know how deep my obsession with her goes.
They were with me that day, they saw how I looked at her, the way she imprinted herself into my mind.
I’ll have Caine get her schedule info. Wherever she goes I’ll make sure she knows I’m there too.
There won’t be a place on this campus she can escape me.
This year got a whole lot more interesting.