Page 3 of Deadly Knight

“Good night, Papa.” I turn around without answering him.

He huffs, his annoyance tailing me up the stairs. “When you graduate in a week, youwillend this façade. That’s an order.”

Truly, I’m shocked he remembered the date of graduation, considering his low opinion of it.

“You don’t have that kind of power over me. But thanks for trying.”

Katya will never be a façade. She’s my future.

One I’ll kill for.

Die for.

Bow for.

One that owns me—every beat of my heart and every bit of my soul.

And nothing will ever change that.

Dear Diary,

It’s graduation day! Crazy how years of work are about to come to an end. Everyone I’ve been around for the past four years will suddenly not be around. Some are attending the same university I am, but no one I really talk to. Others are moving away, some even out of the country. Others are skipping university and working right away, which is fine. Everyone has different goals that lead to different roads.

Dimitri’s is with the Bratva. I’ve known for years, obviously, but in school it’s easy to ignore. Now… What’s life going to be like for us? Will he have time for me?

I’m scared.

For now, I have to get ready.

Mama brushesthe comb through my bangs, readjusting them for what feels like the millionth time. Her smile is wide in the mirror’s reflection, so I let her keep caring for me. After a few more brushes, she places the comb to the side and hugs me from behind. Resting her chin on my left shoulder, her hair, the precise shade of brown as my own, blends with mine, like we’re one and the same.

“You have no idea how proud your father and I are of you.”

I smile at our reflection, tipping my head to embrace her as well as I can in this position. “You talk like this is the end, like I’ll be gone forever. You realize I’ll still be in the same city, just living on campus?”

Her smile instantly flips into a frown. In another situation, her demeanour might lead into a comment about my age and growing up, but we’ve had enough conversations over the past few weeks triggered by my choice of school. So I immediately know what she’s about to say.

“The fact you’ll be in Moscow is what makes me sad.” She straightens, brushing her hand through the curls she’s made possible with the curling iron still cooling off to the side. “For so long, you wanted to move to North America, but you’ve chosen to remain here.”

My smile is watery. In truth, I did spend a lot of my preteen years dreaming about moving across the world, but what twelve-year-old doesn’t? Getting away from my birth place seemed exciting at the time, but the older I got, the draw lessened.

With graduation approaching, so does reality; it’s financially better to remain in the country. Besides, my plan is to teach here in Russia, so it’d avoid dealing with the pesky task of gettingthe registration board to recognize my degrees and certifications from elsewhere.

There’s also Dimitri, not that I’d ever admit it to my parents. People’s general consensus is that it’s dumb to base life around a guy—which I’d normally agree with—but Dimitri isn’t just any “guy” to me. He’s my future.

Maybeif he were allowed to attend with me, it’d be a different case and we could go off together, but it’s not. His sacrifice involved arguing with his family to remain by my side, and mine is to stay in the city and make that possible.

“It’s better this way.” I pat her hands, turning away from the mirror to face her head-on rather than her reflection. “I wouldn’t want to be so far away from you and Papa.”

Her frown deepens. “As long as it’s not due to Dimitri.”

They like Dimitri, and have since the moment I brought him home, but that’s only because they believe he comes from a respectable family rather than a sinister one. They’re not aware of the criminals he goes home to or the jobs he does, and that’s the way it’ll stay to prevent them from shipping me off somewhere I’ll never see him again.

I shake my head. “You know I’d never throw my future away.”

Mama finally nods, believing me at least for the moment. I won’t assume this will be the last time the topic gets brought up, but for now, she drops it and waves me towards the door.

“Well then, time to get you graduated.”