Page 23 of Deceptive Vows

After the doctors gave him a year to live, he told us he’d be passing the torch. That happened two months before the accident, so he now has seven months by their records and will eventually begin to deteriorate in health and mental capacity. He didn’t want to be around the men in that state.

Father has kept his sickness hidden for the best part of four years. We fought long and hard, but this is the end of the line.

“My plans to go back to Russia and die there are the same. I’ll be leaving a month after the change of leadership. I just… won’t have your mother with me.” His hands shake at the mention of her, and I’m grateful he knows he can be real with me. “I can’t believe she’s gone, Mikhail.”

“Me, neither.”

I might not have any regard for marriage, but my parents were the best examples of love to have.

In this dark criminal world we live in, it was different to witness the love they had for each other.

My mother wasn’t Russian. She was American. It didn’t matter where she was from though; she loved Russia and would have loved to go there with my father to live out the rest of his days.

“My beautiful angel and my daughter are both gone. I’m going to be your father now and tell you that I need you to be careful. It was a close call, and the way it happened was fucked up considering who we are. That’s why I’m telling you to keep your eyes open and take things in their stride so you can focus. You hear me, son?”

“I do.” I nod with assurance, but I already know I won’t rest because of that feeling in my soul telling me I can’t.

I understand the grief he must feel, but he’s had three months to deal with it.

Everyone went through the motions, but to me, everything is still fresh.

It’s three weeks fresh, and I’m the only one with the memory of that night I’ll never forget.

I’m the only one who looked into Raul’s eyes and knew the bastard was hiding answers I need to solve this mystery.

I missed my mother’s funeral and buried what remained of my sister last week. So the raging beast inside me forbids me to stop digging for answers.

The only thing I’ll allow to soothe my inner turmoil is defeating Raul and taking his daughter for myself.

I’ll take my pleasure in terrifying and taunting her to break her, then owning her body over and over again. More importantly, every time I’m with her, I’ll remember Raul’s agonized cries before I ended him. I’ll remember I singlehandedly took away her father and her love for that bastard Felipe. I’ll remember that I ruined her and the future her father wanted for her.

Her face will be a memento of my victory over the man who took everything from me.

I just hope like fuck that victory will lead me to conquering the bigger problem.

If I don’t fix the problem, I’m still dead, and so is everyone else.

7

Natalia

“Mr. Dmitriyev expects you to eat at the designated times. You are also to put in a request for anything you might need,” Aleksander explains, straightening up as he cuts me a sideward glance. “Is that understood?”

“Yes. I understand.”

I swallow hard to keep myself from groaning and keep up my pace next to him as we walk down the long, formidable hallway with barren gray walls on either side of us.

Aleksander is Mikhail’s caretaker. His Russian accent is much thicker than Mikhail’s, and I get the feeling he only speaks English when he needs to.

Aleksander was the first person I met when I arrived an hour ago at this fortress of a home that belongs to Mikhail.

The first things I noticed were that both Aleksander and the house are as cold and callous as Mikhail is.

At first glance Aleksander would seem like a mash-up of Alfred fromBatmanand Mr. Belvedere because of the well-tailored suit he’s wearing. However, his icy personality is nothing like either of them. I’d be more inclined to believe he was someone’s idea of their evil twin version.

He’s just shown me around the five-story mansion. I also got to meet the housing staff who so far seems to consist of three maids, two chefs, two gardeners, a pool guy, and a host of guards who all carry guns.

We walk out onto the third floor and stop by the balcony where Aleksander motions to our surroundings and sets his hands by his sides.