Page 26 of Eternal

AZRA

“Ultraviolence” by Lana Del Rey

Present

H e was wrong.

Damir was clever, I’d give him that. But cleverness wasn’t enough for me to trust him blindly.

I’d been in too many similar situations to sniff out threats before they took shape, and he was all sharp edges wrapped in a beautiful package.

A man like him never moved without purpose, without a hidden goal, never asked a question unless he already knew the answer or planned to twist whatever you gave him into something useful for his stupid investigations.

Like that letter. The stupid knife.

It shouldn’t have annoyed me, but it did, the way his thumb had traced it, like the curve of a single letter, gave him power over me.

I should’ve stabbed him with it.

Too late to regret it now, Azra.

Focus. I need to focus. The mission was all that mattered, not his questions, not the way he moved too close, like he didn’t understand personal space or simply wanted to piss me off, not the way he laughed like he was having fun.

Definitely not that.

The faint sound of his footsteps drew nearer, and I forced myself to stay still as I finished folding my clothes.

“You’re quiet now,” he said, his voice low, almost amused. “Did I scare you? I thought we were team-bonding here.”

“I have nothing to say.”

“Unusual for you. I thought you’d be more… talkative.”

I glanced over my shoulder, meeting his gaze for the briefest second. “If you’re bored, you can always leave the room and maybe bring us some food.”

His lips twitched into that stupid almost-smile, my fingers twitched in response, wanting to wipe it off his face.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, his voice casual as he leaned against the doorframe. “I’ll get us some food, wait here.”

Yeah, right. Leave. Get out of my space.

It’s the first time I’m working with someone, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Actually, I do know. I hate it.

I hate how he moves around me, all quiet and calculating.

Like he’s waiting for something, fucking watching me, even when he thinks I don’t know. It’s not “team bonding,” it’s just him digging for weaknesses.

Pure investigation, plain and simple, every question, every sideways glance…it’s all the same shit.

Why the hell does he care so much?

Damir’s not trying to “bond.” He’s looking for cracks, for anything to worm his way inside my head. That’s what everyone’s done, always digging for a weak spot, always waiting to break you from the inside.

And it pisses me off how damn good he is at it.

I’ve tried to dig into him, too, but the difference is… he’s covered his tracks. The Bratva, the military, the whole prison thing? It’s all a fucking mystery, like one minute he’s here, the next he’s gone, and I’m supposed to trust that.

His supposed prison stint for the Bratva didn’t add up.

Disappearing to “rebuild himself”? Convenient, way too convenient.

I’m hyper-fixating over this, and I don’t even know why.

Probably because not only will I have to trust him with my life, but also with Vik and Kat’s lives, and anyone else who gets dragged into our mess. Fuck, that’s the part that makes it even worse.

How the hell am I supposed to trust anyone now? I stopped trusting long before my mother died.

She stopped trusting everyone long before she passed, everything and everyone turned into a threat.

She became paranoid, lost in it, and I followed her down that path without even realizing.

It’s like she left a part of herself behind in me, something that still clings to my bones, and that’s okay, it’s still a piece of her, I’ll carry her pain any day if it means keeping her with me, even in this broken way.

I can almost feel her ghost in the back of my mind, always there, reminding me that trusting people makes you weak, it’s her voice, her fear. Her trauma never really died with her, it stayed with me.

And she was right, you don’t survive by trusting others, you survive by keeping them away, far enough to protect yourself.

We’re our parent’s kids after all.

My phone buzzed, pulling me out of my thoughts. Vik.

“Hey?”

“ Kroshka . How’s it going?” His voice was calm, but I could tell he was already worried. “You think you and Damir can handle this, or should I be worried?”

“I could’ve done it alone. Don’t stress.”

“Mm.” I could hear the faint grin in his voice. “Also, the Don got new intel on the thief. He’s got a possible location, and he’ll be calling you in a few minutes.”

I froze for a moment. The Don’s calling me?

I’d never gotten a call from the Don before, always Viktor, always through him. So why now? Why would he bypass Viktor to call me directly?

I pushed the thought aside as Viktor’s voice came through again. “Az?”

“The Don’s calling me?” I asked, keeping my tone neutral.

“Yeah, well, you’re the one he trusts most to get it done. So don’t mess it up, alright?”

“Not planning on it,” I muttered.

Viktor’s tone softened. “Listen... be careful, yeah?”

“Yeah, I know. Stop worrying about me, I’ll be fine.”

“Promise?”

I smiled a little. “Promise. I’ll call you when it’s done.”

“I’ll be waiting. Bye, Kroshka .”

“Bye, Vik.”

I hung up and I had barely ended the call with Viktor when my phone buzzed again. This time, the number was unfamiliar, but I knew the voice instantly.

Calm, smooth, almost eerily scary.

Nikolai Moretti.

“Azra,” his voice slid through the line, laced with that trademark cold elegance. “How are you? It’s Nikolai.”

Azra.

I froze for a moment, it had been a long time since I’d heard it.

Vik, Kat were the only ones who knew it.

But Nikolai knew who I was before the Zennites’ Alliance was even created. He was a teenager when I disappeared nearly twenty years ago.

Of course, he knew my name.

He was the one who brought me back into the ranks, alongside Elijah Volkov, the pakhan, into the Bratva and the Zennites.

I thought about that moment…How much of my past they still kept in their back pockets, like something to pull out if it ever became useful.

“Hi, everything is fine, we’re waiting for your men to arrive at the meeting point tonight and give them our instructions.”

“I trust your preparations are going smoothly.”

I shifted, walking over to the window, my fingers absently tapping the glass. “It’s fine. What’s going on?”

“I’ve got the intel Viktor requested,” Nikolai’s voice came through clearly, breaking the silence. “The thief's name is Rafe Ricciano. He’s hiding out in a safe house on the east side of the city. The address is 1389 Winchester Avenue, it should be empty, but we can never be sure.”

“Oh, you found that quickly.”

A deep laugh resonated through the screen. “I’ve got a great team here in Vesper. We can track anything down, especially with some surveillance footage.”

Whoever they were, they were damn good.

I jotted down the address with a swift motion, but before I could respond, Nikolai’s tone shifted, becoming more serious. “I need you to do something else while you're there, Azra.”

My brows furrowed. “Something else?”

There was no hesitation in his voice. “Ricciano couldn’t have stolen what he did on his own.

He’s not smart enough, my men have tracked his movements, and we’ve seen signs of outside help.

You know how dangerous things have gotten since the old Emir died and our alliance got bigger with the Lebanese.

There are powerful people involved, people who are trying to put the Bratva, the Cosa Nostra, and the Lebanese against each other, they’re scheming to weaken us.

You’ll need to find this Rafe and search for something.

A phone. A contact agenda. Anything that can lead us to whoever helps him. We can’t afford any loose ends.”

I went silent for a moment, processing what he’d just said. Of course, he wanted more. The mission had gotten a hell of a lot more complicated.

“Is Viktor aware of this?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.

There was a brief pause on the other end, then, Nikolai’s laugh returned, soft, almost amused.

“Consider this a secret mission for the commanders of the Zennites. The Pakhan wants this, and so do I, keep it quiet. The people behind this are careful, and we need to stay ahead of them, no word about it to anyone else. I heard a lot of things about you, Azra, or should I call you Voron? Nonetheless, I heard you were a machine. That’s what I need you to be. ”

I gritted my teeth, but his tone was firm, it wasn’t a request, it was an order.

“Understood, sir,” I said, finally.

“Good,” Nikolai replied. “I’ll expect results, you can send me a text if you find anything at the end of the mission. Keep this between us for now, the fewer people know, the better. And please, call me Nikolai.”

“Got it, Nikolai.”

He hung up without another word, leaving me standing there for a moment, staring at the phone in my hand.

A new mission.

Find the man behind this theft, and find anything that could help tracking more information about this incident.

Who in their right mind would want to weaken an alliance as dangerous and crucial as the Zennites?

I guess I’ll have to find out.