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“How can you say that?” I stammer in annoyance and frustration when my older brother shakes his head again.

“I think it’s too much of a risk, Jade.” He sighs, running his hand through his thick black hair.

His hair is as black as mine, dark like midnight. We both have hazel eyes and high arched cheekbones. But he’s tall and slender and I’m shorter and a tad more voluptuous.

Still, when we walk together you can see we’re brother and sister.

“Malkov, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say. How can you tell me that revenge for our little brother’s death is too risky? Don’t you think Grigoriy deserves to be avenged?” my voice is heated with determination.

My older sister huffs loudly from the sofa where she’s lying with her legs draped over the arm. Her long brunette hair is spread out around her head over the seat. She sets the magazine she’s reading down on the side table and swings her legs over to the front to sit like a normal person, flicking her hair over her shoulder to get it out of her face. Her hair is the same color as our little brother’s.

“Jade, no one wants to lose anyone else. That’s why Malkov is saying it’s too risky. The Kuznetsovs are linked in with the Dubrovs. The Dubrovs are extremely powerful—“

I roll my eyes at Amber. She always sides with Malkov.

If Arkady was here he would side with me. He’s the only one of my siblings who has been in agreement since the first time I mentioned this plot for revenge. But he’s also the wild and reckless one so he’s never around.

“You guys aren’t listening properly. There is no risk. Not for you anyway. I’ll be the one going undercover.”

Malkov turns his back on me to pour a drink at the side bar in his living room. I can see he is cracking at the edges, being worn down by my incessant persistence. Possibly just willing to agree to my plan to shut me up because I’ve been going on about it for weeks already.

His apartment is positioned on the edge of Boston city. It’s an awesome place, nowhere near as fancy as something a Dubrov would have, but I like it.

My own apartment is smaller, on a lower level, in a noisier area, with less impressive views. So generally we hang out at Malkov’s place. We hang out a lot since we lost Grigoriy.

Grigor was our youngest brother, but he was the loudest, the funniest and the most fun to spend time with.

My heart crumbles in on itself every time I think about him, it’s like I remember all over again that he’s dead.

Gone forever.

I’ll never see him again.

That anger fuels me.

It pushes me to push my siblings, because I want revenge. I’m willing to do anything it takes to get that revenge.

I plonk myself down into the single seat and take a deep breath. While I speak, I pull my long, black hair into a messy high bun. The ends are dyed bright red, so my hair fades from pitch black to fire engine red.

“Ok, listen one more time, pay attention, I promise you this plan will work. I am going to get Radmir Kuznetsov, that fucking asshole who killed our baby brother, to think I’m a helpless girl who needs to be saved… He’s the kind of douche bag who can’t resist a woman in distress because he wants to prove he’s all that, so he will rush in to save me, and when he does I’ll have the opportunity to infiltrate his life, his business, everything. I’ll find out everything about that asshole and I will tear his life apart from the inside. His business will crumble, his life will crumble.“

“How are you going to get him to rescue you? From what?” Malkov says, turning to face me as he takes a sip of his vodka soda.

“Andrei Volo,” I say, as though it’s obvious.

Andrei was best friends with Grigor. He’s a hundred percent willing to help. He works for the Enzo family, a highly respected family in the area and one at odds with the Kuznetsovs. So, they are also willing to help. In fact, Andrei is the one who helped me piece this plan together. Losing my brother affected him badly and he wants revenge as much as I do. He’s also the one who helped me find out who was responsible for my brother’s death.

Radmir Kuznetsov.

The murderous asshole.

“What is Volo going to do?” Amber says, curious but trying to act like she isn’t.

“Andrei is going to get the Enzos to cause a bit of a scene. There will be a shootout, a bit of a tiff between the Kuznetsov brothers and the Enzos and I will be stuck in the middle, a helpless outsider in the wrong place at the wrong time. Radmir will rescue me, he will take me somewhere safe with him, and then the real plan starts. Infiltration and destruction.”

Malkov glances at Amber with his eyebrows raised. I think he’s finally starting to understand the plan.

Amber bites at her lower lip. She scrunches her nose and sighs loudly.

“ If —and I really mean if you can pull this off—it will be a good plan. But I just don’t see someone like Radmir Kuznetsov being willing to help some random girl for no reason.”

“Oh, trust me, I’ll be too pretty to resist. He will take one look at me and his masculine urge to be a protector will overtake all of his logical senses.” I chuckle, brushing my hand beneath my chin and pretending to strike a model pose.

Amber rolls her eyes and giggles.

Then we all fall silent for a moment. Every time we laugh we remember him, and that we’ve lost him. It’s like the guilt is too heavy when we laugh. Guilt because he can’t laugh, too.

It sits so heavily in the air, every moment of every day, that it consumes me. I want my brother back. But I can’t have him back. So, I want revenge.

When I glance at Amber, she is brushing a tear off her cheek. She feels his death as heavily as each of us does. We all miss him.

“I think it might work. And if it doesn’t—at least we tried,” she says quietly.

“And besides, we might get lucky and Radmir just gets shot in the tiff and gets what he deserves,” Malkov says.

“No!” I shout in horror. “He doesn’t deserve a quick death. He deserves something slow. He deserves pain . So much pain. Like the pain he’s left us with. A type of pain that eats away at you every day for the rest of your life. He took Grigor from us. He has to suffer for that, Malkov. He can’t get shot. It’s too easy.” Tears are streaming down my face now. Tears for my little brother. He was only twenty-one. He was just three years younger than me. He didn’t deserve to die. He had so much life and so much still to give.

Blackness churns deep in my heart.

Anger and resentment towards Radmir Kuznetsov.

Bitterness that might only be dispelled through this revenge. But somehow, I think even revenge won’t take the pain from my heart.

At least we will have our own kind of justice.

I wipe the tears away angrily with the back of my hand. I hate crying. Crying feels weak. I’d rather be out there doing something about it than in here sniveling like a useless little girl.

I’m anything but useless.

I’m the fire that is going to rip that murderer's life apart. I’m going to burn it all down. Everything he cares about.

Malkov tilts his head back and downs the last of his vodka.

“Do it,” he says sternly. “Do whatever you want to do and let me know if you need any help.”

“I’m going to meet with Andrei this afternoon to finalize things and check if the Enzos are willing to help. They did indicate that they were interested, but I want to set it in stone. I think it’s best if you two stay out of it because I don’t want you recognized. I’m going to give Radmir a fake name, obviously.”

Amber stands up and walks over to the bar. When she turns around and walks back to us she is carrying three shots of vodka. She hands one to Malkov and one to me.

“For Grigor,” she says, looking me dead in the eyes, her mouth stiff with emotion. She’s fighting tears, her eyes glittering with the strain of it.

“For Grigor,” I nod, my stomach flipping excitedly.

“For Grigor,” Malkov says.

We chime our glasses together and then all throw the shots back at the same time.

The alcohol burns my throat and I pull a face. I’m not really a fan of vodka, but being from a Bratva family that was something I was never allowed to tell anyone. I grin and touch my fingers to my lips. Excitement burns through me.

I can’t believe they finally agreed to my plan.

It would never have worked if they weren’t on board, too.

Now I can put everything into action as soon as possible.

I’ve already waited too long. My little brother has been dead for almost five months now. The time has finally come.

***

It's late afternoon when I leave Malkov’s apartment. Amber is still there, and they are talking about going out for lunch. But I want to meet Andrei. Glancing at my watch, I walk a little faster towards the parking area behind the tall apartment building. I’ll be late if I don’t hurry. That vodka went straight to my head, I really should start trying to eat breakfast before I visit Malkov. He’s always handing out vodka at his place.

I blink the remote of my car and it flashes open.

I drive a little red golf. It’s had a few modifications done to it. Grigor and I were into illegal street racing for a while. This isn’t the car we raced in, but because of that we ended up playing with this one’s engine too. It was just something we enjoyed doing together.

The modifications aren’t exactly legal for a road vehicle. But what no one knows can’t hurt them. Right?

I climb into the car and the engine growls to life. A far richer, deeper growl than one would expect.

I smile when I accelerate down the road, headed towards the bar where I am meeting Andrei. My hands wrapped around the steering wheel, nervous anticipation running through me as my bright red painted nails begin to strum anxiously.

Andrei is already there when I walk into the bar, shrugging the heavy coat off my shoulders because they have the heat turned up way to hot in here, even for early winter, I know it’s getting cold people but damn. Stop trying to cook us. At least wait until the first snowfall before you go full nuclear with the heating.

Andrei stands up to hug me when I arrive at the table he’s kept for us.

“Hey, Jade. For a moment, I thought you’d changed your mind.” He smiles, a tight sad smile. His dark blonde hair and brown eyes, teamed with his sharp features and small stature make him look a little mouse-like. I know he was good friends with Grigor but also a little jealous of him. I think Grigor was the outgoing, good-looking one and Andrei only really became popular once he befriended my brother. But that was years ago. Grigor and Andrei proved to be such good friends over the years. Andrei is like my other brother now.

He hugs me briefly and then I sling my coat over the back of the chair before sitting down.

“Did you speak to them?” he gets straight to the point, just the way I like it.

I nod. “I did, and they finally agreed to the plan,” I answer excitedly. “I want to do this as soon as possible. Did you speak to the Enzos?”

Andrei has worked for the Enzo family for years, trying to build a name for himself and a strong future in the Bratva world. I think he’s doing pretty well and starting to get respect amongst the Enzo brothers.

“I did. They’re in. They were just waiting for your go ahead. And I need to run through the plan with you one last time but in more detail, seeing as it’s officially happening now.”

Andrei waves down the bartender and asks me what I want. “Cream soda, please,” I say, knowing he will be embarrassed to order that and taking a small amount of pleasure and amusement in his discomfort.

The waiter doesn’t even blink at the order and leaves to get that and another beer for Andrei.

I run through everything with him.

From how the news will reach the Kutnetzovs, specifically Radmir, to the time and place it will happen, which is going to be tomorrow night. I’m so fucking happy they are as eager to get this going as I am. If they told me next week I’d be impatiently chewing my nails off all week.

“You’ve set up my fake identity, right? Jade Blake?”

“Yup, where you work, where you went to community college, blah blah, everything he would need to see if he wanted to confirm your story.”

“Ok, but how can you be so sure that he will believe it?” I ask, concerned.

“Because there are a few harmless truths mixed in with the lies.”

I nod, skeptical but hopeful that Andrei will know the difference between a harmless truth and a truth that might get me killed while I’m undercover.

He carries on chatting, oblivious to my concern. “Ok, and then there will be pretty much no communication once you are on the inside with him. I think it’s safer that way. You stay off the radar until you have something concrete we can use to take him down. Only contact us in an emergency.”

“Agreed, but I will have my phone on me.” I nod, sipping the bright green soda.

That night when I climb into bed, my heart feels more at ease than it has in months. I am going to avenge my brother’s death. I’m going to do something about it.

“I’ll make sure he pays,” I whisper to the darkness, speaking to my lost brother. Then I close my eyes and fall asleep, drifting off into a world of darkness where I’m running and screaming and trying to get there fast enough to save Grigor.