Chapter 4 Kostya

I felt a prickle on the back of my neck. Someone stood a few feet behind me. I turned to see it was a teenage girl.

She'd taken one look at me and compared me to the god of the underworld, the master of the dead. I had been called out by a slip of a girl. A girl who sounded like she was in a rush to grow up. Little did she know that the older you got, the more joy life sucked out of you, and the deader you became inside. She had one thing right though. Cleo meant something to me. I'd brought that dog from Russia, where I'd found him on a street corner fighting off a pack of rats. I was going to kill those fucking Jamaicans.

Her innocent, pain-filled eyes looked straight into my soiled soul, and something odd happened. A sliver of light shone through me, reaching my insides for a speck of time.

"Kostya!" Andrey yelled from behind her.

The girl's eyes grew wide, and even in the dark, I noticed the pink blooming on her cheeks.

"You could've introduced yourself. It's rude to mislead yourself."

I walked up to her until we stood toe-to-toe. "Little girl, you will never meet another man who will misrepresent himself less than me. Everyone who knows me knows exactly who I am." And what I'm capable of, especially if you fucking kill my dog.

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't step back. Somehow I knew she wasn't the type to ever step back.

"I am not a little girl."

I didn't stop to point out that her angry tone was proving her wrong.

I gave her my back as I turned to face Andrey. "Care to tell me what she's doing here?"

"She's here with her mother. A woman called Irina."

I tensed and ignored his curious look. I glanced back at the girl and saw the similarity. With her honey-blonde hair and doe-green eyes, she was the exact image of the woman I remembered. "Where is she?"

"That's it? You're not gonna tell-"

"There's nothing to tell. She's just a ghost from the past."

He snorted. "Your ghost is waiting for you inside, haunting the living room. Never seen anyone that nervous before. She's probably poltergeisted a hole in the carpet by now."

A word was heard behind me, and I turned around.

The girl stood over Cleo's grave. She'd dropped white roses onto the dirt and was looking at her fingers. Her bloody, fucking fingers. A thousand watts of electricity exploded in my chest. Those damn, bloody, white roses.

I walked up to her and grabbed her hand. Ice coated my veins when I saw the streaks of red across her hand.

"What the fuck did you do?" I roared.

Huge eyes stared up at me. "I just wanted to do something nice for-"

"No one asked you to."

"But-"

"I fucking hate roses."

She scowled at me. "Do you hate everything, including your last name and flowers? How about unicorns, or ice cream, or babies?"

As she listed off things any normal person would love, at least according to her, all I could see was my mother's body. I could still smell her flower fragrance. Sometimes if I tried hard, I could wash away the odor of rotting meat and the buzz of flies that had surrounded her.

I bit the inside of my mouth and pushed away the thoughts. And it was all because of her. Irina's baby. I'd turned my back on her for two seconds and already she was causing havoc in my life. What the hell was her mother doing here? And more importantly, when were they leaving?

I released her hand. "Don't let her out of your sight," I barked at Andrey.

I stomped back inside, looking for the culprit of my anxiety. Irina looked exactly the way Andrey had described her; pacing on the living room rugs.

The years had been kind to her. She was still a beautiful woman, just like I remembered her. My last memory of her was that she'd followed her Russian boyfriend to the old country. And we never heard anything from her after that.

"How did you find me?" It was strange that she would now suddenly pop up in my life. The woman hadn't even bothered to show up to her best friend's funeral.

"I still have a few contacts from my old life."

Of course, how could I forget? It was what my mother and Irina called their life before coming to America.

"What can I do for you?" I got straight to business. Forget small talk.

Her eyes softened. "It devastated me to hear about your mom."

"Noted." There was nothing more to say. Condolences eleven years post-mortem didn't have that punch she was looking for.

"I never got the chance to say goodbye."

Why was she going on about this? "I did. For two whole days as I sat next to her body."

She winced. "Yes, I heard about that."

Had she now? "You must have had great contacts back then."

"Your mother and I had made a promise to each other. If anything happened to either of us, we'd take care of the other's child."

"Guess you failed at that."

Guilt darkened her eyes. "You're not going to give me an inch, are you?'

I grabbed a bottle of vodka from the cabinet. I wasn't sure why I was making it tough for her. There was no way I would have gone with her instead of Sergei. She couldn't have given me what he had. It just worried me that after all these years she only remembered having a best friend when she was about to ask me for a favor. Because why else would she be here now?

"Again, what can I do for you?" I poured another glass and held it out to her, but she refused.

"I'm in trouble," she admitted.

Of course, she was. I downed my drink and waited for her to continue.

"Someone's after me."

"And you want me to take care of him."

She shook her head. "You can't. And even if you could, I'd never ask that of you."

An odd remark, given my line of work. "Then what?"

In a quick move, she grabbed my hand. It felt like hot coals were being pressed to my chest. I almost pulled back. I pointedly looked at her hand. Had it been a man, any man, I'd have struck him.

"I want you to promise me you'll take care of my daughter."

I quietly tried to step back, but she didn't release me. I was seriously reviewing my position on hitting a woman when desperate eyes bored into mine. The look took me back over a decade and cracked open the door to some happy memories. To a time when my mother and Irina had taken me on a walk and had made me a birthday cake. No matter their late working hours, they always made time for me.

"Do you know what you're asking of me?"

Irina nodded.

I highly doubted it, so I explained. "As my protegé, she will be regarded as a Bratva princess." Even if it were only for a few days, it could have effects. Severe ones.

The woman's eyes became misty. "She is a princess."

I supposed all mothers thought that about their girls.

"Another thing," she said with a sneer in her voice. "Keep her away from the Bratva."

"Keep her away from the Russian mob? I guess this is the right time to tell you I'm having a Bratva meeting tomorrow night at my house."

She blanched, and for a split-second looked uncertain. "I...I don't have another choice. I'll tell her to keep inside her room."

"If I were a modest man, I'd say your confidence in me is humbling."

She looked me straight in the eyes. "It's not you I have so much confidence in. It's your mother. I don't believe that Anastasia's son could ever harm my daughter."

Everything inside me pushed me to flee the room. To turn my back on this woman and her daughter, and escape the feeling of approaching doom they had brought with them.

"Promise me, Kostya."

No one would touch them while under my roof. "You will be safe here." And she would owe me.

"I'm not only talking about right now. I'm also not asking for myself. I need to leave for a while and I can't bring Krissy with me. Promise me you'll keep her safe while I'm gone."

Gone. She'd been here less than an hour and had already broken several of my rules. It felt like she'd been here forever. I couldn't wait for her to be gone."And when exactly will that be?"

"In an hour."

That was very clear. "What's going to happen in an hour?"

She shook her head. "Never mind that. Promise me that you'll protect her with your life until I return." When I paused, her eyes watered. "Do you want me to beg you? Because I will."

"What more do you want? I already said I would."

"I want a blood vow." fuck!. She'd done her studies. That kind of Vory law was unbreakable. Which was exactly the reason why I never made them. I had to remember that this woman, like my mother, once had been a part of the Bratva world. She knew exactly what she was asking of me. The question was, why anyone would want to leave a girl in my care? Didn't she know I dealt in death, not life?

Her fingers squeezing my arm felt like manacles. They were burning my skin, reminding me of what had happened to Cleo. It looked like my dog wasn't the only one who got burned today.

"Please. She's only a child."

Desperate eyes dug into my soul as if trying to find a hint of the kid who she'd once babysat. But she would never find him. That boy had died a long time ago. I refused to become responsible for another kid again. I'd taken in the twins, and Ivan, who I'd found in a leaky boat. But they were men now, and they knew the way.

But to take in a girl? Hell, I didn't know the first thing about young girls. My house wasn't cut out for boy band pictures, nail polish, and that time of the month.

When it became clear I wouldn't move, she let go of my hand.

"If your mother were alive..." The sadness in her voice felt worse than any beating I'd gotten in Saratov.

I don't know what evil spell came over me as I said, "I vow it."

A careful smile appeared on her face. I shouted for Vladimir, who was never far away, and bent to grab the knife from my ankle strap.

"I know who raised you," Irina suddenly said, and I stiffened. "I mean, after Anastasia. You can't tell Sergei about Krissy."

Because the man saw everyone as a pawn and poisoned their souls? It wasn't a ridiculous request on her part.

Vladimir arrived, and I nodded at her. She held up her hand, palm up, and I made a small cut. Then I cut my palm and pressed our hands together.

"I vow on my blood to protect your daughter with my life."

We turned to Vladimir.

His jaw was set, but he nodded. "As I witness."

It was done.

There were tears in her eyes. "Your mother would be proud."

A prickle started in the back of my neck. Something in her tone set me on edge, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Don't give me that look, as if having my daughter around will be such a hardship. I know the life guys like you lead. You don't know it yet, but I just brought a valuable gift into your house. You need to be around sunshine, not rain clouds."

Sunshine? My life was one big dark cloud. I hadn't felt a ray of light in my soul for ages. Nothing, no one could change that. Certainly not an innocent, smart-mouthed girl.

After a nod she left the room, leaving me alone with Vladimir.

He shook his head. "What the fuck were you thinking? Giving a blood vow to protect some girl?"

"Don't worry, she won't be staying long."

"She won't?" He looked skeptical.

Of course not. No mother in her right mind would leave her child with me indefinitely. It would be like

leaving a kitten on hell's doorstep. All my world would do, all I could do, was to corrupt her.