Chapter 2 2.

When I was taken in 10 years ago, the Vasiliev family slowly learnt the full extent of my past, at least as much as I was willing to share.

I can remember everything after my fourth birthday, the day I moved in with my first foster family in Norway. They were possibly the nicest people I'd ever met and the only family my 4 year old self knew. Astrid and Magnus raised me as their own alongside their 7 year old son, Andreas, otherwise known as my best friend.

Andreas and I were joined at the hip, always playing with one another, sneaking out of our rooms and at night to snuggle in the other's bed, building igloo mansions in the garden. I can still remember the ginormous log cabin-mansion we lived in, and the nickname I developed after Magnus introduced Andreas and I to geo-cashing (which I was particularly fond of): little treasure.

That's right, you're in the presence of a polyglot queen speaking Russian, Italian and Norwegian alongside English.

Astrid and Magnus enrolled me in school at the age of 5 and I was escorted everyday by their driver to and from school. I happily attended the same school for two years, getting used to being escorted everyday by a driver due to the busy nature of Astrid and Magnus's business, which at a young age was difficult to comprehend. Looking back at my situation now, I knew exactly what kind of business they were operating.

One day during my second year of school, the driver who picked me up from home had changed. Gone was the warm large man who snuck me sweets when I'd had a bad day, in replacement was a cold white-haired man, claiming to fill in for Jørgen who had previously driven me.

As any 7 year old would, I believed him. I got in the car and we began on the usual route to school, though it wasn't the usual route at all. As soon as we turned off onto the wrong, remote road I heard the haunting click of the car doors locking. A hiss of pain escaped my lips as I felt a sharp prick at my neck. Before I could turn to face the source of the sudden pain, a blindfold was roughly tightened around my eyes and I quickly fell unconscious.

That was all I could remember until I woke up in a stranger's house. I later discovered it was the Swedish mafia who had taken me from what they called the 'norsk mafia', that's when it clicked in my little brain.

I was kidnapped from the Norwegian mafia by the Swedish. Great.

Oskar Nilsson. My captor, also known as the Swedish mafia boss. I endured his wrath abuse for the next three years of my life before they were invaded by the Russians, when the Vasiliev's found me.

Knowing the torment I faced in the hands of Oskar enraged them. My brothers couldn't look me in the eye for weeks, taking out their anger on races and fights. The only other person who knew about my time with the Swedish was Emiliano.

Speaking of Emiliano...

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOU?!" Milan yelled, standing up abruptly from his chair, knocking it backwards in the process. The glass of whiskey previously perched in his hand was banged down onto the kitchen island, sloshing the amber liquid within.

I stared at him blankly, mentally trying to come up with a plan B to my amazingly successful plan A. Not.

"Carlotta, answer me! Who did this to you?" Milan seethed, now standing directly infront of me, as my brain finally caught up, coming up with the brilliant plan of... fucking nothing.

"Milan! What the fuck are you yelling for?" Maxim shouted, his voice drifting closer with each word until he appeared in the doorway, momentarily frozen when he saw my state.

"What. the. fuck." He seethed, his eyes quickly darkening as he zeroed in on the prominent handprints around my neck. "ANDREI! LEVI! GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE!" He then proceeded to yell into the main foyer of the house, before turning round and taking large strides over to where Milan and I were standing. Urgh, snitch.

"Guys, please calm down okay? Let me explain-" I started, only to be cut off by Milan.

"Explain?" He laughed, "By all means, explain to me the logical reason as to why you have bruises and hand prints around your godsdamned neck!" He retorted eerily calmly.

"I was in the middle of a videogame bro, what do you-" Levi began as he haphazardly ran into the kitchen with a headset slung around his neck and controller in his hand. As soon as his eyes settled on me, thoughts of his game were discarded.

Making his way over, darkness swimming in his eyes he ripped off his headset and placed it on the island along with the controller.

Fuck this is serious, he's abonding mid-game?

Before he could start his repetitive brotherly questioning of 'where the fuck did those come from? I'm an alpha male, blah, blah, blah', Andrei entered the kitchen still wearing his daytime business attire; a black dress shirt, now slightly unbuttoned at the top with his sleeves rolled to the elbows leaving his tattooed forearms on full display. His black trousers were slightly ruffled and hair disheveled, hanging in front of his eyebrows. He'd obviously been working in his office in the late hours of the night.

"Maxim." He begun calmly, rubbing his eyes tiredly with his thumb and forefinger, "If I were you I'd rephrase how you just fucking spoke to me." He said darkly, hints of all the boys' Russian accents poking through when they're angry. He's obviously not in a good mood already due to his work.

He slowly looked up to find Maxim, catching my eyes in the process. I sheepishly turned my gaze down in hopes to escape his simply murderous glare.

"Nows not the time Andrei," Maxim practically choked out, anger lacing every one of his words, "Fucking look at her."

Andrei held my gaze as he took slow and deliberate steps towards myself and the rest of my brothers. He stopped directly in front of me, his 6 foot 6 frame towering over my 5 foot 4 one.

"Who." It wasn't a question.

"Look guys, it's really not a big de-" I began, trying to get out of a potential house arrest when they found out what happened to me.

"Don't start with that bullshit. Why are you even home, I thought you were with Emiliano tonight?" Maxim practically spat his name, my brother's eyes darkening further at the mention of him.

Yup, they're definitely not over the whole dating situation.

Gods, it's about to get a lot worse.

"Yes, but-" I began, only to be rudely cut off yet again.

"No buts! Who the fuck dared touch you!" Levi continued yelling, struggling to keep his temper in check. "The fucking prick couldn't even protect you." He scoffed, shaking his head.

I mentally chuckled at that remark, shaking my head slightly.

My brothers narrow their eyes at me, shit did I actually laugh out loud.

"The fuck is wrong with you, who did thi-..." Milan seethed, cutting himself off as realisation crossed over his features.

His glare became impossibly worse.

"Did he do this?" Milan asked, dangerously quiet. I stared back at him, tears brimming my eyes.

Stay strong Carlotta, don't cry over that dick.

Andrei, Maxim and Levi went still. All their eyes shot to me, watching for a reaction or any sign of confirmation that what Milan was implying was true.

Taking my silence as confirmation, Levi turned around to try and calm himself down, pacing up and down the kitchen and releasing shallow breaths.

Milan and Maxim both started cursing violently in Russian, depicting exactly what they were going to do to Emiliano when they got their hands on him.

At this point a few tears slipped past my defences, making their way down my black and blue cheeks. Andrei was staring at the wall in front of him, fists and jaw clenched.

"Where is he?" He asked sternly, not breaking eye-contact with the wall. Milan and Maxim went quiet, waiting eagerly for my response. Levi had long since disappeared to the gym, probably to let off some steam.

"Tell me little sister, I'll fucking kill him." Maxim growled.

Talking for the first time in a while, my voice was slightly hoarse with the effort of keeping my tears at bay, "I left him at his apartment after kneeing him in the dick." I quickly spewed out, not registering what I was exactly saying, "He backhanded me because another boy flirted with me, then choked me when I tried to leave." I said sternly, growing angry at the recollection of the past hour.

"son of a bitch!" Milan cursed, "I'll castrate the bastard." His accent shows through on his pronunciation of the word 'bastard'.

I look up to Andrei, noticing his unusual silence to find he's already looking down at me. His blue eyes are hard and cold, swimming with violent urges, though when they met mine they softened significantly.

He reached out a hand to stroke my cheek, wiping away a few stray tears. Wordlessly, he dragged me to his chest and wrapped his arms around my frame, sheltering me from the world outside of his protective arms.

"Are you okay, Car? I'm so sorry I wasn't there, we never should have trusted the little boy." He said into my hair, voice turning gravely as he attempts to insult Emiliano as much as possible.

I chuckle at his efforts, nodding my head in his chest as a response to his question. "We okay to hunt down this fucker?" He asks in a hard tone.

"Absolutely." I reply, "Once you get him, leave some fun for me." I tell them, making Milan and Maxim grin psychopathically at me.

"Of course, little sun." Andrei replies, kissing me on the top of my head before stepping away and pulling out his phone, immediately barking down orders in Russian.

Maxim and Milan both kiss me on my head as well before muttering quick 'sorry's' for leaving in such a rush.

Without anymore hesitation, Milan, Maxim and Andrei grabbed the keys to their cars and holstered their guns and knives. With one final conformational glance towards me to make sure I was okay to which I nodded softly, they left the house each with murderous expressions on their faces.

Well... that went well.

Letting out a big sigh, I walked into the foyer, looking around the big empty house. It was dead quiet.

Deciding to get a hold of myself, I went up to my room and ran a shower. I grabbed some sweatpants and one of Milan's hoodies and stripped out of my slightly bloodied clothes.

As soon as the warm water hit my skin, the tension in my muscles began to relax and unwind. I did my best to wash away the events of today, but knew deep down that the months I spent with Emiliano could never fully dissipate.

Getting out of the shower and pulling on my clean clothes, I blow dried my hair and let it fall in its natural state, the dark strands reaching my waist.

Opening my bathroom door, I stop in my tracks, a small smile drawing on my face.

Waiting on my bed was a guilty looking Levi, in dark blue plaid pyjama pants and a black hoodie. His white blond hair a stark contrast to his dark attire and neck and hand tattoos poking out from his hoodie.

As soon as he spotted me, his eyes softened and he made his way over to me. As he got closer I opened up my arms waiting for him to scoop me up, which he did.

Holding me tightly to his chest, he spoke lowly into my hair, "I'm sorry for running off like that, sweetheart."

"It's okay, Le." I mumbled back, pulling away from him slightly to see him grinning widely at my forgiveness.

"I brought ice cream, facemasks and Netflix... wanna have a sleepover?" He asked hopefully, excitement apparent in his voice.

"Yes!" I squealed, jumping into his arms as he carried us back to my bed and switched on my TV, putting on White Chicks whilst handing me a tub of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream. "Gods, I love you." I voiced, staring lovingly at my ice cream.

"Aw, I love you too, Car." Levi replied sarcastically, placing a hand over his heart as the psychopath dug into his Cherry Garcia flavour. Ew.

I rolled my eyes at his antics and continued enjoying my ice cream, slowly forgetting about my throbbing bruises.

Halfway through the movie, Levi asked to do the facemasks he brought, to which I happily accepted.

"Hold still whilst I put it on!" I scolded Levi as he wouldn't stop twitching his nose.

"It tickles! I can't help it!" He said exasperated, throwing his hands into the air for dramatic effect.

"Okay... done!" I finally announced, admiring my handiwork. We both had clay face masks painted onto our faces, looking like something out of a horror movie.

"Bitch my skin will be glowing tomorrow morning." Levi said smugly, admiring his face mask clad skin in his phone camera, taking some pictures of us together.

"The actual fuck." A voice sighed from the doorway.

Levi and I snapped our heads over to my door, seeing Milan, Maxim and Andrei standing there, amused smirks on their faces.

"Aha... hey guys." Levi and I chuckled, already mentally confirming we were the disappointments of the Russian mafia family.

Surprised? Nah, not really.