My eyes drifted back to my phone, waiting for it to light up, for even a single message. Nothing. I didn’t know where she was, who she was with, or what she was doing. In truth, I knew almost nothing about her, except that she loved her sister and her nephew more than anything. There was no trace of her anywhere since her arrival in Seattle, no hospital records, no university enrollment, no customs entries, no criminal files. It was as if she had ceased to exist. Just like Kenji. Nothing on him either. Whatever they were involved in, it wasn’t normal.
All I really knew was that she was reckless, impulsive, always rushing headfirst without thinking. That she had a sharp tongue and a maddening arrogance. But I also knew that she had the most beautiful laugh I had ever heard, the kind you could listen to for hours. That her gaze could make me lose my words. Me, a lawyer known for flawless rhetoric. And that her skin reacted to my slightest touch, shivering beneath my fingers.
Whatever secrets she was hiding, whatever lies surrounded her, I would uncover them one by one. I wouldn’t stop until I knew everything about her.
I sighed and forced myself back to the contracts. This mattered. Even if we were a criminal organization, structure was essential. This wasn’t child’s play. We needed to know exactly who we were bringing in, people who would be around our wives, our children, our home. Mistakes could not be repeated.
I spent the next hour working, glancing at my phone every few minutes despite myself, like some damn teenager obsessed with his messages. I finally sighed and pressed a button on the desk phone. “Yes, Mr. Ivanov?” Sally’s voice answered. “Have we received the documents regarding the merger yet?” I asked, my tone colder than intended. “N-no, sir. Not yet. Would you like me to call them again?” “No. Leave it. We’ll wait until tomorrow. Thank you” I hung up and leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes. That merger was crucial. It would allow us to tighten our grip on the Triads operating on this side of the country, an opportunity we couldn’t afford to lose. More importantly, it would reinforce our authority at the table. The Ivanovs had led the Bratva for decades, but power was never guaranteed. Everything could collapse overnight.
Especially now. After Nikolai and Selina’s wedding, a minority had begun to rebel. A war with the Italians frightened them.
A knock sounded at the door, and Nikolai walked in with a bag in hand, a stupid grin plastered on his face. A grin that hadn’t left him since he’d learned he was going to be the father of a little girl, an infectious grin, despite myself. His presence wasn’t unusual; he had his own office at our San Francisco headquarters, though it had gathered dust these past months. “What do I owe the honor of this rare visit, moy brat?” I smirked as he dropped the bag on my desk. “From Elif.Sarma,” he said, collapsing into the chair opposite me. I immediately lunged for the container. The smell of Turkish food filled the room as I devoured the stuffed vine leaves while they were still warm. I slapped his hand away when he tried to steal one, shooting him a glare. “They’re mine”. He raised an eyebrow, then glanced pointedly at my phone. My heart skipped as I grabbed it, only to frown when I saw there were no notifications. “You can be really stupid for a lawyer,” he laughed, already shoving three rolls into his mouth. I shot him a glare and pulled the container fartheraway. “Still nothing?” he asked, his smile fading as concern crept into his expression. The Ivanov brothers were masters at hiding emotion, except when it came to family. And even if Sienna struggled to accept it, she was family. An aunt to my nephews and future niece. A sister to my brothers and Elif. And to me… That part, I would understand soon enough. So would she. “She sent Selina a message when she left,” he said quietly. “Said she’d be back before dinner.” I slowly lifted my gaze toward him. “Before dinner, huh?” he nodded as I glanced at the clock on the wall. Less than six hours.
Maybe I could prepare a little welcome for my little viper. And finally have a proper conversation with that Kenji who acted as her driver, and remove him from her life once and for all. They weren’t together. I knew that. When I had questioned him after he tried to help the Floros sisters escape, I had understood it clearly. He didn’t want Sienna the way I did. He didn’t see her the way I saw her. But he was protective of her. He cared. And she cared about him. Maybe that bond was what kept her away from me. If that was the case, I would break it. Destroy it, him too, if necessary.
“One of our men had an interesting encounter last night,” Nikolai said suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, fingers interlaced, a posture that never meant anything good. I wiped my hands and pushed the container aside, “I’m listening.”
“In the nineteenth district, Mission area. One of our guys ran into a girl,” he began darkly. “He swore she couldn’t have been more than fifteen, maybe sixteen” a bad feeling settled in my gut. “What the hell was she doing there? In the middle of the night?” I asked, frowning. “That’s what he asked her. She hesitated for a long time before answering. Said she was lost, but she was dressed in a way that was… far from appropriate,” he said grimly.
My jaw tightened. Mission District was a hellhole, drugs, weapons, prostitution. No place for a child. The Bratva did have a prostitution network, but the rules were clear: no minors, ever, and always consent. That branch was under Vassili’s control, and even if he was a bastard, the law was the law. Breaking it meant only one thing.
Death.
No one was above that sentence. Not even an Ivanov.
“You think Vassili believes he’s above our laws?” I asked, rage rising so fast it nearly blinded me. He would hire minors? Were they even consenting? Did they even know what consent was? “I don’t know,” my brother sighed, rubbing his face. “But if it’s true, we’re in deep shit. Since Yelsky died, the cards have been reshuffled. His son took over the family, and he’s a strong supporter of Vassili. And given the power he holds through Minnesota, one of our rare access points into Canada, the other families are forced to bend to his whims,” he growled, reminding me of our precarious position. “If we go up against Vassili now, we go up against Yelsky Junior too, and he’ll start shaking the order of things.” I laced my fingers behind my head as my mind began to race. Yes. It was a mess.
“We’re not seriously going to let him prostitute kids, Niko, fuck!” I hissed, leaning over my desk to spit the words in a low voice, disgust curdling my stomach just from saying them. “We have to do something.”
“First, finalize that damn merger, Sasha,” Nikolai snapped. “We need to strengthen our position at the table”. He straightened “as for Vassili, we verify the truth first,moy brat,and then we act accordingly”.. He turned toward me, hesitated, then spoke again, his voice quieter, “I would’ve handled this myself, but Selina is going through the hardest part of her pregnancy. I want… you know…” I cut him off by lifting a hand. “Don’t worry,moybrat. I’ll take care of it. Go be with your wifeand your daughter.” I gave him a faint smile, first Grigori, and now Nikolai, watching them go full lovesick duck was almost entertaining. Not that it would ever happen to me. It wasn’t my style. “Thank you, Sasha. It means a lot” he said as he stood.
I simply rolled my eyes as he left, wearing the same stupid grin he’d arrived with. He lifted his phone as he opened the door, “another kick,Solnyshko?” was the last thing I heard before the door closed behind him.
“On pólniy podkablu´chnik” (he’s completely whipped) I muttered, lowering my eyes to the phone in my hands, when had I even picked it up? Still no notification. My fingers tightened around the device as anger, and the thoughts I’d been forcing down these past weeks, surged back. I replayed our moments together, trying to find what had caused that brutal shift in her behavior toward me. A mistake. That was what she had dared to call what we’d lived. She had dared to push me away. People didn’t push me away. They didn’t turn their backs on me. Especially not her. Especially not Sienna. I wouldn’t let her do it. I wouldn’t let her hide any longer, hide her past and rob me of her future. Our future. Because whether she wanted to accept it or not, her future and mine were bound. Indisputably. And I would let nothing tear them apart, not even her. So I opened our conversation again, where my messages sat unanswered, and typed another one before returning to the contracts.
Game over,moya malen’kaya gadyuka. No matter where or how you’re hiding, I will find you.
Chapter 4
Sienna
I kept rereading Sasha’s message over and over again. I knew they weren’t just words. Nothing was ever simple with him. He was telling me, plainly, that he wasn’t going to hold back anymore. That he would stop circling, stop waiting, and take what he wanted. My heartbeat quickened as I read it again. “If you lifted your eyes from that screen, I’m pretty sure the message would be burned into your retinas by now,” Kenji muttered as the gate to the Ivanov estate opened when our car approached.
I greeted Samy, who was on duty at the main entrance today. He smiled and nodded at me, casting a wary glance at Kenji, I didn’t blame him or any of the guards. On the contrary, it reassured me to see them so alert, my sister, my nephews, my niece… they could only be safe with men like that watching over them.
“I think I’m going to tell him the truth,” I murmured, slipping my phone into my pocket as my body temperature kept rising. My hands and feet were burning, my mouth unbearably dry despite the two bottles of water I had already downed. I shouldn’t have eaten those gulab jamun, but they had been too tempting. I was going into hyperglycemia, and I really needed to pee.Damn it. “And if he doesn’t react the way you expect?” Kenji asked as he slowed near the house. I turned toward him, frowning, “what do you mean?”. Of course he would react the way I expected. Sasha Ivanov was a man of honor and principles, like his entire family. He would never accept a prostitute as… whatever I was to him. Hell, I didn’t even know what he wanted me to be. He was so complicated, infuriating, brilliant, handsome…damn him.
“And what if he doesn’t run, Sienna? What if he helps you instead? What if he pulls you out of this?” Kenji went on as the car came to a stop, the sun sinking behind the trees and painting the sky in soft colors. “It wouldn’t be so bad. You’d be free.”
“I don’t need to be saved, Kenji. I’m a big girl,” I snapped, shooting him a glare. What had gotten into him? He was supposed to be the one warning me about Sasha, not defending him. “Do you not need saving… or do you refuse to be?” he asked quietly, stopping the car. My breath caught. He turned toward me, his gaze locking onto mine, familiar, steady, the same gaze that had carried me through the worst moments of my life, the one that had always supported me.
“Ganesh is right, Enna. You have to forgive yourself. You have to forget…” I shook my head violently, cutting him off. I opened the door and climbed out too fast, my vision blurring as I staggered and had to grab the car to keep from collapsing. “Fuck, Sienna,” Kenji muttered, helping me steady myself, but I shoved him away as tears burned behind my eyes, tears of frustration. “You don’t understand! Ganesh doesn’t understand!” I snapped, they were confusing me, pulling me away from my purpose. Making me lose sight of it. Helping the other girls. Freeing them. For the ones I hadn’t been able to save. For the ones I had betrayed. For the ones I had…
“…killed?” whispered the familiar voice inside my head, slithering through my thoughts.
I flinched and squeezed my eyes shut, “stop it!” Kenji shouted, grabbing my shoulders. “Stop listening to her, Enna! She’s dead! Dead! She’s not real! And it’s not your fault, do you hear me? Stop doing this to yourself, Sienna. Just stop.”
His voice broke as he pulled me against him, his forehead resting briefly against mine. My eyes were wide, wet, fixed on his black shirt. Kenji almost never lost control like this. Almost never.Stop… but how? The only way was to keep saving others. As many as I could. Until…until…
