“You used the vial trick again?” he muttered, “I wonder what you’ll do when one of them drinks it and realizes it’s just strawberry juice” I only smiled. With Kenji, resentment never lasted, we both knew time was precious, and death always close.
The lipstick-and-vial trick was really a test. The ones who chose the lipstick had a better chance of survival—more will to fight. The ones who chose the vial, the ones who chose death, were already broken. Kenji was right: I couldn’t save them all. But this test helped me identify the most fragile ones, those who couldn’t survive this battlefield. They were my priority, even if I wished I could help so many more.
We walked toward the stone bridge beneath which a stream flowed gently, its sound soothing enough to listen to for hours. A man approached from the other side, leaning on his cane, his sunglasses hid the small dark eyes I knew by heart. A short beard streaked with white covered his face, and a low black hat concealed his greying hair. Burn scars climbed up to his chin, hidden beneath long garments. He wore a flowing shirt and loose trousers, traditional clothing he rarely abandoned.
Ganesh was Indian, the son of immigrants, who had forged alliances with the right people at the right time from a young age, becoming what he was today: one of the most dangerous men alive, even though he didn't look like it, that old fox.
When I reached him, I bent quickly to touch his feet before he could stop me. He always protested, but I insisted, it was a sign of respect in his culture, and if there was one person I respected, it was Ganesh. Without him, I would never have freed my sister. I would never have survived this long.
“Namaste,” I said as I straightened. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kenji bow as well, eyes lowered. It was the same for him, after all, it was thanks to Ganesh that we had become what we were. “How many times must I tell you not to do that,Chhori,” he said, though he still placed his hand on my head to bless me. “I like embarrassing you, Ganesh. You know that,” I replied with a smile, stepping back and opening the box. “Your favorites. Rose-flavored.
He shook his head with a faint smile and took one.
“Perfect, as always, Sienna,” he said, motioning for Suraj, one of his bodyguard, to take the box. The man did so with a grin, swallowing one immediately. He dodged the cane Ganesh swung at him and joined Ashwin and Kamal near the car, both giving me thumbs-up after helping themselves. I laughed despite myself at their foolishness, while their boss studied me after wiping his fingers on a cloth pulled from his pocket.
“Congratulations on your sister’s marriage and her pregnancy,” he said. “The Ivanovs do reproduce like rabbits,” he chuckled. “You’ve allied yourself with a powerful family, Sienna…” “They’re not my allies,” I replied calmly. “Just my sister’s family.”
Ganesh tilted his head slightly, studying me in silence. He often did that, observed, analyzed. He could see a hundred outcomes before one ever happened. That gift had brought him where he was. I tried to learn from him, and I wasn’t bad at it, but Kenji was a real pro, a carbon copy of Ganesh. At last he lifted his gaze toward the forest and gestured for me to follow, Kenji stayed close at my side. “How was your trip?” I asked Ganesh, tightening the shawl around myself as a breeze rustled the branches and made the leaves sing. “Peaceful. I walked the streets of my childhood, visited my parents’ graves. I prayed for you as well,” he said, offering his arm so I could slip mine through it. “Udaipur may be where I was born and raised, but I always find myself returning to this rotten country called the United States,” he added with a dry chuckle as we stopped near the stream.
“My mother used to say that home was where your heart beats,” I replied, remembering the woman who had given me life and love until she no longer could. “Oh?” Ganesh said softly, and I stiffened, sensing what was coming. “Then why do you remain in that pit of Vassili’s, when your debt has been paid and the video he used to threaten you holds no power anymore?”
I swallowed. I had known this question would come, just not so soon.
“Maybe… maybe that’s where my heart is,” I answered, kneeling to dip my fingers into the cold water, shivering as Ganesh’s cane tapped softly against the ground, his habitual gesture when thinking.
“Look at me, Sienna,” he said after a moment, I clenched my jaw but obeyed, rising to meet his gaze. “If something keeps you there, it is not your heart. And don’t give me your usual excuse about your friends. Unlike you, they have nowhere else to go,” he scolded gently but firmly.
“But you… you have a family who loves you, Chhori. That is a rare gift,” he continued, placing a hand on my shoulder, his voice softening. “And you know we can find ways to get your friends out too. They would follow you anywhere. You are their guide,” he sighed and withdrew his hand, shaking his head slowly. “But you don’t want to leave, do you? Because what keeps you there is far stronger than your heart. Stronger than your happiness: guilt… and that thirst for revenge.” His voice carried sadness. Disappointment.
I closed my eyes and shook my head, “I… they need me. Not just my friends, others too. I have to…” “To do what, Sienna?” he cut in sharply, rare anger flickering in his tone. “You need to forgive yourself. You need to give yourself one last chance to live. You must forget what happened, what you did. You did what you had to do to survive. Anyone would have done the same.”
“Really?” a voice whispered suddenly beside my ear. “Anyone would have done the same… like you did?”
My jaw clenched as I lowered my gaze back to the stream, throat tight, exposed. He knew me too well, far too well. “I see,” Ganesh sighed, turning away. “The time will come when you forgiveyourself, Sienna. I hope the right people will be there to help you see it.” I said nothing, folding my arms over my chest, trying to push away the presence that never left me, that haunted me, tormented me. “Until then, let’s see how we’re going to get your girls out of that hole,” Ganesh continued, walking on. I released a shaky breath, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand as I forced the nausea down.Don’t think. Don’t feel.
As I moved to follow him, my phone vibrated in the back pocket of my jeans, an incoming call, fromS. Ivanov. The fifth one already, and it wasn’t even noon. I let it go to voicemail again, and when I was about to put the phone away, it vibrated once more with messages:
Where are you?
Answer the damn phone, Sienna.
The messages kept coming. I didn’t know what to do about Sasha, maybe I should just tell him the truth, that I was a prostitute, that I had slept with hundreds of men, some of whom he might even know. Thank God I hadn’t run into any of them yet, but Las Vegas wasn’t far from San Francisco, and it was Bratva territory.
I was sure that once he knew the truth, he would leave without looking back… but I didn’t want him to. For once, I wanted someone to stay, not to protect me, not to watch my back, but to stay for me. For who I was. For Sienna.
I sighed and slipped my phone back into my pocket, ignoring the insistent presence of my Shadow walking beside me, and hurried to catch up with Ganesh to tell him about my new idea. The three girls I wanted to get out were all in the same place. We could fake a contagious illness and have them removed under the pretense of disposal. It wouldn’t be easy, but if anyone could make it happen, it was Ganesh.
Sasha
My messages went unanswered, just like my calls, and it was starting to irritate me beyond reason, so much so that the thought looping endlessly through my head was that I was going to kill her. She had slipped away like a thief that morning while the whole house was still asleep. I didn’t even know how she managed to escape the villa’s surveillance. She barely appeared on most of the cameras, and on the few where she might have shown up, they had mysteriously stopped working. She was driving me insane.
I set my phone down on my desk, then picked it up again, then put it back down, only to grab it once more because it still didn’t feel right. The voice in my head whispered that it wasn’t placed correctly, but I forced myself to stop, clenching my fists to keep from touching the damn thing again. Fucking OCD, ruining my life at every turn.
I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly, fists tight, trying to stop my fingers from reaching for the phone again. Usually, I managed to control it using the techniques I’d learned growing up, but lately it had become harder. And the reason was painfully obvious: a certain Italian woman who barely reached my chin, with hypnotic green eyes and a temper that could drive anyone mad. I rubbed my face before turning back to my computer screen. I was drafting the contracts for the new recruits Roman and Nikolai had selected the day before. The family was growing, and so were our operations. We needed more personnel, security, logistics, structure. And we needed to replace the guards we had gotten rid of months earlier, the ones who had let Rasili’s men infiltrate the villa and attack us.
We still didn’t know how, or with whose help, they had managed to get inside, but we couldn’t take any risks. Most had been dismissed. Others had been executed. Some things were unforgivable, and endangering our family was one of them. Whether they had actively helped the Italians or simply failed toprotect us didn’t matter. Failure itself was betrayal. If we forgave once, men would grow careless. And we couldn’t afford that, not after armed men had crossed our threshold, not after my family had been endangered, not after Sienna had nearly died. The thought froze me. Sienna… dead?
The idea alone made my chest tighten violently. A life without Sienna, without her gaze, her voice, her scent, her warmth, was not a life worth living. It would be empty, cold, hollow.
