Chapter 3

• Marek
• Rubbing my chin, I started down at her. This was definitely a wrench in my night. I didn’t even know how to really handle this. I mean, obviously, I’d get nothing from her in this state. How she knew to use my mother’s name. How she ended up in that condition. Why was she asking for death. Who the hell was she. All these questions could only be answered by her and she was currently out cold.
• Pulling out my phone, I put it to my ear. “Kamilia.”
• “Brat.” [Brother.]
• “What are you doing right now?”
• She sighed. “Apparently, packing up my supplies and coming over.”
• I let out a chuckle. “You know me too well.”
• My older sister was between Juri and Kazmer. She was to be sold off but she found a better way by becoming one of the top doctors in the state.
• After hanging up the phone, I picked up the battered girl and went to find Aleksei. This one somehow managed to walk from god knows where to the club with all this damage and still be able to ask for help. She was stronger than most but how strong I would need her to tell me.
• “Aleksei, you drive. We are headed home.”
• He nodded, not saying a word. His eyes focused on the girl in my arms.This probably hit a little close to home for him. His sister once had been kidnapped. The condition we got her back in wasn’t nearly as bad as this poor girls but she wasn’t able to make it.
• “Marek, what do you think?” Aleksei was staring intently at the traffic in front of him as he asked, his face screwed up in a grimace.
• “I won’t know anything until she wakes up. Right now, she’s an unknown.” And I hated unknowns. I dealt in facts not ‘what ifs’. That was Juri’s job.
• He hummed but didn’t say anything else. The ride, even with Aleksei’s driving, took three hours to pull into the round about of the estate.
• Jumping out as soon as Aleksei put it into park, I was glad my sisters BMW was already parked in front as well. Reaching in, I carefully lifted the girl. Her head lulled against my chest and I saw the faintest movement of my shirt as she breathed. Something had to be said that she was still alive considering how many hours it had been.
• The door swung open before we even got up the stairs and my elder sister stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. Her face was pulled tight, annoyed, but as soon as her eyes fell onto the little thing in my arms, it washed away. Not panic, my sister never panicked, but an urgency flashed across her face.
• “Fuck, Marek. You didn’t say it was this bad. Quick. I’m glad I set up in the spare room.”
• I followed her up the stairs and down the hall to one of the guest rooms we kept. As she opened the door, I saw her equipment was set up on and around the bed. Placing the girl down gently, Kamilia hip checked me out of the way. Aleksei wasn’t going to follow and I figured he would disappear into his own room. Probably into a bottle of whatever was within arms reach as he went. Stepping back, I leaned against the dresser with my arms crossed over my chest.
• Kamilia was quick to put an IV in. Next, she got out a light and lifted the girls eyelids. She flashed it a couple times in one eye and then another.
• “It looks like she’s suffered from a concussion but it’s not as bad as everything else.”
• Gently, Kamilia took one of her wrists in her hands. She looked up to me as she jammed the wrist back into the socket.
• “Yebat’. She shouldn’t be alive.” [Fuck.] Her eyes found mine. “Where the hell did you find her?”
• “Like I said, searched out the boys. She did, however, know Mother’s maiden name.”
• Kamilia’s eyebrow rose as she looked back at the girl. “How interesting.”
• I stared at my sister as she stared at the girl. “I feel like there is a story to tell here.”
• “Are you not going to tend to her more?” Curious at my sisters’ lack of urgency.
• “I’m not going to waste supplies if she’s going to be dead in a couple hours.” I winced at her tone. “I’ll add another bag to the IV and we will see if she’s still alive after that. If she is, then I’ll treat everything else.”
• I wanted to argue. This poor thing had been through hell from the looks of it. I didn’t really want her to die when she asked us for help. Then again, she asked for death as well. So maybe Death would be kind enough to take her. Getting up from my lean, I headed out the door nearly running into Lev.
• “Kamilia said you were brining in a girl.” He looked past me into the room.
• I nodded. “She seems to think the girl won’t make it through the next few hours.”
• His eyes narrowed. “Do we know who she is?”
• “No. Her face is so fucked up I don’t think anyone would be able to recognize her.”
• He hummed. “Why did you bring her here?”
• The real question he was asking is why I brought a potential threat into the home where my nieces and nephews were. Why would I risk our safety and location for her. I didn’t answer for him because honestly, I didn’t know.
• “If she’s a threat, I’ll kill her myself.”
• I know what wasn’t an answer to his question but that was as good as he was going to get. Passing him, I headed back to their stairs to go up another floor. My room was on the East side and after a full days work, I needed a shower, a stiff drink, and some sleep.
• -
• I was in my office, Aleksei and four of my other heads were meeting about how best to handle the next development of a hotel just outside the city when there was a knock on the door. All heads turned as one of my nieces poked her head in. My eyebrows rose, the lot of them knowing never to interrupt meetings in the house.
• “Sorry, Dyadya.” [Sorry, Uncle.] She was quiet as she looked around the room. “Tetya Kamilia asked for me to get you no matter what. She said malen'kaya ptichka prosnulas'.” [Little bird is awake.]
• Normally, I would be all over my niece in her correct pronunciation of the Russian words. My heartbeat sped up though. The girl we had brought in had survived the few hours that Kamilia required to treat her. After that, my sister basically mummified the poor girl. Over the past five days, she’d lessened the amount of bandages but the girl still looked like a shriveled up mummy.
• Getting up, I dismissed the guys with a wave of my hand and followed my niece as she ran back the way she came to the guest wing.
• My strides were long and without even reaching a jog I was able to keep up with her. I reached the door and rubbed my nieces head as I opened it. Sure enough, the girl was sitting up against the bed. Kamilia was sitting next to her but her face showed her frustration. The girls eyes or rather eye, since one was still swollen shut, met mine.
• There wasn’t surprise or any type of emotion that passed across her face. In fact, there was nothing in her eye. It was soulless. A bottomless orb of darkness. It was a sight that sent a shiver down my spine. It also made the hair on my back of my neck rise. My gut was telling me this girl was dangerous . Not because of anything physical but that this girl was nothing but a husk, barely living. People like that had nothing to lose and that made her dangerous. At least in my experience over the years of working for the bratva.
• Kamilia stood and came over to me. She placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned in. “She won’t speak to me, no matter what I ask. I’m hoping you have better luck.”
• She walked out of the room before I could even protest. I didn’t want to be left alone with this girl, even if I had brought her in. After a moment, I steeled myself and dropped into work mode. I might not be Vor but I sure as hell commanded and demanded respect. Standing at the edge of the bed, the girl watched me as crossed my arms over my chest.
• “Do you know who I am?”
• She blinked once, then twice. Surprisingly, there was a quick nod of her head.
• “Who am I?”