Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Life as a brigadier wasn’t easy. Ruling over a state came with a great deal of problems, and enemies. My life was constantly in danger. It’s why I had soldiers all around me. Every single one of us brigadiers had to. There were too many men and women who wanted us dead.
A little sniffle drew my attention to my wife. Adelaide was pressed as far away from me as any woman could get. I’d been the perfect gentleman to her last night, apart from the knife I’d used to rid her body of that awful dress.
At times during our wedding, she looked like she couldn’t breathe, the poor thing. Her tits looked close to bursting out of the dress, but then our wedding had been designed with me and Bethany in mind. Not much had changed.
It would have been like swapping the bride only, which was what happened at Ivan’s request.
Bethany had been a slut, she still was a slut. I’d not been marrying her for her purity. Ivan had seen an opportunity with her parents, and, well, a union seemed to be the most ideal. They wanted money and power. Ivan had both in plenty supply. A deal was struck and the cost was a daughter, a marriage, a union that couldn’t end in divorce.
Glancing over at Adelaide, I wondered if she realized her purity days would be over soon. Not only did I have her hand in marriage, but Ivan, the bastard, had informed me today that part of the agreement was a child within two years. She had to have a son or daughter inside her within two years to start the next generation of the Volkov Bratva.
I didn’t need to point out to him that for the line to continue, he needed to father children. There was a great deal I didn’t know about Ivan.
Unlike Slavik, one of the few brigadiers I knew, I’d not grown up with him. I wasn’t entirely sure of the history, but Ivan and Slavik grew up together. I’m not sure where or how, seeing as both men were cast out of their families in some way. Like myself. My father couldn’t stand to have me around. Ever since I was a boy, my father hated me. He would find any reason to take the belt or the boot to me. Many a night I was curled up on the floor, alone and bleeding at the mercy of the elements because he couldn’t stand me.
After a severe beating, he’d toss me into the kennels where he kept the dogs. They were just as abused as I was, and so never attacked me. Sometimes he’d starve them and then go after me, making me bleed, in the hope of them eating me.
It never happened. Why? I fucking fed them, the stupid cunt. I was stupid. My father hated that about me. I figured out his plan to try and get rid of me. If I died because of the dogs, he could pass it off as some freak accident, kill the dogs as if to avenge my death, and he’d be fine and in the clear. Even before Ivan took over, the previous Pakhan didn’t like when his brigadiers murdered children without his permission.
With the starved dogs failing, I overheard the plan he had. He was going to throw me into the dog kennels, and then one of his soldiers would take me out in the woods, force me in the dead of night to dig my own grave, and then kill me. If I disappeared, it could look like a kidnapping attempt.
Hearing what they planned, I ran. I ran so fucking hard that my feet were all torn up. I unleashed the dogs as well, and guess what, motherfucker? I was their goddamn alpha, not my dad. We ran, and we survived. That’s what we did.
I became a man of the streets. The killer. The monster. I took that anger he’d built inside me, and I allowed it to blossom. I didn’t give up or give in. I used it to become the man I am today.
When I heard of Ivan Volkov wreaking havoc, bringing down the old Bratva, I knew I had to side with him. Seeking him out had been easy. Swearing my loyalty had been a piece of cake, but earning his trust had taken a lot longer.
Ivan was a good man. He was evil, a monster to all those that crossed him, but he was fair and just. He was everything my father wasn’t.
“How long?” Adelaide asked.
I glance over at her and notice the odd way she’s pressing her thighs together. “Why?”
“No reason.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I … I need to use the bathroom. Please.”
My driver, Leo, raised his brow at me. He knew I didn’t like unplanned stops. I nod my head letting him know he can find a safe location to let my wife out to go to the damn toilet.