Page 22 of Used By the Bratva

He leaves, and as I close the door behind him, I sigh deeply, frustrated that all I know now is that Boris really exists.

New York should be the place where I find the answers. I always thought I would get off the plane and everything in my life would snap into place.

Now, months later, I am almost done with a semester of school, and I’m no closer to the truth than ever before.

It feels like a wild goose chase, but maybe when I finally contact Boris Petrovsky, I can find out what Marina was trying to hide from me.

Chapter 9 - Leon

Blood stains the intricate rug, obscuring the pattern in the weave as I point the gun at Antonio’s dead body while my men cover him with a sheet.

His wife and sons are heaped up on my right; their blood seeps over the ground to Antonios.

Blood splatters on the walls and windows, the screams still echoing in my ears as Antonio watched me kill his wife and two sons first.

I ignored his pleas; I hated him.

Pavel would not have begged for mercy, but even if he had, Antonio wouldn’t have cared.

I showed him no mercy when I took his family away from him. My only regret is that I didn’t torture them first to make him really suffer.

For the first time in my life, my hand trembles as I hold the gun. My finger is still wrapped around the trigger, and I’m unsure I could lower my arm if I wanted to.

There is a deep emptiness in my chest as I stare down at the corpses.

Revenge is sweet, but it doesn’t fill the hole gaping in my chest for far too long. The hole in the shape of my brother that Antonio left there when he killed Pavel.

Boris comes up to me, prying the gun out of my hand, and tucks it in the back of his waistband. He clears his throat.

Although I turn my head toward him, I don’t feel like I’m looking at him. None of this feels real.

My chest heaves. “What is it?”

Boris motions to the side, and one of the men steps forward with a little girl in front of him.

The little girl looks up at me with big brown eyes and chubby cheeks. Her hair hangs in pigtails, and thick tears roll down her cheeks as she looks at the bodies around her. Although they are all covered with sheets, blood is still seeping through the white fabric.

I don’t know if she fully registers what’s happening, and I don’t care.

“Gun.” I hold out my hand to Boris.

He swallows hard but pulls out the gun, handing it back to me.

The girl flinches and bumps into the man behind her before jolting to the side. She looks around as if searching for an opportunity to run away.

I don’t know where the child intends to go when she escapes, but I admire the determined look in her eyes.

“We found her hiding in the basement,” Boris says, tilting his body slightly so that he stands between me and the girl. “Her name is Natalya Reyes. She belonged to Antonio, but his wife was not her mother.”

I stare down at the girl as she peeks around Boris’ leg.

When I came here today, I swore that I would kill anyone related to Antonio. I wanted to destroy his entire bloodline to avenge my brother.

But I can't bring myself to do it when the girl’s jaw forms a hard line, and the tears dry.

She is innocent and not old enough to understand what is going on. She doesn't know what her father was involved in or how he lived. She wouldn’t know that he tore my entire world to pieces.

I shove the gun into my waistband and hide it under my bloodstained shirt before crouching down in front of her. “Why were you in the basement, Natalya?”

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