Page 4 of Twisted Obsession
My papa just spelled it out. Viktor Antonov wanted to marry me in exchange for the money my father owed him. What did my father do? And what were his plans for me?
Before I could interrupt the conversation, I heard glass breaking, and it was coming from my papa’s office. Looking through the small gap where the double doors came together, I saw two men, one dressed in a suit and the other dressed in black, enter my papa’s office through the broken glass panel of the glass door leading out to the gardens. I couldn’t see their faces since their backs were toward me. If only they would turn around.
“Where’s your daughter?” the man dressed in the suit asked as he pointed a gun at my mama.
“She isn’t here,” my papa answered, standing tall, unafraid.
“I believe she is?” the man wearing the suit said as he walked toward my mama. “Where is she?”
“As I said, she isn’t here.” Papa stepped up to the man.
Without so much as a single twitch, he pulled the trigger and shot my mother in the head. I would never forget the tattoo on the hand that held the gun that shot my mama. It was a skull with a dagger through it from the top to the bottom.
Mama! Oh, God, no! No!
Placing my hand over my mouth, it was all I could do to keep from screaming. I watched my mother fall to the floor, her blood seeping into the Oriental rug she gave to my father as a birthday present when he turned fifty.
“Find her,” the man in the suit ordered the other man.
If I didn’t move, they would take me. I couldn’t think, but I had to do something. Backing away from the door, I moved back up the stairs to my room and grabbed the tote bag that was already packed. I knew who my family was. If the time ever came where we had to run, my mother made sure I was prepared. It was the same reason there were no pictures of me in the house.
I quickly looked around the room for anything else I might need—the adrenaline still pumping. That was when I spotted my purse.The fake ID.I rounded the bed and shoved my purse inside the tote bag.
As I lifted the window to my bedroom, the faint sound of another gunshot rang in the distance.Papa.This was no time to break down. I needed to go. I needed to save myself. One day, the Antonovs would pay for what they did.
Chapter Two
Present
Dmitri
Icouldn’t believe that only three years ago, my father had been sitting at this very desk. Three years since Andrei Zhukov brutally murdered my father. Three years since that murderer’s one and only daughter disappeared without a trace.
At age thirty-two, I was thePakhanof the Antonov Bratva, yet I couldn’t track down a single woman. The file resting on my desk seemed to taunt me as I pulled it closer and flipped it open once more. This had to be the hundredth time I’d scrutinized its contents, desperately searching for a clue I might have missed. How could Larissa Zhukov be nothing more than a ghost, with only her birth certificate as evidence of her existence? The only person who had ever laid eyes on her was my father, but he wasnow six feet under, his secrets buried with him—all thanks to Andrei Zhukov.
Even now, the events that transpired in the Zhukov household baffled me. The broken entry point and the blood-soaked remains of Lidia Zhukov painted a gruesome picture of vengeance. Someone sought retribution, yet inexplicably, they spared Andrei’s life. Either he wasn’t present during the assault, or someone showed him mercy. Regardless, there was no trace of him or Larissa. Initially, I suspected a kidnapping, but Stepan, my trusted associate, discovered Larissa’s bedroom window ajar during his search of the premises.
Despite locating Andrei’s right-hand man and subjecting him to relentless interrogation, we gleaned no useful information about the incident. My sole desire was to make Andrei pay for my father’s murder. I envisioned him helplessly watching as I claimed his daughter, bending her to my will, and securing an heir. I planned to grant him a prolonged, agonizing death after achieving my objectives. But fate had other plans. My father had accepted Larissa’s hand in marriage as a settlement for Andrei’s debts. However, the stakes had now risen beyond Andrei’s financial obligations. Larissa would be bound to me, a pawn to settle scores and avenge my father’s demise. One way or another, she would give me an heir. Due to my position asPakhan, I faced the relentless pressure of marrying and producing an heir. Time was slipping through my fingers.
“Fuck.”
I poured another glass of Beluga and slammed it down. Nothing beat the burn of a good Russian vodka.
“How many times are you going to look at the file?” Stepan asked as he walked into my office without knocking.
“Just because you are mybrigadierdoesn’t mean you don’t need to knock,” I reminded him. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
Instead of answering me, he walked over to my desk and help himself to a glass of Beluga. I watched Stepan take a seat in the chair in front of me and prop his feet on top of my $10,000 mahogany desk.
“Just because you are my best friend doesn’t mean you can put your feet on my desk,” I snapped as I leaned across my desk and pushed his feet from the surface.
“Are you going to be a crab ass, or are you going to let me show you what I found?” Stepan took a swig of the $2000 vodka before pulling his cell from his back pocket.
While he held his cell out to me, I gave him an annoyed glare before swiping it from his grasp.
“Who is this?” I asked, confused as to why he was showing a picture of an attractive woman. When I looked at her picture longer, I came to realize there was something about her that seemed familiar. “Why do I get the feeling I’ve seen her before?”
“Because you have. Three years ago. You and I were standing on the upper level of Raptor. Do you remember the woman you couldn’t take your eyes off of?”
