Page 4 of Deadly Knight
She disappears out of my bedroom, which, in a few short months, I’ll be packing the majority of to move into the campus dorms.
Alone, I take a moment, knowing it’ll be the last one I get for the day. Papa’s downstairs, and we’ll head to school, where it’ll be chaos until the ceremony’s end. We’ll be going out for a celebratory dinner, and then Dimitri’s picking me up for theafter-party. There won’t be another moment for myself until tomorrow morning.
Mama really worked her magic on me. The black dress, which will soon be hidden beneath a graduation gown, is tight around my torso before the skirt flares at the waist to my knees. The top is modest, a V-neck without plunging too deep. My green ribbon remains tied around my left wrist, even when she insisted on replacing it with a bracelet. It was the one fight she lost, and instead she placed a jewelled clip in my hair to help link some of the curls while my bangs remain fanned around my face.
When I eventually make it downstairs, it’s exactly as I expect and fear. Papa embraces me, mentions how proud he is, and then Mama’s snapping pictures with her phone.
Thankfully, it isn’t long before her alarm chimes. Mama’s horrendous at keeping appointments, so she lives by reminders. She claps her hands together and heads for the door, an extra skip in her step that wasn’t present upstairs.
Papa watches her leave out the door before slowly leading me in the same direction. Alone for the moment, he checks, “How are you feeling?”
I shrug.Nervouswould be the best response, I suppose, considering any public ceremony is irritating and nerve-wracking, but at this point, I want it over with. I’d like to return to normalcy and see Dimitri without having to dress up.
“I don’t really know,” is the best answer I can manage.
His smile says he sees right through me in the way only a father could. He claps his hand on my shoulder as I take the lead out the door. “You’ll figure it out, Katya. And if you don’t, it’s okay. Life isn’t perfect.”
It feels like there’s so much packed into that statement. Like he knows something I don’t.
My parents walkin the direction of the seating area, and I join the gathering of graduates, my eyes skipping over everyone who greets me in search of one specific person. Amidst the sea of blue graduation gowns—a colour matching the school’s logo—I don’t spot him.
“He’s coming. Last-minute business to attend to. I’m sure you understand.”
The cool voice close behind me immediately causes my muscles to tense, and I slowly turn on my heel. Standing close, no more than two feet away, is the man I know way too much about despite only ever having been face-to-face with him the three times Dimitri wasn’t able to get me away quickly enough.
Ivan Volkov. Dimitri’s father and a Bratva soldier high up in the ranks, only second to their leader.
Danger exudes from him despite his casual stance, hands tucked in his slacks’ pockets, which I suspect cost more than my father’s yearly salary brings in. His dark eyes pin me to the spot, a threat even while his mouth curves upwards in a partial smirk, like he’s aiming for friendliness in the same way a lion wiggles before pouncing on its prey.
Ivan scared me to death the first time I met him. The two times following weren’t much better, but at least I knew how to act: eyes averted, head down. Not out of respect, but fear. Easier to play meek, especially when he holds so much power over Dimitri, even if Dimitri claims otherwise.
After Dimitri admitted everything about his life and family to me, I went online and researched all I could dig up on the Volkovs. There wasn’t much to be found. If there were, Ivan and his brother would probably be locked up in prison. I think. TheBratva probably owns the police or something. What I learned on my own and what Dimitri disclosed gave me enough to go off of—Ivan is someone to avoid, simple as that.
He’s trying to make Dimitri into his duplicate, though Dimitri disregards any and all attempts. Dimitri might train with weapons and run drug deals, but he hasn’t killed anyone—that he’s told me about.
Yet, that annoying inner voice reminds me. Surely it’s only a matter of time, especially as the years pass. Nonetheless, I don’t know how to feel about it. I lovehimand want to look past anything else, but the nagging in the back of my head demands I listen to the little voice warning me against what my life could become.
“Miss Terasov, you look lovely.Krasivyy.”Beautiful.Ivan tips his head forward in a mocking bow before approaching even closer. My eyes lock on the grass at his feet, willing the ground to suck him up.
I didn’t expect him here since Dimitri was sure his father wouldn’t attend. From what I’ve seen and what he’s told me, they don’t have that kind of relationship, and Ivan never approved of Dimitri attending public school. Maybe this is his attempt at fixing the divide between them.
Ivan slides his hands from his pockets and holds them up in a display of harmlessness when we both know he’s not. He’s the kind of man who wouldn’t rely on weapons to injure someone, and while I want to believe he’s making an effort to be nice, the little alarm in the back of my head suggests otherwise.
“Only here to talk until my son arrives. I have something important to discuss with you.” His lip curls when he scans the loud group less than ten feet away. “Alone, if you please.”
I should deny him and stay close to my classmates, but rather than deal with the potential argument, I break away from everyone. Ivan follows, stopping closer than before.
With his back to the crowd, his façade drops; his smirk withers away, and I’m facing down the hardened criminal Dimitri protects me from.
“Wh-what do you want?” I ask, mentally cursing my stutter.
Ivan reaches into his coat, and I finger the ribbon on my wrist for comfort, unsure how to react until he pulls out a folded-up piece of paper. Holding it between his thumb and forefinger, in a cold tone he says, “This can be yours if you promise me one thing.”
He slips his index finger between the crease and unfolds the paper, showing me a cheque with a whole lot of zeros on it. An amount of roubles others would kill for.
There’s only one thing Ivan would ask of me now, on the day of graduation, with a number this large attached to it. From our initial meeting, he’s never hidden the fact he doesn’t like me. More than once, I’ve seen the texts on Dimitri’s phone and overheard the arguments they have. Ivan feels I’m a distraction to Dimitri’s future, and now that both our futures are about to kick off, Ivan clearly plans on changing it.
“This is a lot of money. Think about what it could mean for your family and your future. You can go anywhere in the world. My only condition is that you leave Russia and get far away from my son. Without you here, he’ll become the man he’s meant to. We both know there’s no place in his world for someone like you.”
