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“Fuck. Clara used the distraction to get away.” Gabriel said as he grabbed his gun and ran through the door Clara used.
I pulled out my knife and leaned over, handing it to Mikhail.
“If you want to get out of here alive and follow her trail, you need me alive. Even your helpers surrounding this farmhouse won’t be able to track her.” I said, smiling at him.
They needed me and something told me I would need them again one day, even if I was going to set them free of their contract as a gesture of good faith.
Mikhail swore as he realized they would be better off with me.
“Fuck. Fine. Tell us where she went.”
I looked down at Ivan’s coffin as it lowered into the ground and sighed.
His funeral had been a lavish one, fit for a king. I had felt all the anger, the eyes watching me from everywhere as I had done my duty as goddaughter and given a speech.
I killed him. They all knew it and that made me a traitor.
“The Bratva Princess is now the Queen.” A voice said behind me, and I turned to see Alexsei standing there with a smirk on his face, his black suit pristine and form-fitting.
The anger in his eyes told me everything I needed to know about him and what was in store for our working relationship. I was surprised at the disappointment I felt, knowing that one of the few men I had considered a friend and ally, a rare thing in our world, was now an enemy.
“You should watch your back, Katerina. Things were happening in the Bratva that you had no idea about and Ivan was well loved. You may have been royalty to all of us, but that ended the moment you took his life.” He said softly.
“I know. He was my godfather, Lex. He killed Yuri. He killed the man I loved and lied to me about it for years.” I said and he nodded.
“That doesn’t change things. You know the Bratva won’t follow you.” He said and I flinched. He was including himself in that too.
“You know I never wanted to take his place. But I don’t have a choice. If I don’t, I’ll be hunted.” I said and he smiled, but it wasn’t kind. I had seen him use that same smile before killing a man.
“And you will be hunted as the head anyway.” He crooned and I sighed.
“I know. I’m damned either way. I guess this means we are no longer on the same side.” I looked at him and he reached out to brush a stray strand of hair out of my face.
“No. We are no longer on the same side. I have my duty, just as you have yours. My family was set to inherit what you have now taken. They will want blood.” He said before he turned and walked away.
Alexsei Orlov would be my biggest threat. The Orlov family was as strong as Ivan’s and it was Alexsei’s father, Vadim who was meant to take over, then his brothers.
I watched Aleksei stop to talk to Egor, our liaison for the Moscow family.
Egor looked at me with a slow smile before he got into the car.
I don’t know what this meant, but if he reported back to the head of Moscow who happened to be my cousin, I should be given his support which meant the others had to fall in line too.
I just had to wait, and, in the meantime, I had to show my strength and clean house of anyone who was a potential enemy.
One
Katerina
Blood dripped from my hands as I pulled the knife from the man’s chest. No matter how many lives I took, it never got easier.
Another one dead.
The purge of Ivan’s men was long, slow, and frustrating. Every time I thought I had found the last of them, another appeared.
Now they had put a bounty on my head. Most believed I was a coward for taking Ivan’s life and that a woman was unfit to rule, especially in the Bratva.
They called me the Dead Princess, the spoilt Bratva brat who killed the hand that fed her.
