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Chapter 1 - Sophia
Hold on, Lily. Everything is going to be okay. I’ll be there soon.
As I race through the hospital doors, my sneakers squeak on the floor, and my chest heaves. I hurry through the emergency room to the elevators and stab my thumb impatiently on the cool metal button. The glowing red numbers above the elevator move at a snail’s pace.
Fuck this. I can’t keep waiting for this damn elevator.
I look around and go to the right side of the nurses’ station, where the door to the stairs is. My heart races like a runaway freight train as I run up the stairs two steps at a time.
Tendrils of my long brown hair fall from the messy bun resting on my head. The handrail is cool under my fingers as I grab it and quickly turn the corner to hurry up another flight of stairs.
Passing the door to the second floor and heading straight for the third, my stomach tightened into a knot. I stop in front of the door to the third floor, pause, and try to catch my breath before yanking the door open and hurrying down the hallway.
When I enter Lily’s room, my heart skips a beat. My vision blurs as I approach the edge of her hospital bed and the constant beeping of the machines harmonizes with the sound of my stifled sobs.
“What happened?” I ask, looking at my father as he stands next to the bed.
Dad shrugs and fiddles with the white bandage around his left bicep. Drops of blood seep through the gauze, but that doesn't bother him. Even as his teenage daughter lies unconscious before him.
“I was attacked. Lily was in the car with me at the time. The bullet hit my arm, but she wasn’t hit. I overcorrected and yanked the wheel too hard. We hit a barrier and the car flipped. She bashed her head pretty good against the window.”
I grit my teeth and hold Lily’s cold hand. I'm careful not to jiggle the wires or tubes leading from various machines to her body. She's only seventeen, but our father insists on dragging her into this dirty business. She's not even looking for a way out of this mobster life.
I got lucky. I lived with my mother until I was fifteen. Even after I was forced to live with my father, I threw myself into my studies and avoided as much of his criminal activities as I could.
Now I am twenty-one and have a brilliant career as a nurse ahead of me. I’ve tried to stay away from his world as much as possible, but it’s hard because Lily lives with him, and I still need to visit her.
I run my thumb along her wrist and feel the steady pulse that I hear beeping on the device. As long as the beeping continues, I know she’ll be fine.
“Take care of your sister,” Dad says as he heads for the door. He puts his hands in the pockets of his jeans and turns to me again. “The doctor said she'll probably wake up tomorrow and be fine.”
Dad disappears through the door and into the hallway. It’s only once he’s gone that my older half-brother, James, steps outof the shadows in the corner of the room and comes to the edge of the bed.
As he looks down on Lily, I wonder if he has any feelings for her. I know our father is a cold man. He's taken James under his wing from an early age and raised him to be as cold and distant as a mob boss should be.
At least it was him and not me.
“Were you with them?” I ask, my voice breaking slightly as I look at Lily. Her dark lashes rest on her pale cheeks. Her full lips pucker as the machines beside us continue to beep.
James sighs as if this conversation is a burden to him. “Yes.”
I squeeze Lily’s hand before I stand up. As I cross my arms and look at my brother, I might as well be staring at a stranger. He has the same dark hair and brown eyes we all share with our father, but that's where our similarities end.
“Who did this to her?”
“Ivan Orlov.”
“Am I supposed to know who that is?” I snap at him, my tone sharper than it should be. I know I’m playing a dangerous game with my brother, but I don’t care. I need to get revenge for Lily, and I can’t do that if I don’t have all the answers.
James’ eyes narrow and a muscle in his cheek twitches. “Watch your fucking tone, Sophia. I’m not going to put up with any shit from you.”
“Please, James.” I plead. “This is our sister. I need to know who this guyIvan Orlovis and why he would do this. Lily is hurt because of him.”
“And what are you going to do about it?” James looms over me. “Do you think that you’re going to be able to get some kind of revenge against the Pakhan of the fucking Bratva?”
“I don’t know what that means either.” I bite back the tears that dance at the edge of my vision. “I know who the Bratva are but what’s a Pakhan?”
James scoffs. “The boss. The bastard who is untouchable. Which is why nothing is going to happen to him. Not right now anyway. This attack was small. There are bigger things to worry about.”
