“Grigori couldn’t leave things well enough alone. He found out I had Igor rape the suka and he confronted me. I ended him,” Konstantin yells. The men gasp but my uncle continues. “Just like I’ll have all of you killed if you cross me. I’m the Pakhan. I’m the Bocharov Bratva, not you. Me. It’s all me.”
I slip off the knife knowing my uncle is about to underestimate me just like every man before him. I barely place the knife on the table when he moves, bending for the gun he dropped when I shot him.
He’s fast, but I’m faster. I unhook the necklace wrapped around my neck designed to look like the collar of my bodysuit. I snap out the garrote as he takes aim at Vitaly. The finely sharpened tool wraps around his neck, and I grasp the opposite end and pull, sawing my hands back and forth. He drops the gun and grabs for his neck. The garrote cuts into his fingers.
I look at Vitaly.
“I love you.” I raise up my foot and press it into my uncle’s back, then I pull with every muscle in my body as I saw. The chain gives as his head slices clean off. I fall backward and roll away. When I come up, I have Konstantin’s gun pointed at the men. “Kill me if you must, but I just saved all of your lives. I’m Anatonia Valentina Bocharov Lupo, and I took my revenge.”
“Kotenok,” Vitaly says, and I glance at him. “She is Bocharov.” His voice booms as he addresses the men. “She is the daughter of Printsessa Nadya.”
Each man slams a hand over their hearts and bows their heads. I lower the gun in astonishment as they salute me.
“Pakhan,” they all say, and I step back covered in blood from head to toe. They’re recognizing me as the head of the Bratva. Their leader.
A Brigadier walks up to me. “I’m Pavel Mikhailov, I know who you are. I was friends with Grigori. He said you were still alive. He said you’d come to help us. You’d end his terror.” He points at the beheaded body of my uncle.
“I was protecting the Morellos from him.” I nod my head toward my uncle. “He trained me to kill.”
“We know violence is needed to run a Bratva, but not within our own ranks all the time. We’ve all lived in fear of him ending our families.”
“I can’t guarantee I won’t need to resort to violence, but I can tell you if you’re loyal to me, I will be loyal to you. I’m also ending the war with the Morello family.”
Pavel reaches out and takes my free hand. He moves to kiss it like my uncle made his men do. I shake my head and set down the gun. “We all make this family strong.” I offer him my right hand to shake.
Vitaly moves toward me limping.
“We need to get you looked at.” I look around. “Call a doctor,” I say to one of the men.
“The old Pakhan had him killed,” he says, and I shake my head. Another person hands me a towel so I can wipe some of the blood from my body.
“Find me another one,” I say as I help Vitaly to the sofa. He sits down heavily and pulls me down onto his lap. “I’m going to hurt you.”
“No.” His hands wrap around my waist. “You defied me, woman. Now kiss me.” He orders, and I smile at him before I kiss him.
For the first time in my life, I feel whole and at peace. The pain of the past will always be there, but now I actually have a chance at a future.