K E I R A

Warsaw, Poland.

I scoffed hearing Maxim's epic plan to get us all killed. Clearly, he was underestimating a man who built everything from the scratch in eight short years when we'd been busy rebuilding the legacy that was left broken all those years ago to the best of our abilities.

"Enough," I slammed my hand against the table, the water inside my glass had a shake as four pairs of eyes looked my way. "Zavod, you have an excellent plan to throw everyone under the bus. Chernov will come after us if he finds a single reason to doubt us..."

"And we have only managed to sort through the wreckage our parents left behind," Kyzer finished for me as I gave him a thankful glance.

We might be the ring leaders, but I couldn't count on anyone to have my back here except Kyzer, he was my twin after all. Given half the chance, they would try to eliminate us. It was a known fact that no one liked sharing, and power corrupted, so the more powerful we became, the more skeptical I got. These so-called friends weren't friends, but saying otherwise would be asking for more enemies so I stayed silent.

With the Pentagon, you were either with them or against them, and resisting them only ended in mayhem. That was the only reason I'd returned to claim my seat at this treacherous table. My heart fractured as memories played through the cracks like a deviant song, reminding me of what I did—what I lost.

I knew Maxim wanted me, but I despised him. He was an asshole, he wanted me to secure two votes for himself when his avarice eventually took over, and he decided to shed his deceitful skin. Well, he could dream, he could wish he had me, but there was only one man in this world who did, and he thought I was dead. I hadn't gone looking for him, no one knew about him. He was my secret, and I would guard it with my life because my loose lips would result in his blood being spilled. Perhaps the only knowledge that as long as I kept my distance, he'd be under the same midnight sky as me, was what kept me going.

"What do you propose we do?" Maria cut in, leaning forward as she reached for her husband's hand on the table. "We've already agreed to pay him a visit, which must I add is a ridiculous move."

"Not exactly, if we show our will to bend our rules, Chernov might let his pride get ahead of him and leave us with an opening." I tried my best to maintain my poker face, but it was hard. Fuck, Chernov's name reminded me of Niko. They shared the same first name, but they were so different, my Niko was the only gentleman I'd ever known who also knew how to be rogue. He was perfect, I cursed everyone for making me give up on my life away for this.

Alas, it was no one's fault. I was sworn to this life before I was even born, I couldn't leave. Abandoning the syndicate meant a life of looking over my shoulder, and I was no coward. I might've been a woman, but I had more balls than most men.

"I think the motherfucker plans to humiliate after inviting us in his stronghold." Jacob straightened, tracing his jaw as Maria ran her fingers over his suited arm, adding to this conversation for the first time. Jacob was the silent member, silent, but deadly. He preferred killing his victims with a clean shot to the head much like his wife. For him, the knife was too personal. Kyzer and I, we relished in the feel of blood on our hands, and the scent of fear in the air. Maxim was a fucking cunt, who preferred keeping his three-piece suit clean. 

"Well, then we listen to each one of his threats and use that as ammunition when we spin the tables on him." Kyzer motioned with his hand, crossing his legs as he leaned back in the plush leather chair, looking bored, his polished shoe almost touching the edge of the glass coffee table.

"I can get behind this idea. Besides, I got favor in from Smirnov, and we're invited to his Masquerade in two days, Chernov would be there. We can assess the threat behind the masks before our meeting at the end of the week." Maxim stood up, circling behind our seats until he eventually stopped behind mine. Kyzer clenched his jaw, but stayed still, allowing me to tackle my battles, which is exactly what I planned to do, but not here.

"Chernov must be stopped. He is deliberately taking over our markets, and we need to teach him and the underdogs a lesson." Feeling Maxim's fingers trail down my shoulder, I snapped my neck in his direction, and tugged at his finger, pushing it back until I heard a crack, and his groan.

"Sorry Zavod, rules are rules. You fucking touch me without my say so and I break your fingers. You know me I like to be the one in charge, so unless you want to be my little bitch—" I paused, allowing the epiphany to hit him on its own under my scrutinizing gaze.

He let out a nervous chuckle, painfully aware of the eyes on our exchange, "You take my jokes far too serious, Keira." He mumbled my name with a disgusting edge to it, and if it wasn't for the fact that he was a part of the inner circle, I would've given him a cruel death.

"Very well. Then I hope you like mine," Before he could comprehend what I meant, I got up, spun around, and slammed his nose with my elbow. "Blood looks quite good on you." Smirking, I turned my attention to the stunned faces of three others, including my brother, "I suppose this meeting is done, let's meet after that Masquerade eh?"

Without bothering for their response, I collected my things, turned on my heel, and left the room, my high heels clicking against the floor. The guards nodded at me as I left the building, tired of this fucking day already. A hand came over my wrist, twisting me to face the culprit, easing my body, I braced my knee to hit him, but luckily his voice reached me before I reacted.

"K, it's me." Kyzer raised his hands defensively as I exhaled, letting out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"What now, Kyzer?" I ask, bracing myself for his brotherly advice. There was no doubt in my mind that he had my best interest at heart, but I wished, they'd all see Maxim for who he was and it was not a valuable asset.

"Keira, I'm not here to reprimand you. But whatever you have with that man—"

"There is nothing!" I pulled away from his embrace, horrified he'd assume the worst. Hitting him was not a couple's fight, it was me setting some boundaries, and quite frankly, it was a long time coming.

"The motherfucker's fucking crossing lines that he knows would result in his death." He hissed, immediately masking his expression when he realized we weren't alone. "Come with me," I followed him out towards my Porsche.

I was a loner, didn't have many friends, so if I was going to spend most of my time in a vehicle, alone, I suppose it better be one of the best.

"Keys, Keira," He outstretched his hand, asking for my car keys, well tough luck, he wasn't getting shit.

"Have some faith, brother, I wouldn't kill us." Ignoring the scowl on his face, I unlocked the vehicle and got behind the wheel. I used to like Warsaw, after today, I didn't.

But I knew we had to be careful about where we were seen, and my sway with the votes amongst the five of us wouldn't change this for me.

Closing the door, I ignited the engine, my hands vibrating with the rubble, waiting for Kyzer to fasten his seatbelt, I checked my mirrors, and finally pulled the car away. Kyzer's silence was bothering me now that we were out on the street in the open, and had privacy. I turned my head to glance at him, not surprised when he was turning both our phones off, "Okay, out with it!"

"They think you're a loose cannon. Keira, there's only so many times I can clean your mess." He finished, apologetic. But I was pissed. "Especially that self-entitled bitch, Maria, I would love to just accidentally cut her jugular, but they'd know it won't be accidental." 

He'd tried making a joke for my sake, but I was still trying to not take out my anger by overspeeding. I exhaled, shaking my head, "That motherfucker has been doing it for months now. And there are only so many times I would let it slide because of the way we're tangled up."

"I know," He mumbled, sighing, "I don't like Maxim either, but we need him."

"No, we don't." Scoffing, I kept my focus on the road, checking my mirrors for some over speeding bastard, "I could make him disappear," He knew I could. I vanished for four years. The best four years of my life and the worst part was that I couldn't share the only man who took something of mine—my heart—and lived to tell the tale with my brother.

"I know you could." His tone had a sinister edge to it, "Yet it isn't about your abilities to terminate him. It is about playing our cards right, we're already living a life of bad luck. I want nothing more than to crush his windpipe, but good things come to those to wait." Controlled wasn't Kyzer's forte, he was impulsive, and had the worst temper, but whenever I gave in to my animalistic needs, he was the sensible one apparently. Kyzer was deranged, detached, but he knew what he was doing, and right now both of us were surviving in a world where one sign of weakness could get us in a lot of shit. Death would be the easy way out then.

"Oh, if cutting off his dick is the reward then I think I can wait." I managed to get out through gritted teeth, I was still seething, but I trusted Kyzer's judgment.

As if he sensed my procurement, he sighed, "Keira, we are planning to do head to head with Nikolai Chernov. We need to stay united, and only after he has been taken care of can we do something about Maxim." The name reminded me of Niko, he loved to hate this nickname, but I knew he secretly loved it. The cracks in my heart deepened, it fucking hurt, but aching for him, searching for him in every man I slept with was the only thing I had left of him.

I sacrificed our love for his life.

That didn't mean I couldn't miss him.

But I also knew I broke his heart, he loved me with reckless abandon, now if he knew I was alive. He would hate me. Hate was too small a word at what would happen.

It was selfish, but the only reason I had my men shoot me when I was wearing a bullet-proof jacket was that I'd rather he remembered me as a fragment of his memory than hate me. There was only one person who knew about my death, and that was me. The two men who'd shot at us were dead, and I didn't feel remorse when I killed them.

So if you think this is despicable and that I'm a bitch, you're not wrong, but I haven't pretended to be someone else either.

As Kyzer fell into silence on the passenger seat, I let my thoughts drift to the night I saw him for the last time. The night I signed both of us up for a lifetime of misery because I couldn't help but fall in love with the man he was, despite knowing that I was on borrowed time.

He looked so fragile with all those wires attached to his chest, the beeping was the only assurance I had that whatever I'd do or say now would be my last time with him. I would never find salvation; I was ripping both our hearts out, leaving a void nothing would ever fill.

The bullets had been taken out safely, I couldn't believe they fucking shot him in the gut. He could've died. Anger was blaring, and I'd deal with the two of them right after I'd leave here. They had to die. No one could know about this. Not one soul but I, and I'd live with the weight of my secrets the rest of life.

Leaning down, I pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, tasting salty tears on my lips as I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that he'd be able to move on, then deploring the thought like it'd come, condemning it. I'd have no right on him after tonight. He would no longer be mine, but my heart and soul were his.

While I'd become an exhausted memory he'd forget, he would be the only one I'd want to remember for the rest of my miserable existence.

There was no hero in this story. No one would come to save me for I'd made my bed when I decided to go and fall in love with the only man who'd treated me like a woman, knowing that time was racing against me, and sooner or later I'd have to go back.

My heart hurt, and tears, they wouldn't stop. I was trying my hardest to memorize his features through blurry vision, how his eyebrows were arched but slightly non-symmetrical, you couldn't notice it unless you looked really close, which I had. I remembered the beauty mark on his lower jaw that he mostly kept covered with his beard, and the small silvery scar on his left hand.

Maybe I shouldn't leave. It was too much. I managed to stay hidden for so long, I could do it for a hundred lifetimes if it meant I'd have him, but we'd always have to look over our shoulders. He still didn't know the simple girl he fell for was the daughter of one of Europe's most notorious mafia circles.

He didn't deserve the life of a fugitive.

Fighting my tears, I connected our lips one last time, vowing that he'd be the only man I'd ever loved.

"Keira watch out!" Kyzer's voice pulled me outof my abysmal temporal as I noticed a heavy vehicle coming towards my car. Imissed the red light, fuck.    

♤ ♡ ◇ ♧

So now you know what happened, what do you think?

Thoughts on Keira, Kyzer, any theories yet?

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