K E I R A

Moscow, Russia

I saw his jaw clenching, his biceps tightening as I turned around to walk; it seemed like the only thing I was good at was making him angry, but he didn't realize it was for his protection. If the fucker who aimed at him was Astley's man then it was starting all over again, and this time I couldn't stop anything. Nikolai had jumped head-first into the storm when all I'd wanted was to keep him out of the eye of the storm.

Perhaps I should've been afraid to turn my back on a man like him. The man he'd become, the monster he masqueraded as because I was too scared to keep the fable I'd created when I was with him. Whoever said time heals all wounds clearly didn't know what they were talking about because Niko and I were a diseased wound, and the only way to get rid of the pain was when our hearts stopped beating.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door to the room I'd tied the fucker in, and stepped inside, leaving the door open behind me for Niko to enter. I looked over my shoulder, only to find his posture eased as he leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets while he looked around the room nonchalantly. Turning back to the task at hand, I faced the sniper I'd tied to a chair in a centre of the room. Walking over, I removed my gun from my waistband and fired at his left thigh, a scream followed the deafening bang of the gunshot, and he brought his face up, his bloodshot eyes meeting mine.

Fuck.

He'd taken something when I stopped him from shooting down Niko and I didn't notice, now all I had was a few minutes. As if he knew that I was privy to his secret, his lips curled up into a smirk. Swallowing, I opened my mouth to ask him the question I'd been fearing the answer to, "Who sent you?" My voice was shakier than I'd hoped, but the blood rushing inside my head was too loud to listen to anything else.

He grunted at that, "Your blood carries the sin Knight, and all sins must be repented," His voice broke as he gasped, I wasn't sure Niko knew what was going on because he couldn't see his eyes. "Your days are numbered now, he'll take what was rightfully his, what your father stole, and it's time for payback." He convulsed at that, his eyes closing shut, and I knew it was now or never. Niko couldn't know. Bringing up my Eagle, I touched his forehead with the barrel and pulled the trigger.

Panic clawed at my insides, I had to call Kyzer; we should've known he'd be back, after all, killing our parents wouldn't be enough. Dad was a low-ranking bodyguard, and my mother chose him, giving him a seat at the table, she rejected Astley, and he'd never gotten over it. Not when he killed and tortured them, not when he dismembered the Pentagon, and sent us all into hiding. He was a snake, it was his nature to poison everything. This was bad.

Niko wasn't having it, he walked up to me; fury laced his features as he stood right in front of me, his eyes narrowed. Too lost in the echoes of my fears, I didn't notice when he clutched my chin, harshly, turning my head to meet his cold gaze. A chill ran through my spine as I schooled my features, slipping the mask I'd mastered back on as I returned his gaze head-on.

"Why did you do that?" He gritted through his teeth, his eyes searching mine, but I knew he didn't find anything when I felt his rage in my bones.

"He was of no further use. He was hired." I answered monotonously, wishing that he'd just leave it alone, but I should've known better.

"Do you take me for a fool like the rest of your men?" He growled, his fingers digging into my flesh as he tilted my head to a near-painful angle, but I wouldn't let him see my discomfort.

"I told you, he was useless."

"He wasn't." Niko barked, "He threatened you, and I intend to know what the fuck it meant. I can smell your fear, little wolf, and it's mine. So stop lying to me like you're so used to."

His words were a slap to my face because as much as they tore through my heart worse than a dagger, they were true. I'd lied to him when we met, I'd lied to him when we were married, and I was still lying to me when our loving relationship had been set ablaze by the matches of hate.

I still remembered the night we first met, he was the only one I allowed close to myself because something about him called out to all the shattered parts of my soul. I was made into a weapon from a young age, I was taught people were disposable, and maybe my parents would've even condemned love had they not fallen for each other and started this war all of us were victims too. Wars had casualties, I'd already killed our love, what else could I offer now?

"It is none of your business." I spat out, twisting his arm as I tried to get out of his hold.

"Everything about you is my business, little wolf." He dodged my hits, and held my hands in his, stopping me, completely at mercy, but he refused to see that I'd be armed and still on his mercy. He owned me alright, but not for the reasons he thought. "Now the truth."

I turned my face away from his in the last act of defiance, and he huffed, his grip loosening on me as he let me go with a scowl. "You're a fucking liar, you don't even do it for a reason, you like it too much to stop, your poison are your lies, and you killed me once, I won't let you do it twice." He hissed, digging the knife of his words further in my chest. I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him that no matter how many lies I'd told with my tongue, my heart had never lied to him.

It was in my heart to love him like the blood in my veins, he was right when he said that he'd seen my scars, he'd caressed them, but now he was in a position to make me bleed, and he needed to be out of the way for the mayhem that was coming.

"You're so fast in deciding who I am, but you don't know me anymore..." I whispered, facing his icy eyes.

"Lying again, little wolf," He whispered back, his words tantalizingly soft like a lover's caress, "I never knew you. I knew a dream, and like all other dreams it was over the moment I woke up." I closed my eyes, inhaling sharply at his words, "So little wolf, lie to me again," He taunted; his fingers moving from my cheek to my throat as he wrapped them around me threateningly.

Maybe it was the sheer vulnerability behind his anger, or maybe it was the burden of my mistakes, but tears stung my eyes, and I closed my eyes, hoping to never let him see the ache I'd covered up with years of misery. The ache that bled through me like the venom of his words worse than a dagger to the heart. I wished he'd kill me right here, right now, at least I'd die knowing that he was the last face I'd see before it was all over.

Almost like the sudden gust of wind, his vulnerability got lost in the vicious lullabies of its howling, and his anger started showing itself as an undeniable truth all over again, "It's such a shame such a pretty mouth has always only known how to tell lies, but you know what excites me the most, little wolf?" He angled my neck so that I was staring right into the empty abyss of his metallic gaze, "It's mine now, you are mine now to do with as I please, and I want your tears, I want to taste the bitter agony leaving your eyes because for eight years I've only tasted mine." His words elicited a wince from me, and I felt wetness leave my eyes, after all these years of trying not to cry, I finally got to cry in the arms of the man I loved, but fate played a cruel joke with me all over again. He loathed me, and with good reason, so maybe I shouldn't have been drawing comfort from his closeness, but I was that selfish when it came to him, I took everything he gave me. Or maybe the years apart had made me weak for him.

His lips tipped in a cruel smirk as he leaned down to trace his tongue over my tears, "Cry me a river, and even it won't be enough to wash you clean." He stepped back, and I leaned into the emptiness searching for his warmth like a Bedouin pursuing a mirage. I watched as he walked away, his back moving farther and farther away, and like all my nightmares, I couldn't hold on to him.

*

I thought I was over this, over the distance that separated us. I wasn't, but I didn't have the time to dwell on it, I had work to do, and if Astley was back, I needed Kyzer, but I couldn't talk to him here, afraid that Niko might have bugged the place. He was too smart not to, and I wasn't naïve enough to give up all of my secrets, after all, loose lips are what have caused ships to sink.

Pulling my black leather jacket over my shoulder, I pulled up my blonde locks into a bun, looking older than my age. Strapping my guns into my waistband, and a knife under my sleeve, I was all ready to leave. It was time I and Kyzer placed all of our secrets on the table and dealt with it. I was just about to step into the elevator, when the silver doors slid open to reveal the face I wouldn't have expected to see in a million years. Kyzer was my crazier counterpart, but he wasn't crazy enough to ruin this mission.

I blinked, sighing when I found the same green eyes as mine staring right back at me with fury inside them, all it took was one look at my twin brother and I knew he knew. My secret was no longer mine, Kyzer knew.

"So, Keira, tell me why you felt the need to hide that you were," He shook his head, "are fucking married to that bastard!" He stood toe-to-toe with me, his eyes blazing, his blonde hair ruffled by him running his hands through them so many times. "If the others find out," He exhaled, "Fuck!"

My shoulder sagged, and I opened my mouth to say something, only to close it again, "Ky...," and it happened, the tears I'd held back every time they threatened to spill, pooled in my eyes, and dripped down my face, and his face softened as I sagged against his chest. "Kiwi..." His voice softened, and I knew he wasn't all that mad at me if he was using my childhood nickname, his arms tightened around me as he held me, and let me cry. I knew he might be uncomfortable, emotions weren't Kyzer's forte, he preferred avoiding his emotions unless it was anger. "We'll figure it out, K, we always do..." He whispered as I pulled away, wiping the tears off my face.

"We have a lot to talk about, Ky," I sighed, and he nodded, "but not here." He arched a brow, and I shook my head, letting him know of my suspicions without having to say something. "Follow me," I mumbled, and led us into the guest bathroom, turning off all the taps and the shower. The sound of water would prevent anything we'd say from being heard if I was indeed being monitored.

"Well you haven't forgotten all the rules, Keira," Kyzer rolled his eyes, and I shrugged, waiting for his stream of questions to start, "Now, why the fuck would you do the mistake of getting married, you knew the hiding was only temporary, and you didn't even fucking change your goddamned name. You know if anyone finds out Nikolai Chernov is your fucking husband we're fucked."

"Don't you think I know that?!" I hissed, and he shook his head.

"The thing is, love, you don't know how deep we're in. You turned an innocent man into a vengeful criminal, now I know why he took one look at your face and threatened all of our lives." He ran his hands through his hair again, closing his eyes as if to breathe.

"I fucking know that!" I said, louder than I'd like, "I just... I fell in love okay? And I am an awful person for this but for those few months, I thought I could have happiness, and I was happy, Ky. And then the order came in, and I had to fake my death just so he wouldn't go looking for me, I spent eight years burning for my love; do you think that was easy? Do you think I wanted to meet him after eight years like this? A shadow of a man I fell for, a man so cold that it chills me? Do you really think I like that? So yes I hid him like a secret when all I've wanted was to tell everyone that I'd only ever been his!" Seemingly out of words, I quietened, I knew Kyzer would throw a tantrum, and maybe it was why I hadn't told him. I didn't want to be justifying my selfish actions. "I'm sure you have kept your fair share of secrets, Ky, don't you have your dreams?"

"K, between the both of us, you were the only dreamer, and look where that got you..." He whispered, caressing my now tear-stained cheeks. "But I won't hold this against you, I'm here to support you, but we must find a way to dig our way out of this like we always have." I smiled, despite everything, I still had my brother, I'd always have him.

"Our problems don't end here, I'm afraid we need Niko, Nikolai" I corrected myself, "more than ever, Astley is back."

"What the fuck?"

"Yeah, I caught his sniper trying to take a shot at Nikolai, and he didn't say much except that we didn't have much time." Kyzer's eyes widened, probably reliving the torturous night all over again. The night we both turned into orphans, and it was only us in this large world. Two lost kids who'd seen beyond their tender seventeen years of age.

"K, tell me everything, every last detail he said. The others can't know." He said, and I nodded, sometimes his abilities to think critically despite his unhinged streak surprised me, but Kyzer had always said he was a man of many talents, and he would never be confined by one label, each time he was labeled something, he proved them wrong. The ghost, the snake, the madman, and many others were the words the underworld spoke of my brother with, but to me, he was only ever my twin. My other half.

So I told him everything, right from the beginning, I told him how I'd gotten Eleanor to help me track the sniper, and how he'd threatened with the words only Astley had used when he seared my parents' bodies with bullets. He played a sick game with them the night they died, and Kyzer and I watched from our little hiding place. My face in Kyzer's chest as he shielded me as best as he could. He made them choose who to shoot first, one bullet for my father, the other one for my mother, I remember all the twelve bangs, and I'd pay him back for every single one of them.

It was a known fact that when two predators fought, only one came alive, we both had a vengeance to dish out, Astley for his insult all those years ago, and me and Kyzer for our sinful blood.

It was starting, the monsters that'd been biding their time for the last twelve years were now coming out to play. I knew I was doomed to die by a gun, and I was ready for my death, but if I'd die, I'd take them all down to hell with me.

May our flesh burn together. Amen.

♤ ♡ ◇ ♧

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