by Raven Rivers
As they reached the mouth of the cave, Yuri’s low baritone sounded off with, “An eye for an eye, my brothers. Karl. Luka. Fuck ‘em up.”
Jade shivered at the orders he’d carelessly tossed over his shoulder on the way out. One of his associates, Mikael, accompanied them to the hospital. The others stayed behind to take care of business.
Chapter 2
Starting Over
Jade
There was something liberating about almost dying. Once a person survived being on the cusp of death, everything else seemed achievable. It had been a little over two months since the incident with Calvin, and she was trying hard to put it behind her.
With no interest in selling her soul for a college education, she fled from home shortly after turning eighteen. Her parents had planned a rather large party and invited a host of people she didn’t even like. It was her definition of total bullshit, yet she suffered through it, plastering on a fake smiling and nodding politely at the guests. She did love her mom and dad and recognized that they had her best interests at heart, but never forgot that they weren’t her real parents. They’d adopted her when she was only five-years-old after her biological mother had succumbed to cancer. She’d never known her real dad. She was appreciative for them taking her in, and they had given her a good life. Her adoptive father was a bigshot investment banker whose hefty income had allowed her the finer things. Her adoptive mother, a successful real estate broker who brought home a boast-worthy income as well. Still, for all they had blessed her with, she didn’t need them directing every facet of her life. She’d decided to leave after her birthday party knowing she’d be eighteen and under absolutely no obligation to them. It stung a bit since they’d provided for her all these years, but the iron fist they ruled over her with was just too heavy. Dictating who she could and couldn’t date? That was one step too far.
Deciding what to take with her had been a painful dilemma. In the end, she opted to only pack items with sentimental value, such as photographs of her birth mother, a necklace handed down from her, and a few special gifts from Yuri. The small stuffed panda he’d surprised her with weeks earlier meant too much to leave behind. The original plan was for him to run away with her, but he’d clearly chosen his path. She couldn’t escape the smell of cheap booze and sex radiating from him when he’d rescued her from Calvin and his fucked-up friends. She was grateful to him, but he’d hurt her too badly when he’d slept with that cheap hooker. She’d always care about Yuri, which is why she’d brought a few reminders of him, but a future between them wasn’t in the cards.
She limited her luggage to her backpack and a rolling duffel bag since it was all she could manage on her own. Laptops, tablets, and cell phones were all traceable, so she left them behind along with the credit cards her father had given her. Her real mother’s life insurance plan had left her with enough money to start over again somewhere far away. The money had been placed in a special fund that had been released to her on her eighteenth birthday and, if she was careful, she thought it might even be enough for the downpayment on a small house.
She knew she’d have to work if she wanted to attend college. People did it all the time. She wasn’t sure where she’d go, but New York sounded enticing. There, she could get lost in the sprawling metropolis and become just another face in the crowd. She could see herself easily melting into the droves of people scurrying about the bustling city. With no friends or family in The Big Apple, it was unlikely anyone would think to look for her there.
Calvin had beaten her with that red rubber hose so severely that he’d broken two of her ribs, landing her in the hospital for a few days. After giving her statement to the police, voice trembling and tears streaming down her face as she recounted the terrifying incident, he’d been arrested on kidnapping and assault charges. His parents had bailed him out, and he’d disappeared shortly before his arraignment. She suspected they’d used their wealth to usher him away to a country with no extradition. Though she didn’t think he’d be quite stupid enough to show his face again, a part of her suspected he wasn’t finished with her. To play it safe, she needed to lay low and not set the world on fire.
She stashed her luggage—her backpack and duffel bag—in the shed out back of her parent's house and sat on her bed fully clothed, waiting for them to go to bed. Nerves causing her body to shake, she deliberated on the decision she was making. Could she really go through with it? She’d miss Yuri desperately, but she needed space between her and her overbearing makeshift parents. More importantly, she needed to distance herself from the town Calvin could very well return to at any moment. He knew where she lived. He’d been inside her home. He could come back to finish the job, silencing her permanently. If she wasn’t alive to testify against him, Jeff and Tony, who had only received a short sentence, would undoubtedly cover for their deranged friend somehow. The charges would likely be dropped and he’d be a free man.
Worse, her parents seemed skeptical of her retelling of that harrowing night. The look on their faces as she’d recounted the horrible ordeal reeked of incredulity, even with her broken bones and bruises. They likely thought she’d had a few too many to drink and didn’t want to fess up to drunkenly passing out in the cave, choosing to concoct an outlandish story pinning everything on Calvin instead. Of course, that’s not what happened, but in their mind, Calvin could do no wrong. They were friends with his parents and considered the boy a saint. They’d likely welcome him back into their home.
Though she tried to push the crime from her mind, the memory of her assault in the cave haunted her. She’d been plagued by recurring nightmares that felt so lifelike she’d wake up screaming, often drenched in sweat. Calvin was a psychopath and his friends weren’t much better. She didn’t think they’d try anything without him around to pull their strings, but she couldn’t be sure. One of them couldn’t even walk anymore after how badly Karl and Luka had beaten him, but the other? Maybe Calvin would call him from wherever he was hiding out and instruct him to snuff her out for him. She wasn’t taking chances.
When she was confident her parents were asleep, she quietly made her escape into the night and recruited the help of a classmate in giving her a ride to a truck stop on the outskirts of town. She waited around for hours there, observing the truckers as they went about their business. Hitching a ride with one of them wasn’t the safest move, but it was the only option she had. She wanted to vanish without a trace and a plane or bus ticket would quickly be linked back to her. When she spotted an older gentleman who looked innocuous enough, she saw the perfect opportunity and quickly took it. He turned out to be an extremely nice man who immediately put her at ease with his kind, inviting smile. She knew looks could be deceiving, but sensed she wouldn’t have to use the knife she’d been concealing in her pant leg. He made for an excellent traveling companion, providing good conversation but not prying into her personal life.
Safely in the cab of his snub-nosed rig, they headed out on the open road. As luck would have it, he was driving up the East Coast and would be passing through New York. This meant she didn’t have to take another risk by hitching with a trucker who might not be as pleasant as the man she’d quickly grown comfortable with.
She missed Yuri like crazy, even after telling herself on a daily basis that he’d probably forgotten about her and was having the time of his life with whatever floozy came his way. Now that school was out, he was free to sleep all day, stay out all night, and hump every tramp in sight. She didn’t blame him for his choices, she just thought they were poor ones. Yuri was the kind of person who didn’t understand his own worth.
When the guilt of leaving without saying goodbye just wouldn’t go away, she reminded herself that he’d left her before she’d left him. Although he was a good friend, and a heroic one at that, he simply didn’t want her anymore. She had to work on putting him out of her mind. She needed to come up with a plan for her life. She realized that, for the first time in a long time, she was actually excit
ed about her life.
Once in New York, she called her parents from a pay phone to let them know she was safe. She kept the conversation short and stayed strong as they battered her with questions of her whereabouts. She told them they’d hear from her again when she’d made something of herself, and hung up the phone before they could prod her further. It was an empowering moment for her, knowing her parents could no longer steer her ship. She was the captain of her own vessel now and could set the course as she saw fit.
After putting herself up in a cheap motel, she took a few days to unwind and decompress before beginning the search for both a job and a home. At night, she distracted herself by writing using the new laptop she’d bought. In a way, she considered herself to be on the run. She began imagining a character who was also on the run… perhaps after witnessing something they shouldn’t have. Putting pen to paper, she started jotting down her thoughts and crafting them into a cohesive story. In her fantasy, a young woman—similar to her—used fake IDs and moved under the cover of darkness. It was the beginnings of her first mystery novel. Writing filled up the extra time she would have spent worrying, and it soon became a huge part of her life.
She began writing for a magazine that had been impressed with an article she’d written and submitted. Freelance at first, they soon hired her full-time and she began making a decent living as a regular contributor. She was able to buy a cheap yet reliable vehicle and used the money her mother’s life insurance had left her to make the downpayment on a small home. Better yet, she still had enough leftover in case times got rough. She also picked up classes at a local community college to fine-tune her writing, despite being told she was good enough already. Before long graduation was looming on the horizon, and along the way she’d finished writing that mystery novel. Her unique, gritty style of writing turned out to be very much in vogue. It took a bit of shopping around, and a few favors being called in from the magazine that still employed her, but a publishing company eventually picked up her first novel. Against the odds, it surpassed even her wildest expectations in terms of sales. She jumped right on a sequel that was just as successful, and a third followed that. Within a few years, she had a nice series of lauded books to her name and had sold her first home in favor of a newer, bigger home in a safer part of the city. There, she finally wrote a letter to her adoptive parents explaining why she’d left and detailing the success she’d achieved without their help. Still fearing retribution from Calvin, and unsure if she wanted her stand-in parents back in her life, she didn’t include a return address.
Though she’d often get lonely living with just her cat in her roomy, two-story house, Jade avoided the complications of romantic relationships altogether. Staying focused on her writing gave her some measure of stability. Her characters could have all the love and affection she denied to herself. Still, she felt the loneliness descent around her like a cold, dark cloak and knew it could very well last the rest of her life. Aside from her feline friend, Sir Kitty, her sole confidante was the daily journal she kept and used to deal with the astounding feelings of loss that affected her daily. Here she didn’t need to write for the entertainment of others. She could pour out her darkest fears and blackest memories without running the risk of opening herself up to her readers.
Chapter 3
Deepest Pits of Hell
Yuri
Losing Jade seemed to snuff out what little goodness and light there was left in Yuri Kozlov. He took a long, hard look at his life and realized it was now filled with darkness and danger stemming from his nefarious dealings. Sure, there were also piles of money. His life of occasional petty crime had evolved into a full-blown career that had lined his pockets quite well. With that came a ton of booze, drugs, and a seemingly endless stream of cheap women at his disposal. Unfortunately, that simply wasn’t enough to fill the void Jade had left in his heart. He felt cold and empty inside, and it was a feeling he couldn’t shake no matter how hard he tried. Losing the one person who cared about him fueled his rage like nothing else ever could. He wasn’t angry with her, he was angry with himself. He was also angry at the world for giving him love only to cruelly snatch it away.
In the years following Jade’s Reinhold’s disappearance, his aggression on the streets increased at an exponential rate. It was like a dark monster feeding on its own self-destruction. The crueler the deed, the darker his heart became, which in turn led to even more violence. With no sweet Jade to soothe his ravaged soul, he had nothing left to lose. Mikael, Karl, and Luka stuck by his side through thick and thin, repeatedly pulling him back from the edge as he raged out of control. He slowly gained a reputation for his unheard of level of ruthlessness. His three comrades were nearly as ruthless, and they were also efficient and loyal. Yuri could ask no more of them than that. With them at his back, willing to break bones at the snap of his fingers, nobody could oppose him.
He took chances with his life that no other human would consider, having no regard for if he lived or died. He’d totally screwed up his life from bottom to top, and getting it back on track seemed like an exercise in futility. His dad had been brutally murdered back in Russia, with the official story being a robbery gone wrong. Rumor on the street, however, is that his dad was somehow involved with the Russian mob and was taken out in a deal gone wrong. Widowed, his mother used the little money he’d left behind to flee to America where she’d hoped to give Yuri a better life. Instead of flourishing like she’d hoped, Yuri had languished without the guidance of a much-needed male role model. He showed little interest in school and refused to obey his mother’s rules, resenting her for moving him so far away from his home country. Widowed and alone in a new land, his mother eventually gave up on her unruly son and turned to the bottle. She become a barfly at a local tavern and was rarely home, choosing to drown her troubles with booze. Over time, Yuri became well versed in all of the things that made the world a bad place. In his own opinion, that made him the most worthless kind of person… and also the most dangerous.
He ended up getting shot several times, but each bullet wound left him stronger. He found he was nothing if not resilient, and considered it to be his only redeeming feature. Yet, none of his risks and no amount of fighting seemed to fill the gaping hole in his soul left by losing the woman he loved. He was aware of how young they were when they met, but he knew what love was and knew he’d found it with her. As cold and callous as he could be, he had been capable of love. At least then. Now, he wasn’t sure if he was.
Yuri watched any compassion he had left within him slowly eroding away, too apathetic to stop it. Even though he could feel his humanity slipping from his grasp, there was no anchor to cling to as he sank deeper into the dark underworld. He couldn’t seem to help himself, and most days, he didn’t care to. It was all too easy to end up at the bottom of a bottle of Russian ice water. Yes, his new lover had become vodka; she was the mistress that came closest to soothing his battered soul. He realized that he had likely reached the point of no return. He was blackened with a sickness he could no longer control.
His criminal career took a quantum leap forward. He was invited to participate in bigger, more dangerous jobs. He was filled so full of hot, blind fury that he didn’t care who he hurt or why. He did as he was told and kept moving forward. He’d gone from the leader of his own small pack to blindly following the orders of powerful men who paid him handsomely to do their bidding.
Despite a coldness that ran deep, he prefered not to kill. No, he found there were more effective ways of gaining cooperation. Many times, rather than disposing of someone who’d seriously blundered, he just assigned them a monetary amount to pay. If they couldn’t come up with the money, they indentured themselves to him until the debt was paid. Most people were so grateful to be alive, they didn’t even care. He took reasonably good care of them, treating them more like employees with small stipends and even days off. It was a clever solution that worked for everyone.
He found he was successful at findi
ng win-win solutions and ended up breaking through every barrier put before him. At the end of the day he’d go home, grab a bite to eat, down a few shots of vodka, sleep, and do it all over again the next day. He was tireless, and the harder he worked, the less he drank. A few shots of vodka became one or two, then eventually none. He was in a position of authority now, having worked his way up the ranks and landing the coveted position as second in command to Victor Sonovo, a powerful crime boss operating out of Russia. He needed to keep his head clear now that he was in charge of Sonovo’s stateside operation. He also didn’t want to follow in his mother’s footsteps and become an alcoholic. She’d drank herself to death a few years after he’d graduated high school. He didn’t attend her funeral.
Over the years, he was incarcerated twice—once for ten months and another for two years—and added to his array of ink with even more tattoos; these ones done by fellow inmates. He now sported stars on his chest and a black spider crawling up his neck that symbolized his intention of climbing further up the criminal ladder. He was already the right-hand man to the respected and feared Sonovo, a big name in the Russian bratva, but that wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to be number one. He wanted to reign supreme. He sensed, however, that Sonovo had respect for him, and perhaps feared him a little as well. For the time being, knowing that he’d been accepted by Sonovo as his protégé was enough for him.
As time wore on, Yuri found his taste for women had diminished to the point that he rarely bothered with them. When he did, it was basically just for sex, and usually from behind so he didn’t have to see their face. He discovered that an actual relationship was more trouble than it was worth. Women always wanted emotional commitments from him that he just couldn’t give. The few that didn’t want a piece of his heart just wanted money, dinners at fancy restaurants, nice cars, jewelry, or high-end clothes. Their never-ending demand for material possessions was exhausting. He couldn’t deal with them and all their games, so when the urge for sex did strike him, he’d rely on cheap hookers who hid behind the moniker of “escort.” At least it was straight to the point with them. All business. They weren’t clingy or demanding, and they didn’t expect any form of commitment from him. As reckless as he was, he still made sure to use protection to avoid a trip to the clinic.
