Page 4 of Heartless Sinner
Please, I silently prayed as we followed Samuel, and I helped lead my mother around to the back of the building. Whichever brother it is, please let him be okay.
Alexander was quiet but had a troubling violent streak, and Dmitri was a troublemaking pain in my ass. Growing up, I’d always been the closest to Dmitri, but I loved them both. They were my big brothers. They’d always looked out for me, even if sometimes that protectiveness was misguided. I couldn’t even begin to imagine losing one of them.
“In here, ma’am,” Samuel said, opening the door for my mother.
I locked gazes with him as I entered behind her and raised my eyebrows in a silent question. Samuel’s eyes were dark, and he shook his head solemnly.
An awful lump formed in my throat, and I tried to prepare myself for the worst.
We were shown into a room full of medical equipment. Our doctor—who we kept on retainer for unexpected emergencies like this—stood there in surgical gloves and gear that was smeared in blood, a grim, foreboding look on his face that openly stated, I’ve done all that I can, adding to the terrifying fear swirling in my stomach.
Several bodyguards were stationed around the room, and lying on the bed was my brother Dmitri, barely recognizable even to me, and God, there was so much blood all over him.
I stared in shock at his severely damaged upper torso, which had been stripped bare of his shirt so the doctor could work on him, revealing deep, horrific gashes from a knife—in his chest, his abdomen, and near his kidney and other vital organs. At least a dozen of those fatal looking wounds had incapacitated him. His skin looked battered and bruised from a vicious assault, including his normally handsome face. His nose appeared to be broken, his lip was cracked open and bleeding profusely, and one of his eyes was completely swollen shut.
Mom let out a horrible wail and dove for him. Papa, sitting by the bed and holding Dmitri’s hand, immediately shushed her. “Quiet, Alina. Do you think he needs to hear such loud noises?”
Mom ignored him, clutching Dmitri’s other hand. “My darling boy,” she said, speaking in Russian. “My sweet boy. What have they done to you?”
Behind Papa stood my other brother, Alexander. He looked at me and I saw the hateful fire burning in his gaze. I didn’t know which was worse—if their positions had been switched I knew that Dmitri would’ve become reckless and wild in his desire for revenge, not even thinking twice about putting himself in danger. But Alexander, with his penchant for violence, was the one who would stop at nothing for vengeance, carving a bloody swath through the families until he discovered who’d done this to our brother.
There was no doubt in my mind that the echoes of this heinous deed were going to ring far and wide.
Mom sobbed, stroking and kissing my brother’s hand, while my father, Andrei, sat silent, his face ashen. I quietly walked over and sat on the side of the bed and gently pushed Dmitri’s dark hair out of his face.
He stirred slightly, his one good eye opening just a crack. “Is… is that… you… Marla?” he asked, gasping each word as he struggled to talk.
I blinked back the hot tears trying to form, trying not to let my own emotions overwhelm me. Not here. Not now. Not when my brother needed me to be present for him.
“I’m here, Dmitri.” I leaned closer, so that my lips were near his ear. “Do you know who did this to you?” I whispered.
“No,” he croaked. “You have to… handle this… get vengeance. . .for our family. . . you were always the smartest…”
I felt a rush of terrible pride, despite the devastating circumstances. Dmitri had a strong, passionate brother and a smart, wily father. Both were experienced in mafia business and retaliation. He should have asked one or both of them to avenge him.
Instead, he was trusting me to find out who’d crossed him, and our family.
“Don’t worry,” I promised as I stroked his hair while a fierce rage—a kind like I’d never felt before—started to boil in the pit of my stomach. “I’ll take care of it. All of it.”
I silently vowed I wouldn’t stop searching until I’d destroyed whoever had brutalized my brother.
Dmitri gave me a ghost of a smile. “Knew you… would… always so smart… so capable…”
He drew a small, gasping breath, then another. Something fearful crept into his eyes, and he turned his head towards our mother.
“…Mama?” he whispered, like he was a little boy again, scared of the dark.
Before she had the chance to respond, his eyes glossed over and his chest stilled.
My mother screamed, but I barely heard her. An odd ringing sounded in my ears, and the blistering, searing anger began to rise through my body, all the way up until it sat inside my throat and tried to strangle me.
Someone had killed my brother.
And no matter what I had to do, I was going to make them pay with their own life.
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Chapter Three
