God of Vengeance

I parked behind his motorcycle as the engines died down. He took off his helmet, his broad chest expanding as he stood to his full length. “Where is your helmet?” I jumped down my bike myself and took off my glasses before removing the gloves. “Forgot”
Boss threw me a disapproving glance before he took off his jacket, throwing it on his bikes seat before we went upstairs into the mansion. It was rather quiet, no one was downstairs and seemingly busy in their own corners. Could be also because of the upcoming meeting that everyone was preparing for the day.

“Don’t let me see you without a helmet again, Ilya”
I nodded just, dismissing the topic. I was tired from our nightly stalking of a certain girl that sparked my Boss’s interest and had no desire in discussing the importance of a helmet right now. We went directly upstairs to one of the grand offices when I was informed of my next duty.

I tried to suppress a sound while I bit down on my teeth, attempting to remain neutral and give my best poker face as the man in front of me gave me the instructions.  My Boss, Jeremy Volkov, was a 23 old student who wasn’t your typical undergraduate and didn’t look like one either. His last name should give his power away, as the Volkov’s were one of the leading mafia families in the New York Bratva.

  
We met under some quite… unusual circumstances. It probably wasn’t normal to get beaten up as a part of a job interview but apparently it worked to be on the wrong side for a minute. My desperation made me approach the mafia from a different angle, the wrong side of the field but my aspiration to reach my target played in my favor and gained me the trust of none other than the one who was leading ahead. Maybe it was luck, or it was fate, that I was able to earn this position. I believe Jeremy saw past my mistakes and saw me for my real goal. I never understood why he considered to take me as his personal bodyguard, but I knew his family all too well, to know, that he knew about every detail of me and my past, without me having to explain it to him.

He was a Volkov, son of the Adrian Volkov, so he was confident in his judgement and though he was a ruthless beast, he understood purpose and discipline.

And he understood family.

So, all I could offer to him was my loyalty and the promise to do everything he needed to be done. I was a simple man with a simple goal in my life and therefor I was rather uncomplicated and didn’t involve myself with anything unnecessary except with what I was supposed to do.

I might be young in many people’s eyes, but I doubt that anyone would want to know why I was more mature than my age gave away.

I didn’t choose to grow up so quickly, but I had to. So that’s why I understood the Bratva, my job as Jeremy Volkov’s bodyguard and my purpose to serve him so my future in the mafia could serve me when the time comes.

So following orders and being Jeremy’s bodyguard came naturally to me. It was easy to be loyal and to follow him. It was never an issue, because mostly I understood the instructions. He wasn’t playing around with his role neither did he abuse his power he had over his men and me.

Yet, recently, there was a minor detail that was bothering me more than I’d like to admit. And it was getting harder and harder to ignore that detail.

“Levitsky, are you deaf?” I looked up, realizing that I had drifted away and was not listening to the conversation.

Nikolai Sokolov, oldest child of Rai Sokolov and Kyle Hunter, who joined us shortly after we entered the office, was currently draped over the black leather couch. His long hair was tied back as he looked at me with a lifted eyebrow. The Sokolov family was also playing a big leading role in the Bratva.

“Niko.”

Jeremy didn’t look over to his best friend when he admonished him, his eyes were on me when he made him subliminally aware of his choice of words.

 
“What? He is still standing here. We have shit to do” Of course Nikolai didn’t give two fucks about how he talked to me or the others. Even though his cousins weren’t even there yet, he couldn’t help but sound impatient and on edge from time to time. He just couldn’t hide his unhinged beast sometimes.

Therefore, I didn’t pay him any attention and looked back at Jeremy, nodding once.

“Consider it done.”

I turned and left the room, completely ignoring Nikolai’s comments that were following me outside.

It wasn’t like he hated me.

I just think deep down, he was quite attached to his best friend and didn’t trust me since we ran into each other (or when he was part of the famous ‘job interview’). Same as Mr. Volkov, he wasn’t completely happy with Jeremy’s choice of his personal bodyguard and had a certain mistrust that he didn’t even bother hiding.

Though he appreciated my solid loyalty towards his son, that was stronger than my respect towards him, he still didn’t hide the fact that he had his eyes on me.

I didn’t blame him, but I also wasn’t here to gain his trust. My loyalty, as I told him, was solely towards Jeremy.

I walked the path through the all-to-well-known corridors of the mansion.
The initiation night was a few weeks ago. A ruthless night that’s only purpose it was to let the demons out to play. The demons here, were the Heathens. The notorious and famous club of The King’s U, the university, Jeremy and his friends, me including, were attending. The initiation night was an empty promise to let new members in when it was absolutely sure that they’d never accept members outside of their own circle.

Don’t get me wrong, the club had members, but it was all just for show. They threw parties from time to time and planned mischief, using those members to plot plans but were they part of the Heathens? Absolutely not. They were just mere puppets who enjoyed being in the same setting.

Still, students were dumb enough to believe in a possible chance and ran right into the trap of the Heathens who were clearly out for blood.

But because it was a club activity and top secret, they expected everyone outside of the club to not be present in the mansion, whenever they were discussing about the night.

Jeremy and Nikolai were obviously not the only ones living in this big mansion. Nikolai’s cousins, Gareth and Killian Carson, Reina and Asher Carson’s sons, were also living here.
Gareth was probably the most normal one among the four, while Killian was his complete opposite. And though their cousin wasn’t the sanest person himself, Killian was just a true sociopath. I appreciated that he didn’t bother me much. It was somewhat a blessing that he was emotionally dead and didn’t care about me enough. 

Generally speaking, the guys as well as Nikolai’s and Jeremy’s men were rather easy to coexist with.

But, apart from the guys, we also had girls living in the mansion.

Family members. Naturally.

Jeremy’s little sister Annika Volkov was a frequent visitor. As an older and protective brother, he liked to keep an eye on her which he could do best, when she was around. She had found some friends from the rival university she was attending on this island, the REU, Royal Elites University. Officially, she was living in her own dorm since then, but she was here quite often.

I heard that Annika was kidnapped when she was younger, so her family was very serious when it came to her safety. You could tell that she grew up with extra care and love when you just looked at her for a second. She looked like a literal ballerina, covered in nothing but purple clothes. She was a people’s pleaser as well, always making everyone comfortable and going out of her way to make someone feel good.

Truth to be told, I developed a soft spot for her and so whenever Jeremy wanted me to pick her up or keep an eye on her, I did it like she was my own sister.
She was a nice girl, always polite and was one of the only people here who could actually make me smile.

As much as my face allowed me to, as smiling wasn’t really a thing I did often.

Nikolai had twin sisters. Both opposites as they could be. Due to a childhood trauma was Mia Sokolov, a gothic princess, not able to talk. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed her presence whenever she was in the room. It wasn’t that she wasn’t talkative. She obviously still was a confident person and didn’t let circumstances stop her from being herself in any way. We didn’t interact a lot, as my priority wasn’t her nor her family. But whenever we met on the corridor, the kitchen or whenever Jeremy asked me to drive the girls somewhere, she wasn’t uncomfortable to be around.

Different than her sister…

I grinded my teeth when I thought about the other twin.
The reason I tried to keep up my poker face more often than not recently. The minor detail I was talking about before, the one that was bothering me.
Maya Sokolov was the complete opposite of her sister. Were Mia was born in the deepest night, Maya was the fallen angel. She was all white and gold and regal, everything her sister wasn’t and more. She was proud and obnoxious, arrogant, and so fucking infuriating.

Her overconfidence was bothersome, to say the least and she never, ever took a no for an answer. She was glued to Jeremy’s ass since I came here, and it irked me how she managed to go under my skin by a mere eye roll or the way she flipped her long blonde her.

I was completely on Annika’s side for disliking her. I didn’t know what their history was but whatever it was, Annika was completely right.

Maya was a self-centered, conceited bitch with no manners and gratitude. Now, she acted prim and proper and you could tell, that she was coming from a rich and well-known background but she had minor respect for anyone that wasn’t her or her family-members.

It was honestly a mystery to me how the twins were so close when they were quite literally like night and day. The aesthetics didn’t make any sense to me either because Mia most definitely had a brighter heart than Maya, whom I was sure had her soul and heart straight from rotting grave.

Once I overheard her loudly nagging at one of Nikolai’s men for waking her up from her beauty sleep. He was supposed to wake her up for university, by the way. And once she threw a fit because one of her bodyguards dropped her bag after shopping.

Needless to say, that that man was nowhere to be found anymore after that incident.

She wasn’t part of my job, thankfully, but recently, more often than I’d like to have it, our paths had to cross, and I found myself in situations where I had to take care of her, talk to her or deliver something to her.
I wouldn’t be doing shit if it wasn’t Jeremy who’d order me to do it, because I knew it was his way of not getting involved with her as well as keeping her out of Nikolai’s hair whenever he had his crazy episodes.
Though he was a crazy bastard you couldn’t deny that Sokolov was a caring brother. But he wasn’t sane enough to deal with girl issues. And because he was a ticking time-bomb, Jeremy being his best friend, tried to take away as much responsibility as he could.

And gave it to me.

And since the next meeting was going to happen in a bit, it was yet again my responsibility to get the girls out. It wasn’t like they didn’t know or didn’t have anywhere to go. Annika was going to meet with her girlfriends and stay at her dorm, Mia wanted to study anyways, and Maya had her own apartment she disappeared to from time to time.

Now it was my job to make sure, that the girls left the mansion.

I turned to the right wing on the second floor, my hands tightening to a fist as I approached the girl’s room, who was making my job harder than it already was.

Might as well take the trash out first before I collected the other girls, though I expected them to be done and ready downstairs as they actually respected appointments and other people’s time.

I took a deep breath and straightened my back when I arrived at Sokolov’s door.

Knock. Knock.
Knock. Knock.
Knock. Knock.

I waited seven seconds in between the knocks but there was no answer.

“Ms. Sokolov, are you ready?”

No sound.

Could it be that she actually got ready and was waiting downstairs?
I knocked again, my eyebrows rising when there was yet again not a sound.
Huh.
Maybe I judged too hasty and – a noise on the other side of the door interrupted me from turning around, so I leaned closer to hear it better.
So, she was in there?! Why the hell was I surprised?
I knocked harder, slowly losing my patience.

“Miss Sokolov, you need to – “

“Fuck off, damn it!”

I narrowed my eyes at the muffled insult.

This stupid bitch.
Without further thinking I entered the room and found a dark room, all the blinds and curtains closed.
I switched on the lights to which Maya groaned and buried her head further into the pillow for a second before screeching “Who the fuck do you think you are to be entering my room?”
Unbothered by her tone I stepped closer, looming over her like a dark shadow.

She wore a sleeping mask pulled back over her head which she must have moved when she heard me at the door. I seriously didn’t understand why she needed that thing when it was pitch-black dark in the room. Her silky blond her was tied into a high ponytail that looked immaculate given the fact that she had been allegedly, fast asleep not a minute ago.

Which I didn’t understand either, it wasn’t even 6pm yet. The covers were high up to her chin as if she was freezing.

Brighton Island was an Island in England and yes, we didn’t have the best weather here, but it was by no means cold. Especially not in the mansion as Nikolai was neurotic about barely wearing any clothes.

This girl was annoyingly weird in every possible way.

“I’ve been patient Miss Sokolov. You were supposed to be ready 15min ago so the driver – “

“Hey, hey psst”, she interrupted me, as she turned away from me, getting comfortable under the covers.
She sighed. “Just like that. Look how beautifully quite it is when your annoying voice isn’t insulting my ears.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling my eyebrow twitch. We’ve been through this multiple times. It wasn’t the first occasion she insulted me or ignored me. Since I’ve become Jeremy’s personal bodyguard, there wasn’t a day she didn’t annoy the shit out of me.

I remember the first day we met.
She was in the kitchen downstairs with her sister, laughing at something she had said when I entered with Jeremy the room.
I remember exactly the moment our eyes met, mine stoic and cold as always and hers curious and mischievous.
When Jeremy introduced my position I saw her looking at me from top to bottom before she scoffed, flipped her hair and grabbed her sister before leaving with an arrogant “doubt he could protect an egg”.
Jeremy told me to ignore her because that was what he was doing.

And I did.

Or rather tried but she was like a thorn in my ass, constantly making herself visible in my surrounding.

I opened my eyes and looked down. She had pulled her mask down again and was seemingly sleeping peacefully again, like I wasn’t even in the room.
I looked at her for a moment, how her frame laid there as if she was a princess in a castle. It was annoying how disgustingly perfect she looked during the most domestic moments.

I opened my mouth and closed it again when my eyes caught her white Stanley cup on her nightstand. My head tilted to the side as an idea popped into my mind. I allowed myself a ghost of a smirk before I grabbed the cup, unscrewed the lit and emptied the inside onto her sleeping form.
She should be grateful that it looked like water.

The moment the water splashed onto her face she screeched loudly, sitting up instantly before pulling her mask off.

“Wake up”, I said monotony, when she was done screaming.

She looked at me, her piercing blue eyes boring into mine. Her face was clean from any make up, yet her thick dark lashes framed her bright blue eyes like a picture.
I didn’t understand how a beast like her could have those eyes.
“Do you have a death wish, Levitsky?”
My face stayed motionless which made her already flushed cheeks darken even more. She pulled her mask off angrily and threw it at my chest.

“Are you deaf?”

When I didn’t react again, she grabbed one of her white fluffy pillows and threw it at me.
I caught it with a bored expression.

“What the fuck are you staring at?”
“Mh” I nodded to myself. “I was just trying to make sure that I was right”

She furrowed her perfectly plucked brows. “Right about what?”

“The beauty sleep isn’t working”

Her eyes flared and her cheeks burned a bright pink when she threw the covers to the side.
“Leave. Now”, she ordered, her voice strained but my eyes dropped down to her exposed body. She was wearing a flimsy piece, a white nighty with lace that left little to the imagination with how her nipples were peeking through the cloth.
I bit down on my teeth when I watched a single water droplet slowly running between her tits.

“Did you find what you were searching for, dog?”

Maya didn’t make any effort to cover my view.

My eyebrow twitched at the derogatory term that she was not using for the first time. I leaned down to her eye level and didn’t miss the way her breath hitched.
She swallowed at the proximity but was too proud to back away.

“Get up. Get dressed. And get the fuck out, printsessa”

I looked down at her chest again for a second before looking back at her.

“And to answer your question: No, there was nothing to be found in there.”

I straightened my back and left the room, closing the door with a loud bang.
I stood there for a minute, my body tensed, and my eyes closed as I breathed slowly through my nose.
Frustratingly, I had to admit, that it wasn’t the first time her skimpy clothes were affecting my concentration. She was a fucking tease with those way too short dresses and revealing outfits.
I didn’t understand how the fuck I still didn’t see her panties by how short those skirts were. Every movement was a risk and she was fucking taking it like it was her life goal.

I’d seen the struggle in all the men’s face whenever she passed by. How they bored holes into the walls ahead to not risk their lives by accidently giving in to the temptation.

They knew better than to look anywhere but her eyes whenever they were forced to speak to her because one wrong move and they’d definitely lose a limp.

And I knew she knew she had that power.
I’ve seen it multiple times. How she enjoyed making them struggle, to make them suffer whenever they tried their hardest to not disrespect her.

I rolled my head, trying to get rid of the tension and took a deep breath. I had seriously better things to do than to run around a conceited, self-indulged brat and teach her how to act right. It was already hard to come to this point, to be in this beneficial position and I’ve passed worse nuisances on my way here but somehow, dealing with Maya occasionally made my blood boil in a different, more infuriating way than I’d like to admit.