God of Vengeance

“I told you to carry them carefully! If any of the bags get damaged, you can kiss your ass goodbye!”

“Yes, Miss.”

I rolled my eyes as I opened the door to my apartment. It was seriously hard to find good men these days. They might be good with guns and body protection (most of the time) but they were definitely not good at doing the basic things – hence, carrying bags.

These big, buff men acted like princesses sometimes when they had to carry 20 bags at the same time. Ridiculous.

After I left the mansion and a certain stupid bodyguard behind, I went straight to the mall to do some shopping.

It’s been a while, namely almost a week I last had a shopping spree, so it was more than necessary.

Especially after Levitsky annoyed the hell out of me I had to do something to make my day sweet.

“Where do you want them, Miss?”

I waved my hand towards the large kitchen island, not bothering to give them an answer.
My two bodyguards complied and carefully put the bags down, huffing slightly. I rolled my eyes.

“Do you need anything else?”

“No. Be ready when I need you!”

They nodded obediently and rushed outside, closing the door.

I went to the kitchen to get something to drink first. The whole spiel with Levitsky triggered me more than I’d like to admit but I refused to dwell on it.

On his heated, cold-blue eyes. The way he looked at me like he saw something that he wasn’t supposed to see.
I felt my hand curling around the glass tighter.

His heated touch was still lingering on my thigh and without realizing I felt my fingertips brushing along the seam of my dress like he did.

The jumping of my heart startled me, and I shook my head, putting the glass more forceful than necessary on the kitchen table.

“Get it together, girl!” I brushed down my dress as if I was brushing away his touch and straightened my back, lifting my chin.

I needed to remind my body who I was and who that peasant wasn’t.

After clearing my throat, I decided to push any further thoughts aside and distract myself with all the goodies I bought.

An immediate smile spread on my lips when I picked out the first toy out of one of the bags.
It was a little doll with blond curly hair and big-doe eyes. She was in a pretty package, an arrow pointing towards her hands that said “Press here” and when I did, she spoke in a high-pitched tone.

“You are soooo pretty!”

My smile brightened a bit more when I thought back at the little girl in the shelter that said the exact same thing to me when I last visited. She had the same golden locks, and it was such a lucky surprise that even what she said matched her words.

I’ve been secretly visiting the only orphanage on the island since I came to here. Back in America I had visited women and children that were seeking shelter from abuse and when I moved here, I realized quickly how much I missed the contact to them.

I missed visiting them because they never judged me for how I looked and who I was. I wasn’t Maya Sokolov, the heiress of one of the most influential and dangerous mafia families in the country, but just me. Maya.

Simply Maya, that never made a mistake, never hurt anyone, and never had to prove herself.

I wasn’t a twin, not a daughter, nor a younger sister or a mafia princess.

I was simply me.

I sighed looking through the bags, stroking absentmindedly over a teddy bear here and another toy car here.

When we were younger, we used to share a lot of our toys with my sister. It was hard to admit, that it was because of her kindness and absolutely not because of mine.

It was so easy to love her, so incredibly easy.
She was a favorite and the adults I grew up with might think that I didn’t witness it when they secretly gave Mia her favorite candy when she was being effortlessly adorable but I saw everything.

The whispers and the way they pulled her aside to tell her how great she was or that she deserves the chocolate bar.

Mia always shared her earnings with me. Made it seem like she got it from someone so we could share. But I knew that the snacks and presents were all her earnings and that she had always tried to protect me and make me feel special.

I groaned inwardly, feeling the bitter taste of jealousy spreading over my heart, tainting me more with every memory.
Almost urgently I pressed the nail of my thump against the base of my ring finger, printing a deep crescent moon into the flesh until I hissed at the pain.

Only when I felt the skin almost giving in, I stopped, breathing harshly. I stood still for a moment, trying to recollect myself while I moved my thin rose-gold ring back to its place, hiding the tiny cut.

It was so easy to love Mia. She was my other half – my better half and she deserved the world. Yet, since she was the better twin, I couldn’t stop myself from feeling these nasty feelings, whenever an old memory hit me.

I was ashamed, utterly disgusted by myself but I’d rather hurt myself than to make Mia feel responsible for my awful emotions.

It wasn’t her fault. It was me. I was the problem.

I-

A rumbling in front of my door distracted me. I looked up, trying to decipher the noises.

What was going on?

It wasn’t that my bodyguards weren’t allowed to have normal conversations, while they were on duty. I didn’t mind the almost inaudible murmur in front of the door, but this was different.

Obviously different, because I could decipher what they were saying.

“We need to move, immediately!”

“What about Miss Sokolov?”

“We take her with us obviously, idiot!”

“I doubt Mr. Sokolov would approve of that-“

I stepped closer to door when my phone started ringing for a videocall.

-Twinflame

I picked up, my heart beating louder in my chest, knowing that something major was up. And it wasn’t good.

“Mia?”

“You need to come to the mansion, now!”, she signed frantically into the phone. My body straightened immediately, the toy falling to the ground.

“What? Mia? What happened? Where are you, what’s going on?”

The noises in the background made me even more anxious. She was outside and had obviously put her phone somewhere nearby so she could sign freely. I grabbed my keys and my bag already running towards the door.

One of my bodyguards opened the door simultaneously and before he could say anything I already rushed outside, both men following me.

“Just come here okay!”

She picked up the phone and was now obviously shuffling through people by the way she was huffing and the noises that reached my ear.

“Mia-“

I stopped in track, my whole body freezing for a moment as my bodyguards almost ran into me, grunting frustrated.

Sirens. I head Sirens in the background!

“Mia! What the hell is going on? Where are you, are you okay??”

“I’m okay", she signed with one hand, barely looking at me.

And then the line went dead. She said she was okay but she emphasized that SHE was okay – Niko? Oh my God, Nikolai was hurt?!

“What are you waiting for, get the car! We need to get back immediately!”

My voice was thick with fear as I tried to stop myself from trembling by gripping the bag tighter. When the car came, I opened the door myself, ignoring my men that tried to help me and urged them to hurry.

The night was deep and black tonight, no moon was visible yet, there was a light that was becoming brighter the closer we got to the mansion, igniting my anxiety more and more.

It shouldn’t be so light, and it shouldn’t be so loud…

The sirens were the first noises that triggered my senses before I could see the ambulance and police cars. Bright lights and a big crowd greeted me next.

I gasped when I saw the smoke in the distance.

“Oh my God. Oh my God – Niko!”

I jumped out of the car before it fully stopped and rushed to the entrance, firefighters, paramedics and police cars parked inside and the bodyguards were keeping the nosy lookers away.

When I approached the gate, a familiar girl was standing in front of it, discussing with the bodyguards.

“I want to make sure she’s okay,” Her voice trembled.

“She is. Now, step back!”

“How…how about everyone else?”

“Everyone except for Jeremy is okay.”

I let out a breath, slowing my steps when I heard that Niko was okay. My lungs slowly filling with more air again, the anxiety slowly dissipating.

“W-what happened to Jeremy?”

“That’s none of your concern. Leave before I make you”

That guard will get a raise. This girl had to be Jeremy’s recent obsession. I watched him stalk her on multiple occasions.

I know I shouldn’t be saying what I said next, but her presence triggered me and she needed to see that Jeremy was out of her league.

He was meant to be with me and she needed to back off.

“Where did you guys put Jeremy?”, I asked, though I should’ve asked about my brother first. But I knew that Nikolai was okay so there was no reason for me to not mark my territory.

“Please go inside and they’ll direct you to where he rests, miss.”

I nodded, enjoying the contrast of his tone towards me compared to her and I knew that she realized that as well.

When he stepped aside to let me in, I couldn’t stop myself from turning slightly back to her.

“And she is?”, I asked, lifting an eyebrow to show her exactly how low I thought of her.

“Miss Annika’s friend”, the guard replied.

I scoffed. “That midget always took pity on stray animals:”

Her eyebrows furrowed, giving her a look of an angry fairy, with her green eyes and white hair.

“If you have something to tell me, say it out loud.”

I suppressed a smirk, respecting her fortitude.

“Get the stray animal off the property”

As I turned away to leave the shadow of a smile froze on my face when Ilya passed me, his eyes looking straight ahead, away from me.

His face was mostly clean, it looked like he had just wiped the dirt away but his clothes were full of soot.

“My name is Ilya and I’m Jeremy’s senior guard”

Why does it concern her? Why would he talk so calmly with her and why – why was he full of soot.

An unknown, disgusting feeling spread inside my chest. A feeling that awoke old, forgotten memories.

Memories I tried to erase from my mind forever, emotions I tried to get rid of for so long.

What the hell was he doing?

“Hi, is Jeremy okay?”

She felt comfortable with him. I could tell. She dared to ask again though the guard with the gun clearly scared her.

She had no business feeling like that. Feeling… secure with Jeremy’s senior guard.

“No. He inhaled too much smoke and hurt his side during the escape attempt. He’s currently recuperating.”

I ignored her reaction. The clear fear, hurt and worry that she displayed because she had no poker face whatsoever. What you see is what you get.

She was a vulnerable, soft girl. Everything I hated and everything I hid.

Did Ilya see that too? Was that the reason he talked with her like he actually… respected her?

Like he never talked to me?!

I bit down on my bottom lip, inhaling deeply though the air was poisoned with smoke and soot.

I hated her. I hated her so much and I hated what status she was reaching for and how easy she was getting it.

Even that stone cold dog was acknowledging her more than he did me.

He spoke with her as if she was … better than me.

There was no sarcasm, no irony, no subliminal hate, no hostility.

He was doing it because… because Jeremy wanted him to. Because Jeremy cared for that basic, boring nuisance.

And I had to show her that she was stepping into the wrong territory.