SERGEI MOROZOV
The sound of the hospital machine beeping continuously fell on my ears as I sat in the chair by my grandfather’s hospital bed.
The old man held my hand in his wrinkled and weak one.
“You know right…” He began speaking, his voice throaty.
He struggled to speak, yet he didn’t stop speaking whenever I came to visit him.
“Your brother wasn’t in love with her.” He said, and my jaw twitched as I recalled the memory from eight years ago.
It made my blood boil.
“She threatened him with the baby.”
*Cough* *Cough*
“Don’t speak anymore.” I tried to suppress my commanding tone in front of him, but I just couldn’t; it was rooted in me.
“Matvey was too soft; he fell for her tricks.” He didn’t stop speaking.
Each word he spoke reminded me of the bitter past.
“Rogov’s took my Matvey.” A tear slipped down his temple as he cried out.
“I couldn’t save him.”
Seeing him cry like that made my blood boil.
He was once a man no different than me, and now he lay here, all sick and weak, all because of Rogov’s.
I tightened my grip on his hand, a promise hidden in my hold.
“Don’t worry, I will take his revenge.”
“How?” He asked, looking at me expectantly.
“Her younger sister is in my hold, Father.”
His eyes slowly widened as he looked at me with concern.
Sickness made him a little expressive; otherwise, he was a man no different than a stone.
“Her…”
I nodded, now staring out at the moving city through the glass wall.
“Her…” I whispered under my breath.
“Didn’t you…like her back then?” He asked, and I chuckled lowly.
“It was back then…” My eyes slightly narrowed.
“People change…
feelings change.”
“Now all I want is her blood painting the roots of Morozov’s and bringing peace to Matvey.”
“After that…it would be the rest of the Rogov’s.”
My words held a promise, and when a Pakhan made a promise, only his death could break it.
Just like how my brother broke his promise to take the throne and went after that woman, just to lose his life for nothing but an unborn child.
“I promise.
Rogov’s fall is near.”
******
ZARYA ROGOV
“I rarely water them,” Natasha stated as she watered the plants in the garden through a long water pipe.
I stood beside her, watching her work diligently.
“Miss Alisa likes to take care of them, but when she’s busy, I take care of them.” Natasha continued to yap, and I just nodded along until a girl stepped into the garden through the back door and lit a cigarette between her lips before taking a puff.
Huh!
I stared at her.
Natasha rolled her eyes and continued to water the plants.
“Who is she?” I asked, and Natasha took a deep breath.
She took a step closer to me and leaned in.
“She’s Alek’s daughter.
She’s the head of the servants after her father.” Natasha whispered.
Why was she whispering?
I looked back at the girl and watched her rub her temple as she continued to smoke.
Alek mentioned his daughter before.
She was of an average height with blonde hair and green, forest-like eyes.
She was beautiful and did resemble her father.
“Tsk, she’s the biggest bitch I’ve ever come across.” Natasha cursed under her breath, making me frown.
It was clear she didn’t like her.
“Why don’t you like her?” I asked.
“When the Morozov family isn’t around, she acts like she owns this mansion, and her father, uff, that old man’s position benefits her a lot.” Natasha paused, looked at her as if making sure she wasn’t looking at them before continuing.
“The worst part is…she thinks she has a chance with the Pakhan.”
“Huh…” My frown deepened.
“What do you mean?” I asked, sounding curious.
“Well, Pakhan has spoken to her a few times, and she thinks she’s someone special.
Not only that, we have seen her trying to seduce him multiple times.
Agh, hoe.” Natasha made a disgusting face.
“How does Pakhan react?” I asked, but I didn’t know why I asked that.
“Well…he doesn’t bother with her.” She shrugged.
“What’s her name?” I asked.
“Irina.”
Irina…
I nodded and continued to stare at her.
She looked deep in her thoughts and wasn’t aware of our appearance yet.
Or maybe she was.
She finally looked at us.
First at Natasha and then at me.
Her eyes roved over my form as if trying to read something out of me.
Out of nowhere, she smiled and walked over to us.
Natasha stepped back when Irina got closer.
She looked disturbed by Irina and her cigarette.
“Hey…I’m Irina, Alek’s daughter.” She said, one arm folded over her chest while she held the cigarette in the other, staring at me with an interest that looked deadly.
She took a puff of the cigarette and instead of turning her face to let the smoke out, she exhaled it right on my face.
I didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, didn’t react.
“Hey, hey, what do you think you are doing, huh?” Natasha stepped forward, her jaw tightened.
“What?” Irina asked with fake innocence.
“Do you know who she is?” Natasha smirked and leaned towards me.
“She’s Pakhan’s wife…
Mrs Sergei.” Natasha pressed on the last word, puffing her chest and sounding proud.
Has she already forgotten how Sergei treated me?
“Oh…” Irina looked back at me.
She didn’t say anything, but her gaze said everything.
She had great animosity towards me.
Wow, another blade at my neck.
Natasha smirked at her speechlessness.
“What?
Cat go-” she was interrupted by the sound of the great Iron doors opening.
All three of our heads snapped towards the great iron doors of Morozov’s mansion.
A black colored G-wagon rolled in on the smooth pavement of the mansion’s driveway.
It stopped right near the huge fountain.
My heartbeat fastened, and my pulse began to ring in my ears when the doors opened and Sergei stepped out with his men.
His gaze was right on me.
It was deadly, oozing with the promise of my destruction.
My eyes slightly widened, and I unconsciously took a step back when he began to stride towards me, like a lion on a mission to hunt his prey.
In just a few seconds, he was right before me, and before I could say something, he grabbed my wrist in a painful grip and yanked me towards himself.
I yelped and didn’t even get the time to process what was happening when he began to drag me inside the mansion.
I tripped and sprained my ankle near the stairs, but he didn’t stop.
“Ah!”
He yanked me up again and began to drag me towards his room.
Tears began to stream down my face as I limped and tried to match his speed.
As soon as we reached his room, he pushed me forward, making me trip and land right on the floor.
“Agh!” I groaned in pain and grabbed my sprained ankle.
I snapped my head up when I heard him locking the door.
My eyes were red and my cheeks were wet with tears.
I massaged my ankle, and stiffened when he began to take his coat off.
He threw the coat on the couch, making me flinch.
I’ve never seen him so much out of control before.
He looked down at me, and I shook my head, my lips trembling and my body shaking in pain and fear.
He took a step towards me, and I immediately scooted back until my back hit the bed.
That’s it…he was going to kill me.
I tightly shut my eyes, ready to die, but instead he kneeled before me and grabbed my cheeks with his calloused hands, making them puff out.
“How pathetic…”
Huh….
I slowly opened my eyes, gawking at him in shock.
“Why a-are you doing t-this?” I asked, more tears streaming down my puffed-up cheeks.
I was terrified.
“Because I made a promise.”
“W-What promise?”
“To paint these floors with Rogov’s blood.”
More tears poured out of my eyes.
He slowly let go of my cheeks and stood up.
“Stand up,” he commanded.
My ankle was sprained.
How was I supposed to stand?
“Stand.
Up.” His voice dangerously dropped, making a shiver run down my spine.
I gripped the edge of the bed with my trembling hands and stood up.
“As my wife…you got duties.” He said and walked towards the glass wall, his hands tucked in his pants pocket.
“And as a Pakhan’s wife…you are obligated to fulfill them all.” My heart hammered against my chest.
I dreaded his next words.
I knew he would continue to make my life hell.
“You have to take care of me as well as take care of my son.
That includes my needs…and wants.” He slowly turned towards me, and I stiffened.
The slower he walked towards me, the faster my pulse rang in my ears.
“And as a man…I have a lot of wants and needs.” He paused in front of me.
I flinched when he raised his hand and took one of my hair strands in his hand, twirling it around his long fingers.
He towered over my trembling form.
“It pleases me to see you trembling and scared, that’s exactly how a wife should be in front of her husband.” He was mocking me.
He knew how these types of conversations made my blood boil, but at the same time, made me feel helpless.
“Now…onto my wants and needs.” He stepped closer.
His scent, his warmth, all of it made me feel suffocated.
“You are supposed to take care of me like a good wife, and it includes…my physical needs as well.”
He let go of my hair and gripped my chin, making me hesitantly match his gaze.
His eyes were red but calm like a storm.
“What do you think my physical needs are, Zarya?” He asked, making my lips tremble.
“Hmmm?” He shook my head, but I didn’t answer.
I just couldn’t speak.
“Too shy, huh?” He chuckled, a dark, husky chuckle.
If the situation weren’t so terrifying, I would have found it attractive, but right now, it was just fuel to scare me more.
“Sex…I have a high sex drive and I’m pretty rough in bed.”
“I d-don’t want to know.” I finally managed to speak, lowering my gaze because I just couldn’t match his eyes.
His gaze was intense enough to make me surrender if I looked long enough.
“You have to know.
As my wife…you are supposed to know that, do you get it?” He asked, and I shook my head.
“I’m not your wife.” I snapped, pushing at him, but I ended up falling back on his bed, and he didn’t even budge.
My body bounced on the soft mattress, and my breath hitched.
Suddenly, he grabbed my thigh and pulled me closer to the edge of the bed, towards himself.
“You.are.my.wife.” His voice was threateningly low, making me whimper.
“Now…spread your legs as a dutiful wife should.”