Alina

The Ivanov Brothers

Two Days Earlier...

Alexei's POV:

"What's going on?" Dmitri asks as he enters my office.

"The Americans found us. They're planning a raid on the estate tomorrow night. Apparently, it's been planned for a while, but to keep it confidential, they only told their soldiers today."

"We have to evacuate. You carry the new intel from father."

"No shit. Spread the word to pack everything and leave. If they know I have new information from father, they'll be coming directly for that." He nods and leaves.

I can't believe they found us!

We've managed to stay hidden for years, but I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. But something doesn't feel right. It's only a suspicion, but I feel like Dmitri and I should get out tonight with as little as possible and stay hidden until the raid passes.

The Lombardis plan everything down to the most minuscule details. There's no way they only just released the information now without reason.

But what of Alina?

A thought comes to me.

This is my chance to get rid of her.
Get rid of the only thing that's been able to mess with me and stay alive. My hesitation, my feelings, all will end with her.

Dmitri will never allow this.

I plan to put her in a decoy van and if my suspicion is correct, it will be destroyed by the Lombardis. But if not, it will self-destruct.

She will not survive the night.

I grin to myself. I leave my office and as I'm about to go fetch my dear sister, I see Dmitri holding her in his arms.

What the hell?!

Once I get the brat out of his arms and give her to Igor, one of my most trusted men, I tell him to put her in one of the decoy vans. With no hesitation, he discards of my baby sister, of my growing weakness.

—

The vans left a while ago. I got word that all three were attacked by the Lombardi brothers and there were no survivors.

I was correct in my suspicion.

Dmitri and I left with everything that could've been of use to them and right now, we're on our jet on the way to one of our properties in Canada.

"What's that look on your face for?"

"I'm just in a good mood, that's all."

"You're up to something."

"Aren't I always?"

"Wait a minute, where's Alina?"

"Igor put her in one of the vans. You know that."

"You know that's not what I mean Alexei," I answer him with silence. "Alexei, where is our sister?"

"Sister? You have to be joking. More like an excuse of an assassin."

"She's three Alexei. Her physical training can't start for another year."

"That's not my point. She'll die before she sees the field anyway, she's weak. I simply just sped up the process."

"Alexei, where, is, Alina?"

"You feel the same way I do! She's weakened us both! I got rid of it! She's gone! She's dead! You should be thanking me and not always fighting what has always needed to be done!"

"You killed our sister Alexei! Our sister! Our blood! We were making her strong so she'd survive in this world. We decided together! And yes, maybe she was making us weaker, I hated that too. But when I wanted to kill her, I saw you. You would hesitate to kill me, wouldn't you?"

"It's not the sa-"

"Of course it's the same! How is she any less my sibling than you are?"

"Fine. There's that argument. But that doesn't change the fact that we've lost a weakness. She wasn't anything to the mafia."

"She could've been."

"Keyword: could've. She wasn't. Any girl we kidnap could've turned out the same way."

"Half of those girls die during training. Alina had the biggest shot. She has our blood. You're crazy if you think what you did isn't wrong."

"We're both crazy Dmitri. Let her go. She's gone and she's never coming back. Face it. And if that cold heart of yours had a single ounce of care towards her, here's a lovely little fact. She hated you. She hated me. She hated her life. If anything, I showed her mercy by giving her a quick death aka, a way out of this awful world we were born into. Pray to the god that abandoned us long ago in that basement if you want, but she's gone and is never coming back."
He doesn't reply because he knows I'm right.

Present Day

Things with Dmitri have gone back to normal; he got over Alina's death pretty quickly. With her out of the way, we've been more focused on the Lombardis.

Part of the information my father gave me was that he is targetting Canada. The nation's crime world is pathetic compared to Russia's and will be easy to take over. But the problem is that the territory is under the protection of the Lombardis. They've made many deals in which they'd give protection and resources to important people in exchange for turning a blind eye to their business. If we were to target Canada, they'd be called in and my family would go to war with the Lombardi family. It's a matter of taking out their allies at this point.

Dmitri's POV:

When I found out that my sister was dead, I didn't know what I was feeling. My brother and I are so unfamiliar with the concept itself.

During the years that Alina was with us, I thought I was making her stronger by treating her how I did. I thought that I was training her to survive in this dangerous world she was unfortunately born into. I wasn't the one killing her though.

I fed her. I wrapped her wounds. I never used a weapon on her.

I'm not going to deny I wasn't ever going to, but even our father knew when too much was too much. He first pulled out a knife when I was around eight I think.

Alexei starved her when I wasn't around. Alexei brought weapons into the picture. He even got me drunk so I'd taze her. I couldn't disobey him. I couldn't stop him. As much as I wanted to or tried to, he was my older brother and the future king of our mafia.

When he told me why he did it, I was livid. I knew that feeling well enough. But I also felt, sad? Pity? I don't know, it was weird. She was brought into this world alone and left it the same. 

I wish I could go back in time and drop her at someone's doorstep when I had the chance. But we took her to that basement and never looked back, never regretted.

When I was younger I was called weak like it was my first name. I didn't want to kill. I didn't want to torture. I didn't want the life I was given.

When I was fourteen I tried running away. I was caught within the hour. I was starved for days at a time and Alexei was forced to torture me as practice. My body is covered with more scars from that experience than most people could get in a lifetime.

After that day, I never rebelled. I followed every order I was given and did it with zero hesitation. Now I'm a trained killer and I take pride and joy in doing so. The rush it gives you is incredible. I turned out exactly how my father wanted, a monster.

I've learned that the world is cruel and family is only a name. It's not real.

My feelings for Alina were not real. Right?