Mafia's Bloodline | 18+

4 - Vladislav Vladimirovich Orlov

Vladislav Orlov had been around for a very long time, longer than Kirill and Danila had been alive. He was born in Moscow and came from a good family, married his wife Nina at the age of nineteen and always strived to provide more for his family.

But in the Soviet Union, everyone was equally poor and it was impossible to get ahead. Vladislav decided that the armed forces was a smart career choice and was dedicated to his country and cause. It was a good and stable Soviet career, well respected and needed.

As Glasnost came about in the 1980s and it was clear the country was on life support, he had worked his way up to the title of Major General and had the influence and connections to start pillaging the country just like his colleagues. At first, he began to dabble in stealing and selling off government resources. But it was right before the fall of the Soviet Union that he rose to great heights with lightning speed.

He sent his only daughter Sofia to the United States when he saw the destruction and looting that was about to happen but he stayed back, and filled his pockets with cash and his conscience with sins.

He took everything he could.

Government infrastructure, suddenly up for grabs, became his overnight. He was now the owner of the biggest weapons manufacturing plant in Russia. Selling off government assets like it was nobody's business, he had turned into an unrecognizable monster.

Faster and faster, he became a raider, a thief, a killer, and most of all; no longer recognizable to his family and daughter.

But he wanted more. Addicted to the high of crime, he began to participate in the ever expanding drug trade that was overtaking post Soviet Russia. He grew bigger, he grew stronger and more powerful, and more and more money landed in his bank accounts while he pressed the trigger more and more often.

He became the mafia boss of all Russia. He sold drugs, guns, terrorized emerging businesses, participated in racketeering and multiple corruption schemes.

For two decades, he lived like a king. No one dared touch him, no one dared disagree. Until a young boy began exerting his influence and changing the game in the direction Vladislav did not agree with.

Refusing to change with the times, Vladislav fought the only way he knew how - dirty and going for the kill. But the young boy always escaped his grasp, quietly continuing on his way and overtaking more territory, more trade routes and manipulating contracts and contacts to fit his needs.

That young boy was of course, Kirill Alekseev. He got the nickname Tsar and every criminal, in the largest country in the world, knew of Kirill. His name literally meaning The Lord, he ruled with an iron fist, just like Russians expected and wanted it.

Finally the time came. Vladislav's empire that he held on to for decades, was no longer. Slowly, slowly, and then all at once, his men turned away from him, pledging allegiance to his biggest rival and enemy: Kirill Alekseev. But instead of killing Vladislav, Kirill gave him a choice to leave and Vladislav did, moving to a far Siberian city to start over.

This was the only time Kirill gave someone a choice. He knew Vladislav was old enough to be his grandfather and respected all that he had done. Against his better judgement and the advice of his close partners, Kirill spared Vladislav's life.

For some reason, he had a bad feeling about taking Vladislav out, like it was bad karma. He didn't want to do it, somehow it felt like shooting a wounded puppy. Never showing pity to any criminal before, Kirill made the decision to let Vladislav live and leave. But that may have been Kirill's biggest mistakes.

However, that is also precisely why now, Vladislav had no plans to kill Kirill to get Mia, only to remove him from her side. It would take time and careful planning but he was pretty confident that he could pull it off.

Once Vladislav found a new stream of income that afforded him a safe and rich life, he felt grateful to Kirill for letting him escape his previous reality. But while Vladislav escaped a life of crime, it never left him and he remained a ruthless and cruel man.

Never having cared about his granddaughter, he needed her for only one thing: to pass his business off to someone who was a blood relative. He was obsessed with it staying in the family even if family didn't exist in his life.

He lost his wife in a shootout in the 1990s and his only daughter passed away alone. He didn't even come to her funeral. But his granddaughter, she was a woman of beauty and grace and he relished in thoughts of having her take over what he had built from scratch again.

He had kept his eye on her throughout the years but once he had been humiliated by Kirill, he started letting the thought go. Until a few years ago, when everything picked up significantly and he was now working away to make something of himself again.

He decided to revive the idea in August of last year and received the shock of his lifetime when he saw pictures of Mia and Kirill's wedding. At first, he thought he was having a heart attack as his chest clamped up and he had radiating pain throughout his body.

What were the chances she would meet Kirill and moreover, that she would become his wife?! Fate worked in mysterious ways.

But in the back of his mind, Vladislav was so proud of her. She picked a partner who was as ruthless and savage as her own grandfather. He saw himself in her. Her large hazel eyes and the curve of her face looked like his and her mother's.

She had the taste for crime and risk. She had it in her blood, he thought. Just like him, she was pulled toward a life of an outcast who made their own path. No matter how American she was, at the end of the day, she belonged here, in The Motherland, she had Russian blood running through her veins. His blood.

Learning of Kirill's death on the same day as he learned about her wedding threw him into a complete whirlwind of emotions. Two things were going great for him: Mia seemed like she would be perfect for the role he had set aside for her and the biggest obstacle to that was already eliminated.

However, after her wedding, she was nowhere to be found. He had stopped tracking her for a few years but now couldn't locate her. He decided to reach out to Paul who predictably, stayed in the same home for decades.

Sending a postcard felt like a light and subtle sign. Nothing menacing, he wasn't going to bust through the door but, he knew her dad would pass the message along. And maybe she was going to come on her own, now that Kirill was gone?

Vladislav worked hard to locate her, paying big money to the North American Bratva to search for her high and low. She was finally located in Montreal a whole year after her wedding and Vladislav received a text with her picture and who was by her side? A smiling man who looked a lot like Kirill.

It all became clear to Vladislav. Kirill faked his death to give up his world to be with her. What a smart move. It would have all worked out for them if it wasn't for Vladislav's determination to bring her back.

Vladislav felt tenderness in his heart. He didn't know Mia but felt happy that a woman from his own bloodline managed to lock down a ruthless animal who loved her so much, he gave up his whole purpose of existence for her.

He made the decision. When the time was right and when she least expected it, he would bring her back home and bring Kirill here too. He would keep Kirill in prison until the end of his days and if Mia did what Vladislav wanted, Kirill would remain alive. It was the perfect plan.