Mafia Bloodlines

Chapter 2

Six years later

My daughters are turning six in a few months. I'm still Felipe's prisoner and I haven't seen my sons for six years. I'd hoped that someday I'd make it out of here and back to my life but I doubt it with each passing day. If it was going to happen it would have happened already.

The door creaked open, and Felipe entered, a sly smile spreading across his face. "Good morning, Anastasia," he said, his voice dripping with condescension. "I brought you something to read. I know the little ones are also learning to read so you can read for them too. I think it is something all of you will be interested in"

He tossed a magazine beside me. I narrowed my eyes before I picked it up. What is Felipe up to? My eyes scanned the cover before flipping through the pages. And then I saw it, a photo of Vladimir, smiling and handsome, with a beautiful woman by his side. The caption read, "Vladimir and his blushing bride, Klara, tie the knot in a lavish ceremony." What? This can't be right. He got married to someone else? No, he wouldn't.

My heart sank, but I refused to believe it. I checked the date in the magazine, the magazine was three years old. Felipe must have been trying to manipulate me. This doesn't make any sense, he is definitely playing with me.

"You expect me to believe this?" I spat, my eyes flashing with anger. "This is just another one of your tricks, Felipe."

Felipe chuckled, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Oh, Anastasia. You're so naive. Vladimir moved on with his life. He found someone else, You're just a memory to him now, a memory he's clearly forgotten."

My face twisted in a mixture of pain and defiance. "No," I whispered, shaking my head. "Vladimir would never forget me. He loves me."

Felipe's smile grew wider. "Love?" he repeated, his voice dripping with sarcasm. " If he really did love you then why hasn't he found you. Unless he stopped looking, just like he stopped caring and how he stopped honouring your vows.He's moved on, you know I do not lie Anastasia."

My eyes narrowed, my jaw clenched in determination.

"What other proof do you have aside from this picture. I need to be certain of this."

Felipe's smile grew even wider as he pulled out a small folder from his pocket. "Ah, Anastasia, I knew you'd want proof," he said, his voice dripping with condescension. "I have a whole collection of articles and photos documenting Vladimir's new life with Klara."

He pulled out a series of photos, each one showing Vladimir and Klara together, smiling and happy. There were photos of them on vacation, and even a photo of them with two babies, twin boys. They are probably three or two years younger than my girls.

My eyes widened as I looked at the photos. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. Vladimir really moved on and started a new life with someone else.

Felipe's voice cut through my thoughts. "Wait and that's not even the best part, here is the icing on the cake," he says as he gives me his phone and plays a video. It's a video that Klara Novikov posted on her Instagram. I see that it's Valentino, he has grown so much from the last time I saw him. I press play and his squeaky voice echoes in the room as he calls her Mum over and over again. I didn't even care what he was telling her. Hearing him call her Mum hurt.

"What do you want from me, Felipe? Why give me this. What exactly are you playing at?" I asked, my voice cold and calculating.

Felipe's smile grew even wider. "All I've ever wanted was to avenge my wife's death and I did. Too bad when I took Vladimir's love he found another one, men right." He said that and then left still laughing. He found this really amusing.

" Mama, are you sad? Is this what is making you sad?" Faina who is the younger twin asked with the magazine in her hand. I don't think she could read what was written on that page.

As the sound of gunfire and explosions echoed through the halls, my heart was racing with fear. I clutched Faina and Ulyana tightly to my sides, shielding them from the chaos. Suddenly, a group of heavily armed men burst into the room, led by a tall, imposing figure . For a moment, my mind played a cruel trick on me, and I thought it was Vladimir. But as the man's face came into focus, I realized with a mix of surprise and gratitude that it was Santiago Valverde, the notorious Spanish mafia don. We met when Felipe had asked me to kill Sergie, he was with the Italian mafia don , Carlos Merino. Santiago's eyes locked onto mine, and he nodded curtly before turning to his men. "Get them out of here, now!" he barked, as his team quickly and efficiently escorted me and the twins out of the burning, bullet-scarred mansion.

His men put us in a black SUV and he came in after five minutes.

" Am I your prisonor now? Is that what you guys do, did Felipe sell me off to you?" I asked because I knew he had no business taking me away. I don't even know him.

" No, I do not own you. You are free, you won't be anyone's prisoner for a really long time. When I saw you three years ago I recognised you. You are a Bukhari, I did business with your father and he did mentor me at some point. He died four years ago and some dimwit took over the Arabian mafia. I'm paying off a debt here and I'm willing to help you take back your birthright. You were Omar Bakhari's only child thus the mafia should be yours, if you want it back obviously." He explained thoroughly. I take a long hard Look at him. He is telling the truth, I feel I can trust him but I'll keep my guard up for now.

" So where to ? Russia, to reunite with your family?"

" I don't think I still have one. It seems Faina and Ulyana are all I have now. Things have really changed in the last six years. I will go back to Spain with you and I will take your offer. I want my mafia, I intend to become the Arabian mafia leader and I don't think I'm ever going to come back to Russia. Maybe things are better as they are, and they were meant to be this way. Once we get the Arabian mafia back are you expecting a coalition?" I ask while still scanning him with my eyes. I need to know what his game is, it can't just be his loyalty to my father.

"Now that you brought it up yes. I would like you to scratch my back, we join the Spanish mafia with the Arabian mafia, you and I, Anastasia Bhukari will be unstoppable, believe me." He said, clearing my doubts.

" Mommy what's a mafia?" Ulyana asks in a low voice.

"Hey sweetie, it's like a bunch of people who do stuff for a certain mafia leader in this case your mother and I. They help track some really bad people and we send them where all bad people will be in the end, a nice spot that start with an H and has a double L. They help allocate money in  the way mafia leader wants it to be allocated, to charity, a bhughati, away from guys like Mr Felipe and whoever else we think shouldn't have that much power. We also supply some weapons. But sometimes, we have to make tough decisions to protect our family and our friends. It's kind of like being a superhero, but instead of having superpowers, we have a strong team that would die before betraying the mafia leader, well some do betray their leader, those are  idiots and clowns. And just like superheroes, we have to be careful and keep our secrets safe, right" Santiago explains as he fist pumps Ulyana.

" Cool, I wanna be in a mafia. Would I be the boss if I join? I don't want to work. I want a bhughati," Faina says with a huge grin on her face. I do not understand why this sounds exciting for her, I doubt she even knows what a bhughati is, she probably likes the sound of it.