✔️ DOLORE | 18 +

Chapter 1

ALL CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN CHARACTERS ARE IN RUSSIAN

Calina's pov

People say eyes tell more than a story, and this is my story through my eyes, my journey. It's up to you if you want to listen to the ups and downs of my life or not.

But I won't blame you if you stop listening to me, and leave before we reach the end of my story as my life wasn't a fairytale, it was dark and painful.

And do you know why? Because I am a woman, a woman who wanted a choice and voice in life. Even if I got what I wanted, to be my own person, it came along with a very high price. Now, you're curious about what price I paid for my freedom? My soul.

Are you confused now, wondering what I mean by 'my soul'? Well, if you want to understand me, I have to start telling you everything back where it started:

IN RUSSIA

I stood among my classmates in my graduation outfit, waiting for the headmaster to call my name to give me my graduation certificate.

Today was the day of my high school graduation. Most teenagers would be happy to finally graduate from high school, but I wasn't happy at all.

Graduating from high school didn't open the doors to universities for me, it didn't give me the opportunity to pursue a career, but it did mean to me that I was finally ready for marriage.

Biting my lip, I thought about my life for a minute. I felt like I was living in the seventeenth century, a century where women had no rights.

However, it was the twenty-first century, but, unfortunately, no matter how much time passed away some traditions still remained the same.

Because it wasn't the law that robbed and gave people rights, it was actually people. And even if the law gave you rights, people, society and traditions took those rights sometimes away from you.

In my case, it was my father who robbed my voice away. My father, Dimitri Ivanov, was a really old-fashioned man, living to the morals of his elders.

In his mindset, women had no right in his eyes, women should stay home, have children, and wait for their husbands.

Actually, this is how life worked for women in the Russian mafia, and from now on that would be my life too, after I got married.

And I couldn't rebel, tell him no, because I was too weak. I had no one by my side who I could ask for help until now. My brothers thought the same way my father did, seeing me as their subordinate. The law was corrupted by my father. My mother was dead.

My father already started looking for a husband for me and would soon choose my future husband. My choice about this marriage didn't matter.

I bet it didn't cross his mind once if was maybe in love with another man, or didn't want to get married as he didn't care about my feelings. All he cared was his reputation and wealth he had in life.

He would likely choose an ally who would strengthen his business ties and offer him support and give him new connections in the illegal business he was involved in.

I smiled sadly at the thought of being sold like an item for power and fortune. Internally, I wanted to scream, cry and destroy things around me. Externally, I stayed calm and didn't say a word against my father because I was afraid of him.

Although, my father has never raised his hand on me, I knew what he was capable of, I personally saw him take life after life, and I knew he was a man not to be messed with.