Prologue - пролог

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August, 2001 - 6 years old

MADRIPOOR

"What next?" The man who stood counting several stacks of money asked his boss.

There he was the man in charge. He sat in a beautiful velvet chair in front of a fire, silently watching the flames of the fire grow bigger as he took a final puff from his cigar. The tension in the room full of gangsters was thick with anticipation for their next move.  He placed the cigar between his two fingers as he reached for his glass of vodka. For a moment he examined it, swirling the crystal clear liquid around before downing it in one swallow.

His face never changed, not even an emotion to symbolize whether or not he enjoyed it. Standing up to face his men he set the glass down beside him and the last of the cigar down in an ashtray.

"We move. It is time to go back to work," the boss said in his thick Russian accent, the men began to busy about the room. Shoving the millions of dollars in cash into duffle bags, and taking several paintings out to the cars waiting for them.

Then as if there was a flick of a switch, the atmosphere changed. The room became full of light.

"Papa!" An adorable giggling girl ran into the room and up to the boss himself.

" malen'koye solnyshko!" The boss's stoic expression was gone and replaced with a look of admiration for the girl with wavy blonde hair who he called 'little sun'. He knelt down to her level and wrapped her in a hug.

"Where are we going?" She asked excitedly holding a stuffed bunny rabbit close to her.

"Home," was all he said before kissing her forehead and standing back up. He put his hand out for the small girl, and she gladly took it her small hand fit perfectly in her father's.

"We are going home Helina, to Russia," He smiled to himself as they walked outside of the lavish place they were staying at. Helina smiled at the thought of going home to see her Babushka.

The boss picked up his six year old daughter and they got into the black limousine waiting outside for them. There were two other men in black suits who nodded upon the boss entering the car. Helina sat quietly beside the boss playing with her bunny rabbit as he lit a cigarette. Her father didn't even have the chance to exhale the smoke before their limo rolled, tossing the two men, boss and child around inside like ice cubes in a glass.
The limo coming to a stop with its wheels in the air, and the people still inside.

Helina wanted to scream but as the car stopped rolling she found herself unable to. She was pinned under one her father's men's lifeless body. She looked to her right and saw her father laying beside her, his face bloodied from the glass shards. His eyes were open but his body wasn't moving.

His cigarette laid beside him, burning away.

"Papa?" she asked trying to reach her arm out but the man was too heavy for her to move.

No movement, his lifeless eyes just looked at her.

"Papa!" Helina's vocal chords opened up allowing her to scream for her father. Tears began to fall down her cheeks and onto the glass shards below her. She laid there whimpering a moment before the door to the limo was torn off with a screech. Stood there was a man in a black uniform, with matching black mask and long hair falling into his face. His left arm was shiny, reflecting the flames light coming from the limo.

Helina stopped crying and looked up at him. He unholstered his hand and pointed it at Helina. She was terrified as she looked down the barrel of the gun, small whimpers coming from her now as she closed her eyes.

Bang!

Helina closed her eyes tight. She kept them closed for a moment before she felt the weight of the man on top of her leave. Then a pair of arms scooping her up.

Helina opened her eyes and was met with a man in a mask. He moved her to his hip and Helina looked behind them seeing the limo she was just in go up in a large flaming explosion.

The man in the mask walked for awhile before opening a car and placing Helina in the backseat. She was unsure of what was happening but stayed quiet. He pulled the seatbelt down and clicked it in place. He shut the door behind him, then got into the front seat and started the car.

They drove off, the hum of the car slowly putting Helina to sleep.

She had no idea how much her life had changed because of that night, and that man. The smell of blood and cigarette smoke smeared across her memory.

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