𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑥 ✔︎ || 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑

09

~ phoenix ~

Mila, she said her name was. The nurse's warm smiles and kind words couldn't hide the emptiness in her eyes. Something was wrong. Something unnerved me.

It was the serenity on her face, like nothing in the world was wrong. But her green irises told a whole different story. Like the shadow of pain, they were dull and lifeless. She seemed like a zombie.

After redressing my head bandage, she quietly gathered her equipment and left. The second she walked out the door, I shot a questioning look at Katarina.

"What?" the blonde barked sassily.

"What's her problem?" I asked.

Immediately, the humour slipped off her face. "Her story is sad, Phoenix," she said gently.

The tone of her voice surprised me. For the hour I knew Katarina, she never sounded so sober until now. There was sadness in her tone.

"I—" I didn't know what to say, but my curiosity got the best of me. "What happened?"

She looked down at her hands. Finally, she had thrown on a dressing gown and I could look at her properly.

A moment later, she spoke, "She's Ilya's sister-in-law. Milena married Ivan's younger son. She truly loved him, if that ever could exist in a place like this. Then last year, he went on a consignment and never came back. The Italians sent his head in a fucking box." Lethal rage brightened her amber eyes. "But Mila never broke. He died serving this Bratva, and so she vowed she would too. We are a family, Phoenix."

Katarina's heavily accented words only kindled my curiosity. And now my head was spinning at a hundred miles per hour.

Who was Ivan? What did they mean by Italians? And the Mafia?

I remembered once again that Katarina was one of them. Carefully, I worded my questions. "Is Ivan Ilya's father?"

"Was, he died shortly after Viktor. Then, it was up to Ilya to set everything back into place," she answered, grimly, like the memory was bitter on her tongue.

"What do you mean?"

"He needed to avenge our fallen pride. Other gangs in Russia heard of what the Italians had done," she scowled, "and Ilya had to show them exactly why the could not mess with us Russians. He invaded their capital and killed every ублюдок in his way, until he found their Don. Things were ugly after that." [motherfucker]

Something twisted in my gut. The man was a ruthless beast, a monster, a killer. And I was in his cage.

As I desperately tried to reconfigure my thoughts, my gaze had fallen onto an exposed part of Katerina's skin. A swirl of ink decorated her bare shoulder. It looked like a crest - a rose and a gun - and beneath it foreign words. "What's that?" I asked, absentmindedly.

Her eyes followed mine to her tattoo. She chuckled humourlessly. "This is Ilya's goddamn mark, Phoenix."

"You're his wife?"

At that, she began to cackle. She saw my deadpan expression and sobered up. "No, Phoenix, beside that Дик is betrothed. This is the oath of loyalty and silence. Now, show me yours." [dick]

My brows furrowed. "Me? I don't have one. What do you mean?"

Katarina leapt away from me like I'd burned her. Her expression plummeted and in her eyes was a sort of fearful, angry frenzy. "You don't have the tattoo?" she screeched. "Who are you? You're not part of the Mafia?"

"N-no," I said, hesitantly. What was wrong with her? "I don't even know what the Mafia is. Ilya took me."

But she wasn't listening anymore. Her hands were fisted in her hair and tears began to fill her eyes. "что я сделал? что я сделал?" she muttered repeatedly. [What did I do?)

All of a sudden, with murderous fury contorting her beautiful features, she lunged at me and dug her nails into my arm. "You will not tell anyone, сука, of anything I just told you." [bitch]

I nodded, terrified. What happened? We were just fine... what did I do?

After a hiss in my direction, she turned and left.

A fresh bout of tears filled my eyes. I was fucking alone in this fucking prison. I could trust no one.

I was alone.

Wiping the tears away with a clenched fist, I stood up and walked out of the door. I knew death here would be inevitable, but at least I'd die trying to be free.

Now where the hell was the damn front door.

𝑥𝑜
𝖗𝖔𝖘𝖆𝖛𝖎