Aleksei pulled around and quickly got out, opening the door for me. I set the poor girl across the back of the seat and debated putting on her seatbelt. It probably would do more damage than good, so I left her laid across the back row. Getting into the passenger seat again, Aleksei jumped back into the driver’s seat. Glancing back at her, he scrunched his face up and turned back to the road.

“Quick but gentle.”

“I know, I know.” He took off from the alley and turned onto the main road.

The estate was about the same distance from where we were now to the warehouse we had come from. Except in the opposite direction. Worse, it was through the central part of the city. Traffic was a nightmare, but we just had to suck it up.

I glanced back to where she was draped across the seat. Her arms hung off the edge now and dangled down. The sickly purple and red blotches, only marred by blood, were almost better to look at than the floppy wrists that swayed as the car moved. Cursing under my breath, I turned my eyes back to the road.

“Marek, what do you think?” Aleksei was staring intently at the traffic in front of him, his face screwed up in a grimace.

“I won’t know anything until she wakes up. Right now, she’s an unknown.” And I hated unknowns. I dealt in facts, not “what ifs”. That was Juri’s job.

He hummed but said nothing. The ride, even with Aleksei’s driving, took three hours to pull into the roundabout of the estate. It was a huge, sprawling, gaudy mansion. There were fifteen bedrooms, even more bathrooms, with a ridiculous number of offices and recreational rooms that spanned the three stories.

Probably for one family, it would have been ridiculous. However, Juri, Kazmer, and Lev, plus their families, our mother, and myself, lived in this one house. There were also a few detached buildings for the guards and maids to stay. The house was always busy and never felt its size. Sometimes it even felt like there wasn’t nearly enough room.

Jumping out as soon as Aleksei put it into park, I was glad my sister’s BMW was already parked in front as well. Reaching in, I carefully lifted the girl. Her head lulled against my chest, and I saw the faintest movement of my shirt as she breathed. Something had to be said that she was still alive considering how many hours it had been.

The door swung open before we even got up the stairs and my elder sister stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. Her face was pulled tight, annoyed, but as soon as her eyes fell onto the little thing in my arms, it washed away. Not panic, my sister never panicked, but an urgency flashed across her face.

“Fuck, Marek. You didn’t say it was this bad. Quick. I’m glad I set up in the spare room.”

I followed her up the stairs and down the hall to one of the guest rooms we kept. As she opened the door, I saw her equipment set up on and around the bed. Placing the girl down gently, Kamilia hip checked me out of the way.

Aleksei would not follow, and I figured he would disappear into his own room. Probably into a bottle of whatever was within arm’s reach as he went. Stepping back, I leaned against the dresser with my arms crossed over my chest.

Kamilia was quick to put an IV in. Next, she got out a light and lifted the girl’s eyelids. She flashed it twice in one eye and then another.

“It looks like she’s suffered from a concussion, but let’s hope it’s not as bad as everything else.”

Gently, Kamilia took one of her wrists in her hands. My eyes moved up as she jammed the wrist back into the socket. I could shoot a man between the eyes without blinking, but this sort of stuff I was not good with. She did the same to the other wrist but was feeling the hand itself.

“She’s broken bones in her palm. I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.”

I knew her words weren’t for me to answer or comment. When she worked, Kamilia liked to talk to herself. She said it helped her focus and diagnosis, but she did it with everything. It was just a quirk of my sister that she refused to acknowledge outside of work.

“Yebat’. She shouldn’t be alive.” [Fuck.] Her eyes found mine. “Where the hell did you find her?”

“Like I said, searched out the boys. She did, however, know Mother’s maiden name.”

Kamilia’s eyebrow rose as she looked back at the girl. “How interesting.”

I stared at my sister as she stared at the girl. “I feel like there is a story to tell here.”

“Are you not going to tend to her more?” Curious about my sisters’ lack of urgency.

“I’m not going to waste supplies if she’s going to be dead in a couple hours.” I winced at her tone. Adding one more bag to the IV will determine if she is still alive afterward. If she is, then I’ll treat everything else.”

I wanted to argue. This poor thing had been through hell from the looks of it. I didn’t really want her to die when she asked us for help. Then again, she asked for death as well. So maybe Death would be merciful enough to take her. Getting up from my lean, I headed out the door, nearly running into Lev.

“Kamilia said you were bringing in a girl.” He looked past me into the room.

I nodded. “She seems to think the girl won’t make it through the next few hours.”

His eyes narrowed. “Do we know who she is?”

“No. Her face is so fucked up, I don’t think anyone could recognize her.”

He hummed. “Why did you bring her here?”

The real question he was asking was why I brought a potential threat into the home where my nieces and nephews were. Why would I risk our safety and location for her? I didn’t answer for him because honestly, I didn’t know. The initial plan wasn’t to, but I also wasn’t expecting such a broken girl to be the one in the cell. Something in me couldn’t bear just passing her off to a hospital or letting her die in the alley.

I’d been there when we rescued Natasha, Aleksei’s little sister. Hell, I was the one carried her out into his waiting arms. Maybe I was just projecting, but it had been a while since I had this feeling. I realized Lev was waiting for my answer still.

“If she’s a threat, I’ll kill her myself.”

I know that wasn’t an answer to his question, but that was as good as he was going to get. Passing him, I headed back to their stairs to go up another floor. My room was on the east side and after a full day’s work, I needed a shower, a stiff drink, and some sleep.

* * *

I was in my office, Aleksei and four of my other heads were meeting about how best to handle the next development of a hotel just outside the city when there was a knock on the door. All heads turned as one of my nieces poked her head in. My eyebrows rose, the lot of them knowing never to interrupt meetings in the house.

“Sorry, Dyadya.” [Sorry, Uncle.] She was quiet as she looked around the room. “Tetya Kam asked for me to get you, no matter what. She said malen'kaya ptichka prosnulas'.” [She said little bird is awake.]

My heartbeat sped up as my stomach clenched. Normally, I would be all over my niece in her correct pronunciation of the Russian words. The girl we had brought in had survived the few hours that Kamilia required to treat her. After that, my sister basically mummified the poor girl. Over the past seven days, she’d lessened the number of bandages, but the girl still looked like a shriveled-up mummy.

Getting up, I dismissed the guys with a wave of my hand and followed my niece as she ran back to the guest wing. My strides were long and without even reaching a jog, I could keep up with her. I reached the door and rubbed my niece’s head as I opened it. Sure enough, the girl was sitting up against the bed. Kamilia was sitting next to her, but her face showed her frustration. The girl’s eyes, or rather eye, since one was still swollen shut, met mine.

There wasn’t surprise or any type of emotion that passed across her face. In fact, there was nothing in her eye. It was soulless. A bottomless orb of darkness. It was a sight that sent a shiver down my spine. It also made the hair on my back of my neck rise. My gut was telling me this girl was dangerous. Not because of anything physical but that this girl was nothing but a husk, barely living. People like that had nothing to lose, and that made her dangerous. At least in my experience over the years of working for the bratva.

Kamilia stood and came over to me. She placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned in. “She won’t speak to me, no matter what I ask. I’m hoping you have better luck.”

She walked out of the room before I could even protest. I didn’t want to be left alone with this girl, even if I had brought her in. After a moment, I steeled myself and dropped into work mode. I might not be Vor, but I sure as hell commanded and demanded respect. Standing at the edge of the bed, the girl watched me as crossed my arms over my chest.

“Do you know who I am?”

She blinked once, then twice. Surprisingly, there was a quick nod of her head.

“Who am I?”