Prologue

 

Five Years Ago

Nikolai stepped out of the elevators of the third floor of the funeral home. The nasal voices of the vipers reached soon his ears.

“Who’s going to take care of her? Certainly not me. Didn’t Dan leave any final instructions?”

“Dan didn’t even leave a will. Can you believe that? Now, he’s dumping this kid on all of us. Maybe social services can—”

Nikolai walked towards the room that housed his best friend’s body and closed his hand over the doorknob. He silently counted to ten in his head. More arguing. Fuck. This was a funeral home. They should at least show some respect. There were other grieving families in the other rooms on this floor.

If they weren’t Dan’s relatives, he would’ve permanently silenced them.

It took all of his self-control not to rip the door out of its hinges. He opened it and stepped in, prepared for the worst. Dan’s two sisters and brother stopped to stare at him like he was an exotic specimen that escaped from the zoo. Rebecca, Dan’s youngest sister, the only one who’d met him, turned pale at the sight of him.

“Who the hell are you?” demanded Joseph, Dan’s older brother.

Nikolai only scanned the room, finally spotting what, or whom, he came for. Marissa. Dan’s sixteen-year-old daughter. She was the only reason why he’d canceled all his appointments, why he’d immediately flown a thousand miles here using his private jet.

Dan’s siblings began to bicker again. He pushed his way past them and walked right up to her. She sat on the chair right in front of Dan’s coffin, clutching a white handkerchief in one fist, no doubt stained with tears. How dare they talk about her like she wasn’t there?

The last time he’d seen her, she’d been a toddler. Now, she was a beautiful young woman. It had been so long. Would she even recognize him?

She looked up at him as he approached. Shock registered on her delicate features, then relief. She leaped up to her feet and hugged him tight. She felt warm against him, tiny.

Most people avoided any physical contact with him as much as possible. His looks and size intimidated them. One whisper of his name sent most of his enemies running, and yet, Risa never once associated him with danger.

“Nikolai, why are you here?” she asked, clear blue eyes searching his own. A blush appeared over her cheeks and neck. “Sorry. Stupid question. You’re here to pay your respects to Dad?”

Nikolai didn’t miss the fact she hadn’t released him. He didn’t push her away either. “And to fulfill one last promise to Dan. You’re not going with any of them,” Nikolai said, jerking his head to her squabbling relatives. “You’re coming with me.”

“You? Really?” she asked, sounding eager. “You’ll take me back with you to the city?”

“That’s right.”

“Nikolai, don’t make promises you can’t keep to that girl,” Rebecca interrupted, stomping her way towards them.

He turned to her, aware of Risa hiding behind him and clutching at the lapels of his coat. Nikolai had no particular love for any member of Dan’s family. Family had always been Dan’s weakness. They were the reason why Dan moved back to this remote little mountain town, why Dan stopped being his business partner.

“She’s staying with me,” Rebecca said, crossing her arms. The dumpy little snake had to crane her neck to look up at him.

Vipers. Appropriate word for all the members of Dan’s family. Nikolai kept tabs on all of them. His last fight with Dan had been about his sisters carelessly using all of Dan’s savings and putting them in bad investments.

“Risa, who do you prefer to stay with? Your aunt Rebecca or me?” he asked Risa, point-blank.

“You.” No hesitation.

“You’re not her family,” Rebecca blurted. “The law—”

“Did you forget? The law doesn’t apply to me,” Nikolai said in a soft voice, which made her flinch and take a step back from him.

“You can’t do whatever you want,” Rebecca told him as he offered Risa his hand.

She held on tight to his fingers, and the smile she flashed at him dazzled him completely. Dangerous. Dan’s daughter would grow up to be a heartbreaker someday. Good thing Risa had him. Nikolai would put a bullet into the skull of any slimy bastard who would so much as look at her wrong.

“My lawyer, Sara Johnson, will contact you shortly,” he told her, whisking Risa to the exit. He paused by the door. “I’m transferring Dan’s body to another funeral home. A much better one. The next time I see you all squalling by his corpse, I’ll permanently silence all of you.”

“Who the hell does he think he is?” Dan’s other sister, Mindy, demanded. The woman shuddered when Nikolai looked her in the eye.

“Introductions aren’t necessary. Believe me, sweetheart. I’m not someone you’d want to cross.” Nikolai opened the door for Risa.

Once they were in the elevator, Risa squeezed his hand. “I knew you’d come for me.”

“Oh?” he asked, amused.

“Dad once told me if that if anything happened to him, I should contact you. Oh God, Nick. It’s been so hard, and—” A sob caught in Risa’s throat.

Nikolai pulled her to him and held onto her as she wept, bawling her eyes out. Once they reached the first floor, he gently led her out and back to the car, where his driver and bodyguard, Rico, waited for him.

“It's going to be all right,” Nikolai told her, reaching out to stroke her back. That seemed to calm her down. “We’ll both put him to rest. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“What about my aunts and uncle?”

“You’ll have to endure them but not for long,” Nikolai assured her.

“Could you take me away? Aunt Rebecca made a good point.” Risa chewed on her bottom lip. “I can’t imagine staying with any of them. They’re awful. All of them.”

“Listen to me carefully, Risa. Dan’s like a brother to me. He’s my family and so are you, and I’m a man who keeps all his promises. From here onwards, I’ll be your protector.”