Vow of Deception (Deception Trilogy #1) by Rina Kent

I close the door and approach him slowly so as not to trigger any negative reaction. When he doesn’t throw anything else at me, I crouch in front of him, bringing myself level with him as I soften my voice. “Are you sad that I left before, Jeremy?”

“No.” His lips tremble around the word as he grabs a soldier in each hand.

“I was, though.” My own voice shakes as I see my daughter through his innocent eyes. “I missed you so much that I couldn’t survive in the world without you. It became so bleak and boring. All I wanted to do was to find you.”

“Then why didn’t you?” he whispers, peeking at me from beneath his lashes.

“Because I have to live for both of us. I couldn’t die, baby.”

“You were going to die?” His voice holds so much fear, I internally kick myself in the butt for it.

“No, of course not.”

“Really?”

“Really. I’m here, aren’t I?”

He head-butts the two soldiers together and stares at them as he murmurs, “Are you going to leave again?”

“Absolutely not.” I meant it as a lie, but the words come from my mouth like the truest thing I’ve ever said.

Before I can think on that, Jeremy lunges at me in a tight hug. His arms wrap around my waist with a force that pushes me down on my butt.

I can feel him sniffle against my chest. “I m-missed you, Mommy. Please don’t leave me.”

“Never.” The words escape my mouth with so much conviction that it leaves me breathless. I hug him close and kiss the top of his head, taking my time to smell him. He’s like a little marshmallow, soft and beautiful.

“Don’t become a ghost either,” he whimpers.

“A ghost?”

He nods in my chest without lifting his head. “You were a ghost the other day. I don’t like Ghost Mommy. She was scary.”





13





Adrian





Our meetings to discuss brotherhood business are the least of my concerns now.

Or most of the time, really.

I have my role to play, and it’s behind the scenes. The decisions the Pakhan makes are directly influenced by my opinion that’s backed up with my intel.

My rise in the brotherhood’s ranks to become one of its most indispensable pillars didn’t happen by sheer luck. I didn’t come this far due to using force like Damien or by manipulation like Kirill.

It was by logic.

I realized early on that to keep rising in the Bratva, I needed systems in place. Trusted men—Kolya and Yan, though the latter is pushing it. Hackers. Informants within every organization possible.

While those elements were in place during my father’s time, they weren’t utilized to their full capability. I changed that and made them the strongest part of the brotherhood.

Power isn’t barking orders and raising guns. It’s not declaring wars and commanding hits in a show of masculinity.

True power simmers underneath, hushed in low tones and feared in public.

That’s what I’ve become. The one whose shadow everyone feels, even when I’m not present, whether in the brotherhood or outside of it.

They might not like me—and many don’t—but they fear me. Due to my systems, they don’t know whether I have footage of them in compromising positions. At an unauthorized meeting with a cartel boss in South America. On a yacht sailing in the Mediterranean Sea that they embezzled from their organization. At the mayor’s house, fucking him and his wife when they should’ve been merely keeping an eye on them.

It’s easy to watch everyone from the confines of my home. The system I spent a long time building works seamlessly, without me having to interject in its course anymore.

Once my enemies—and so-called brothers—know I’m powerful enough to crush them, they don’t dare cross me. Some of them still try to wipe me away now and again, but thanks to my system, the hackers, and Kolya, they fail.

They got close once. Only once. And I’ll figure out the reason my system failed in that instance if it’s the last thing I do.

Due to my invisible role in the brotherhood, I don’t particularly need to attend the meetings. Something that the other members of the elite group keep reproaching me about. But the previous Pakhan, Nikolai, and the current one, his brother, Sergei, have always exempted me of the chore of being present. They’re smart enough to recognize that I’m better off putting my system into use and bringing them results.

Or, at least, I thought Sergei did.

While he’s been acceptant of my way of doing things, his recent suspicions of me are troublesome. Now, I have to prove my loyalty all over again, but I can’t be obvious about it, because that will raise his alarms even more.

We’re at his mansion that’s situated on the outskirts of Brooklyn. This house has been used as the brotherhood’s compound in New York for decades. When my father brought me here as a kid, I thought it was a monster, but way less monstrous than our own house.

I sit on Sergei’s right at the meeting table, cradling a glass of cognac I haven’t been drinking from. The Pakhan is in his sixties and has been hiding his cancer from the brotherhood. I’d already figured it out soon after he did.

Yes, I even have spies on my own Pakhan. People overflow with secrets and it’s those secrets that keep me one step ahead of them. The men here use guns as their weapons. Mine is information. It’s deadlier, faster, and more efficient.