Blood of My Monster (Monster Trilogy #1 ) by Rina Kent

“Five.”

“Fuck you,” Konstantin tells me.

“Aaaand zero. Your time is up.”

I’m about to turn and leave when I spot a petite girl with a mane of blonde hair running down the stairs, her fluffy robe flying behind her.

She marches straight to Yulia and Konstantin. “Don’t I get a vote?”

“Why, of course.” Yulia stares at her like she’s a nuisance that shouldn’t be here.

And by here, I don’t mean this meeting, but the world in general.

Konstantin smiles victoriously. “It’s three to one now, brother.”

Karina looks out the window across the room as she says, “My vote goes for Kirill.”

“As I said, three to—” Konstantin cuts himself off and swings to face Karina. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“Kirill.” She looks him right in the eye. “He has my vote.”

He grabs her by the arm and starts to shake her. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You know what? Your vote doesn’t count.”

“Mother just said it does.” She glares at him even as she winces.

I step between them, effectively breaking his hold on her. “Leave her alone.”

“Were you plotting this all along? Getting Karina? You didn’t even care about her before, and now, you’re acting all brotherly and shit? Wow. You’re such a fucking asshole.”

“What did he give you?” Yulia asks, barely managing to hide her irritation.

“Nothing. I just felt like it.” She lifts a shoulder, crosses her arms, and stares behind her.

At the top of the stairs, I catch a glimpse of a smiling Sasha giving Karina a thumbs-up.

Something my sister lifts another shoulder to and mutters, “Whatever.”

Then she climbs up the stairs.

When I glimpse back at Sasha, she’s already gone.

That little fucking—

I offer a fake smile to my mother and brother, then follow after Karina.

She actually tries to run away, but I catch up to her at the top of the stairs and grab her by the elbow.

“Why did you do that? Now, you’ll make an enemy out of them.”

She swings around and pushes me away. “They already were, and so are you. Everyone in this godforsaken place is my fucking enemy.”

“Kara…”

“Don’t call me that!” Tears rim her eyes. “You lost the right to call me that the day you left me running after your car in the rain.”

I purse my lips. “I couldn’t take you with me. You were too young.”

“Fuck you. I hate you.”

“If you hate me so much, why did you vote for me to stay?”

“Well…I want you to suffer here where I can see you.”

“Did Sasha, by any chance, have something to do with this?”

“That asshole couldn’t affect me in any way. You should kill him, Kirill. He looks useless.”

And yet he managed to get you out of your room without any form of threat.

“I’ll think about it.”

Her eyes bug out. “Really?”

“Yeah. You might be mad at me, but I will keep my promise to protect you, especially from my own men.”

“He…is not that bad. I guess we can put him on probation, and if he does anything fishy, we’ll slice his throat.”

I ruffle her hair. “As you wish, my lady.”

She pauses, chin trembling, but then she pushes me away and runs to her room shouting, “I still didn’t forgive you!”

My lips pull up at the corners as I watch her flying back to her room as if her life depends on it. She’ll probably remain there for a week after all the unwanted exposure she’s had to the outside world.

Karina had no reason to come down just now and face the mother she’s intimidated by, but she chose to help me.

I wait for Sasha to show her face, but she flat out ran away.

She can’t run for long, though.

I check my watch as Viktor appears by my side like a ghost. “We’re ready.”

“Go.”

It’s one word, but he knows exactly what to do.

The game is starting.





Two hours later, I’m sitting in my father’s office, which I took as my own the day he died.

I’ve been going through all of his files, records, and archives. I’m the only one who can, because he left me his passwords and keys. Yes, actual keys—he was old-fashioned like that.

The old fool trusted me to continue the Morozov legacy.

In going through his assets, files, and everything in between, I come across a nice tidbit.

There’s a little black book in which my dear papa transcribed every shady transaction he did with higher-ups here, in Russia, in South America, and all over the world.

He did it in detail, too, highlighting people he’d already received a favor from and putting stars by others he hadn’t.

The heinous crimes and great lengths he went to in order to achieve power are spelled out one by one in this little gem.

Something I’ll certainly make use of in my future endeavors.

On the side of my desk, I’m slowly building a large house of cards. The geometrical shape and the amount of effort I put into this task helps in opening up my vision for all sorts of scenarios.