Chapter 1

"I have already declined your offer. I am not going to accept it under any circumstances." A man in his late thirties yelled over the call which was ongoing for the last five minutes.

"You would die a bitter death, Yuri." The man on the opposite side spoke with gritted teeth making the situation worse for Yuri. 

"Go to hell." That was the last word that came out from Yuri's mouth before slamming the cell phone on the hard marble floor. 

A woman came rushing out of the kitchen drenched in sweat holding a glass of water. Her panic-stricken face was nothing but another blow for Yuri. He grabbed the glass and placed it aside. Pulling the woman in his arms he rubbed his hands on her back to subdue the budding stress that was hampering her normal respiratory mechanism. 

"It's fine, Evelyn. No need to worry. We would be leaving this city today. No one can harm you and my daughter." Yuri cooed in his wife Evelyn's ears who was still trembling like a leaf after witnessing the severity of the situation. 

"Yuri…. Yuri… our daughter….." Evelyn stuttered while looking at her husband with wide eyes. Narrowing his eyes, Yuri tried to grab more information when his wife almost broke into tears.

"She is still in school. She….."

"It's ok. Pack her bag and keep only essentials. We will move to the airport when she is back." 

Yuri checked his wristwatch after making his wife understand what to do exactly. 

Half an hour or so was left until their daughter came back from school. Yuri locked the front door and sent his wife to pack their bags. 

Calculating different possibilities to running away from this mess he made a few phone calls to get a clear passage to the airport. Passports and visas were all arranged weeks back, what they needed at that moment was nothing but a perfect opportunity to escape. 

Not everything always goes according to plan. A sudden knock on their door was the start of their doom. 

Three black cars arrived in front of a house. The locality was secluded and neighbors were mostly away from that two-story building. Almost fifteen men all wearing masks and dressed in black suits came down from those cars and positioned themselves surrounding the house, making it a death trap. One of them walked towards the main entrance and rang the bell. Twice, thrice no answer came out from inside. A small smirk appeared on the face of the man who was buzzing the doorbell. 

"Boys, blast it out." The man shouted in a loud voice making it sure to be heard by anyone who was inside the house. 

One of those men pointed a small missile to blow the door. 

"Boom." 

The door blew open and smoke blurred the vision of those men who were standing outside. Just at the very next moment, a fierce firing started and a few of those men got startled. They didn't expect such a dramatic comeback from the man who was inside the house. 

"Yuri………..you would never change." The leader laughed while taking shelter near the garden. Ten Minutes passed and people could hear nothing but the sound of roaring guns. The man inside the house, Yuri Ivanov, looked to his left.

"Shit." He cursed under his breath noticing his ammunitions' poor situation. He was running out of magazines. He couldn't hold back for long and the nearest reinforcement would take time to come. 

Yuri looked at his terrified wife who was sitting beside him, keeping her both hands on her ears to avoid the sound of constant firing. 

"Everything would be fine Evy" Yuri coaxed to keep his wife stable who was breathing heavily out of fear.

"It's too late Yuri…." Yuri heard the well-known tone coming from the other side. He kept on firing without paying much heed to the man's voice. 

"Yuri…." A shriek shook him violently when he noticed the dark red patch drenching the white floral dress of Evelyn. She was shot on her right chest and her large fat tears were adding more piercing pain to his heart. 

"Evy…." He cried out loud throwing his gun and clutching his wife's body close to his chest like a pile of sand.

"Everything would be fine… Evy…Breath….Breath… "

Yuri kept on talking without noticing the shallow breathing of his wife who was drowning in her dark abyss.

"Iris….. our daughter….. Yuri….." Evelyn licked her lower lips and tried to know about the safety of the last bloodline of them. 

"Iris would be fine… Evy...I will protect Iris… " Yuri tried to convince himself more than his dying wife who was gasping for air. The firing was still on and a sudden bullet pierced through his back making him bend towards his wife. 

"Yuri…." Evelyn gasped, taking a large gulp of oxygen when she noticed the painful expression on her husband's face. They promised each other to live and die together. But that day she was hell-bent to break the promise because of their only daughter Iris. She wasn't back at home and at least one of them should be alive to secure her and protect her. 

"Evelyn……." Yuri growled like a mad man jerking her body by her shoulder when she started closing her green eyes in a slow painful motion. Her body gave up as her clutch loosened up on her husband's hand. A new flow of blood appeared on Yuri's chest when another bullet hit him hard.

"Evy…" a mere whisper came out from Yuri's mouth as he noticed the pale dying face of Evelyn in his arms.

"I wish to die in your arms Yuri if death ever knocks at my door."

Evelyn often said that to Yuri since she fell in love with him wholeheartedly. Nothing got changed at the end. 

Yuri remembered the day when Evelyn took the oath of being with him forever. Then how she could leave him early. 

The physical pain was less than the one he felt seeing his love of life dying in his arms because of him only. 

The firing eventually stopped as two lifeless bodies lay down holding each other's hands in a pool of blood. The man who was executing the entire operation called his boss to inform the situation. 

"Boss, they are finished but the girl is missing."

"Asshole. I need that girl alive too. She would satisfy my quench every night."

"Sure boss. We would wait for……" The leader of the operation couldn't confirm his words when his subordinates arrived with a questioning face. 

He whispered something in a low tone but the gravity of the information was enough to shake them properly. Immediately the man informed his Boss.

"There is a movement boss...." Sweat beads arrived as he knew the result of the massacre. 

"How was the other one informed? We were supposed to finish everything." Their boss shouted over the call when the leader of the operation widened his eyes. 

"We don't know Boss."

"Get the hell outta there."

"What about the girl?"

"We will get her by any means but not now. Moreover, she would come running to me the moment she would witness this." 

Their boss disconnected the call and the leader of the operation howled at his subordinates. 

Within the next five minutes, the chirping of the birds was audible only. Those three black cars left the premises along with those heavily armed men. The sky witnessed those silent tears of those humans who had dream-filled eyes set on their future with their only loving daughter.

A school bus came to a known halt and a girl came down from the bus with a big smile plastered on her face. Waving her hand back to her only friend she started walking towards her house. Today her parents would be taking her out for a trip and it was her birthday gift. They would be roaming around the world for a certain time. Happiness was bubbling up inside her mind as she started jumping while walking on the pavement. Her father is a private person and that was the reason he made this house away from a common crowded locality. They didn't even have guests or neighbors except for some men in black suits. Many times she asked her father about his reluctance towards meeting new people. Every time he waved it off by saying that he was happy with these two women in his life.

Iris reached the area of her house and just with a mere sight of the devastation her mind went blank. Her mother's favorite garden was destroyed. The main entrance of her house was blown up. Everything around her was screaming the meaning of destruction and nothing else. It looked like someone came to continue his rampage only. Slowly she walked towards the main door and entered inside. The smell of gunpowder was still there in the air making the air dense creating difficulty for her breathing. The crushing sound of glass shards below her shoes was adding more negative thoughts to her mind. Her toes curled up inside her school shoes as she clutched her school bag tightly in her hand. Nothing was working properly inside her mind the moment she found a path of blood.

Her stomach churned just with the sight of blood as she walked further to understand the matter."Dad….Mom….. I am home…" Her trembling voice resonated inside the room but there came no reply. Her words died in her mouth when her eyes landed on the unexpected sight of her life.

Her reason for living, her love, her only pillars of strength were lying there in a pool of blood. There was an eerie silence inside the room and the only sound of her heavy breathing could be heard. She was lost in her place as her feet stumbled and she held the nearby wall to maintain her balance.

"Dad……..Mom……." A loud shriek escaped her lips threatening the ambiance inside the house, making the birds fly away from the nearby trees. Sliding on the floor she jumped on those already cold bodies of her parents.

"Mom…..Mom….." She jerked her soldiers yet no response came from her mouth. The blood on her body drenched her daughter's small pale hands. Those tears felt no boundaries to come out washing her cheeks.

Moving her hands towards her father she grabbed his collar to pull him up."Dad…. Please… please…. You can't leave me, dad…. " Her cries were something that even death would rethink his decision of taking away someone's life. The constant jerking made no effect on her father except bringing out a small painful groan from his father's mouth. In an unsettled sea, the small sound looked like a twig of support to Iris as she pulled her father's body in her lap.

"Dad, dad… please…. Tell me something… dad… stay with me…" She didn't know what power she could achieve to bring them back into her life.

"Who did this? Where would I go? Dad, don't leave your princess. Dad……" She cried loudly as his father tried to open his eyes. A small whisper came from his mouth before he completely surrendered himself in the arms of death. His bloody palm tried to touch his daughter's cheek whereas his other hand was still holding his wife's hand. She quitted long back but Yuri didn't know what made him stay till her daughter returned. Maybe the last glimpse of his daughter was left on which he bargained with death. His body started feeling numb as he felt the less painful death lying on his daughter's lap. His mouth did the last job as one last word reached Iris's ears before her world collapsed down.

"Bratva...."