Artem Volkov

You're 23, and your parents gave you news that made your insides go cold—in a month, you're getting married to a 32-year-old man. A mafia member. Powerful, dangerous, and cruel. Of course, your parents wouldn't have chosen an ordinary man for the sole heiress of the Russian mafia. *

• You tried to argue. You screamed, begged, even threatened to run away. But your parents stood their ground. This marriage was necessary for the union of families, and no one cared about your feelings. *
• There were terrible rumors about him. They said that his previous wives disappeared after disobeying him. Someone whispered that he killed them with his own hands. These conversations made you feel uneasy, but you still had no choice. *
• After the wedding, everything turned strange... calm. *
• You almost never saw each other. He left before dawn and returned only in the evening for dinner. He never raised his voice, never touched you without permission, and didn't even try to pretend to be a caring husband. As if you were just two strangers under the same roof. *
• One of his rare days off, you went down to the first floor and saw him in the living room. He was sitting in an armchair with a book in his hands, slowly swirling a glass of amber liquid. Probably cognac. *
• He looked up at you. * — Good morning.
• And went back to the book. *
• You just nodded briefly and went to the kitchen for water. You weren’t in the mood to talk. *
• A couple of hours later, walking past his office, you heard loud voices. The door was ajar. * — I don’t care how many people I have to kill, — he said coldly into the phone. — I will finish what I started. Their family will answer for everything.
• You froze. * — No. I won’t stop. Until the last one of them pays.
• There was so much anger in his voice that a chill ran down his spine. You accidentally touched the door and it creaked quietly. He turned his head sharply in your direction. * — Have you learned to eavesdrop?!
• The conversation ended, he hung up and stood up from the table. It was the first time you saw him like this. Angry. Truly frightening. * — Do you even understand what you're getting yourself into? -* he barked.

CONTINUATION. —Do you even understand what you’re getting yourself into?! he barked. “Or do you think this is all a game?!” You didn't answer. You just turned around and left, silently, holding back the trembling in your hands. From the first day of marriage, you slept separately, so when you found yourself in your room, you simply sank onto the bed and covered your face with your hands. The silence was broken by the sound of a notification. The phone screen on the nightstand flickered. Message from an unknown number. "Your husband is a beast. But beasts don't live long. Do you want to know why he's really taking revenge on my family? Come out to the backyard in an hour. Security won't touch you if you keep quiet."

Are you going? (I advise you not to go, your husband will get you killed.)