"Katya darling, you should rest. You've had a long day, you need it." Her father said to her the minute she stepped into the living room, as he pulled off his tie and rolled up the sleeves of his blue shirt to join his wife in the kitchen.
Her father was a slightly tall man with a receding hairline that made it look like his hair was trying to abscond from him because of all the crazy thoughts that took place in his head. Cutting it off would look better, leaving it as it was just made his head a joke to look at.
That would be accurate though, he was a joke after all. A joke that her mother was too blindly in love to see.
Lily, her mother, was a beautiful brown-haired petite woman with a warm smile, and open arms that would trick anyone into thinking she deserved the world.
She had tricked her once… or more. Tricked her into loving her as a mother.
What a snake!
Then there was Gabriel, their wonderful son, who grew up handsome yet painfully dumb. He was booksmart, alright but that was the only thing he was. A curly brown haired spoilt brat paired with nerdy glasses, adorned in loose clothes and expensive gadgets.
Seeing him made her want to burn cigarette butts into his skin.
For goodness sake, they were making her lose her mind already!
It felt so suffocating to be here. Her only consolation was that this was an estate on a private island, and there was no way the Press would be able to get here. In fact, there were very few people who lived here.
She must remain calm; a small price to pay for peace.
After about an hour's drive, she did deserve it.
"What should I make you?" Her mum asked from the kitchen which existed as a portion of the large living room. "Eggs, some veggies, or what? Choose anything and I'll get it done. I'm your Genie, make your wish." She giggled.
"Nothing," Katya answered and turned towards the stairs. If she stayed here any longer she would hurt someone.
Badly.
Gabriel, who was sitting on a sofa at the other side of the living room, started to speak. "Big sis, I—"
"Be quiet, Gabriel." She snapped, her tone even. "All of you. You are all too loud." They all paused with baited breath and looked at her. "See, I'm just going to be here for a day and after that, I'll be gone. So stay out of my hair and there will be no trouble." With that said, she started going up the stairs but the voice of the person who stepped into the living room at that moment, stopped her.
"Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Peazel," Zoey chuckled nervously, as she went past them to join Katya on the stairs. "Hey, Gebs."
"Hi, Zozo."
"I'm going to be staying here with Katy—"
"You should go, Zoey. Go home. It's going to be a long drive, you should start now." Katya cut her off.
"Why?" Zoey turned to her, slightly offended. She was now at the bottom of the stairs, only two steps below Katya.
"I don't want you staying in this toxic environment, or they'll make a deal in your name and sell you off too."
"I'm staying."
"If you are worried about me, Freddy's here." He was standing by the door, looking at them.
"I will stay, Katty, so give up already." She walked past Katya, leading the way. Katya bit down a smile, and followed her, glad that she stayed.
"At least take a glass of champagne with us before you leave." Her mother called after her. "You too, Zoe. Let us drink together once again. For the last time? As a Family?" Her mother's voice quivered, as she directed those questions at her.
"Family uhn?" Katya paused, her hand gripping the railings of the stairs as she turned back to them. "And what are we celebrating?"
"Your freedom, Big sis!" Gabriel declared excitedly. He jumped over a sofa, poured her a flute of champagne and handed it over to her.
She watched him jog down the stairs with a grimace.
Was he stupid?
He was 20, he couldn't possibly be that dumb. He was also in school, training to be a pilot.
Pilots weren't foolish people!
How was he so fucking stupid then?!
"My freedom, uhn?"
"Yes," Her father said as he poured himself and his little family each a glass of wine. "Let us raise a toast to your freedom from the Stones—"
"My. Freedom." Katya squashed the flute in her hand. Glass dug into her palm, blood and champagne trickled down her fingers.
"Katya, my God! Someone, get the first aid box!" Zoey was trying to pull out the glass strands but Katya snatched her hand away, the physical and emotional pain of the moment felt too much.
"You put me in this mess." Her tone remained eerily even, low and calm. "My life is like this because of you and you think you have the right to pop champagne and celebrate my "freedom" from a bondage you put me in?"
Those words halted her mother in her stead and the first aid box hung loosely in her grip.
"Kat—" She began to speak but her husband beat her to it.
"It's been years, Andriana. You cannot still be mad."
"Who the fuvk is Andriana?" Katya's voice sharpened.
"Katty, I think we should—" Zoey started to speak, worried about her bleeding hand.
"Zoey, please give me a minute. I said who the fuvk is Andriana?!" She took a step down the stairs.
"That was the name we gave you when we had you." Her father said with a smile. He should cut that mustache off, it really didn't suit him.
"You mean when you found me at your doorstep."
A step lower.
"You are still our child," her mother said. "It makes no difference."
"It makes all the difference and you know it. I have renamed myself "Katya" and you will use it, or be ignored."
"My daughter, I—"
"Stop it!" She yelled. "Stop it for goodness sake, Lily. If I was truly your daughter, if you ever viewed me as one, you would never have allowed this to happen to me."
"I'm sorry." She was crying. "Forgive mu—"
"I had dreams! Like Gabriel, I had a life and you destroyed it."
"Mummy is sorry. Mummy is so sorry for failing you. Mummy—" She was crying so much, she couldn't speak any longer.
Her husband came behind her, wrapped an arm around her, and he took the box from her while she wept against his chest.
Katya rolled her eyes.
So fucking pathetic.
Lily was no victim, she agreed to everything. She just stood by and allowed her husband to ruin the life of her "daughter".
"Katty, we need to go upstairs. I need to treat your hand, you are bleeding a lot—"
"We had no choice." That was her father.
"You? Oh, you had a choice. You could have decided not to gamble with a cult for more business deals. You were already thriving, your business was good, but no. You were too greedy, you wanted more.
"Not in front of Gabriel, please."
"Gabriel is not a child!" Katya turned squarely to Gabriel to find him sitting on the sofa with his head bowed.
"You could have decided not to run into more and more debt till you couldn't breathe." She turned back to her father. "You could have decided on some other form of repayment instead of agreeing to let your daughter be their plaything. You signed off my life to all ten of them! Ten!" She finally walked down the stairs now. "Ten grown men that could be your own father!"
"Katya—"
"I was 12! I was just a child!" Angry tears ran down her cheeks.
Gabriel stood up abruptly, his eyes filled with tears as he hurried up the stairs.
Realization washed over her like cold water.
They had been lying to her brother.
Her mother followed him, calling out his name while she cried too.
"You are evil, father. Pure evil."
Her father signed, his eyes filled with guilt. "They would have killed us. They threatened to kill us all if we didn't agree. I knew they were capable of it. Besides, it was partly your fault, you were too beautiful as a child—"
"What did you say?" Katya stalked him and Freddy advanced with her.
He gulped, moving away.
"I am a Father, the head of this family. I had to make a tough decision for the survival of this household. Besides It worked out well for you in the end, didn't it? You are wealthy, they all died and here you are. Just one more and it will be over."
Katya blinked. "One more?"
That had slipped. Her father stared at the broken pieces of flute, then up at her.
"The Circle had a new recruit sometime ago—"
A new recruit?! None of her husbands told her that.
Silence reigned in Katya's mind for a moment as she watched her father's eyes fill up with even more guilt.
"You've called him."
"He has a bomb in Gabriel's teeth!"
"What?!" Zoey screamed.
Katya stared head, shocked for a second. She was torn, Gabriel seemed to be innocent, but then she noticed something else. "You put something in my drink too."
Her father was very strategic with his plan. He could be lying about the bomb, he could be doing anything. She couldn't trust this snake!
"As a Father—"
"You'll deal with it!" She snapped. Fuck, she didn't have time for this. The last member of the Circle could be close by right now.
"Get me out of Freddy! Zoey!"
"Coming," Zoey rushed out of the living room with her.
"Don't do this, Katya please!" Her father's distressed voice called after her. "They don't even know, they are not in on this, they don't deserve to die— Don't kill your brother with your selfishness, you bastard!"
Black cars swirled to a halt the moment she rushed out.
The eleventh member was here already, with quite a number of men too.
Fuck.
Freddy threw her over his shoulder, and he grabbed Zoey as he raced for their car.
Everything became a blur, as the sounds of the guns firing filled the air. The blood drain from her cut was finally catching up with her.
She was passing out.
The last thing she heard was a grunt of pain as a bullet jammed into Freddy's back and… an explosion.