In the Beginning (Volkov Bratva #1)(3)

“Yes,” he said quickly thinking on the spot, “my wife went out to grab dinner. She’s picking up our daughter from the sitter’s.”

That answer seemed to placate the man. If Dr. Cameron was not thankful for anything else, he was thankful that the men here were dumb enough not to check.

There was not enough time for him to take another breath before he was staring at the barrel of a gleaming silver handgun, a silencer firmly attached to the end of it.

The one with the tiger tattoo smiled coldly, lowering the gun until it pointed at his chest.

Dr. Cameron heard steps at the front door, a man entering the house, taking his bowler hat off and holding it in front of him. His eyes widened in recognition. He had assumed before, but now he had confirmation as to why he was about to die.

With a sinister smile, the man said, “Suzhenogo konyom ne Ob’edyesh.”

The enforcer pulled the trigger.

As the first bullet slammed into Dr. Cameron, he stumbled backwards from the momentum of the bullet, clutching at his chest, blood seeping between his splayed fingers. Searing pain flared to life, the unimaginable agony taking his breath away.

When the second bullet hit, he fell against the closet door, slamming it shut with a resounding click, but despite that sound echoing in his ears, he thought he heard Lauren’s soft gasp.

Blood quickly began filling his lungs. He coughed it up, blood spraying past his lips as he tried uselessly to free his airway, even as his organs started shutting down.

With an unwavering stare, he faced the man in charge that loomed over him, but his vision was growing hazy, his breaths shallow.

Dr. Cameron didn’t beg. He didn’t ask for these men to spare his life because he wanted them to finish it, knowing that they would leave quickly once he was dead. He closed his eyes as the enforcer once again aimed the gun at his chest. He pictured his wife and daughter, smiling at him, remembering their love.

His last coherent thought before the third bullet lodged itself in his heart was:

At least they didn’t find Lauren.





Chapter one:


Welcome to New York


15 years later…

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay on campus?” Susan asked for the hundredth time since they had gotten on the interstate leaving Michigan.

They had just passed the Welcome to New York sign and Lauren Thompson was secretly glad. Not just because she was eager to get out of the car after their nine hour long drive, but because her mom was more worried about this move than Lauren was.

“It’s not too late to change your mind,” she went on. “I’m sure there are still some dorms left.”

If there were, Lauren didn’t want to stay in them. She had read many a horror story about living in the suite style dorms at the universities in New York, so she didn’t want to chance the idea of paying a butt load of out of state tuition and fees, all to have a terrible roommate.

“It’s fine, mom. Plus, if there were something wrong with Amber, I’m sure Ross would have found it when he did the background check on her.”

Lauren smiled as Detective Thomas Ross stiffened in the front passenger seat, shrugging guiltily as all eyes turned to him.

Ross was a Michigan police detective, working the job since before Lauren was born. He was of average height, and normally wore a stern frown when he was working on a case, but he had kind brown eyes with the standard army haircut that he refused to change long after he was out of the service.

She wasn’t upset that he ran the background check, she wasn’t even upset that her mom was freaking out about her moving hundreds of miles away to attend the University of New York after being accepted after a year at Michigan State.

For the last decade and a half, it had just been the three of them, a pseudo family brought together after the tragic death of her father. Ross had been one of the first responders, and from what they told her, he had been the one to find her.

Since then, Ross had made a point of staying around in her life. At first, he would only stop by if there was a lead on the case, but he soon started dropping by just to make sure that Lauren was coping well. Soon, he was there every other day, maybe for dinner—he lived alone and his only sister lived two hours away—or if Susan invited him over. Sometimes, Lauren thought that there might be something more to their relationship, but Susan swore up and down that it was strictly platonic.

He had been reluctant to come on the trip with them, always trying not to overstep any boundaries, but it took no time at all to force him into their van when Lauren guilted him by saying who would see her off and who would check the locks to make sure that no one could break in.

“She has a point, Susan,” Ross interjected. “She knows what to look out for with strangers.”

“I learned from the best,” she added, giving him a hi-five.

Susan glared at him as they stopped at a red light, a sea of yellow taxis swarming around them. “Whose side are you on?”

“Mine, always. Besides, I’ve been talking to Amber for weeks now and she seems pretty cool.”

Susan still didn’t look convinced, if anything, her brown eyes seemed more terrified, but there was no arguing with Lauren when she had her mind made up. Susan always made a point to remind her that that was one of the traits she inherited from her father besides his eyes. Everything else, Lauren got from her.