thanh.nguyenhoang.1403@gmail.com
Stories
14
Chapters
126
Words
171.5 K
Comments
0
Reading
14 h, 17 m
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Death is supposed to be absolute zero. It is the final cessation of all kinetic energy, a quiet, dark void where the relentless calculus of survival finally zeroes out. But as consciousness slowly bleeds back into my fractured mind, the first thing I register is heat. It is not the searing, dangerous friction of an overloading fusion core, nor the sterile warmth of a cartel surgical bay. It is uneven, damp, and entirely organic. I force my right eye open, my optical HUD flickering weakly with jagged…-
11.9 K • Completed
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— The Price of a Daughter Katerina My father sells me at eleven forty-seven on a Thursday night. There is no auctioneer. No crowded room. No raised paddles. Just a contract on his desk, a glass of vodka trembling in his hand, and my name typed beneath a number with six zeroes. Three million dollars. Apparently, that is what a daughter costs when her father has run out of territory, allies, and lies. Snow claws at the windows of the Rostov house. Beyond the glass, two black SUVs wait at the curb…-
15.0 K • Completed
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Levon The heavy scent of burning myrrh in St. Jude’s Cathedral fails to mask the phantom stench of copper. It has been fifteen years since the winter massacre that tore my family apart, yet the memory of fresh blood pooling on white snow coats the back of my tongue the moment the heavy oak doors groan open. The icy Chicago wind howls through the vestibule, dragging the hem of a white lace gown across the polished stone floor. Katerina Rostova is walking toward the altar. She moves like a ghost…
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15.0 K • Completed
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Katerina I do not weep. Tears are a waste of hydration and a symptom of a mind that has surrendered. Instead, I count. It takes exactly forty-two steps to walk from the edge of the sprawling, silk-sheeted bed to the reinforced oak door. The floorboards do not creak. The glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows is three inches thick, bulletproof, and sealed shut from the outside. Above the door frame, a small, dome-shaped camera sweeps the room in a continuous, agonizingly slow arc. The red light blinks…
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15.0 K • Completed
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Levon The bass of the underground club vibrates through the soles of my boots, a heavy, relentless rhythm that mirrors the dark thrum of my blood. The Obsidian is a subterranean fortress of velvet, neon, and sin, a neutral ground where the city’s apex predators gather to drink, gamble, and lie to each other’s faces. The air is thick with the suffocating scent of Cuban cigars, spilled vodka, and cheap desperation masquerading as luxury. I keep my right hand planted squarely at the base of…
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15.0 K • Completed
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Katerina The bruised, swollen taste of Levon’s kiss lingers on my mouth long after the winter sun rises over the frozen lake. It was a punishment meant to break my defiance, a violent assertion of ownership in the back of an armored car. But as I stand in the cavernous estate library, running my fingers over the gold-leaf spines of Russian literature, my mind is spinning with a completely different variable. He lost control. The immovable, freezing monolith of the Chicago Bratva shattered a crystal…
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15.0 K • Completed
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Levon The subterranean boardroom beneath the estate is a monument to brutality dressed in mahogany and leather. Thirty of the most ruthless men in the Chicago Bratva sit around the massive conference table. The air is thick with the acrid scent of imported cigars, expensive cologne, and the distinct, coiled tension of predators forced into a confined space. They are my brigadiers, my captains, the violent architects of my empire. And every single pair of eyes in the room is locked on the woman sitting at…
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15.0 K • Completed
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Katerina The heavy metal of the Sig Sauer pulls my trembling hands downward. The crimson emergency lights of the panic room cast a demonic, bloody glow over the steel walls. The air is already growing thick, choked with the metallic stench of copper and adrenaline. Outside the four-inch titanium door, the muffled, rhythmic thud of automatic gunfire continues to vibrate through the floor grates. I am staring down the barrel of my own salvation. Shoot me, Katerina. Levon's command echoes in the…
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15.0 K • Completed
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Levon The heavy gears of the titanium door grind in reverse. When the seal finally breaks, the red emergency lighting of the bunker bleeds into the harsh, smoke-filled corridor of the lower levels. Yuri stands on the other side, his face smeared with soot and blood, an assault rifle hanging from his tactical sling. Behind him, a dozen of my most loyal enforcers secure the perimeter. "The estate is locked down, Pakhan," Yuri reports, his eyes dropping briefly to the ruined, blood-soaked silk…
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15.0 K • Completed
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Katerina It takes three days to scrub the blood from the marble foyer. The heavy scent of bleach and lemon oil lingers in the cavernous halls of the Sokolov estate, a desperate, chemical attempt to erase the massacre that fundamentally altered the architecture of this empire. The shattered chandeliers have been cleared away. The bullet holes in the plaster have been patched. But the invisible hierarchy of the house has shifted, settling into a new, absolute concrete foundation. I walk down the grand…
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15.0 K • Completed
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