V I K T O R     M A K A R O V I C H — T H E     B U T C H E R

Grief and pain were two dangerous things.

I experience both everyday and somehow, being around Peach distracts me from it all. She makes me forget the ache in my chest and he darkness around the back of my mind. When I kiss her, light shines from behind her lids and all I can feel is her.

Her lips, her hands, her skin...

Everything with her seems so simple. I feel like we can find my doppelgänger and stop him from ruining what my father and the fathers before him had built. I was going to get my mafia back and then I was going to rule it with Peach by my side. As my consigliere.

Last night was hard for her and me. I realised I hated seeing her cry. The tears had refused to stop flowing and I could feel her pain through the words she spoke and the love she held for her brother. Facts say that he was dead. I'd looked at the pictures of the John Doe Peach had refused to identify as her brother but he was later claimed by Mrs. C.

That old lady was a problem of her own. She cared for Peach, a lot and she respected her decisions but she did not like them. Her demeanor was manipulative. The way she pushed around questions and expected the answers she desired. Peach stood firm in what she thought was right, a fact that made me believe she'd do well by my side.

It would take time for her to get over her brother and I did admit that guilt wracked thorough my body when I thought about the way I'd walked into her brother's room and invaded his space. I knew that would push Peach to talk about him somehow, face his death. Though it helped her, I realised it wasn't my place to push her about like that. She has been so open with me and I haven't told her enough about myself to call it even.

I wanted to change that. I wanted Peach to get to know me as much as I'd get to know her. We would be working together for a long time to come. It only made sense for our interests to be perfectly aligned.

Though when I think about spending more time with Peach these days, it usually involves tasting what her lips had to offer and learning each and every curve and dip of her body. As much as the distraction was welcome, I felt that it clouded a lot of things I should be putting at the front of my mind. The case itself was doomed. I'd lost good men and an hq.

I'd been in contact with Kira, telling her Peach and I would be coming but I'd also called Vittore and Dalia Martinelli, the Don and Donna of the Italian mafia. Should things stir chaos, I knew they'd offer any aid they could from weapons to fighters. The couple were good people and understood a lot on internal wars. I remember my father once saying that Vittore's half brother had it out for his Donna.

One thing I'd learnt in this life is that if you didn't respect another man's lover you were as good as dead.

That is why there are no men left alive to boast about their triumphant slaughter of my mother and Markov's family. I planned on avenging my uncle and that involved putting a bullet through the head of the fucker who was making me run around states like a mutt with a moving bone.

My first step though was seeing my sister and telling her about Markov. There were, officially, only two living members Makarovich line.

I woke up earlier than Peach, taking a shower from across the hall before changing into a set of dark jeans and the same pink hoodie I'd taken from her closet. It was comfortable to my surprise and it smelt feminine but had a small stale hint to it. When I was ready, I raked my fingers through my wet messy blond locks, trying to make them stay back until they dried.

Then it was time to wake Peach up which proved harder than it should've been.

"Peach," I sighed. "You have to get up."

Sitting next to her on the bed, she rolled way from me, landing on her belly, burying herself deeper into the bed if that was possible. Her hair was in disarray, the coily strands standing on their own, having escaped from the low puffy ponytail she'd made.

"What time is it?" she forced out in a groggy tone.

"7:30 a.m," I answered simply and a long groan made its way out of her body.

"Why? It's so early," she complained. "A few more minutes. Or hours."

"There might be a snowstorm later today and tomorrow. I think it's best we get stuck at my mansion than here."

"What's so wrong with my house?" she asked under the blankets.

"Mrs. C might come for another visit," I stated and that is what got Peach rolling over and sitting up. Her hair was a mess and she rubbed at her eyes to get all the sleep out.

"I'm up," she mumbled making me smile.

I patted her leg over the sheets that covered them. "Good girl," I whispered. "Now go take a shower. I'll be downstairs."

Peach and I parted ways as she went down a room I hadn't been in yet. Probably the master bedroom. I decided that was the one place I would never venture to. I went downstairs and Put on a kettle and gathered a few ingredients to make some ginger tea. There wasn't any coffee in the house sadly but something warm would suffice. There were a few salty crackers in the cabinet so I put them in a bowl.

By the time tea was done, Peach walked into the kitchen, pulling her hair into a puff at the top of her head. She wore a large bohemian floral print shirt tucked into a set of washed out blue jeans. When she made the mass of curls on her head neat, she walked over to me and I handed her a warm mug.

"Tea?" she asked and sniffed the steam that billowed from it.

"And crackers," I added helpfully, holding out the bowl to her. She shook her head and decided to nurse the warm cup in her hands, leaning her hip against the counter, just as I had done.

"Are we walking?" she asked instead, shifting her feet like she was bracing for an answer.

"No," I assured her. "Someone's going to pick us up from down the street in a few."

Peach frowned. "Why am I awake then? Twenty minutes couldn't have hurt." She did seem genuinely angry about the fact that she didn't get to sleep in.

"We have to be there hours before they do. Just incase," I stated.

"You don't trust them?"

"I don't trust anyone but you at the moment," I revealed.

"Doesn't that make me feel special," she joked.

"It should. My trust isn't something everyone earns."

"Except for the hacker you've been on the run with for months now. Good to know I have to keep you away from people like me in the future."

I shook my head with a smile. "Don't worry. There's only going to be you."

A small smile made its way on Peach's lips and she tried to hide it behind her mug. Satisfaction filled me looking at the simple action and the silence that lapsed between us was comfortable.

"How are you feeling?" I asked softly, looking into her eyes, noticing they were clear, not liek she'd bawled her eyes out the night before.

"Like you said," she sighed. "We'll make it through this."

I held my hand out to her and she took it, allowing me to pull her close and plant a soft kiss on her lips. My body reached immediately and I resisted the urge to make the kiss deeper, taking her as I wanted in this kitchen. Now seriously wasn't the time.

"When do we have to leave?" she asked, he breath brushing against my lips. I set my mug on the kitchen counter to pull my phone out of my pocket to check the time.

"Ten minutes. Fifteen depending on how quick we can round up some stuff."

"Like?"

"Well," I begun. "You'll need a gun. I think I have one upstairs and it's a long walk to the place we have to meet up at. Probably half an hour's walk."

Peach groaned. "I'm starting to hate walking."

"It's good exercise," I tried to convince her, putting my hAnds around her waist so she stepped more into my embrace. Her hands rested between us, still holding the mug of steaming ginger tea.

"I've had enough exercise running around with you these past few weeks," she stated. "After all this I need a vacation."

"I'll give you one. Japan, Paris, Greece, Italy and Egypt. I promised." Peach just smiled but a shadow passed over her eyes and her smile dropped to a frown. "What?"

"Nothing," she sighed. "Just worrying."

The hacker reached to her neck and i noticed she had put on her golden locket this day. I realised she didn't like parting with it much. I wondered if it belonged to her mother, knowing the woman was out of the picture.

"You know I'll help you with anything you need right?"

"I know," she sighed. "And as soon as I need your help, I will ask for it."

I wanted to press, ask her what was on her mind but decided not to. She needed secrets of her own. For now anyway. Until we got to know each other better.

"We should get going," I whispered and leaned in to plant one more kiss on her dark lips because I they were tempting.

Peach and I left the kitchen and I gathered what we needed, looking through the bag I'd come with for the only two guns I managed to scavenge. When we'd left the warehouse panic rooms. One was a Walther PDP and a simple Chiappa M9. When I met Peach at the door, I anded her the first gun and her jaw dropped.

"Is this as Walther PDP?" she breathed, holding the gun like it was glass, running her slender fingers over the weapon before holding it in a secure. "This beauty is like... six hundred dollars."

"It's yours," I stated pulling on my shoes.

"Really?" she asked, excitement slipping into her tone. "My dad would die if he had one of these. He still keeps up with the guns that come out and all and this one would really throw him off his rocker."

I sent her a glance, having not known that fascination for guns came from her dad. Was he some kind of hunter? Maybe that's why he wasn't here. I decided now wouldn't be the best time to ask so I dropped the thought.

"Come on," I encouraged and we walked out the door to the meeting point.

It took a while, with Peach constantly complaining with the weather but the coats she'd brought us from the master bedroom were warm enough. The simple sight of snow for Peach just threw her off. The meeting point was a bus stop and we waited until a sleek Black Range Rover slid up next to us.

I guided Peach into the back seat and got in the front, nodding at the driver. He was dressed in a simple black and white suit and seemed uncomfortable with me sitting up here with him. That was good. Peach stuck her head into the space between us as the man begun to drive.

"Hey there," she greeted the guy who threw her a surprised glance but responded to her greeting with a simple "Hello."

"This is a nice car," Peach continued. "Is it yours?"

"No ma'am."

"Oh Well, can I turn on the music?" she asked no one in particular, reaching in front to the console. "Something tells me this is going to be an awkward ride without something to distract all of us."

Peach breezed through channels until she came to one she was satisfied with, leaning back into the seat, humming to the song on the radio. It was something I hadn't heard before but it was about piña coladas.

More songs played on as we drove through the town to a neighbourhood commonly known as Bling Empire. It wasn't long until we pulled up to my mansion and were driven up the driveway, through the tall iron gate. The driver parked us at the front, right before the set of stairs that led to the front door of the modern Victorian style mansion.

The house was a blinding white and the roof a rich dark blue, colours I didn't approve of when I had to get the place for my sister but Kira simply adored it. I stepped out just as Peach did and stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for her as she looked around outside.

Her eyes roamed over the snow covered lawn and the perfectly cut shrubs that produced beautiful flowers in the spring. Trees lined the driveway, all bare of any leaves but coated with soft snow and pretty icicles. Armed men dressed in white and black roamed around the premises, guarding the place. Peach reached my side after a while, her lips pursed.

"This place makes you seem like a spoiled pretty boy," she stated and I chuckled under my breath, shaking my head.

"I am," I confirmed.

"All this just makes you seem snobbier. It's a surprise you tolerate me and my 'low status'," Peach joked.

"It's for my sister," I explained, gesturing her to follow me up the stairs. "She was the one who wanted this place and I got it for her."

"Just like that?" she asked and then gave a low whistle. "I bet she's nothing like you then."

"Why do you say that?" I inquired as I pushed open the front door and we stood in the foyer.

Peach simply nodded her head in the direction before me, not bothering to answer my question.

"Viktor!"

I turned to see my sister, long honey blonde hair flying as she dashed down the stairs towards me. Her smile was as bright as her sapphire blue eyes and I had to brace myself as she crashed into me with a hug, holding me tight, a high pitched squealing noise making its way up her throat. I sighed and held her back, sinking into her familiar warmth.

Since my father and brother died, I'd tried to keep up with Kira, making sure she didn't grieve alone but the last five months had been so hard on me and I hadn't seen her at all. Last I heard, she seemed fine, probably ignoring the fact that she'd lost so much family in the last year. My spies said she'd been acting completely normal. It worried me a little.

"Hello Kira," I sighed into her hair, noticing she smelt a lot like vanilla.

"Hello brother. Welcome."

I pulled back and offered my sister the best smile I could. It really was nice to see her.