In this remote and isolated part of Russia, the heavenly bodies in the sky could be viewed in their full, shining glory without the hindrance of bright city lights in metropolitan areas. The air was fresher here, the surroundings greener.
This vast expanse of land comparable to the size of a small European country was the private territory of the most powerful criminal organization in the world, the Vetrovs. Situated in its most hidden and fortified area lay the highly secretive Vetrov estate. It was a grand residence, no, a palatial fortress fit for a royal family. Its grandeur and beauty would make a person who saw it for the first time speechless in amazement.
To Evelina Vetrova, however, this beautiful place was a dull, boring, monotonous, lonely, and hopeless prison. It was a cage that she could never fully escape from in this lifetime. Invisible chains tied her to this place, so that no matter how far she went in other parts of the world, one pull from her parents—the reigning king and queen of the international underworld—and she would be back in her prison.
The desire for freedom always burned fiercely in her heart. Unfortunately, her wings had been clipped since the day she was born. There was never any chance for true escape. She dreamed about it, of course, and enjoyed the sweet taste of true freedom in her imagination. She even thought of trying to escape, but if she did, there was no doubt that her family and their formidable organization would eventually find her, if their enemies didn’t kill her first.
Despite all of these, Evelina was still allowed to leave the estate as long as she received the rare permission of her parents, like when she visited her school’s campus in the Swiss Alps a few years ago. Cross Academy was a wonderful and breathtaking sanctuary, but she had been unable to fully enjoy it because of her strict entourage who monitored her every move and restricted her from meeting "unnecessary" people, effectively preventing her from making any friends, and blocked her from visiting places they deemed as a risk to her safety.
There were also times when her parents brought her out of the estate to visit other criminal families who they considered to be their allies.
Keyword was "allies", not "friends".
In addition to not having true freedom, the Vetrovs—the most powerful criminal family in the international underworld—had no true friends either. Their allies constantly changed. Betrayals were the norm.
Allies for today, mortal enemies tomorrow.
Evelina thought that a life like this was not worth living at all.She could feel herself dying little by little deep inside each day.
Only her music made her feel alive. Also, she felt the most free while roaming the online world and entertaining herself by hacking the toughest systems in the world. And most importantly, spending time with her Big Brother Nikolai made her feel truly loved.
She could also feel that her father loved her but as the king of their organization, Arman Vetrov was extremely busy and was rarely at home to spend quality time with her. As for her mother...Evgenia Vetrova was more like a cold machine programmed to prioritize their organization over anything else rather than a flesh and blood mother who cared for family bonds.
True freedom might be impossible for the Vetrovs, but a secret outing once in a while was still doable. Tonight was special because her parents were both out for business in Southeast Asia. They would be gone for a couple of weeks.
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