Book 2: Debase
Debase
Verb: To reduce (something) in quality or value; degrade. To lower the moral character of someone. i.e.
I am war.
I am Andrei Petrov.
I am impure; Debased.
Prologue
Andrei
With blood on my hands, I held her.
With death in my soul, I drank her.
With the devil in my heart, I coveted her.
My name is Andrei Petrov.
My last will and testament is as follows:
Let me finally die.
Let me bring down this empire of filth and destruction into the depths of a fiery Hell.
Let. Me. Go.
Protect Alice De Lange at all costs and tell her Iâm sorry.
Iâm sorry for referring to her as a numberâit was too painful to say her name.
Iâm sorry for all the times I shoved her, when I just wanted to shield her from the pain.
Iâm sorry for taking her virginity and giving her mine in the process.
Iâm sorry that sheâs left to clean up a mess sheâs not ready for.
Iâm not sorry for loving her.
Iâm not sorry for doing what was best.
Iâm not sorry for killing them all.
Iâd do it again.
For her Iâd do anything.
Sincerely, Andrei Petrov, last boss to the Petrov Dynasty.
PS. I will not rest in peace.
One month into the futureâ¦
Blood and dirt caked her face.
And still I grabbed the whip.
I clenched it between my bloodied hands while they watched.
It came down hard on her snowy white skin, it ripped into her flesh and pulled it from her bodyâand I could smell their arousal.
Women I gave them.
Women I sold.
Souls I stole.
Hell was waiting for me.
I knew it as much as I knew my next breath would be the hardest I would take in my short life.
Because her eyes begged me for life.
Even when she knew, even when I told her again and againâall I had to offer was death.
They needed it, lived for it.
And sheâd committed the ultimate sin.
Trusting me.
I slammed the whip down on her right thigh.
She cried out my name.
And I remembered.
I remembered then.
There was once a time where my name fell from her lips in ecstasy, in wonderâin love.
But she didnât knowâI wasnât capable of it.
This was my legacy.
This was my destiny.
A tear slid down her cheek, falling onto the rivers of blood streaming down the concrete.
Soon the blood would be gone.
The concrete clean.
And her life would be sacrificed.
Not by my hand.
But hers.
Because that was the deal, wasnât it?
âKill me,â sheâd whispered between kisses.
âYes,â I agreed as I tasted her sweet sin for the last time. âI will kill you.â
Her thank you fell on deaf ears.
So, I raised the whip again while she smiled.