Eye for an eye

STRAKH.

While the word translated to "fear" in English, the past several years had seen the Russian term turn into a symbol of hope for hapless victims around the world. People that had been abandoned or betrayed by their own flesh and blood. People that even the most powerful governments hadn"t been able to save. These people would not be alive today...if not for them.

Strakh Incorporated.

A faceless entity that no one had been able to unmask, a secret organization made up of tech-savvy Robin Hoods who were relentless in their pursuit of justice.

Strakh Inc. had been known to show mercy to those who deserved a second chance, but they were just as feared for being monstrously ruthless when on a quest to destroy their targets.

Fan fiction inspired by Strakh Inc. had been steadily on the rise, and while their most devoted and romantic of fans loved to think of them as a brotherhood of billionaires who were Batman, Christian Grey, and John Wick all rolled into one—-

None of them really believed this to be true...even though it was.

SHEENA WAS NERVOUS.

This was her first time to attend a meeting of Strakh, and it was just one of those surreal moments in life where truth did seem stranger than fiction. Nobody would ever guess that it was the Devil and his friends behind Strakh Incorporated, and things became even more surreal as she listened to Tahey, the only other female member of the group, outline their newest mission with a series of slides.

"These guys use cryptocurrency scams to lure people into debt."

Click.

"This is the amount of money they"ve already stolen from their victims."

Click.

"The worst thing about this scheme is when would-be victims fit a particular profile: attractive females below forty years old, credit rating below 500, and no known immediate relatives that could stir up trouble."

Click.

"These women are invited to special investor meetings where they"re then drugged, abducted, and sold off to the highest bidder."

The meeting went on a quick break when Stelios excused himself to take a call, and upon the Greek billionaire"s return—-

"You"re getting what?"

"Married," Stelios drawled. "I haven"t tried it personally, but I hear it has the phenomenal ability to expose a man"s deepest secrets...like actually having dimples."

Sheena blinked.

Did Stelios just say...dimples?

The Devil had once told her that Stelios had the most twisted sense of humor among them, and Sheena did find it rather hard to tell if the other man was being serious or not. But when she glanced at Tahey and saw how the other girl was suddenly busy avoiding her husband"s gaze—-

Oh!

Dmitry bit back an expletive when he saw Sheena looking at him in shock.

"You have dimples?"

The other guys started to snicker, Stelios included, and the sight had Dmitry looking at his Greek friend before saying quite pleasantly—-

"Fuck you."

But Stelios only shrugged. "I don"t swing that way, unfortunately. And it might"ve been better if I did, since that would at least give me a valid excuse not to get married."

Sasha was incredulous. "You"re actually serious? You stepped out to take a phone call, and you come back fucking engaged?"

Stelios" tone was bland as he told his friends the reason he had to excuse himself earlier from the meeting.

"Kayra Petinos?" Drake was ex-FBI, and he recalled coming across the girl"s name several times in the past. "She"s like you, isn"t she?"

"Mafia?"

"Mental."

Stelios only grinned. "Touché."

Bastien shook his head. "How the fuck can you be joking about this? Are you really going to get married because of a blood debt?"

"Selling off my shares in the family business doesn"t change who I am. Her parents died because of my parents. I owe them," Stelios said simply, "and now I have to pay them back."

Dmitry waited until Stelios had left before asking Drake what he knew of the family Stelios was about to marry into.

"They"re one of the "nicer" families. Wealth is mainly from illegal gambling, and they"ve never been involved in the drug trade or anything that could"ve gotten them in Strakh"s radar."

"Wouldn"t that make them seem weak?" Bastien questioned with a frown.

"Not when they have Kayra."

Dmitry was skeptical. "Didn"t you just describe her as "mental"?"

"Exactly my point. Remember last year"s Sandy Point murders?"

"That"s her?" Sasha was more than a little stunned. "She killed all four of them? Alone?"

"With her bare hands, too, according to the intel reports."

Dmitry"s younger brother whistled under his breath. "Damn."

"And the niece?" Dmitry persisted in asking. It wouldn"t be a good thing if the girl was to be anything like her aunt, would it?

"No one knows much about her. Normal, I suppose?"

Dmitry seemed satisfied with this, but Drake"s answer had both Tahey and Sheena exchanging worried looks. It was just so typical of men not to realize when they were already damning someone with faint praise. The Greek billionaire was guaranteed to find a "normal" girl boring, but normal girls were also just as guaranteed to lose their heart to someone as devastatingly attractive as Stelios.

What would someone like Kayra Petinos do...if she was to find out that her niece was in love with her husband, and the feelings weren"t returned?