Vera the Mistress

– Yes, PerstStevovich, I understand-Suleiman was always stingy with words, so he only adjusted his holster with a gun.

"The documents are ready. According to them, you are the father of Ara, she is only five, but she knows everything and understands why I send her overseas.

– Yes, PerstStevovich.

"I'll let you know when things quiet down here." But for the next ten years, keep your nose out of it. It will be hot here.

Suleiman sniffed. He left his sworn father and boss at such a difficult time to babysit a girl in a distant country, which he saw only in pictures. There, a house, insurance, and a place in a private school were already registered in Ara's name. Sulik was supposed to control the American branch of the Baron's bandits.

At parting, Perst embraced Suleiman, whom he loved as his son. For a long time, he looked into Arina's night-black eyes, stroked the raven's hair, and called her Dana.

"Daddy, I'm Ara.

"I know, my flower, I know, I know, my soul. Your mother looks down on you from heaven, she died when she gave birth to you. But she always keeps you safe. I will always keep you safe.

A terrible and cruel bandit who punished by shooting gave orders to take young women as prostitutes, collected tribute from young beggars, yes, he cried for the second time in his life. The first, when his beloved Dana died in childbirth.

And all the guards, even the heartless Suleiman, had tears in their eyes.

ArinaPetrovnaZlatykh returned to Moscow exactly twenty years later.

On the threshold of his death, Perst was saying goodbye to his beautiful daughter, who was sitting at the head of the bed in one of the most expensive clinics in the capital. Next to him stood the unchanging Suleiman.

"Daddy, maybe Switzerland?" Ara uttered the words with emphasis and with a trembling voice.

"My flower, I am going to my beloved. Don't stop me. Before I die, look, all the property documents are at the home of Sulik's wife. I have money in my Swiss account that will be inherited by you, lawyer Jorik Rosenberg manages all my finances, you know, he helped you when you lived in America. Restaurants here and abroad have already been transferred to your name. But you know that. Come closer to me. Sulik, wait outside the door.

When they were alone in the room, Perst took his daughter's hand and finally said:

"Your grandmother Vadoma was a witch. The entire camp knew and feared the power of her curses. It could have destroyed the fruit, sent a pestilence, or killed a whole herd of horses from a neighboring camp. I also turned to her for help more than once, she gave me a long life, but with the condition that I had to give something in return. But I didn't know then that the dark forces would take my Dana, my soul. Vadoma, having lost her daughter in childbirth, cursed all her gods and asked them to take away all the dark forces from her. Her gods were merciful and returned them … you… I kept the secret of Vadoma for a long time, but when you turned eighteen, Suleiman began to say that he felt strange around you, that you could read minds and get into heads. He also said that the Professor who taught you history jumped out of the window…

"Daddy, it's not me… himself… he just pestered me after lectures.... – Arina was on her knees near her dying father and wept…

– Light of my eyes, I don't blame you, you are my soul. Forgive me.

"For what, daddy?"

"Before she died, Vadoma said that in exchange for your gift, which the gods returned to you, they would take what was most precious from you. You will always be barren.

"What?" Dad? Daddy?!Ahhh!!!

Suleiman ran into the room to the screams, disheveled, tearful, and barefooted Ara tried to shout to the helpless old man.

Only for a moment did the Perst open eyes that had once been black and transparent with age.

– Dad!

– Dana, my Life, I have been coming to you for so long…

After a lavish funeral of the criminal business legend, Ara received an inheritance and lived the life of a rich, fashionable lady. She wasn't interested in drugs, prostitution, or begging.

Having made Suleiman their right-hand man, they hired a staff of the best lawyers to open new, absolutely legal businesses in the field of IT technologies. Arina graduated from the American University with a degree in modern computer programs and websites, so after understanding the Russian market, she invested part of her inheritance in their development.

"Dad would be laughing at me right now if he knew that robots bring me money.

Suleiman silently smiled in the next seat and adjusted his holster out of habit.

– Mila, who's next? Arina asked her Secretary over the phone.

– ArinaPetrovna, Oleg Bryantsev, a post-graduate student from Moscow State University with the project "the Future of computer technologies".

Chapter 7

Vera regained consciousness in the clinic room. Her head was heavy, leaden. Her eyelids didn't open. She fumbled for the nurse's call button.

A few minutes later, the doctor entered the room.

– Anatoly Ivanovich, what's wrong with me? Why I'm here. Can I have some water?

"Yes, Verochka. The nurse will bring you some water and dinner.

"Dinner?" Is it evening?

"You've been here more than a day. Another surgical intervention was necessary.

"What? What happened? Doctor, I felt very well. I had excellent tests. It's been so many months, what's the problem?

– Verochka, I am very sorry to inform you that you can no longer have children. Inflammatory processes in the uterus caused fever and dizziness. You passed out in the restaurant bathroom. You were discovered by Oleg Bryantsev's wife, Arina. She was the one who brought you in her car. You should be grateful to her now. If not she, I don't know how it would have ended…

Vera couldn't believe her ears, and tears were streaming down her cheeks. Nightmare. Nightmare. She pinched herself painfully, and her vision went dark.

"I don't understand, I don't remember…"

"That's normal. At a high temperature, it happens so that to save energy, the body shuts down for a more important, in simple terms, fight. Now everything is fine, rest. The discharge papers will be ready tomorrow, and today you will take another blood test, and the nurse will measure your blood pressure and temperature. If everything is all right, you'll be home by tomorrow night.

Oleg's phone was disconnected or out of network coverage. Vera dialed the number she knew by heart over and over again with a stubborn, stupid persistence until she was exhausted.

– Hello, Vika, hi. It's alright. Can you come tomorrow to two on the Dnieper Promenade 180, I'll send the address? No, nothing serious. I'm being discharged from the clinic. Thank you, see you tomorrow – last word Klimova said hysterically, the voice wavered and she instantly hung up.

Vera didn't want to feel sorry for herself, she was afraid to start and then not stop. She texted the address of the clinic to a friend, put the empty battery phone on the charger, wrote to her worried mother on her twenty messages "mom, a lot of work, I can't call for a few more days, we rent objects, love, and kiss, hello to dad", turned to the wall with unusual patterns and silently howled.

VikaVolokh, a colleague, and friend was tall, blond, and green-eyed, as precise as a Swiss watch. Filling the clinic's lobby with the aroma of fresh pastries, coffee, and expensive perfume, she gave Vera a businesslike look, introduced herself as a sister, and received all the documents and statements. Vera, like a faded carnation on a monument, leaned against the reception desk, suddenly noticed a familiar silhouette in the distance along the corridor. The girl went to the head doctor's door, but the secretary beat her to it.

– Sorry, Anatoly Ivanovich is busy right now.

"I'm sorry, I…"

– Yes. Klimova, Vera Sergeevna. Anatoly Ivanovich has already signed the documents for your discharge.