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.

[This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you're not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It's very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria]

When her big brother received an emergency call from the U.S. which he needed to personally resolve as soon as possible, she would be left alone in the estate accompanied by her cold bodyguards and similarly emotionless servants. All of them were, simply speaking, her jailers.

Seeing her dejected expression, her big brother had an idea.

"Evelinka, do you want to come with Big Brother to America?" he asked.

"Of course! Let's go!" she answered without thinking.

Thus, they made a plan. A secret plan that would get both of them into big trouble if discovered by the estate's key personnel, and worse, by their parents. And as the man and the one who cooked up the idea, her big brother would surely suffer a painful punishment.

Even with the consequences, the siblings still went ahead with their plan.

Her big brother sent his most loyal subordinate who swore his loyalty to him, not to their parents, to help Evelina sneak out of her bedroom.

Due to her big brother's meticulous preparations, assisted by her hacking skills, her escape that night went very smoothly. She saw her bodyguards and other staff laying unconscious as she escaped. She wondered what method her brother used to immobilize them because most of the people working in the estate had been raised and trained by the organization since they were young. All who managed to survive until adulthood became deadly experts and were immune to the most common tranquilizers, narcotics and poisons. Even painkillers were useless to them.

Her curiosity about this matter only lasted for a short time. Since they were sneaking out, they had to be extremely careful. Fortunately, Evelina's physical abilities were on a higher level compared to the average people living normal lives because she had been forced to train by her mother. As a result, she was able to keep up with her brother's subordinate as they zigged and zagged here and there to avoid detection from the estate's security.

Nevertheless, sweat still beaded on her skin and her breathing and heartrate sped up as they followed the escape route her brother devised. Compared to her, her brother's subordinate looked the same as always. He was not sweating or breathing hard at all.

Indeed, even though she was stronger than normal people, she was weaker compared to the battle-hardened machines working in their Vetrov organization. This was mainly due to the fact that she resisted training unless her mother sent someone to literally drag her and force her to train. If she wasn't her father and her mother's daughter, Evelina was certain that she would die.

Theirs was a dog eat dog world. It was survival of the fittest. Natural selection. The strong prevailed while the weak died.

Finally, Evelina and her big brother's most loyal subordinate managed to escape from the estate. They reached a dense forest where more of her brother's subordinates waited for them and led them deeper into the woods.

The light drizzle and chilly gusts of wind didn't affect the lovely smile on Evelina's face now that she was out of the estate. Her smile was as bright and beautiful as the twinkling stars in the Russian summer night sky above, perhaps even more so. Her emerald eyes shone with great anticipation and excitement. There was a skip in her footsteps as she ran with enthusiasm surrounded by her brother's armed subordinates who protected her from wild animals like bears and wolves and other dangers in the forest at night. Her golden hair flew behind her, waving like triumphant banner of freedom.

"Almost," she whispered, her voice disappearing with the wind.

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