Ketterdam over a century later...

All I wanted was a quiet night, where I could finish updating the trade expenses and have the children tucked in before nine.

However, it seems as neither of those will be happening tonight due to unforeseen circumstances.

"What the fuck?!" The stocky man exclaimed in shock as I burst open the door.

"Mummy's home." I sneered, ripping my knife from the man's collarbone to his navel.

"Mida, darling, get your brother from the cellar and go home." The young girl nodded, before making her way down the stairs.

"Who the fuck are you?!" An almost skeletal man asked, horrified at the state I'd left his associate in.

"The woman whose attention apparently you stupid fucks have been trying to grab, why else did you send me a ransom note after nabbing my eldest from the street." I chuckled darkly, rushing the man and pinning him to the wall by impaling his shoulder with my dagger.

"It was a job! We didn't know who the kid was, just that we had to bring him to the docks at midnight!"

"Mum!" My attention was briefly changed to the cellar door as the aforementioned brunet boy entered the room with Mida.

"Demitri, you alright, love?" I asked, ignoring the impaled man's shrieks of pain.

"Just a couple bruises, Mum. Nothing to worry about." He shrugged, despite my having seen the bruises and cuts that littered my eldest's skin.

"Take Mida and go home, make sure Yelena and Piotr are asleep." I calmly told the thirteen year old. "We'll talk later."

"Yes, Mum." Demitri responded, ushering the smaller brunette out of the house with a nod.

"Now, you're going to tell me exactly who hired you or I'm going to start disemboweling you like I did your friend over there. Sound like a deal?" I hissed, an unpleasant smirk formed on my lips.

🥀

"Finding the notorious Bastard of the Barrel lurking in my home was not the welcome I was expecting, Mister Brekker." I chuckled, the sight of the devil himself lounging at my dining table bringing an amused smile to my face.

"Well, finding Odette Romanova covered in blood and little Demitri covered with scrapes, wasn't the sight I was expecting either, Little Swan."

A simple roll of my eyes seemed to get the notion of my annoyance at the mention of the old nickname across, because Kaz quickly changed the subject.

"I have a job for you, Odette."

"Absolutely fucking not." I interrupted quickly, knowing full well that I wanted no part in whatever was Kaz's recent suicide mission.

"It's one million kruge." He tried to convince me, his ever so stoic expression seeming to get even more serious.

"I don't care, Kaz! I have four kids to look after and I can't keep them safe if I'm dead!" This was out of the cards for me and Kaz knew that, the Bastard just didn't care.

"They'll be safe and so will you, Little Swan. I will make sure of it." Kaz tried to reassure, despite knowing how impossible that promise was.

"Are Jesper and Inej going?" I asked with a sigh. "You know the heinous bitch will never let Inej go anywhere without her being paid in full."

"I have that sorted out already and yes, they're both going. Do you want in or not, Romanova?"

I ignored his impatient glare and stayed silent for a moment. "You know I'm not one of your Crows that you can order around, Kaz? I won't be doing anything with a half-assed explanation and no plan."

"I wouldn't expect anything else from you, Mother of Shadows."

"Just fucking tell me the plan, Dirty Hands."