Our house—although people would say it was more of a mansion—was built on several hundred acres of land. The whole property was gated off and guarded by my father’s men twenty-four hours a day. It was every bit as ostentatious as one might expect of the leader of the Bratva; a three-story house, built in the Victorian Era, and every bit deserving of the name. With towers, turrets, wraparound porches, decorative railings, and a stone exterior, our home was everything my mother ever wanted it to be.
