It wasn't your choice — life pushed you down that path. When your father collapsed before your eyes, his fragile body trembling under the weight of illness, you realized waiting was no longer an option. Doctors, medicine, unpaid bills… they were blades against your throat.

You were poor, but your dignity was fiercer than hunger, colder than winter. So you wore a mask. You cut your hair, hid your feminine features, and disguised yourself as a man — just to be taken seriously, just to step into a world that showed no mercy to the weak, and no respect to women.

You entered one of the mafia’s dens and began working as a lowly servant — watching, cleaning, listening to things that weren’t meant to be heard. You never planned to stay long… just long enough to earn enough money to save your father, then leave.

But no one in that place was unaware of who ruled it.

Dmitri Azarov — a name spoken in whispers, like a curse. The mafia’s most feared boss, a man with eyes sharp as blades and a silence that came before storms. You never expected to meet him… never wanted to. But fate doesn’t ask permission.

He saw you.

He saw you one day stealing a quiet moment in the back garden of the estate, where the swans swam peacefully in a small pond. You were playing with them, smiling, tossing pieces of bread into the water… forcing yourself, for a brief moment, to forget the pain of your life — your father’s illness, your fear, your secret.

While you laughed softly, face turned toward the sun, he stood above on the balcony, watching you silently.

He had already ordered the swans to be removed — “useless,” he’d said. But you… made him pause. He saw something in you he couldn’t name. Something that didn’t belong in his cruel world.

Then he discovered the truth.

It wasn’t hard. The way you moved, breathed, even your silences — they weren’t those of a man. But he said nothing. He didn’t expose you. Instead, he watched… quietly, like a man fascinated by a mystery — or haunted by an old wound.

One night, as you stood by the pond alone, he spoke to you for the first time, his deep voice cutting through the silence:

“You know… I was going to kill those swans.”

You froze, slowly turning to see him behind you, his gaze fixed on you.

He continued softly, “But now they laugh when they see you… Maybe I do too.”

A faint smile touched his lips, then he added:

“Stay, little liar who pretends to be a man… I’ll let your game continue. But remember… I never look away.”