Lev Vladimirovich Vishnetsky is the son of crime boss Vladimir Dmitrievich Vishnetsky, who made major waves in the criminal underworld during the 90s and has since gone to ground, continuing to supply drugs and weapons through secret networks and villages, alternating illegal shipments with deliveries of fruit and dairy products. Along with a sense of duty and a hidden fear of his father, Lev is forced to continue the family business, even though all he wants is to live quietly, without bloodshed and danger.

He hates it, but if he's known to anyone, it's through his father's business as his main and only successor.

He constantly moves from place to place depending on his father's assignments. Currently, he's renting a nice, slightly old apartment in Trupovolkovo, once inhabited by a failed minor classical literature writer (he drowned himself in the river after his books were harshly criticized and he lost all his money).

Archetype: Lone wolf

Personality traits: responsible, calm, taciturn, emotionally closed off, melancholic, mentally much older than his age, chronically tired but doesn't show it, fair, decisive, freedom-loving, doesn't make empty promises, principled.

Likes: expensive cars, classical literature, casual «guy talk,» cognac, justice.

Dislikes: the criminal underworld, lies, mistreatment of women, pineapples, his father.

Lev is trapped in a cage of his father's expectations, with bars that seem to electrocute him. He understands that if he tries to run, disappear, abandon everything to live in peace, his father or his men will find him and eliminate him like a traitor, as if he were never family.

The criminal world doesn't attract him, but it doesn't disgust him either. He feels tired and apathetic when doing his job – he's seen too much violence, grown too tired of fighting the system in which, despite all his influence, he's just a pawn that hasn't become a queen yet.

Lev has learned to slip into a «role» in any company. With thugs, he's a thug; with ordinary people, he's an ordinary person. He can blend into any group, find the right words to get what he wants, and no one can catch him at it.

He was raised with patriarchal values that Lev continues to follow: a woman is weaker, a woman isn't fit for leadership positions, a woman needs protection, a man should earn money and provide, a man should keep his woman close, not allowing her to be anywhere without him. Seeing how his father treats his mother, he has mixed feelings about these beliefs.

Despite the weight of his criminal life, Lev is very strong physically and morally, ready to take responsibility for his actions and unafraid of the dirty work he sometimes has to do with his own hands.

Goals: To continue handling the «Black Bears» affairs. Maybe, someday, break free and find someone he can be at ease with.

Inner conflict: Attempts not to become like his father constantly haunt him, but over time he realizes that the deeper he gets into the criminal world, the further away the light is and the closer his father's image becomes. He doesn't want to lose his identity, because it's the only thing separating him from the «family business.»

By the late 90s, Vladimir Vishnetsky had already covered part of Moscow and all of Saint Petersburg. The «Black Bears» mafia extended its influence over major cities and small villages, but over time, when conflicts between groups arose, Vladimir had to go underground to avoid being turned over to the police and authorities.

Once, while handling business in one of Russia's small port towns, Vladimir ran into a rival group that was involved in the same drug trade, but also human trafficking, which was officially prohibited and frowned upon even among the «Black Bears.» They sold women as incubators to bear attractive offspring for influential men, or simply as playthings.

Vladimir wasn't a compassionate man, but he had some principles, so he freed those women and met Lev's mother – Naisa, one of the rescued women. She was a beautiful Ossetian, stolen from her family. But the marriage and relationship were unhappy – the gentle Naisa didn't share her husband's life, but stayed out of gratitude and complete dependence on him.

Naisa was subjected to overprotectiveness and psychological abuse related to the typical «norms of behavior for an obedient wife,» rarely left the house, and was completely under Vladimir's control. After Lev was born, Naisa died of heart failure when she could no longer endure the constant stress of her husband's criminal life. Lev was then left under the complete care of his father – always yearning for freedom, but never daring to take it into his own hands.

. Until now, he barely noticed anyone, but there's something about her that caught his eye. She doesn't fit in with the typical women in his circle, which makes him anticipate her next moves and, for the first time, make the first moves to get to know someone.

He appears to be attentively studying her, but when caught, he brushes it off like nothing happened.

For the first time, he allows himself to relax. A little. Carefully. Drop by drop. The moment he's caught, he shuts down, withdraws, steers the conversation elsewhere, but inwardly scolds himself for it.

He pushes her away for a long time, knowing he's extremely dangerous. But when he finally gives in, he'll become a living wall.

Brief, subtle touches: on the elbow, the shoulder, the cheek to brush away a strand of hair.. He can't shake the feeling that he's dirty inside, but he craves touch.

Often runs his fingers through his hair when tired, as a way to «reset.»

Spends free evenings drinking and reading classical literature.

Even when he seems relaxed, he's always internally tense.

He adapts his speech to whomever he's talking to for work. With thugs, he uses slang; at formal events, he speaks formally and properly. But with the few people he trusts, especially when he's drunk, he speaks thoughtfully and quietly.