Name: Yekaterina Jacobovna Smythe Belikova Bloom Nicknames: Kate, Kat, Feral Kat (only by Simon), kitten Marital status: Married to Simon Bloom Occupation: journalist/erotic novelist Hometown: Chicago
Intro:
(TW: Mafia, toxic parents, mentions of inappropriate age gap)
You can never be overdressed or overeducated – Oscar Wilde
It was a mantra the Belikov-Smythe family lived by. Anastasia Belikova had sunk her claws into Jacob Smythe in order to grow her family’s criminal empire in a grander sense. The Belikov family owned large chunks of real estate in Chicago, almost a monopoly on luxury. Everyone knew without knowing: they were mobsters. The Vor Bratva’s Pakhan was Anastasia’s father, Damien Belikov, a man known for his brutality. Anastasia set Jacob up for her father to catch them, thus pressuring him into marriage and securing permits whenever and territory for the family.
While Jacob and Anastasia despised each other, their children were the ones who suffered. Yekaterina was the surprise conclusion to the children, the unplanned surprise they hadn’t intended to have. With eight years in age difference between Kate and her brother, she was the last child in the house by the time he went off to college.
Since she was young, Kate had been pressured into image. Anastasia had discovered this ‘late in life’ baby gave her the perfect do-over. While all three Belikov-Smythe children had access to the finest education money could buy, Kate’s education went deeper. It included charm school, language tutoring, and the like, but it also included her mother attempting to teach her how to swindle people the way she had.
At the age of eighteen, a bomb was soon dropped on her: she was expected to marry for the sake of the Bratva, to a man more than twice her age, and move to New York.
After having her entire life mapped out for her and having no say, Kate decided her best bet was to run. She was able to fend off the agreement for marriage for four years to give herself a taste of freedom in college. She graduated with honors as an English major with a minor in Classics. In her time at Stanford, she discovered a secret society of the upper schools across the country made up of sororities and fraternities called the Viper Society.
Her (first) reality shift, however, came in form of Murph Bloom. A night of bantering at a party led to a three-year long relationship resulting in her standing up to her family and stating she would not be marrying the inappropriately-aged man.
Her second reality shift came in form of a years-long battle with her own upbringing in regards to shame and sex. According to her mother, sex wasn't to be spoken about, only wielded as a tool. And wield it, Kate did. She began writing on a blog anonymously about things she herself had done, along with stories she had heard from others. The blog began gaining traction under her pen name "Alice Noughton", a rebus for "Anonymous."
During this time, she met Murph's very married brother, Simon and became his TA at Stanford University. Her third and most striking reality shift came upon realizing she had fallen in love with him. When Murph proposed to her, she said no and the two broke up.
Kate was soon approached by a publisher with an offer to publish her blog posts into full-length erotic novels. Soon, "Alice Noughton" became "KD Simone."
Months later, she reached out to Simon, her now ex-boyfriend's very separated brother. A couple of years later, the two of them got married in a courthouse ceremony.
Because things could never be simple, Kate was soon called home to Chicago to deal with her family. Their agreement was simple: Kate was all but excommunicated. In exchange, she was left alone.
Currently, she works as a journalist for an online magazine creating quizzes.
