by Jarica James
An inhuman scream ripped from Keir’s throat, followed by a strangled yell from a frantic Steven as my brother tightened his hold on the man’s tongue. He put everything he had into pulling it out, the inevitable loud pop of tearing tissue accompanied by a disturbing squelch that was almost too much for me. Never thought I’d live to see that day, but Keir always was in a league of his own, crazy bastard.
When the muscle hung loosely in his hand, he turned, his chest heaving with angry breaths as he walked out of the room, leaving an unconscious Steven behind. Ky and I gave each other an amused glance before following our deranged leader out of the room. Once Keir was in a mood like this, he was little more than a beast until he worked it out of his system: yearning for a fight, a fuck, or some bloody, messy, and likely disturbing combination of the two.
When we walked past Terrance’s desk and he was nowhere in sight, my suspicions were confirmed. Keir did little more than glance that way before stalking through the room and wrenching the door open, stopping as he glanced down at our ex-guard’s dead body. Without a word, he stepped over the corpse and hit the elevator call button, growling low and menacingly when he pointed to the side door that was wide open, clearly having been used for her escape.
“I’m going upstairs to get the keys. You two head out to the car,” Keir said, but Ky only laughed.
“Do you really want to make her run for good?”
“Why would that make her run?” I questioned, turning his way and tilting my head as I tried to figure it out, but Ky was cryptic as always.
“Think about it. She was here, halfway across the country and using an alias. We’ve known since school she was mafia, though we always pretended like that was no big deal. If she’s here, there are really only a few options. If we go too soon and put on the pressure, she’ll run, then we’d have to chase her. It’d be a big fiasco. Give her the night,” he said calmly, though from the way he snapped the rubber band on his wrist, he was on the verge of losing it too. It was something our mother had insisted on as kids; the snap supposed to curb our anger, and he was the only one who’d kept it on, though it was more of a tribute to her memory than helpful.
“Fine,” Keir bit out, “but I’m calling her.”
“No, not until tomorrow,” Ky urged, but Keir was his own man... and if he didn’t, then I would. I just need to hear her voice. When Keir turned to our brother with death in his eyes, Ky just chuckled and held his hands up in defense. “Alright.”
“I’ll shower first,” he compromised, the words ground out between clenched teeth. After a chance to calm down, he’d realize Ky wasn’t just being a dick, but he was too mad to see past his impulses right now.
Ten minutes later, I was the first out of the shower, heading for our spacious kitchen. I started gathering the ingredients to make breakfast burritos, one of the few foods I had figured out, chopping peppers, onions, and mushrooms, ham and cheese, then mixing the eggs in.
My brothers joined me, but sat silently as I finished cooking. Ky got up and poured three glasses of white wine, setting them at the breakfast bar. Once I had all three done, I quickly cleaned up before joining them. Keir was the first one to break the silence.
“I’m curious to know why she killed Terrance. Unless he didn’t give her a chance to say who she was?”
“She’s too good to kill him just in case,” I countered, but as I said it, I realized I didn't quite believe it. Not anymore.
“Yeah, maybe that was true at seventeen, but she’s been through more than we could imagine,” Ky said, shaking his head. “I have a feeling we’d eradicate her entire family off the map if we knew the finer details.”
“You're not wrong. She’s got that look about her. And that episode today?” Keir said, his fork clattering against the plate as he dropped it and pushed it away, no more than a few small bites taken. He wasn’t good at eating while stressed, the opposite of Ky, who took Keir’s plate and started in on his helping.
“That episode took her way back. The look on her face wasn’t just fear; it was beyond that,” I agreed, remembering the hollow desolation in her eyes as she stared off, unfocused and frozen. I was just glad she’d gotten the guy before she spaced out. If she hadn’t, that distraction would have gotten her killed. “Should we get someone to watch out for her?”
“I’m not opposed, but we need to get someone that has a grasp at subtlety. She’s way too independent, and if she sees them, she’ll likely kill them,” Ky said, eyes glinting at the idea. Keir stirred in his seat, and I didn’t want to think too hard about what reaction he was likely having to the idea of our girl painted in the gore of a fresh kill.
“You know, I thought after I lost her back then, that we’d never find someone who understood our world enough to stick around or survive it. I’m glad she’s back,” I admitted, shoving my plate toward Ky as well. He took a bite and chewed slowly, thinking it over.
“We don’t technically have her. She just said she was out.” His reminder had Keir tightening his hands into fists again.
“Oh, she’s not out. Sana doesn’t have a choice anymore. She’s ours, and she needs us like we need her. We’ll just have to show her what that means.”
“I couldn’t agree more, brother. We aren’t the type for subtleties, and she’s not the type for bullshit. We’ll show her what it means to be a queen,” I said with a smirk.
She’d always hated being called princess, and I didn’t have to guess why. Her family wasn’t like ours; they were cruel to their own. But with us, she’d be treated like a queen, a loyal family behind her and three devoted, deadly knights driven to give her the life she deserved. Our armor might be blood-crusted and blackened, instead of shining, but Sana had never been a true damsel anyway. With her by our side, the Adrostos kingdom could become an empire. We just have to make her understand her rightful place once and for all.
My gun was out of my holster and aimed at the woman standing across from me, but she didn’t even flinch. My heart constricted painfully at the sight of the one ally I had back home. Or maybe ex-ally? Who knows?
“You thought you could just leave?” she asked, the bite in her tone hiding the hurt I knew would be there. Dani had been my best friend growing up, well, as best of friends as we could get with Eros around. We’d had to avoid each other when he was around and keep our relationship quiet as best we could, but having an ally made all the secrecy worth it. He would take anything that mattered to you without a second thought.
She had always been the more emotional of the two of us, but seeing her here had me wanting to break down. I’d missed her the last few years even though I hadn’t allowed myself to really think about that place. Associating any fondness with memories of the Family was a dangerous path to tread. I couldn’t afford to let myself soften toward them at all, lest I be sucked back into the cesspool that was the Priamos.
“We have some catching up to do, dear cousin.”
“Apparently,” I said, not moving a muscle.
“Who hit you?” she asked, tilting her head to examine my cheek, and for a moment I was caught off guard. Oh yeah, the dick got me on the face. I softened my stance, brushing a hand over the tender spot and shrugging.
“How did you find me?” I asked, ignoring her last question.
“Eros, of course,” she laughed, still not giving a fuck that I had a gun trained on her. She knew how good my aim was, but she also knew I wouldn’t shoot her if I could help it. That hesitation was a weakness, but if I thought she’d turned, I’d do what I had to. She was my only ally in the family, and leaving her behind hadn’t been easy to do, but for once I was putting myself first. Plus, if I’d told her about the deal, she would have seen right through it, knowing damn well I wouldn’t be coming back. “I had to let him use me for a business deal to get it out of him. As long as it benefits him, fuck everyone else, right?” I knew what that meant. He’d told her to fuck a client to secure a deal, and knowing the kind of clients he kept, that wasn’t an e
asy order. Being a lesbian only made it a hundred times worse.
Thankfully, the situations I’d been in had never ended the way hers had. Yet. That didn’t include the fact that I’d told him I’d marry the man of his choice after all of this. I knew the stakes if I went back.
“Fuck, Dani,” I breathed out, setting my gun down and rushing froward. If she killed me, then she killed me, but she wasn’t a liar.
“I hate you,” she grumbled, her voice full of relief and sadness as her arms tightened around me. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I left you a note,” I said, wincing at how cold that sounded. But what else could I done that wouldn’t have given me away?
“I never got one,” she said, releasing me and searching my face for a moment before some of the tension smoothed out. She knew I wasn’t a liar either. “Those bastards.”
“You know Eros has no issues crossing lines. He probably had both of our places discreetly searched the moment I left. But to what fucking end?”
“Probably so I didn’t come sooner than he preferred. He controls all,” she said ominously, wiggling her fingers like she was casting a spell. She glanced around the room before her eyes locked onto my liquor stash, immediately taking a bottle of whiskey off the top of the fridge, unscrewing the lid, and gulping down a big swig. She swallowed it down like a champ, no wincing or grimacing, and after tonight, I couldn’t help but think she had the right idea.
“So what made now the right time?” I asked, snatching it away and hopping up on the counter, studying her. She looked the same, which wasn’t surprising since I’d only been gone for three years. Her hair still had her signature undercut, the top a bit longer and usually slicked back. Her ripped skinny jeans, black tee, leather jacket combo had been her signature outfit since high school, but the stilettos were new.
“Little Tony told me about a deal that looked like it was going south. Mentioned that if there was ever anything I wanted from Eros, the business partner’s stupid son was interested in me and I could use it to my advantage. He let slip about your bargain, so I made one of my own,” she said, taking the bottle back. She eagerly chugged more whiskey to punctuate that bomb of a statement, a ring shining on her finger. Fuck… that means…
“You agreed to marry the son if Eros told you?” I concluded, my stomach dropping. “Dammit, Dani, no.”
“Too late. But don’t worry, I can handle myself,” she said like that was that. But we both fucking knew nothing was that easy. If she didn’t go through with it, she would die by Eros’ order, but if she did become Mrs. Mafioso, she might as well be dead anyway.
“Tell me it’s not Dante?” I asked, practically holding my breath. He was about as slimy as they came, and his Family was forever trying to ally with mine. She looked away, and that, combined with her silence, meant I was right. Dante was from the Russo Family, one of the worst of the ‘old mafia’ branches. He was a notorious misogynist, and it was one of our world’s worst kept secrets that he was a serial rapist. The Russos didn’t run their city with any sense of morality, even the gray kind. Crime, drugs, all of it ran rampant in Rockland, making it one of the most dangerous and downtrodden cities in the entire country. Of course, when the local government was part of the Family, it wasn’t that surprising.
“I’m fine. You had your reasons, and I had mine,” she said. “I won’t be going through with it.”
“He’ll kill you, Dani!” I said bluntly, the urge to do something, anything, making my whole body feel twitchy. Taking a moment to look away from my doomed cousin/best friend, I pulled out a plethora of takeout menus, weeding out the ones that were closing soon. It wasn’t like I was hungry since her news had made me feel very far from that, but I needed something to do. Distracting myself with the menus seemed like as good a choice as any. Thank god I’d chosen a city that had twenty-four hour delivery places. “Wait… how did you know I lived here?” The thought just struck me, panic gripping me at the realization. Now there were two people who had found me with barely any effort. Clearly, I wasn’t hiding as good as I thought.
“I used my best weapon to get it out of people. Especially since Eros didn’t know your location, something he was quite proud of by the way. I just asked around with your picture and narrowed it down. Had you been at work today it wouldn’t have gone down like this.”
“Wait, so you just threatened people with your Glock until they told you which apartment I lived in?” I asked, eyes wide. Dani could take care of herself, but still, this wasn’t a good part of town to play around in like that.
“No, bitch. My best weapon. I used my tits,” she deadpanned, using her hands to push up and emphasize her admittedly ample cleavage. I snorted at the show, knowing I really should have seen that one coming. “It was quite the trail to pin down. You’re not an easy woman to find. Thankfully, I got lucky and just happened to smooth talk one of your store’s regulars who sent me this way.”
“Of course you did. Let me guess, you got the rest from the guys who think they’re holding up the building downstairs?”
“Yup,” she said, popping the p as she grabbed the diner’s takeout menu and opened it up. “I’ll take a cheeseburger and fries.”
“How are you so skinny?” I whined, snatching the whiskey away as I hopped down from the counter and went into the small living room.
“How are you living like this?” she shot back, following me in and scrutinizing the apartment, her nose scrunched up in disgust. “I won’t be able to sleep on this couch for long. Can we move?”
“We?” I shot back before pulling my phone from my bra and realizing I’d forgotten about the Adrostos in the shock of Dani’s arrival. The sigh that escaped was long and colored with frustration, something she noticed right away.
“I know that sigh wasn’t for me. Gossip? Spill! We have catching up to do anyway, and there’s no time like the present,” she sang out, glancing around before draping herself over my armchair, feet hanging off of one side. It was crazy how easily she got comfortable; she was the most adaptable person I knew. I followed her lead and took a spot on the couch, unable to get as cozy as her even though it was my own damn apartment.
“So... you remember the Adrostos triplets?” I started slowly, her eyes narrowing on me as she thought about it.
“Those intense men who followed you around like lost puppies at Thornhill?” she asked, tilting her head to the side, icy blue gaze locked on me. “Of course I do. We were friends back then, remember?” The barb didn’t hold much heat, but I still hated it even though she had every right to be angry.
“Yes. Well, they found me,” I admitted, my head dropping back. She practically flew off of the chair, leaning into my personal space and eyeing me like she could see the truth imprinted on my body.
“And you fucked them?” she guessed, eyes eager to hear more.
“For someone who likes pussy, you love to hear about my dick conquests,” I teased, her bark of laughter settling over me like a warm blanket. Fuck, I hadn’t fully realized how lonely I was until all of these people from my past showed up.
“Don’t even act like you’re afraid to spit out the details. We all know you’re not into vanilla, Sana,” she challenged, a smirk on her lips as she waited for me to continue.
“Well, it was by chance that we even found each other. He slammed into me… spilling my hot chocolate.” She winced dramatically, knowing just how important my morning beverage choice was to me.
“Ouch. Bad move, buddy.”
“Once Killian realized it was me, he went full asshole dom and dragged me away, eventually throwing me over his shoulder and taking me to the nightclub they own.”
“Oh, nightclub, we’ll be coming back to that one… continue,” she urged, settling into the cushions with an expectant wave of her hand.
“We get there, and he starts to undress me. At first, I’m like hell no, but it escalated into him fucking me over a table while his brothers were on speaker phone. They didn’t find
out who I was until later.”
“Oh, kinky. Leave it to Killian to break the ice with his dick,” she joked. “At least as far as men go, you have good taste. They still just as intense? We had some good times back in school.” Her eyes were wistful, likely thinking up one of the many times we’d gotten in trouble together. Usually thanks to her or Killian’s inspiration. Like the time they’d locked all the teachers in the lounge… for an entire school day. The lounge notoriously didn’t have cell service, and they’d disconnected the internet beforehand. They were never ones for half-assed plans.
“Yup. But before we continue, hold that thought,” I said, unlocking my phone and calling the diner to put in our order. Like the masochist I was, I also checked my messages, shocked there weren’t any from the guys. Either they were still torturing that man, or they were letting me go. Yeah right, Sana, like that would happen. Then what’s keeping them... and why do I care?
“Earth to Sana,” Dani called out, waving a hand in front of my face. “What the fuck is going on? You’re not the spacey type.”
“Someone I killed for Eros, his son or brother, I’m not sure which, came for me this morning. It sent me into this stupid flashback that I’m still kicking myself for, but the Adrostos found me and took me back to their place. When I woke up, they were shouting and leaving, so I followed them to this room they have, and they were torturing someone. I freaked and left, texting them that I can’t be with them again. Getting into a relationship with them just undermines every reason I left the Family in the first place.”
“Let me get this straight. They were being themselves, you freaked out and left, and now you’re pouting because they didn’t follow?” she summarized bluntly, making me feel like an idiot.
“Fuck… I’m being that girl, aren’t I?”