by Penelope Sky
She lay in bed naked, her stomach against the mattress while her toes were pointed toward the ceiling. Her rounded ass curved down to the small of her back, luscious curves that were impossible to resist. Her hair was a waterfall of ink, and her makeup had been destroyed by all the sweat. “How long will you be gone?”
I pulled on my black t-shirt and grabbed my jeans. “Not sure.”
“What exactly are you doing?”
“I just need to speak to my brother.” I slipped on my watch then grabbed my leather jacket.
She got out of bed and walked toward me, her perfect tits practically hypnotizing. “What are you going to talk to him about?”
“Burying the hatchet.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “What brought this on?”
I couldn’t tell her the truth. “We haven’t spoken in five years, and he’s all the family I have left…we need to move on.”
“That’s not true. I’m your family too.”
My heart fluttered at the words, and for a moment, this relationship felt real. There was always this central divide between us, but when she talked like that, it was easy to forget it was there at all.
“Not to mention Damien.”
“Yes…but he’s my blood.”
She took a deep breath, the worry spreading into her features. “Should I be worried?”
Anything could happen. I was catching him off guard, and that could piss him off. “If he wanted me dead, he would have hunted me down a long time ago.”
“But you’re walking into the lion’s den now. That’s different.”
I knew he wouldn’t be happy to see me…but how unhappy remained to be seen. “I’ve handled worse. I’ll be fine.”
“What if I came with you?” she whispered.
I stared at her blankly. “Is that a joke?”
“I’m his sister-in-law. Maybe he’d like to meet me.”
Just to piss me off, he’d probably take her and sell her off to someone. “No.”
“I won’t discourage you from reconnecting with your family, but I’m not sure what you hope to achieve. A terrible tragedy is separating you both, and it’s complicated because you’re the reason that tragedy happened in the first place. The odds are slim…and I think your time would be better spent doing something else.”
I couldn’t agree more. Unless her heart was on the line, I wouldn’t bother with this. But I had to earn his forgiveness so I would be vindicated, so this punishment would cease. Failure wasn’t an option…even if success seemed impossible. “I have to do this…”
Her eyes dropped toward my chest, her disappointment written across her forehead as her eyebrows furrowed. “Please be careful.”
“You know I always am.”
She moved into me and cupped my face. With the softness of a cloud, she pressed her lips to mine, tasting like a springtime morning. She kissed me gently, embraced me like a woman cherishing the love of her life. It was easy to believe she loved me because she was such a good actress. “Come back to me.” Her lips moved against mine as she whispered, her eyes lifting to meet mine.
My hand slid into her hair, and I breathed into her mouth. “I promise.”
The trick to success was hiding in plain sight.
My brother used this same principle. He owned a bar that was open to the general public. Tourists and naïve people visited it on a nightly basis, ordering rounds of booze and lining his pockets with cash. But the men with sinister motives discreetly headed to the back and entered the door next to the bathrooms.
I ordered a drink at the bar to seem inconspicuous then headed down the narrow hallway and approached the door. This was the path to the underworld, a deep cave that crossed into the realm of evil. I broke the law and killed people for the riches. But never did I consider the abuse of humankind.
That was a different kind of evil.
I took the long hallway until I reached the stairs. Down I went, entering one of the biggest underground human trafficking sites. It looked just like a bar, men sitting at the tables drinking booze while the large fire burned in the hearth. It was quiet, no music playing like it was upstairs.
The occasional moan was audible.
I reached the bottom of the stairs and surveyed the faces around me, not recognizing anyone. I walked into that bar alone and unarmed. If I seemed remotely threatening, my brother would be too provoked to have a reasonable conversation.
I ordered a drink and sat alone.
The sound of a man grunting reached my ears, accompanied by the gentle cry of the woman he’d paid for. Some would call this a brothel, but that wouldn’t be fitting. These weren’t free women who chose to be prostitutes for a living. They were women who had been kidnapped and forced into sexual servitude. They would be used until they were damaged. Then they would be killed.
I was ashamed to call this man my brother.
Faced with the disturbing reality, I didn’t feel guilty for murdering my own father. His crimes were far worse than mine.
I drank from the glass and waited for my brother to appear. He may not be there at all, and I’d have to return on a different night. Or maybe he was in one of those rooms… The thought was disgusting.
One of the men walked up to me, suspicious by my isolation. I hadn’t offered to buy a woman, so I could just drink upstairs. It made me look like one of the police. If you didn’t commit the crime like everyone else, you looked guilty of something else.
“I’ve got a couple of girls available. Want to take a look?”
My wedding ring was still on my hand, but that didn’t mean anything. Married men visited this place all the time. “I’m here to see Ash.”
His body tightened as he felt threatened. “What’s your business with him?”
“I’m his brother—that’s my business. Now, go get him.”
The man obeyed and disappeared into the hallway.
Now that I’d witnessed all of these horrors with my own eyes, I didn’t want my brother’s forgiveness. I did the world a service, and if I wanted to make the world an even better place, I would kill him too. My stomach filled with acid, and my chest tightened in disgust. If Sofia weren’t the most important thing to me, I wouldn’t bother with this bullshit. I was about to make amends with the most despicable guy on the planet.
Ash emerged from the hallway. He stopped once he was in my line of sight, staring at me with eyes that resembled magnifying glasses. The longer he absorbed my appearance, the harder he breathed. His hands formed fists until his knuckles turned white, and all the hatred he felt five years ago visibly returned in full force.
Shit.
He walked over to me, his powerful arms hanging by his sides as his sculpted shoulders remained rigid. His lips were pressed together tightly, and his eyes were clouded with a shade of violence. He shared similar features that we’d inherited from our parents, dark brown hair, deep brown eyes, and a rugged jawline that belonged in film. We both possessed the kind of dick the ladies wanted.
He reached into the back of his jeans and pulled out his pistol. He cocked the gun and aimed it right at my forehead.
I didn’t flinch. “A bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
He kept the gun steady in my face. “If you didn’t want a soap opera, you shouldn’t have come here.”
I raised my hands slightly in the air, showing him I didn’t have a gun. “Alright…a little drama is entertaining. But let’s cut to a commercial break and calm the fuck down.” I lowered my hands again. “I’m alone and unarmed. Just want to talk.”
He didn’t lower his gun. “I guess we could talk about your funeral arrangements.”
I drank from my glass until it was empty. “If you were going to kill me, you would have hunted me down a long time ago. Cut the shit and take a seat.”
“You don’t know me, asshole.”
“I’m your brother—I don’t have to know you.” I kicked the chair across from me so it slid away from the table.
; “That didn’t stop you from killing our father.” He shoved his gun back into his jeans and fell into the chair. He was a few years older than me, approaching his midthirties with spectacular physicality. He kept in shape, kept his body tight.
A smartass comment came to mind, but I kept it back. My objective was to receive forgiveness. If I spoke my mind, I would only infuriate him even more. “It’s haunted me for a long time. My soul split in two that day… It’s never been the same.” It wasn’t a false speech to gain his pity. It’d been a weight on my shoulders every single day. I struggled to combat the guilt and the relief of my actions.
Ash was still livid. “I remember when you shot him. I remember the look on your face. There was no guilt there, no goddamn hesitation.”
“Then you must not have seen my face afterward.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and slouched slightly in the chair. His men stared at our interaction from their place at the bar, ready to come to his side if he snapped his fingers. “What the fuck do you want, Hades?”
“We’re brothers. Not strangers.”
“Enemies aren’t strangers.” His eyes were frozen like two pieces of ice.
“You’re no enemy of mine.”
“Really? You’ve had a change of heart about my operation?”
I refused to lie to get what I wanted. “No. But I already live with Father’s blood on my hands. I can’t live with yours too. It doesn’t fix the problem, only causes more problems.”
“So you still think I’m a piece of shit.”
“Yes.”
He smiled, as if the insult were some kind of joke. “At least you’re honest.”
“Then you know I really do feel like shit for what I did.”
“And that’s supposed to make it better?” he asked incredulously. “You betrayed your family—”
“And you’re betraying humankind. Those women are daughters, mothers, sisters, wives…what the fuck is wrong with you?”
“And selling crystal is better?” he snapped. “People get hooked on that shit and ruin their lives. Most of the women here got here in the first place because they’re on drugs—probably your drugs.”
“Not the same thing and you know it.”
“I don’t know about that…”
“You’re kidnapping women and raping them. My customers have a choice. That’s the biggest difference between the two of us.”
“Whatever. You aren’t a saint.”
“Did I say that I was?”
He tapped his fingers against his arm, growing impatient. “What do you want?”
“I already told you.”
“To fix this relationship? Well, that’s not going to happen. I don’t care how many times you apologize, I’ll always fucking hate you. What kind of sick bastard kills his own goddamn father?”
“A man trying to do the right thing.”
He shook his head. “The world doesn’t run on right and wrong. You know it.”
“But it doesn’t have to run on the blood of innocents either.”
He shook his head again. “You came all the way down here just to waste my time?”
“No.”
“Well, it feels like you’re wasting my time.”
The odds seemed even more unlikely now. My brother’s exterior had hardened over the years. There was no light to his darkness. He was a man stuck in his ways. “Ash…let’s bury the hatchet.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re the only family we’ve got left.”
He glanced at my left hand. “That can’t be true. Who’s the lucky lady?”
“Her name is Sofia.”
“Can I see a picture?” He waggled his eyebrows.
I played by his rules the second I stepped into his domain, but once my wife was mentioned, that respect went out the window. “I don’t need a gun to kill you, Ash.” My threat was as sharp as a knife.
His mouth slowly melted into a smile. “You think I’m gonna bring her down here and—”
“Don’t fucking say it.” I’d rather die than even think about something like that happening to her.
His smile remained. “My brother is in love…”
“I married her, didn’t I?”
“Most marriages are shams. But maybe this one is real.”
“It is real.” At least, it was to me.
His smile slowly disappeared. “Congratulations.”
I didn’t accept the sentiment because I knew he didn’t mean it.
“Had a wedding?”
I nodded.
“And you didn’t invite me?”
I didn’t need him until now. “I’m here now.”
He relaxed his arms and let them rest on the table. “It’s been five years since the last time I saw you. And you know what? I haven’t thought of you once until now.” He rose out of his chair. “So how about we go back to that arrangement? Pretending the other doesn’t exist.”
“If you really hated me, you would have killed me by now.”
“That’s because I don’t hate you—I’m just indifferent to you.”
I returned to the hotel and stepped out of the elevator onto the top floor. The double doors to the presidential suite were in front of me, and I dragged my feet as I crossed the hallway and slipped my card into the device.
The door unlocked, and I stepped inside.
Sofia was on the couch wearing my t-shirt, eating popcorn right out of the bag. “Good, you’re home.” She set the food on the table and got to her feet, greeting me the way most wives greeted their husbands. “You weren’t gone long.”
“Because it wasn’t a long conversation.” I headed to the bar and made myself a drink.
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“It wasn’t.” I turned around and took a sip, the alcohol having no effect on my mood. I didn’t expect much when I faced Ash, but even that fell below my expectations. “He wants nothing to do with me.”
“Maybe you need to give him some space…”
I couldn’t give him that much space. I needed to get this shit done. I couldn’t tell him outright why I needed his forgiveness because he would hold it over my head to further my punishment. “I have to make this happen…somehow.”
“Can I help?”
God, I didn’t want her anywhere near there. “No.”
She took the drink out of my hand then ran her palms up my arms, trying to comfort me with her seductive affection. “You did your best. Let it go.”
“No.” I could never let it go. “It’s hard to look my brother in the eye and not hate him. I stood in the bar and listened to the women service the men down the hall…women forced against their will. It only reminded me why I killed my father in the first place. Now my brother is continuing his legacy. It’s disgusting.”
“Then why are you trying to make amends with him?”
“Because…we’re family.”
“Sometimes water is thicker than blood.” She looked at me through her lush eyelashes, a priceless jewel that sparkled in the darkest of places. “Damien is your brother. You don’t need this one.”
I needed him more than anyone else in the world.
“Even if he was receptive and you started to get along, would you want to be close to someone like that? You killed your father for a reason. Now you’re just turning the other cheek.”
“If I offer him something better than what he has now, maybe he’ll walk away.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“A cut of my business.”
She raised an eyebrow. “The business you gave up?”
I nodded.
“I don’t see how that could work. You made a deal with Maddox…”
“I know. It’s just an idea.”
She dropped her hands. “If you make a deal, you should honor it.”
“I know. But the real world doesn’t operate on right and wrong. It operates on survival. The biggest monster prevails…that’s how things really work. If I let M
addox push me out, it could affect every aspect of my life.”
She watched me with trepidation. “He could have killed Damien, but he didn’t…”
“I know.”
“You should really think about this, Hades. Because there’s no going back.”
Sofia was asleep beside me, her glorious body naked under the sheets. I kissed the top of her shoulder before I slid out of bed and pulled my boxers to my waist. I crept into the other room, closing the door behind me so I could have privacy.
I made the call.
Damien answered right away. “You’re alive. That conversation must have gone well.”
“The opposite.”
“At least he didn’t kill you.”
“I guess…”
“What happened, exactly?”
“He’s not receptive. That’s the short version.”
“Sorry, man. I know how much you wanted this.”
“I’m not gonna give up. I’ll try again tomorrow.”
There was a pause over the line. “Hades, if you keep pestering him, he might change his mind about killing you.”
“I have to make this happen.”
“But maybe it’s not possible.”
“Don’t say that to me,” I said coldly.
“And even if it is, it’s going to take more than a few days. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
I didn’t want to wait longer than a few days.
“I’m not trying to kick you when you’re down, alright? I’ve got to be the voice of reason for you. You’ll always get honesty from me.”
“I know.”
“You can keep trying, but realistically, this is going to take a while. You killed your father…he’s not gonna get over that overnight.”
I knew he was right.
“What if you brought Sofia with you?”