by K. J. Dahlen
Yuri and Nikoli left a few minutes later.
Stevie went and pulled out the casserole she’d made for breakfast earlier.
As they sat down to eat, Roman watched the two of them carefully. “Benny…” He cleared his throat briefly before he addressed the young boy, “I told your sister last night that I would protect you and her from now on. I need to know if you’re okay with that?”
Benny laid his fork down on his plate and glared at the older man. “Why would you promise her that?”
“Because you guys need someone to look out for you that’s why.” Roman stared back at him.
“We can look after ourselves just fine.” Benny growled.
“Benny…” Stevie began, then she stopped when Roman lifted his hand.
Turning to Benny he said, “I know you can take care of yourselves. You’ve proven that. What I’m saying is you don’t have to do it alone anymore. You and Stevie can stay right here with me. I want you both to know you will be safe here. No one will ever hurt you guys again.”
Benny shook his head. “I want to believe that but I know it isn’t true. You can’t say that and really mean it.”
“I can and I do,” Roman assured him.
Benny glared at him then got up and stomped out of the room.
They both heard the door to his room slam shut.
Stevie hung her head and Roman didn’t know what to say.
Finally, she looked up and glanced down the hall. “It’s not that he doesn’t believe you.”
“Then what is it?” Roman asked.
“All his life, people have promised him one thing and done something else. He was so young when he came to Mrs. Harris’s house. Around other people, she was very nice and seemed kind but as soon as they left, she turned mean and nasty. She never had a kind word to say and very often, she used pain and intimidation to control the kids in her charge. She would pick on Benny all the time, she would encourage the other kids to pick on him too. She made life in that house a living hell for anyone she didn’t like, and believe me when I say, she didn’t like me or Benny. We were only there for the check she got every month and she made sure we knew it too.”
Roman turned her head to face him before he spoke, “Do you trust me enough to take care of you and Benny?”
Stevie smiled. “I do.” Getting to her feet she said, “I think I should go talk to him. I don’t want him to feel left out. He needs to know he belongs here with me.”
Roman stood and held her back. “Then maybe I should go talk to him, sort of man to man.”
Stevie looked at him for a moment then sat back down. “Just please don’t make him promises you can’t keep. He’s had enough of those in his life.”
Roman leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. When his tongue invaded her mouth, she moaned and then he was gone. She saw him walking down the hall and a moment later, the door closed behind him.
Benny didn’t look up when the door opened and Roman walked into the bedroom he was using. He didn’t look up when Roman sat down on the floor next to him either. Benny was sitting in the corner of the room with his arms wrapped around his knee just staring at nothing.
“I have something I need to talk to you about, man to man,” Roman told him.
When he didn’t say anything, Roman cleared his throat and said, “I know it’s been you and Stevie for a long time now and that you’re stronger together than apart, it’s the same with me and my brothers. We aren’t related by blood but they are still my brothers. I can see the love she has for you in her eyes and in her protective stand with you. I can also see by your actions that you feel the same for her. You guys have had a hard time of it and I just want to tell you that you aren’t alone anymore.”
“How can you say that? We only met you yesterday.” Benny growled. “What did my sister promise you?”
Roman shook his head. “She didn’t promise me anything.”
Benny turned his head to glare at him. “What did she give you?”
Roman was silent for a moment then answered him honestly, “She gave me herself.”
Benny huffed angrily. “So she gave you her body in a bargain for our safety? And you took it? Did you force her? Is that what happened? She traded her body for a place to sleep, doesn’t that make her a whore?”
“Your sister is no whore.” Roman gritted his teeth. “And she didn’t make a bargain with her body for your safety.”
“Stevie doesn’t like to be touched by anyone. In fact I’m the only one she can tolerate to touch her.” Benny snarled. “She wouldn’t have let you near her unless you promised her something. I’m not stupid you know. I know how the game is played.”
“I never said you were.” Roman sighed. “But I didn’t use force to get her into my bed. And we didn’t make a bargain beforehand either. She came to me on her own and didn’t ask me for anything. There was no bargain in place either before or after we slept together. I’m not going to lie to you and while I know you’re just a kid, I think you know more than most kids your age. I wasn’t looking for anyone or anything from anyone else in my life, I have four men that became my brothers, and I thought I had everything I wanted. They were my family and then I met you and your sister. Suddenly, I had someone who needed me, maybe not in the same way my brothers needed me, but you still needed me. For the first time in my life, I wanted to keep you guys. The two of you just seemed to fit in here. I know it’s too soon to feel this but I did. I felt comfortable bringing you here and I like having you here in my home. And believe me when I say that’s a big deal in my world. I’ve only ever brought my brothers here before. Just my brothers, not even their wives have been inside my home before today. But when Mikial asked me where to bring you guys, I told him to bring you here.”
Benny just stared at him for a moment.
When the boy didn’t say anything, Roman shifted around to sit next to Benny with his back to the wall and he rested his arm across his raised knees. “You and Stevie aren’t the only ones that didn’t have a good childhood. My brothers and I grew up in the streets of Moscow. It was a battle just surviving day to day and for a kid it was worse. It was bitterly cold and food was short and you had to fight just to find a place to sleep. Grown men and women would find our places and kick us out just for a someplace warm to sleep. I was almost your age when I found the others. Yuri, Mikial, Barshan and Sazon. At first, I wanted nothing to do with them and they didn’t want me around either. We all had our own secrets. We all thought we were so tough and I remember we all found a spot in an old warehouse along the river to sleep in. One night some other kids broke in and they were ransacking our stuff. Now none of us had much to call our own but what we had well, it was ours. By the time we returned, those other kids had made off with most of it. The five of us went out to get it back. When we found them, we squared off against them. It was the five of us against about a dozen other street thugs but we walked away from that fight with every single item that we owned. We got our stuff back and we made a name for ourselves at the same time. That was just about the time we met up with Nikoli. He took us under his wing and together, we made a pretty good team.”
“Why are you telling me all this? Its ancient history and I don’t need to know it.” Benny sneered.
“I’m telling you this because I think you do need to know it. I have never been open with other people, not even my brothers. I just don’t let other people into my life that easy. Everyone has their own secrets, and some things they don’t want other people to know. There are bits and pieces of my life that no one else knows, not even my brothers, and they probably never will. So when I say you and Stevie fit in here that means something to me. I just thought you should know more about why, that’s all.”
“She still played the whore for you.” Benny dropped his head down on his knees.
“No she didn’t,” Roman insisted. “Your sister was a virgin. She came to me a pure woman and I have never had anything as sweet and good.”
Benny snapped his head up and stared at Roman for a moment. “Stevie always told me that she would never share her body willingly with a man who would use force against her, nor would she make a bargain with anyone for herself.” He hung his head. “I thought she would use herself to protect me and I couldn’t stand that idea. I didn’t want her to compromise her ideals because she thought I need someone to protect me. I may be just a kid but she taught me values. She taught me to be proud of myself as a person.”
“I would never ask her to compromise her self-respect to gain anything,” Roman assured him. “What I offer, I offer freely.”
Benny sat for a few moments.
Roman waited and allowed him to take it all in.
“I guess I can live with that.” Benny got to his feet and held out his hand. “Man to man.”
Roman stood and shook his hand. “Man to man.”
Benny tilted his head at him. “But just know. If you ever hurt her, I don’t care how big you are, you will fall when I get you.”
Roman looked into his determined, fierce gaze. He believed him, so he didn’t smile like he wanted to. “Understood.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Maude Harris sat at her kitchen table and watched as her oldest son, Caulder paced back and forth. She could see the rage on his face and it matched her own. “Have you found the little bitch yet?”
Caulder glared at his mother. “No I haven’t. Haven’t found the little bastard either. I know he led Frankie straight into a trap. Not sure which of them shot him but I know one of them did. They left him to die like a dog on the street and that’s gonna cost them both.”
Maude snorted. “That little bitch has been taunting us for years now. She comes out of the shadows just long enough to make her presence known, then she disappears again. She does it only to cause unrest on the streets. The girls look at her like she’s their lifeline and that undermines my authority over them.”
Caulder huffed. “Well, we can’t have that now can we?” he sneered.
Maude surged to her feet. Taking a few steps over to where he stood, she slapped him across the face.
Rage brought his head back to hers and he told her in a cold voice, “Do not ever do that again.”
“You and your brothers are sniveling little brats, just like you’ve always been. I’ve given you every opportunity to make your mark in this city and you’ve failed me at every turn. You should have taken over the Kings by now and you haven’t. You should have found that little bitch at some point in the last four years and you haven’t. Your brother should have grabbed that little bastard off the street as soon as he ran and he not only failed to do that but he got himself shot instead. My client Rosco isn’t happy with the delay.”
“In case you care, Frankie is going to be paralyzed for the rest of his life. He is your son and all.” Caulder growled. “He will never walk again, and we still haven’t found the little brat that shot him.”
Maude poked her finger into her son’s chest. “I know he’s my son. But I have more on the agenda right now than just him. We still have to find the kid and you still have to find the gun that killed Banger. Without it, the Kings won’t believe the Advocates killed him. Did you plant the body where everyone would find it?”
Caulder nodded. “We need to find the gun soon or the body will be too degraded to tell who it is. We’ve got the whole city wired but so far, nobody has seen either of them. I’ve got my guys all over the city keeping track of things.”
Maude rolled her eyes. “If your men knew what they were doing they would have found them already and I’d have my books back a long time ago. They are about as worthless as the three of you are.”
Caulder glared at his mother. “What’s the matter mommy?” he mocked. “Is there someone out there nastier than you are?”
Maude’s cheeks reddened. “Don’t call me that. You know I hate it, why do you do it?”
“Because it pisses you off, that’s why,” Caulder grumbled. “You’ve never shown me even a tiny amount of respect and I’m getting sick of it.”
Maude shook her head. “You only get respect when you give it and you and your brothers don’t respect me either, so I guess we’re even in that department.”
“We’re getting sidetracked. We need to get back on the mark,” Caulder insisted. “We need to get this city tied down in the next few days or the plan goes south and we’ll all be dead.”
“Your deal has nothing to do with me.” Maude stressed. “Eugene and I can’t be involved it that.”
Caulder leaned forward just enough to get right in his mother’s face. “You are involved right up to your pretty little wrinkled neck. You are demanding your share of the money, it’s your neck on the line same as mine.”
“Nobody but you is supposed to know that fact. Eugene can’t be seen as anything but legit or this whole thing falls apart.”
Caulder smirked. “Just how much of your enterprise does Eugene actually know about?”
“He doesn’t know anything about anything. He thinks I run a foster home and that’s it.”
“How dumb is this idiot?” Caulder scoffed.
“I didn’t marry him for his mind.” She smirked.
“Why exactly did you marry the sap?” Caulder asked. “It sure as hell wasn’t for love.”
“I married him for what he could do for us, mostly for me. This city like every other city has its secrets and most of those secrets people want to keep. When I married Eugene, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He told me every secret he knew and I’ve been using that against the people he works with. I’ve got quite a sideline going here and I don’t want to give it up.”
“Don’t you mean you had it going?” Caulder rubbed in his mother’s mistake in. “When Stevie left here four years ago, she took most of what you had set aside didn’t she?”
“Yeah she did, but I’m getting it back slow but sure. But it’s taking too long. If I can get back what she took I’d be set up again, then I could get rid of Eugene and be queen of the city. No more stinky brats to worry about, nothing but easy street for me while you and your brothers rule the streets.”
“Yeah well, if this cartel deal goes south, we’ll all probably be sharing the same jail cell instead. Jose is taking a chance making this deal under his boss’ nose, so it will be his hide as well as ours.”
“Then we’d better not fail.” Maude stressed. “Your men better find that little brat, so I can get Rosco off my back and you can get the gun back. The state police will root out the Advocates and we can get everything else set up.”
“We have to finish this without attracting any more attention to ourselves. We don’t want to catch the wrong person’s attention before we’re ready.”
“Then find those two little bastards. Drag their little butts back here and show them who the boss is, Mr. Tough Guy.” Maude poked Caulder’s chest again. “But to do that you have to find them. I want that kid. What you do with the little bitch is up to you but I want my money back and I don’t care if she has to earn it on her back or not.”
“One of them owes for Frankie too.” Caulder’s eyes narrowed as he scowled at his mother.
Pappy and Jackal made their way down the darkened street. Keeping to the shadows, they marked where Caulder’s men were watching. Slipping up behind the thug, Jackal hit him in the head and caught his body before he hit the ground. All of this was done without making a sound, so no one else was alerted to what they were doing.
Dragging him back into the shadows, they passed him off to the four men waiting for them.
One of the men was older than the rest, he’d been watching for this. He was dressed different than they were. His clothes were older and rugged but he wore them with pride.
Turning his head, Jackal caught the eye of the man still hidden in the shadows and he gave a nod.
Silas saw this and slid further back. The next moment, he disappeared completely. Silas had been watching these men invade his city and begin tak
ing it back. This was the fifth of Caulder’s men that mysteriously disappeared from his post. When they brought back word from Stevie and Benny, he had begun to hope that this plan might just work.
Now they had to catch Tony and Caulder and get them under wraps then they would have a chance to win this war. Silas knew he didn’t dare go to collect the evidence Stevie had hidden yet. He didn’t want to take the chance it would fall back into old lady Harris’s hands. For now, she could think, she still had all the cards—for now.
Silas let himself grin just a little bit. When these men had found him and told him what was going on, he and the others were ready to pack up and ship out but when he heard Stevie was behind them, he felt hope again. This was the city he’d been born in, he’d grown up here and came back here when he got out of the Army. This was his home, he hated what it had become since Caulder, and his brothers started gaining ground.
For the first time in years, he felt hope that things could turn around and this could be a decent place again. The Kings weren’t all bad, they had kept the crime under control under Banger’s hand, and now that he was gone, Luca could take over and still be a good leader. But if Caulder got top position, the Kings would rule the city with a harsh hand.
As they slipped away into the shadows, Pappy and Jackal paused long enough to receive a message over their headsets.
Jackal looked at him and gave him a thumb’s up then showed the universal sign for everything was going according to plan. “My second team got hold of Tony and five more men. With the ones we just picked up and the men the third team collected, we should just about have all of them,” Jackal whispered. “We also got word that Caulder just left the Harris house. We should be able to get to him next.”
“What about old lady Harris?” Silas asked. “Please tell me she gets hers when this is over?”
“Oh, she’ll get hers, don’t worry about that. With Stevie’s evidence, we’ll nail her hide to the wall.” Pappy grinned.