Rage

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Nyx

T he moment I reached the front gate of the Solomon estate, I knew that these men would either save me or destroy my life, and I couldn’t decide which terrified me more.

“What are you doing here Firefly?”

I gasped at the sound of a nickname I hadn’t heard in years and the annoyance dripping from his voice as he said it through the intercom. Darth Solomon. That deep, raspy voice could only belong to him.

It didn’t surprise me that Darth Solomon was pissed that I had shown up at the estate unannounced, but desperate times called for desperate measures and unfortunately, I was desperate for the Solomon boys.

Men. They are men now, I inwardly corrected, even though they would always be my boys in a way.

Pressing the button, I replied, “I need to speak with you,” then released it.

“Did you request a meeting with my assistant?”

“No, but it’s urgent.”

“Not more urgent than everything else I have going on today. I’m afraid I can’t see you.”

“What about Key or Seb?” I asked, referring to two of his brothers. “Can they meet with me right now?”

“They aren’t here.”

I frowned, kicking at the gravel beneath my feet. “What about?—”

I didn’t finish my sentence, not wanting to say the next words out loud, but needing him to know that I was serious. Darth must have sensed my hesitation, or maybe he was looking at me through the security cameras, because the next thing I heard was the sound of the gate unlocking as it opened to allow me entry.

Step one complete.

Taking a deep breath, I walked up the circular driveway, pausing at the base as my heart thundered in my chest. My best friend, Mia, had insisted that this was the best solution I had, but now that I was here, the weight of what I was about to ask them felt unbearable.

“They won’t say no,” Mia had said earlier that day on the phone, her voice breezy as if what she was suggesting didn’t make me seem batshit crazy. She wasn’t even in the country to help me, so that made my next moves even more nerve-racking.

“Just be honest,” she had encouraged. “They’re all... well, you know. They’ll be interested because it’s you.”

I wasn’t sure “interested” was the right word. Mia’s brothers were notorious in the Chicago mafia scene for a reason. Each of them commanded attention in his own way—Darth with his sharp, commanding presence, Keon “Key” with his reckless charm, Sebastian “Seb” with his quiet intellect, and Cassius “Cash” with his brooding protectiveness. They were magnetic. Dangerous. The kind of men who made you forget how to breathe if you stood too close for too long.

And now, I was about to step into their world and ask for something outrageous. A lifeline that I prayed to God they tossed my way because I was drowning quickly.

Swallowing hard, I forced my feet to move, each step up the round driveway feeling heavier than the last. The wide, arched doorway seemed more like the entrance to a fortress than a family home, but the Solomons didn’t do anything simple. I of all people knew that since I’d been coming to their estate since I was a kid.

I tightened my grip on the strap of my purse after I knocked, my fingers cold despite the unusually warm spring day. Moments stretched into an eternity before the door swung open, revealing Key. He leaned casually against the frame, his dark eyes roaming over me with a lazy intensity that made my knees threaten to buckle.

Key’s skin was a warm, golden brown that always seemed to glow in a way that set him apart from his more somber brothers. His tall, athletic frame was graceful rather than imposing, built for reckless quickness.

His hair was so thick, I always wondered what it would feel like to tug at his mane of curls. And despite his just-rolled-out-of-bed look, the lining of his curly afro was fresh and neat and currently faded on the sides in an afro mohawk.

It was his eyes that left you speechless though… They were a unique gray color that was a Solomon family trait that often left women hypnotized. Though bright and mischievous, Key’s silver-gray eyes always held a hint of hidden sorrow that many never spotted … But I did though.

I always noticed.

“I thought Darth said you weren’t here.”

“We’re all here, Firefly,” he teased. “Darth was just giving you a hard time. You know how he is.”

I do. I knew how he was way more than I cared to admit. Growing up, many would whisper about what kind of family the Solomons were. Rumors circulated about how Martha Solomon’s beauty salon was home of an underground gambling ring and Donny Solomon’s security firm was behind hundreds of extortion rackets.

The Solomon brothers had to deal with scrutiny in every direction, yet very few got an up close and personal view into their lives like I had since I was best friends with their only sister.

Even though Darth had lied to me, seeing Key first out of the Solomon brothers immediately put me at ease. He was the carefree man of the bunch. The smooth charmer who had constantly made me laugh when we were younger even if there wasn’t much to laugh about being the daughter of a deadbeat dad and a mom who didn’t give two shits about providing for me if I wasn’t dressed like a bottle of tequila.

“Come in,” Key said, stepping aside and gesturing me through the threshold. His smile widened, a glint of mischief in his gaze. “Let’s see what you’re so nervous about that had you pacing our driveway.”

I stepped into the grand home with more confidence than I felt, my mind immediately recalling the last time I was in the home a few years ago.

“It’s good to see you, Firefly,” Key stated, leaning his six-foot-five frame down to embrace me in a tight hug that had me sighing into the curve of his arm and breathing in his delicious freshly showered scent.

“It’s nice to see you too.”

Key was the tallest of the brothers, but they were each over six feet tall.

“Do you want to fill me in before we head to the office?” he asked as we began the journey down the hallway.

I shook my head a bit faster than necessary. “No. I rather tell you all together, assuming Seb is here too.”

Key lifted a curious eyebrow. “Just Seb?”

“And Darth,” I answered, my anxious energy propelling me to walk a bit faster than he was. I only briefly glanced over my shoulder to catch him laughing at me, his frohawk shaking when he did so.

My nerves were on edge the closer I got to the room, but luckily, my eyes found Seb’s next.

“Nyxani,” Seb drawled, his lips curving into a smirk before he placed a kiss on both of my cheeks. Seb was the only one who called me by my government name. Darth and Key both called me Firefly.

“Hey Seb, it’s good to see you.”

His eyes sparkled with a look I couldn’t decipher even though his smile was warm and friendly when he said, “I’ve missed you too.”

Seb was a bit like Key in physical attributes. He was leaner with a body built for speed and precision, rather than brute strength. His tattooed, sepia-toned skin seemed to absorb the light shining through the window, enhancing his role as the family’s silent, secret weapon. He always kept his hair in a short high-top curly fade that was never disheveled.

Whereas Key’s eyes were bright and warm, Seb’s smoky-gray orbs were deliberate and calculating through his black-framed glasses, their depth hinting at secrets he’d never willingly share. A faint scar along the side of his neck only added to his mysterious air, even though I knew exactly how he got it.

Grinning widely at him, I ignored a surly Darth who was scowling at his desk while I spoke to his brothers.

“Mia said you’d be stopping by,” Seb stated inquisitively. “Didn’t say why, though.”

“Oh, she did?” I asked, my voice a bit too high-pitched. “Actually, she was the one who suggested I talk to you about my problem.”

“Talk to me personally?” he asked.

“No. All of you,” I corrected, implying that I meant his brothers as well.

“Even me Nyx?” a voice asked, stepping into the office behind me and Key. I froze at the sound of his question, wondering if my body would ever stop betraying me today when I was around the brothers.

I turned slowly, trying to prepare myself for laying eyes on the only brother I hadn’t randomly run into over the years, my breath hitching at the sight of him.

Cassius “Cash” Solomon. The only Solomon brother who called me Nyx.

Cash was the most physically intimidating of the brothers, with a broad, muscular frame that exuded raw power. His rich ebony skin was marred by a jagged scar that ran from his left temple to his jawline, a reminder of the assassination attempt that almost took his life.

His hair was styled in short locs that he didn’t have when I saw him last. They fell just past his ears, framing his face and somewhat hiding his gray, stormy eyes that were shadowed by the trauma of his past. Eyes that had always been raging and unreadable at times.

“Uh, yes,” I told him, finally finding my voice. “Even you.”

I wasn’t surprised that he asked. Our last interaction hadn’t been the best.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he pinned me with a hard stare that seemed to contradict the soft way he asked me, “Did you get yourself into trouble? Is that why you’re here?”

I frowned, placing a hand on my hip. “Why do you assume I’m the one who got myself into trouble?”

“Because Mia said you needed help and here you are, fuckin’ up my day by showing up here.”

My eyes widened and my lips parted in surprise. “If I could think of any better option, do you really think I would be here right now?”

“So you do need help,” he deadpanned.

Yes. “No. Not from you.”

Cash pinched the bridge of his nose, his locs brushing his forehead as he did so. “But you just said you needed to talk to all of us, me included.”

“You have an attitude, so I changed my mind,” I spat, feeling like I was a teenager all over again getting scolded by Cash, instead of a twenty-seven-year-old woman.

Honestly, I did need to talk to all of them together, but Cash had a way of getting under my skin in ways his brothers didn’t.

Behind us, the low hum of voices drifted out—Seb’s murmured reply, Key’s laughter at whatever Seb said, Darth’s distinct growl of disapproval. Despite the scene Cash and I were causing, they were all waiting for me to explain myself.

My throat tightened as my carefully rehearsed words evaporated under their scrutiny, replaced by a single, damning thought. What the hell am I doing asking the Solomon brothers for help?

I wasn’t the kind of woman to run from a situation, but my fight or flight was kicking in and flight was winning in spades. I only took a few steps back from Cash before I hit a muscled wall blocking my path.

Gasping, I glanced up at Darth’s imposing presence, wondering how he even stood from his desk chair and made his way over to me without me noticing.

Darth was only a half inch shorter than Key, his tall and imposing stature always surrounded by an aristocratic air. He wasn’t as burly as Cash, but he was brawny and lighter on his feet than many thought.

His smooth and unblemished skin was deep mahogany, matching his meticulously maintained appearance and need for control. His sharp jawline and high cheekbones gave him a regal, almost intimidating presence, while his tapered fade was neatly cropped close to his scalp, with a hint of silver at the temples, enhancing his commanding aura.

He didn’t have a thick beard when I saw him last, but he had one now. Yet, it was his piercing—almost metallic—icy-gray eyes that were capable of stripping anyone bare with one glance.

With Darth, I rarely saw him smile. If he didn’t have something to be grumpy about, I would probably wonder if anything was wrong. Which is why he caught me completely off guard when he said, “Don’t leave, Firefly. Tell us what’s wrong,” doing a complete three-sixty from the man who had spoken to me through the intercom.

There was something in the sweet tone of his voice and the worried lines of his forehead that made me want to tell him every secret I vowed to take to my grave. On the brink of baring my entire soul to these men who had been my entire world when I was a young girl, I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, the determination to change my circumstances back in full force.

“Okay, but maybe you should all sit down for this.”

Darth frowned and clenched his jaw. “I think I’ll stand.”

“Me too,” Cash stated, leaning against a wall as Key sat on top of Darth’s desk and Seb took occupancy in one of the chairs in the room.

You’re okay Nyx. You got this.

Those six words had been on repeat in my mind ever since I had gotten the news a few months ago that shook me to my core. News that had caused me to interrupt several of Mia’s important meetings as I went down an emotional rabbit hole I couldn’t seem to dig myself out of.

“I guess I should start at the beginning,” I told them, removing my jacket and tossing it into an empty chair, my tight jeans and graphic crop tee suddenly too hot for the room.

With my jacket removed, I didn’t miss the way Cash not-so-discreetly checked out my ass, no doubt realizing that the size twelve girl he once knew was now a voluptuous sixteen or eighteen depending on the clothes designer.

He’s always been an ass man . A part of the reason I loved mine so much—even if it did knock stuff over on more than one occasion—was because of the way I used to catch Cash staring at it when he thought no one was watching.

“A few months ago, I took a genetic test that I had been putting off and found out some unsettling news that tilted my world off its axis.”

Seb sat straighter in his seat, while Key and Cash shared a worried look. But it was Darth who asked me, “Are you okay?”

“I will be,” I told him. “But my appointment was a wakeup call, forcing me to come to terms with what I already suspected … That life is short, and we must make the best decisions for ourselves that we can, which is why I’m here today.”

The room was heavy with the weight of unspoken tension, as I stood in the center of the office, my back straight despite the trembling in my hands as my gaze locked onto the four men seated before me.

“I inherited a harmful brCA 1 gene mutation,” I blurted, pulling off the imaginary Band-Aid as my words sliced through the air. “Which basically means, I have an increased risk for developing breast and ovarian cancer. The main reason I tested is because my mother and grandmother passed away from ovarian cancer, so it runs in the family. Therefore, I’ve decided to get preventative surgery soon to have my ovaries removed.” My voice slightly cracked, my anxious eyes deciphering the primal emotions in their gazes—a mix of fear, anger, and protectiveness. Before any of them could speak, I pressed on. “Possibly other surgeries after I speak with another specialist. But before that surgery, I want to have a child … which is why I’m here today. I need your sperm to provide to my fertility specialist in hopes that I can be knocked up within the next few months.”

My rushed words seemed to detonate throughout the room like a bomb. Key’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of the desk he was sitting on, his jaw clenched so tightly I thought it might shatter.

Seb stood abruptly, his chair scraping against the hardwood as his body vibrated with barely contained energy. Darth’s lips parted, but no words came, his quiet anguish mirrored in his brothers’ faces. Only Cash’s lips curled in a dark and dangerous sympathetic smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“If one of you are willing to help me out, you wouldn’t have to be in the child’s life if you don’t want to be,” I explained. “It’s up to you. But I’ve been looking through sperm bank profiles and I just really want the father of my child to be someone I know.”

The brothers remained silent. If anything, the tension was even more potent now.

“Let me get this straight,” Key drawled, breaking the silence. “You want to choose one of us to give you our sperm?” His tone was one of unmistakable disbelief.

“No,” I said firmly, clasping my hands together while looking each of them in the eye. “If you’re all willing to help, I want each of you to decide instead. I don’t want to choose, because I—" I swallowed hard, the words threatening to choke me. “Because I love you. All of you. You’ve been in my life since we were kids and despite everything, there’s not one of you that I trust more than the other. This might be selfish, but I need to do this my way. For me. For us.”

The air in the office turned molten, thick with sentiments I wasn’t sure I could untangle with words. Most of my life I’d watched them talk without needing to speak, but right now, observing their exchanged glances and the silent war raging between them kept me rooted in place. Yet, no matter how many silent side conversations they were having, their eyes always came back to me—burning, questioning. Wondering if I had lost my goddamn mind.