Chapter 1
Chapter One
Kade
Thessaloniki, Greece, 3 years ago…
A cascade of clouds wars with the stars in the black Grecian sky. The gods must be furious tonight, but the tempestuous sight is the perfect backdrop for the wild plans my friends and I have put together.
We pull up on the beach in our speedboat, right into the luminous glow of the silver moon on the gentle waves slapping against the sandy shore.
We jump out, fueled by the excitement of doing whatever we want tonight. And the lure of chaos.
“Woo hoo! Helloooo, freedom!” Dmitri bellows, beating his chest like Tarzan. “Tonight belongs to us.”
“Fuck yeah.” Logan and I shout in unison, giving each other a high five.
Grinning like devils, Dmitri and Logan flank me on either side and we make our way across the beach.
We’re all sixteen now. The three of us celebrated our birthdays this week. The first week of the new year.
Because our families are close and part of the Knights—one of the most powerful secret societies on earth—we’ve always considered ourselves blood brothers. We look similar enough, especially now. We’re each built from all the training we do, the same height at six feet four, and we wear our hair in the same unruly style.
Being born around the same time of year has always been a bonus for us, so we always celebrate our birthdays together. And we always do something wild.
We’re from the States. I live in Orange County and the guys in New York. As this birthday is a special one, our families agreed to spend it together in Thessaloniki, where my mother’s family is from.
What our parents didn’t anticipate is the slight detour we’re taking for a house party in my parents’ private beach villa. My father would call it an act of rebellion. We call it living.
I’m supposed to be in Thasos for the last night of the devotion ritual my mother’s family has celebrated for centuries. There they offer their devotion to Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.
My mother is a firm believer in her traditions. When I was born she even insisted on dipping me in the sea here—symbolic of the River Styx—with the hope that I would become as strong as Achilles.
Since I’ve always had an insurmountable strength and my friends think of me as the leader of the pack, I’ve never refuted her beliefs.
I’ve honored them over the last two days but now the rebel inside me wants to break loose and live a little. For the next few hours the only thing I want to see to do the ancient world is the silhouette of ruins on the cliffs in the distance.
Dmitri and Logan rallied the guests, who should be arriving in an hour. We’re here ahead of them to set up.
Laughing and joking around, we make our way through the grove of palm and pine trees. The villa is just a breath away. I can see it ahead with its exotic Mediterranean design and large stone wall surrounding the premises.
“Bro, you’re gonna lose it when you see the hot girls we invited.” Dmitri grins wide and nudges my shoulder.
“Nice.” I throw a playful jab in his arm.
“I went all out. Tonight will be like having our own Playboy Mansion.”
“It’s gonna be wild.”
“Hey, wait.” Logan tugs on my arm, pulling me back. His eyes narrow. “Thought your parents weren’t going to be here.”
We all stop and I follow his gaze, looking through the high wrought-iron gates guarding the back entrance of the grounds. There I find a host of cars parked at the side of the house.
I stare ahead, confused, and mull over the last thing my father told me about where he’d be tonight. “They’re supposed to be at my grandparents'.”
We move closer through the grove of trees.
“That’s your dad’s car, right?” Dmitri points to the black Ferrari—which is indeed my father’s car. It’s parked randomly in front of the others.
“Yeah.”
This is strange. No one is supposed to be here. I expected to find the house in darkness with the guards patrolling the grounds. But the gathering of cars looks like what you’d expect to find at the Bratva compound or one of the Knights’ meetings that my father often attends in New York.
What could be going on?
Suddenly three men emerge from the side of the house, all carrying machine guns.
Our surroundings are dark but it’s just bright enough for me to see that they aren’t my father’s men, or the guards who work here. I don’t recognize them.
Instantly the salty sea air turns to acid in my lungs and my nerves spike.
This doesn’t feel right. Instinct kicks in and I grab Dmitri’s arm, then I nudge Logan and usher them behind the thicket of trees next to us.
I keep my eyes peeled on the men. My stomach is churning and burning as I watch them run through the front doors of the house. The next thing I hear is gunfire ripping through the night, turning the tranquil sound of serenity into a warzone.
My heart rockets into my throat and explodes in my ears. “Fuck.”
Frantically I search for my father.
Where is he? And what the fuck is going on?
Where are all the guards?
“What should we do?” Dmitri sounds as panicked and rattled as I feel.
I want to tell him that I don’t know what the fuck we’re supposed to do but pride forbids me. There must be something I can do.
I’ve always been taught to get away from an ambush. Run and get backup because you don’t know what your enemy is planning. There could be one of you and a hundred of them.
In this instance there is nowhere to run besides back to the fucking sea. And I can’t move forward without anyone seeing me.
I also can’t stand here, hiding behind a tree. Watching and doing nothing.
My father could be in trouble. If the tables were turned he would run through the fires of hell to save me.
Another group of men rushes out through the sliding doors, their boots crunching against the gravel path. They jump in the car parked near my father’s and speed away.
I think of making my move. But just me . I would never put my friends in danger.
I’m about to move when a woman screams, “Nooooo!”
Everything stills in my soul when I recognize her voice. That’s my mother.
Mom, what are you doing in there?
Terror seizes my lungs, but her heartrending scream of anguish that follows next rips my soul from my body. The deathly sound joins the damning gunfire, making me move.
I run, not caring about anything besides getting to my parents.
My parents are my everything. I can’t lose them.
When I reach the gate I find the security panel and punch in the passcode like my life depends on it. The gates slide open and I rush through, finding two guards I’ve known all my life lying on the ground. Dead. Shot in the head.
The gruesome sight pushes me forward.
Behind me I hear Dmitri and Logan following. Then they’re calling to me, but I don’t stop.
I run faster but each passing second shreds my hopes and the desolate feeling of loss worms its way into my core.
More bullets blast inside the house, sounding louder than before, like I’m standing right next to a space shuttle during take-off. Then, right before me, the house explodes.
The impact sends me flying backwards through the air with vicious flames flicking out all around me. They come at me so fast I barely have time to process what happened.
I land on the ground, my back slamming against the hard gravel path. Fire and debris rain down around me. And I can’t move. My body feels broken.
Pain shoots through every part of me, but the horror of knowing that my parents were in the house shoves anything else I feel from my mind
I will myself to get up but I still can’t move. My head feels like it’s been consumed by lead and my body is sinking into the earth.
The flames dance higher and higher, casting eerie shadows on the devastation before me and I pray to whoever will listen that my parents survived.
But in the void where my soul used to live I know… they’re gone.
The infernal fire blazing before me whispers the horrific truth to me. It suffocates the remnants of my soul, leaving nothing but an empty abyss.
“Kade, are you okay?”
“Kade.”
Dmitri and Logan are calling me. They call my name several times.
I can’t answer them.
The raw red flames morph into blackness, my head spins and the world disappears, swallowed by the darkness. The life I once had goes with it, drifting away from me like the ashes in the wind.