Chapter 7
Alexander
I hate that we have to rely on Halo hacking into the cameras around the building we are meant to meet the De Santis family in. I could only manage to get four of our guys to perform some drive-bys. I couldn’t risk Carnage or the other’s spotting them and figuring out we are running our own game now.
“It looks clear, boss,” Halo says from the back of the car. I nod and take a second to get my head right. I haven’t seen these fucks since we walked out of there five years ago, seeing them after twenty years would still be too soon if you asked me.
I grip the door handle but pause as I say, “They don’t own you anymore. You are free men and don’t have to be here for this meeting. I will never make you do anything you don’t want to do.” When a hand lands on my shoulder, I peer back to see it’s Omen. His eyes are hard as he stares at me.
“You’re our family. We’ll always have your back no matter what,” he vows. Their loyalty is something that can never be bought. These four are the only family I have and I will do anything in my fucking power to protect them. Unable to say anything else I just nod and step out of the car. It takes me three seconds to spot five of their men trying to blend in with the crowd of people on the street. Halo nudges me and flicks his head across the road where four blacked out Range Rovers sit. At least they aren’t trying to be discreet about the fact they came with a mini army.
“The Don’s here,” Pope says. He’s right, the only reason there would be this many men is because the boss has left the safety of their home. I grunt in response. I was expecting to meet the gruesome threesome, not the four of them today. I head inside the restaurant, which is empty except for the table in the back.
Of course they shut down the restaurant for this impromptu meeting. At the sight of the five of us walking toward them, three of their guards try to intervene to search us but I grip the first one by the throat. The other two stop in their tracks and reach for their weapons, but Halo and Omen already have theirs drawn and aimed at their heads.
“You touch me or my guys and I’ll rip your fucking head off.” My tone is filled with bloodlust. All of these cocksuckers know exactly who the fuck I am and if they don’t, they should ask about me because it would save all of them this type of embarrassment in front of their boss.
“Let him go, Lex.” Hearing her call me Lex grates on my fucking nerves. I release the cunt with a shove. He falls into the other fucker who helps straighten him. We stalk past the three of them and come to a halt in front of the De Santis family. The four of them sit there, looking smug as fuck. They all hold an air of superiority. They are the type of rich people who would spit on a janitor and laugh.
Carnage, the fucker, sits there looking like the fucking Grim Reaper. His pale blue eyes are filled with malice. He’s cut his black hair, it’s now short on the sides and longer on top. When he cuts his gaze to Halo and winks, I nearly leap across the fucking table and rip his throat out.
Wrath and Rage sit on either side of the other two, keeping them secure in the middle. They are fucking trouble. These are the two you need to watch, they have no rhyme nor reason for doing anything. They will shoot first and not even care to ask questions later, they’re fucking idiots. They look like charming frat boys with their blond hair and honey brown eyes but it's their dark personalities that make them despicable. Having one of them roaming the earth is bad enough but the fact they are twins is worse than anyone could have conjured in their worst nightmare.
“You look good, Lex,” she says in that sickly sweet tone. I tear my gaze from the terror twins and finally look at the devil herself.
Desire De Santis.
Raven hair, bright baby blue eyes that lull you into thinking she is innocent and a woman who you could fall in love with and build a home with. She is nothing but a facade. Everything about her is designed to lure you in and suck the essence right out of you without you even noticing until it’s too fucking late.
“Desire, always a displeasure to see you,” I say, making sure she can hear the venom in my voice. Her left eye twitches. Years ago she could have inflicted punishment for my tone but not anymore, she has no control over me and she hates it. She may be able to control some things in my life but not me as a person. I’ll never allow the cunt that kind of power ever again.
“Have a seat, Lex.” Her tone is laced with a command but I don’t heed it, nor do my guys.
“Cut the fucking shit, Desire. Why the hell are your men following me?” Carnage is the one to react first. He pushes back from the table and stands. Halo pushes in front of me with his gun drawn, it's no surprise to me when more men flood the restaurant exposing her hand. Pope nudges my shoulder subtly letting me know he has signaled our own men to move in closer—now that all of her minions are inside with us there is no chance of our guys getting spotted. Carnage and Halo don’t flinch or even bat an eye at the men surrounding them with their weapons raised. Omen, Vat and Pope remain by me, knowing Carnage would never allow his men to take Halo out.
“Still playing on the wrong side, brother,” Carnage taunts Halo.
“Still eating our sister's pussy I see, brother ,” he spits out. Carnage just smiles, it’s dark and would have any man shitting themselves but not us, we know that Carnage is deadly but the true monster of their dysfunctional family is the one wearing the thong up her ass.
“You should try it, brother, she tastes good. Just ask Alex.” Carnage flicks his gaze to me for a second, trying to taunt me to do something but I remain where I am. I force my hands into my pockets so I don’t do something stupid, like snap his fucking neck and start a war.
“Enough, we didn’t come here to kill our brothers,” Desire announces. Carnage still remains standing until the devil herself stands and places a hand on his shoulder. Like a good little dog, he does as his master says and reclaims his seat.
“We aren’t your anything,” Omen snarls. Desire finally looks into the eyes of her twin and that’s when I see it, hatred.
“ You will never be anything to me, Toscano,” she bites back.
“I’d rather be a Toscano than a sellout De Santis, like you, cagna. (bitch)” Omen is hanging onto his rage by a thread. I turn to him and shift so I’m blocking his view of Desire. His eyes are mirrors of hers but unlike the she-devil, his holds pain in them.
“Take a walk, brother. We got this” He shakes his head once and stares at me. I give him a slight nod, telling him it's okay. He blanks his face of all emotion before turning on his heel and storming out of the building, regret churns inside me. I knew bringing them with me to see these cunts was a bad idea but there was no way they would have stayed home and let me come on my own.
“Put the gun down, Halo,” Desire snaps. I whirl around knowing Halo won’t listen to a word she says. I reach out and push his arm down. Desire looks to me as she speaks. “Unless you can control them?—”
“You don’t fucking address them, you want to speak then you speak to me. Am I crystal fucking clear?” Her eyes widen and blaze with outrage at the way I just spoke to her. I see her men creeping in closer and I shoot her a dark grin that holds promise. “They make one more move, just one, and I’ll tear your entire fucking army down, Des. You want to bury your soldiers or talk like real men?”
Her jaw locks and I know I’ve pushed her just enough now. She fucking hates when people refer to her position as a man’s. “I’m the fucking Don of the De Santis Cosa Nostra, Alexander. Never fucking forget that.”
“And I’m the motherfucking Butcher. Never forget that,” I roar. I hear a gun cock causing Pope, Vat and Halo all to draw their own guns.
“You’re what I made you to be!” she yells.
“You didn’t make shit, Desire! I made you. I gave you the throne your frigid ass currently sits on.” My outburst has her eyes blazing and her true colors showing.
“It’s a great thing your precious Ellie isn’t here to see the monster you have become.” I step forward until my thighs smack into the table, forcing it forward. The twins and Carnage all get to their feet and flank their sister who is staring right at me.
“Say her name again and it will be the last word you ever fucking utter. Mark my words on that,” I force out through gritted teeth.
“Enough. We came to discuss business,” Rage snaps. “All of you, lower your fucking weapons and stand down. Halo, Pope, Vatican, please lower your weapons as well.” The three of them turn to me for confirmation. I nod which just causes Rage to narrow his eyes.
“Why are you following us?” I ask.
“Because you broke the terms of your deal with my sister,” Wrath answers.
“I didn’t fucking break my word,” I bite back.
“We have proof, Alexander. We know The Butcher’s work and the severed heads you sent to that girl was a calling card of yours.”
I roll my eyes which just pisses Rage off. “I didn’t send the fucking heads. Thomas Valerian sent those heads to the girl, trying to fool her into thinking I was coming after her. She can validate my story and so can half a dozen others.” I can tell these cocksuckers don’t believe a word coming out of my mouth. If they decide to take action against me because they think I broke the deal, then we’ll go to fucking war. I didn’t go through everything I did just to lose to them. I won’t fucking die until I have avenged my sister, after that they can do what they like with me.
“And you think we’ll just take you at your word?” Carnage sneers.
“His word is all you’re getting, asshole,” Halo snaps, answering for me. The hatred between him and Carnage runs deep. They may be twins, but much like Omen and Desire, there is no love lost between the two of them.
“So, if I’m eating our sister’s pussy does that mean you're sucking his cock?” The sigh has barely finished leaving my lips before Halo is launching across the table and tackling Carnage to the ground. Pope and Vatican are the next to jump the table to stop Wrath and Rage from intervening. I cross my arms over my chest and let Halo have at it. Carnage isn’t weak. He’ll give as good as Halo can give. They may hate each other, but even if they won’t admit it to themselves, we know they would never kill each other, which is their greatest flaw.
“You idiots!” Desire screams as she tries to separate Halo and Carnage, but one of them flings their arm, knocking her on her ass. Her soldiers scramble forward but when I face them all they stop in their tracks. They know she can order their death for not protecting her but they also fear me. They all know what I have done for her and in her name.
“You touch him or the other two and I’ll make you dig your own grave before I bury parts of you in it and send the rest to your families.” When none of them take another step, I move around the table and shove Carnage off Halo. Before Halo goes after him again, I grab the back of his shirt and pull him across the room. I shove the little shit against the wall and get in his bloodied face. “Enough,” I growl right in his face.
He’s panting and sweating from exertion, his eyes are wild and filled with the need to maim and inflict pain.
“Look at me.” It takes him a second to do as I ask. “Go outside and wait with Omen.”
“I’m not?—”
I cut him off before he can finish. “Yes, you are. Go wait with your brother. Vat and Pope will remain with me while we finish this. Now, go.” He shoves me away from him and storms out of here with anger wafting off him in waves. Halo is always level headed and calm until Carnage is added to the equation. I scrub a hand down my face and take a steadying breath before facing Desire who is glaring balls of fire at me.
“The next time one of them steps out of line?—”
“You’ll do what?” I snap, cutting her off.
“Don’t fucking push me, Lex,” she warns.
“Make your point known so we can all get out of here and you can fuck off back to Chicago,” I snarl.
“The agreement still stands. You try to build a family of your own, you die. You kill without my blessing, I slaughter you,” she reminds me.
“Look at where I fucking live, Desire,” I shout and spread my arms out wide. “Does it fucking look like I’m killing for hire or building a family of my own?”
“You have four of my brothers with you,” Wrath snarks. I cut my gaze to him and glare at the little fuck.
“They aren’t your anything, you little shit stain. They are my brothers and my family. They may share your DNA but you’ll never have their loyalty.” Wrath’s nostril’s flare in anger. He tries to step toward me but Pope shoves him back a step.
“Make a move against him and the blood we share won’t save you,” Vatican promises.
“We’ll make inquiries into the situation. If I smell a rat or something seems off, I’m coming for your fucking head, Butcher,” Carnage warns.
I smirk at the cocky fucker. “You can try and hunt me all you like but I’ll always be the predator and you will always be the prey, little De Santis. Never forget that.” I turn to leave, fucking done with this bullshit meeting but her words hold me in place.
“The deal extends to Nexus Valerian. Kill him and it won’t be my brothers hunting you down, Lex. It will be me.” My breathing turns choppy as I try to reign in my temper. I know if I face her now, I’ll blow the deal out of the fucking water and rip that vile bitch apart.