11. Chapter 11 - Layrin
Chapter 11
“ O ur training is going to be down in the basement.” Rion’s announcement came during breakfast, as casually as if he were asking for someone to pass the salt.
Ravi stabbed at his eggs mumbling, "Now that we've cleared it out."
I ignored Ravi's comment, figuring they wouldn't tell me anyways, swiveling my head to Rion. “Are you talking about the room you didn't want me to know about?” I knew he remembered steering me away from that particular spot. It had been in the back of my mind for a while, but with everything that was happening, I had decided to take things one at a time in order of life-or-death priority.
“Yes,” was all he said as he scooped some oatmeal and looked down at his tablet.
Ravi slid his hand across the table and cupped mine with a smile. “It's actually quite spacious for being underground.”
“It's also where I keep all the delicate information. There are a couple of workstations set up,” Rion added.
Ravi turned his nose up, crossed his eyes, and opened and closed his mouth, silently mimicked Rion as he spoke. I couldn't help but roll my lips in to prevent me from laughing out loud.
“Don’t you have that job to run for Uncle?” Rion said, unfazed by his brother's antics.
Ravi looked at his phone. “Shit,” he groaned as he hung his head. “Do I really have to? Can’t Roux do it?”
Still not looking at his brother, he sighed and continued typing something on his table. “You know he has his own errands to run today. Get going.” Ravi’s lips pursed before his eyes ran over mine like he was soaking in as much of me as he could before he turned away.
“See you later, Rav.” I waved, and he looked back with a smirk, giving me a little finger wiggle.
A scoff came from Roux, and when I lifted a brow at him, he said, “His name’s already short enough. You don’t need to make it shorter.” He bit hard into one of his bacon pieces like he was emphasizing his stance.
I pointed at him and threatened, with full sincerity, “You watch it, or I’m going to start calling you Ro Ro.”
Footsteps stomped from the front before Ravi poked his head around the corner, laughing hysterically. “Oh. My. God. That's it, bro. Your name is Ro Ro! I'm going to call you that forever now.” He threw his arm out like he was painting a scene. “Your headstone is going to read, ‘Here lies Ro Ro. The biggest meathead of them all.’”
Rion looked up, pointing at Ravi. “Go! Don’t be late,” just as Roux slammed his hands on the table and got up, ready to charge his brother.
Ravi turned and ran away, throwing over his shoulder, “You guys always have all the fun without me.”
This time, I did laugh out loud. You know, for a set of stalkers and hardened murderers, they sure did know how to have a good time.
“This house used to be so much quieter,” Rion commented as he stared at me, drinking a sip of his coffee. I tried not to notice the comment, but I couldn’t help but think, Was that a dig at me?
“Yeah, you’re right,” Roux huffed as he turned around, taking his plate to the sink, “but it was also depressing as fuck, so…” He shrugged, then picked up his black bag and winked at me. “See you two for dinner.” I smiled and waved bye.
The front door shut, and the silence in the house became more present than ever. Glancing over at Rion, I noticed he was suddenly engrossed in whatever he was reading. That was when it started to click. The house being quiet probably helped him focus more.
I thought back to my empty apartment. The silence just reminded me of how alone I was. It was why whenever Mal needed me to come in, I was always up for it. That, or I would go to the library. Even though the library was quiet, it wasn't silent. People were there all the time.
“It's not a bad thing.”
My eyes flicked up to see him looking at me over the tablet. We stared at each other for a second, somehow communicating with our eyes, but I still didn't know what we were saying. It was more just a feeling of understanding.
“Silence isn't a bad thing either.” I tried to sympathize, but he smirked as he set down the device and leaned forward onto the table.
“What I really meant was that this house is livelier with you in it. Ravi is definitely more demanding and annoying. Roux more cocky and mouthy.” His lips lifted in disgust as he rolled his eyes before he sat back.
I couldn't help myself. “And you?”
He looked at me for a full thirty seconds, no flinching, no breathing. I was about to get up and say forget it when he answered. “Me… Well, I just want everything to be in its place. I want the life we’ve dreamed of. I want perfection.” The room in the air shifted as, his eyes focusing on me like a cat right about to jump on an unsuspecting mouse. If he licked his lips right now, it would fit the ravenous vibrations in the air, but knowing Rion, he would never do that.
He blinked and it was gone, like nothing had passed between us. He got up and took a few steps before looking at me over his shoulder. “Let’s get started.”
As soon as his hand circled around the handle, the door beeped and opened. Fingerprint readers, I knew it!
The hissing of pressure being released echoed in the hallways, and I peeked over his shoulder to see a set of stairs. He immediately descended, disappearing in the dark abyss below.
“Come, Layrin.”
Oh, Layrin now. Full name means he’s serious.
Taking a hesitant step forward, I wished that there was some kind of light. As soon as I thought it, two rows of lights lit up along the walls. I followed their descent until it led me right to an expectant set of eyes, their owner resting his hand on a switch.
“Well, that seems like poor planning,” I said as I went down the dimly lit stairs.
“No, we planned it that way on purpose.” His stagnant voice cut through mine, then he walked off.
“Oh yeah.” I copied his cadence and moved my arms like a robot. “Makes total sense now that you’ve explained yourself. Thanks, Ri.”
He popped around the corner, scaring the shit out of me. I jumped up and almost hit the ceiling. “We obviously made it that way so it would be difficult for someone to go down.” With those words, he disappeared again.
I went to the right, just like he had done, and found a short hallway that had a room on each side. At the end, I saw Rion take another right. Following him led me to a barebones room on my right with a thick see-through wall. It reminded me of the high-level prisons in movies where they’d store all the villains. Directly across, on the left side, was a solid metal door with large bolts all around it. In the middle was a peek-a-boo window with a sliding door.
My curiosity got the best of me. I looked around for Rion then stepped closer to the door as silently as I could. Fingers gently grasping the knob, I slid the door open, my heart pounding loudly in my ears. Standing on my tippy toes, I peeked inside, and my shoulders sagged.
The room was made of a smooth dark metal that looked so abnormally clean, it sparkled. With no windows and bare walls, it was very plain. The only thing in the room was an aluminum chair.
About to turn away, disappointed that I wasn't finding anything nefarious, my eyes snagged on the back legs of the chair. Dangling beside each leg were chains. Pushing my head forward, I looked closer with narrowed eyes. At the end of each side of the chain was a small locking device, covered in red.
The reality of what they did came crashing down on me. They had told me, so I already knew about it… logically . But it was something different altogether to have physical evidence of their… quirks in front of me. Roux’s trophies came to mind, but surprisingly, I wasn't as horrified as I initially had been. Sure, they pointed to violence on his part, but I hadn’t thought murderer when I saw them. The others had some weirdness about them too, but it was hard for me to connect them to this side of things. It was like some elusive thing that floated around in the background, but right here, in this overly clean room with its chair and bloodstained chains, I realized that it was all true.
These boys who protected me, treated me with consideration, and went a little overboard in the affection department were killers. They tortured and killed people in this room. Am I okay with this? Okay with staying in a room above people who had probably been screaming for their lives down here?
“Are you coming?”
Rion’s voice pulled me out of my mind. Reality jerking back to the forefront, I nodded and followed him, keeping my head down to hide my flushed cheeks.
“This is your seat.” Raising my head, my eyes quickly scanned the room with a small gasp. I didn’t know what I was expecting, maybe more of what I’d just seen, but this room was vastly different.
Where the whole house had a very dark, modern look and color scheme, this room was covered in soft gray wood paneling and shelves. An expensive-looking Parisian rug spanned the whole floor, and atop it sat a mahogany desk and credenza set. In front of the desk was a small pop-up table with a wooden chair that looked like a smaller version of the king's throne behind the desk.
The only truly modern feature was the single white wall with a large, solid pane of glass bolted over it. A small basket with expo markers and erasers was off to the side of the wall-length whiteboard.
Motioning for me to sit, he briskly made his way around the desk and sat down. “As you could tell from the overview I gave you, we will start with Foedus' history. Having this knowledge of the organization will be vital in surviving as a council chair.”
Pulling out my chair, I cocked my head and lifted one brow as I asked, “Council chair?”
He waited for me to sit down, elbows on the desk with his chin on his folded hands. “Once you pass the test, they’re going to announce the Rose family's resurrection at the naming ceremony, with you as the sole head. This means that you will have a seat in the council as one of the seven founding families.”
With my mouth opening and closing like a fish, I didn't know what to say. That was way too much responsibility! What backwards ass system would let someone brand new have a major decision-maker seat?!
“That makes no sense, Rion!” My fingers curled around the bottom of the skirt I was wearing, needing something to do. “Plus, none of this matters if I don’t pass the test.” I tried to sound dismissive, to not care, but my heart was nearly pounding out of my chest.
Rion’s eyes flashed an electric green before they narrowed, his hands clenching. In a careful tone, he said, “You will pass.”
Despite his insistence, doubt clouded my mind. How the hell did they think a few months of training would be enough?! Did they think I had natural Jason Bourne instincts? I was just a normal orphan girl. The guys had been training for this for half of their lives!
So lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice Rion had left his seat until he pried my hands off my skirt. “You will pass, this I promise you.” He knelt next to me, looking up at me in earnest, and the weight of his presence felt like a bullet had shot through the glass between us. It was only a small hole so far, but the cracks would quickly spread.
I took a few breaths, and he squeezed my hands before getting up and letting go. A shadow passed over his face as he turned and went back to his seat. “We will do anything to achieve that because the alternative is unacceptable.”
“Yeah…” I gave a nervous chuckle. “I don't want to die either.”
He grabbed a book and flipped it open, skimming the pages with ease. “They won't kill you. You're the last of the Rose line, and the rules and traditions of Foedus are very strict about that kind of thing.” His eyes flicked to mine underneath his lashes. “If you don’t pass, they’ll just use you as a broodmare to create the next candidate.”
I froze, horror filling my body. They would keep me alive just to birth another heir for the Rose family? My hands shook in my lap so hard I clutched them together. My instincts told me to get up, to run out of this house and go as far as I could go, but knowing what I knew now, I was certain they would eventually catch me and drag me back.
Rion was right. They wouldn't let me go so easily. I thought back to the faces of the council members. Not a single one of them had looked at me with true sincerity. I could see the wheels in their minds working behind their smiles, sneers, and dismissive looks. Their hungry claws wanted to sink into my flesh, to keep me in my place. I wouldn’t put it past that bunch to lock me up and have some handpicked stud rape me until I was with child. That fate would be worse than death.
I took a deep breath, pushing down the anxiety and doubt, and released it like I was letting all the worries go. I couldn’t let that happen to me. I was going to fight this with all my might. I could only push forward.
Looking up, I saw Rion waiting for me with a ghost of a smirk. He must have seen something on my face that made him happy because he nodded, and we got to work. “If you’ll turn to page three, we’ll start from the beginning.”
With renewed excitement, I opened the book I’d previously dreaded and devoured the knowledge.
“Foedus was made by seven families in total—Ambros, Rose, Ricci, Feng, Montagu, Tutu, and Maxima. Each family has historical family ties to royal lines, but they chose to stay in the background, amassing impressive wealth instead of fighting over the crown. At some points in history, these families were enemies to one another, but over time, as wars were fought and won, they came together to create Foedus.”
Rion was now standing in front of the glass wall, writing down all of the names. “The word Foedus means ‘the covenant’ in Latin. A lot of words we use are in Latin. For example, externus means outsider, and messores , which our school is named after, means reapers.”
Reapers, well that seemed fitting. It was the school that trained killers went to.
“Each family is in charge of the region they come from. The Ricci family takes care of most of the European nations south of the north Atlantic Ocean. The Ambros and Rose families both came from England, so they took care of the United Kingdom as well as the Scandinavian countries. There was a lot of fighting between them over the territory lines, so the Rose family decided to financially back the exploration and start of North America, claiming that as their new territory. The Feng family has all of Asia, the Montagu family has New Zealand and Australia, the Tutus control Africa, and the Maximas are responsible for South America. This is how they’re able to cover the world.”
All that information was enough to make my head spin. It made sense, but it was surreal to talk about the Rose family, which was supposedly my family, while having zero connection to it. It was like reading facts out for a book rather than exploring my own family’s past. I was just an observer, not a real part of all this craziness. Those people had left me in the woods to die versus raising me. How important could lineage really be to them?
“Foedus has always had a tight financial grip on the world, but there have been variables that got in their way of total domination. For example, the Constitution. They tried to burn the document, only to learn they’d grabbed one of the fakes instead.” He wrote on the board, “Lincoln assassination,” and I laughed.
“Are you saying that Foedus was in charge of the Lincoln assassination?”
He stopped writing and turned around, cocking his eyebrow. “Are you saying you think that idiot actor not only had the know-how, but also the access, to be able to kill the President of the United States in a public place without extensive help?”
The inflection in his voice told me how ridiculous he thought that was, but I couldn't help but be a little devil's advocate. “A skilled liar is a handy tool.” Eyeing him up and down, I hoped he understood my meaning.
His face fell completely. “Sure, but not everyone will fall for the lies. Mathematically, he was more likely to shoot a fly than the president if we didn't help him, making the path easier for him to tread.” He turned back around as he mumbled, “As well as making him the scapegoat.”
“What?! If he was our man, why didn't we get him out or something?”
Rion scoffed, still writing on the board. “We are not the police or the military. Foedus is not a ‘no man left behind’ kind of organization. Anyone outside of the major families is expendable. End of story. They’re just tools to use when we need them as we need them.”
He turned and capped the marker. “Do you ever wonder why this school was founded?”
I shrugged. “A way for the rich kids to network?”
Rolling his eyes, he walked toward me. “That is one minor reason, but the main reason was to cultivate the management sector. Not all of the people who come here are of the six major families. We have future chiefs of police, CIA agents, politicians, presidents, and others with the general potential to have power. Power we plan to use. We give exclusive education and networking opportunities to the major players in the world, and they eat that shit up.”
He leaned down, his eyes flashing something sinister. “Those idiots all think they’re getting a leg up in this world, but really, shackles are being placed around their necks. They are nothing to the families but tools to be used and discarded at our leisure.”
My lips parted, my eyes caught in his dark web of a gaze, and my tongue swiped along my lower lip. I knew that what he’d said was wrong, but my insides clenched when his voice got deeper. His aura felt different, more wild , and it called to me.
Fiddling with the book in front of me, I turned to a page I’d had a question about. “In here, it says that the families are forbidden from killing each other. Is that for real? Because I got the feeling from the council heads that they had no problem getting rid of anyone.”
He pulled back, casually nodding like he hadn’t invaded my space a second prior. “It is true. We are not allowed to kill any of the members of any family, but there's always a loophole for every rule. It's more like, you can kill anyone you want as long as there is no evidence to tie you to it. Since all the families have extensive training and security, it's quite hard to kill each other. Also, running our territories keeps us all busy.”
His jaw clenched for a second, and I knew that he was keeping something in. I had already told them I was done with the secrets and lies, so I asked him. “What else? What did you want to say?”
Pausing for a second, he turned his head toward me. “It's much easier to kill within your own house than someone from another family.”
I gasped, realizing what he was saying. “Did your uncle…”
With his lips peeling back, making his smile look more like a snarl, he said, “We don’t have proof, but I’m working on it.”
There was some level of hell waiting for that man, and the small vicious side of me that had just started to awaken hoped he didn't go there too soon. I wanted him to pay for his crimes—killing their parents, hurting the boys, and being an overall garbage person.
I envisioned punching him in the dick as I said, “So the rules help out men like him , huh?”
Rion went back to his normal stoic self. “The rules help all of us. Men like him have no morals, no guiding star or true north, so they find a way around everything they can just because they think it's funny.” Glaring at the page in front of me, I knew his was right, but it still felt unfair.
“Layrin…” His sudden use of my name had me looking up at him. His ever-changing hazel eyes bored into mine. “If there's anything that you retain while with me, I want it to be this: no one is on your side just to be on it. Everyone wants something. Even the most pure-intentioned individual wants something. If you want to make it in this world, it's up to you to figure out what that is and if you're willing to pay the price.”
His eyes softened just for a second before he followed with, “The ones who are good at the game know everything is negotiable. It’s all about finding the right chip to tip the scales in your favor.”