Chapter 49
Dash
There ’ s a slight buzzing in my ear, like the last grains of the hourglass being sucked into the bottom chamber. I look at the screen; Mila ’ s in my bed, sleeping.
She ’ s safe for now, but everything is about to change. I wish I could freeze her in this image until the blood has been cleared away.
After Damian and Titan dropped their bombshell, we had to meet with the Brotherhood. We decided it was time to take control, and we hoped that in doing so, this secret group that controlled our parents would step out of the shadows. We just needed a target so we could plan an attack. Hopefully, this huge shift in power would make them show themselves to us.
April 1st would be the day we each took over the family business, whether our parents agreed or not. Which means some of the most powerful men in the world were about to be dethroned.
Our dads must have known this was coming; after all, they trained us to do so. They taught us how to hate and how to take power. They made us do this to them.
Leo and I had it easy since our dads were dead already. But everyone else would have to either shed blood or find a way to ensure their parents didn ’ t control them.
“ If I ever thought Mila was in danger, I would have pulled her out.” Titan declares as he enters the storage room. His presence stains the air, polluting it.
I look at him from the corner of my eye. I should have locked the door to the storage room. I just want to be alone…and be with Mila. Her art is an extension of her.
“ I lied to you. It was wrong. I fucked up. I ’ m sorry.” Titan remains at the door, blocking my exit.
“ Do you think Damian can do it?” I look straight ahead as I change the subject.
“ Does that mean you forgive me?” He pushes off the wall and comes closer.
“ My father once told me not to trust you or Damian; he said even blood will try to kill you.”
“ You know it would never come to that.”
My eyes slide to him, “ Then never lie to me again.” My voice deepens, “ And don ’ t you ever fucking risk Mila.”
His feet shift, “ Understood.” He closes the distance and comes to sit on the floor next to my chair. “ I know Damian will kill his father, but I worry about how it will affect him,” Titan admits.
I share that worry. “ We could always kill him for Damian.”
Titan kicks his legs out. “ Damian would never forgive us.”
“ What about the other guys? What do you think they ’ ll do? How will April 1st play out?”
The day we craved was almost here, but instead of wearing wide grins, each breath we took felt forced. Changing the future was terrifying, and pretending otherwise would be foolish.
We had always been under our parents ’ thumbs. Soon, we ’ d be the hands gripping the world.
There will be small battles after this—others will test us to see if we deserve the power we claimed. It will take years to control what our fathers had built.
We knew this. Mila needs to be far away until the dust settles—until we defeat the powerful ones who have control over our parents.
“ I think Cillian will have no problem killing his uncle; the hardest part will be after. Their loyalty to blood runs deep, and they will see this death as a betrayal. I think Dante will strip his mother of power. We all know he can’t kill her. That bitch is going to come back to bite him. Once we all get settled, we need to keep a close eye on him and those he cares about. They will be his mom ’ s first target.”
“ What will you do?” I look down at him sitting on the floor. Memories of us as boys sitting on the floor of his dad ’ s office flood me, making it hard to breathe. We ’ d be forced to sit in on those meetings, but we were not deserving enough to sit in a chair, so Titan, Damian, and I would sit on the cold floor near the fire like dogs. We were not allowed to speak; we just listened and observed how a king ruled.
I remember seeing Damian with bruises and Titan, too. We ’ d each reach out behind our backs and just touch one another in a silent gesture of support. Our dads would have never allowed us to embrace.
One small touch meant the world to me.
“ I ’ ll do what I need to do. I could never dethrone my dad and let him live.” Titan ’ s words are choked. He ’ s the strongest guy I know. Yeah, our fathers are horrible, but knowing it comes to this, killing our makers is a mental challenge unlike any we have faced.
I slide off my chair and lean back as I join him on the floor. Our conversations mute when I reach out and touch his fingers, just like we used to do as broken boys.
His eyes look at our hands before he swallows hard and interlinks our hands. “ I ’ m sorry.” His words hold a weight far beyond what letters can express.
“ I can do it if you need me to.” I offer.
His lip tugs up. “ I already promised Nova she could be there.”
“ You ’ re going to bring her when you kill your father?” I stiffen. “ You really trust her?”
“ Yeah, I do.” He nods. “ After her parents were killed, her uncle took her in. He ’ s the boss of a bratva in Russia. He sent her to a juvenile prison.”
“ That explains the batshit crazy she is.”
He growls.
“ Joking,” Not . I elbow him.
“ She survived one year there by the skin of her teeth. During that time, someone was sending her photos of me, looking like I was enjoying my life. It was all my dad, ensuring she would come back into my life for revenge.”
The layers of my uncle ’ s depravity continue. “ Why?”
“ Because games of manipulation are all my dad knows. He said he needed to know Nova would be tough enough to be my wife.”
“ So he ’ s been planning this since you and Nova were kids?”
“ Not just him. Those who are controlling him.” Titan ’ s wide eyes look at me.
“ I owe it to Nova to be there, to take the final shot.”
“ And how do you think the people controlling our parents will react?”
“ I think this is the push and shove we need to make them step out of the shadows. Soon, we will know who thinks they grant us the air we breathe.”
“ A nameless, faceless enemy is either a foe not to be trifled with or a coward. Let ’ s hope it ’ s the latter.”