2. Prince
Chapter two
Prince
The traitor's screams echo off the walls of the abandoned warehouse, but I remain steadfast as Angel breaks yet another of his treacherous fingers.
Most men talk after the first finger, but this one is insufferably persistent. So earnest in preserving the secrets of the woman and family he works for.
So goddamn desperate to uphold his honor .
But men like us don't have honor. Not really. Even if it is ingrained into our subconscious from the moment we can walk and talk.
We're mafia men, and we like to stain our hands red with the blood of our enemies.
I'd suspected him of being a traitor from the get-go. Hence why I hired him to work for our organization in the first place.
But really, he’s been working for Regina White the entire time.
My fists curl as I think of that deplorable woman.
Head of White Incorporations and the widow of our late enemy, King Leroy White I.
The man was never a king in the traditional sense, but he pretty much ran this city. His company stretched far and wide, having shares in many industries, ranging from construction to entertainment and technology.
Yet many considered him a king, even our fathers, who once worked and bled for him.
Men who gave their all only to be killed by the man years later.
My father, Samuel, sacrificed everything for King Leroy. He even gave up raising his boys—his three sons, Hunter, Timothée, and yours truly, Prince.
Then there was his younger brother, Terrence, and his four sons: Knight, Saint, Angel, and Casper.
We're all made men, and everything we do, we do in the name of the fathers we lost serving that man.
Our father was absent most of our lives, and he failed to notice that our mother was severely depressed, relying on drink as a crutch until she eventually drank herself to death.
I still remember the morning I found her lifeless body in her bed. How I held on to my younger brothers while the paramedics carried her away.
“Where are they taking Mommy?” Hunter had piped in that innocent child’s voice, the one that still believed in the magic of Christmas and all the joy it brought.
He had been four.
Timothée six.
And me… I was barely a day over nine. But since I was the eldest, I had no choice but to be the adult because Father was too busy doing King Leroy’s dirty work.
“Mommy!” Hunter had pleaded over and over, still too young to comprehend that Mommy was never coming back, that she was gone from our lives forever.
Father eventually came home. And instead of being there for his sons, he only worked himself harder, taking on more jobs for the king who only let him down.
And our uncle, too.
Both men sacrificed everything for that man, only to be slain by his men later.
I have many regrets, but my biggest regret in life was that I never got to be the one who killed that man in the end.
The so-called former king Leroy only went and offed himself, which I guess is rather humbling.
Perhaps he did the world a favor, who knows, but the only way I can get my revenge now is by going after his widow.
And now, that widow has taken the helm of his dirty, underground kingdom, and her wickedness almost makes me miss Leroy.
At least that man had some restraint. And at least he had the decency to off himself.
Regina White is something else.
A true rarity.
You see, women don’t do so well in our world. They either end up killed or killing themselves like my mother.
May she rest in peace.
Women are never given a second thought in our realm. It’s always the sons who are expected to take on the burdens of the family and to uphold the honor that such a responsibility provides.
Daughters, however… they exist for convenience. They’re tools for keeping peace between warring families through marriage or other arrangements.
Women have no free will in our world. It’s how it has always been.
I just thank my lucky stars that Mother never gave birth to a daughter.
No doubt I would have watched my sister sold off like a cow at an auction.
Fuck. My palms are bleeding from digging my nails into the skin. But that’s what happens when you get lost in the ghosts of the past.
They steal you away from the present, making you forget.
For a moment, I was nine again, holding onto my crying brothers.
I haven’t shed a tear since that day.
I had to be strong for my brothers, for my cousins…
Queen Regina is going down. We just need to learn about her first.
What are her weaknesses? We’re all too aware of her strengths.
The woman is hard to get to. She has guards surrounding her estate twenty-four seven, and her disciples are fucking brutal, just like the pathetic excuse of a human being bleeding in front of us.
With a sigh, I step away from the wall, giving my designer watch a cursory glance as I place a hand on Angel’s shoulder.
It’s been long enough now.
My cousin turns my way, regarding me with that single ice-blue eye.
He lost the other in a nasty fight.
Angel wears an eyepatch now to cover the missing eye, almost as if he's ashamed.
He needn't be. The missing eye is a show of his strength and brutality. It shows how far he will go to protect his brothers, his family.
A mark of his honor.
Someone tried to slice their knife at his younger brother, Casper, a few years back, so, of course, Angel acted accordingly.
I’d have done the same thing.
We all lost touch after our fathers died. Angel and his brothers still had their mother, and she took them away to another city so they could have some semblance of an ordinary life.
Meanwhile, me and my brothers were raised by an uncle on our mother’s side. A good man who died a few years ago.
Yet, this world always has a way of catching up with you in the end.
We were always going to be mafia men, whether we liked it or not. Knight even went to college to become a doctor, and I guess it comes in handy having a medic in the family.
He sees to all our war wounds.
Casper trained in theater at university, though I can’t imagine him singing and dancing on stage, given how quiet he is. Despite that, he’s pretty good at it, at least from what my younger brother, Hunter, tells me.
We all eventually reunited again as adults and vowed to make Leroy pay.
Saint, Angel, Knight, and Casper may be my cousins, but more than that, they are still my brothers.
After all, we share the aquiline nose. As did our fathers.
We're Diamante men. And that makes us strong.
"I'll take it from here, brother,” I say.
Angel’s one eye flashes in the dimly lit warehouse, and it can take him several moments to collect his composure after he lets his beast out.
He sure is a sight to behold. With his long, silvery hair, Angel looks as if he stepped right out of the pages of a fantasy book.
A fae prince in the flesh.
His identical twin, Saint, is the exact same.
The only difference is that Saint still has both of his ice-blue eyes.
Sometimes, they like to screw with us and pretend to be the other. Saint will sometimes wear his own eyepatch around the house and act like Angel.
While I commend their humor, they’re best to save their trickery for our enemies.
Angel finally takes a breath, handing me the bloodied pliers before he rejoins his brother.
Now they both lean against the wall with their arms crossed, perfect reflections of each other. Saint being right-handed and Angel being left-handed.
When Angel props his left foot upon the wall, Saint props up his right, and I shake my head, turning my attention back to our victim.
Saint has removed four fingernails. We still have another four fingers and two thumbs to go.
This may very well be the moment we have been waiting for.
It's been nine long years.
My arm shakes in anticipation.
I look around, catching the gaze of my brothers—Hunter and Timothée, though the latter prefers to be called Moth.
Hunter isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Moth regards the piece of shit before me with a scowl.
I don't think he has smiled ever since our mother died.
But maybe we can finally put a smile on his miserable face by getting the revenge we all seek.
There have been so many dead leads that led nowhere, but something feels different this time.
I can feel it.
My eyes travel the warehouse, landing on my two other cousins.
Casper prefers to watch our dealings on the sidelines, fading in and out when the blood gets to be too much, but Knight watches with all the intensity of a doctor.
Blood never fazed him, hence why he passed medical school with flying colors.
He finds me staring then gives the thumbs up, and that wide, psychotic grin stretches across his face.
Is he happy that we're about to avenge our fathers? Or that he is about to be gifted with the sight of carnage?
I can never tell.
He’s always so pleasant most of the time, but when he lets that psycho out, the whole world tips upside down.
Finally, I glance at the twins. Saint nods, giving me the go-ahead, and now I gaze down at our victim.
I was a little late to arrive today as I was busy fixing up some discrepancies in the mining enterprise passed down to us from our late fathers.
They were the original founders, and it made them filthy rich. Hence why they caught the eye of a vulture like King Leroy White I.
I'm not sure who did the number on our victim’s face, but I suppose that's what he gets for trying to thwart our business. He was caught red-handed trying to steal one of the shipments at our private airport.
I start taking off my suit jacket, handing it to Hunter.
Then I roll up my sleeves and face the traitor. "So, you ready to talk?"
The traitor squeezes his eyes, and to my dismay, his mouth remains shut.
A shame.
"Are you going to tell us, or do we have to torture it out of you again?"
He glares at me. "Fuck you, cunt."
He spits blood and saliva at my designer shoes, and I give a sigh.
I just had these shined, too.
Without warning, I swing my arm, throwing a right hook at his cheek. Then I send another punch to the other side of his face, so it doesn't feel left out.
I make sure my medallion ring hits true, taking out a tooth or two.
Blood spurts from his mouth, and now he coughs and gasps for air.
"Just tell us what we want to know. Why did Regina send you?"
He chuckles. "Like I'd tell you, Diamante."
"Why did she try to take our shipments?"
I already know the reason. Regina was just trying to bait us. Forcing us to retaliate.
We had guns in that cargo—guns we use to arm our men.
Ever since I declined her offer of a partnership several years ago, she’s had it out for us.
The prick sneers at me with blood-stained teeth. "I'll never betray my queen..."
Oh, here we go.
I should have known.
Pussy whipped.
Powerful women like Regina can have that effect on lesser men. That’s the real reason why the men of our world are wary of women.
There is nothing more alluring and dangerous than a woman’s dripping cunt, and Regina… well, she knows exactly how to use hers.
It’s her greatest weapon, as well as that brain.
Brains and beauty. A deadly combination.
I tut, shaking my head. "That's just too bad. I was really hoping that you would cooperate. Well, guys, he's all yours. You know what to do."
My brothers and cousins descend on the man, and I step back, watching as they all take turns beating him to a pulp until he is no longer recognizable.
Soon, he becomes a sentient lump of crying meat with broken teeth, but the sight of death never upsets me anymore.
Not since I found my mother’s cold, dead body in her bed and spied those bloodless lips.
Still, even the pitiful sounds of his cries are enough to stir my gut, and I’ve finally had enough, heading for the exit.
I have a car waiting outside.
The sentient lump cries out, and I’m surprised he can still speak.
"Wait! I… I…"
I stop, watching from the corner of my eye. "Well?"
The man sobs. "If… if I tell you something… w-will you let me go?"
I think for a moment. "Maybe. It depends on what information you tell us about Regina."
He heaves a breath. "R-Regina…isn't the sole heir to White Industries."
A ripple goes through the warehouse as we all stiffen at the comment.
Not the sole heir? As far as I’m aware, Leroy had no heirs.
He'd had a wife once who’d died, but she never bore any children, which I always considered a blessing.
But that doesn't mean that Regina hasn't been wreaking havoc and making our lives hard.
"Oh? Is that so?"
"He… he had ad-daughter…"
My heart pounds in anticipation as a plan starts to formulate in my depraved mind.
"And what is the name of this unfortunate young woman?”
Finally, he shuts his eyes. "Snow White."
An unsettling silence befalls the Diamante men. Then I laugh, an eerie sound that shocks even my brothers.
"Thank you for your cooperation," I reply.
I turn to my brothers. "Kill him."
I don't stay and watch as I climb into the back seat of the company car. Nor do I stay long enough to hear the gun go off, and now I wonder which of them pulled the trigger.
Our clean-up crew should arrive soon. Not that the local police have ever been a problem.
We own them, after all.
My mind is still reeling with what I’ve just learned.
So, Leroy the King White had a daughter. One who he conveniently never told a soul about.
A truly sheltered princess.
One I am going to enjoy tainting.
We may just get our revenge after all.