Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Genevieve
“Can’t remember the last time I had breakfast this good,” Leo said through a mouthful of food.
I smiled, flipping the pancake. “You know it's a bad habit to speak with food in your mouth?”
“Of course, Mom.” I could hear the eyeroll in his voice.
“Mom would’ve whacked you in the head with a spatula. Be grateful I’m the kinder version.”
“Totally.”
I finished the last pancake and turned to find my brother down to his last piece. I gave him six.
He raised a brow. “What? A boy’s gotta eat.”
“Mhmm.” I placed two more on his plate, leaving me with three. “You’re 23, Leo. That’s hardly a boy in my book.”
“Tell that to Dad. He called me ‘my boy’ till the very end.” He dug into his food without a word of thanks while I watched.
He had always been like that. A selfish, impulsive charmer. Our parents hated how he only looked out for himself, but I always thought he was just a kid and it was normal for all last-born children to be a bit selfish.
“He’ll grow out of it,” I always told Mother whenever she complained, but she insisted he was well past the age to know what consideration was.
Now, looking at him, I couldn’t help but notice how wrong she was. Granted, he still had difficulties with the words “thank you,” but he made up for it with flatteries and compliments.
I cleared my throat. “I’ll be going to see Mom today. Wanna come along?”
“Hate to break it to you, Gen, but I live here, which means I see both of them a lot more than I would want to.”
“But we’ve not gone together since the burial.”
“Well.” He hopped down from the kitchen island. “You’re the one who decided to go chase big dreams in the city.”
I put down the piece of food on my fork. “That’s not fair. Someone had to do something to make sure we didn’t die of hunger.”
He dumped the plate in the sink with a clang and turned to face me. “Yeah? So what’s changed? You found a new goldmine in Brighton Beach to replace your New York dreams?”
“You know I had to leave, and it worked. We were able to keep the house and you got to graduate from Kingsborough.”
His eyes shifted to the award display shelf behind me.
“I know you didn’t want to leave, but you have to admit, it worked.”
“So why did you give it all up to come back? You got a hidden stash somewhere?”
My shoulders suddenly weighed tons. “I told you I figured leaving wasn’t the best and now, I want something different from the fast life in New York.”
He paused, his gaze lowered. “I don’t think you’ll find that here.”
I was yet to tell him about my condition. Every day, I promised myself I would come around and all I needed were the right words, but days rolled by and I was yet to say anything.
My sob story about wanting to slow down and needing to be close to home would only hold for a while.
I loved Brighton Beach, it’ll always have a place in my heart, but I was always the kid with big dreams and my folks always knew it was only a matter of time till I soared off to chase them.
Leo was right to be suspicious of my sudden return, but how do I tell him I was dying?
We already lost both parents six years ago, and even though it was hardly my fault, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him I would be leaving too.
It felt like a betrayal of some sort. Being in New York shielded me from certain things, like how memories of our parents haunted every block and turn.
I’d gone to the grocery store and was hit with a vivid memory of the last time I was there with my father. I left without buying anything.
Thinking of it, I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must’ve been for Leo. I might’ve gone to chase a better life, but I was also running, and now that I was back, I was confronted with so many bitter truths.
Take for instance, Leo had gotten a tattoo and two piercings and I wasn’t aware. He’d finished college and I couldn’t make it, and in his anger, he refused to send photos.
Coming back with news like this would break him. I could almost hear him saying, “You came here to die?” and I didn’t have the answer yet.
According to my diagnosis, I still had a good amount of time left and I hoped to figure it out before then.
“I think I will,” I replied. “It’ll be different this time, I promise.”
He opened his mouth to reply when a crashing sound followed by a loud thud startled us both.
The entrance door was blown off its hinges and smoke covered the entryway.
I stood up, grabbing the kitchen knife close to me.
Brighton Beach wasn’t very crime-ridden, but it was crawling with Russians and I’d heard a couple of things.
“Leo, my boy.” A gruff, heavily accented voice announced the entrance of a large burly man with an eyepatch.
His lips curled when he saw me. “You didn’t say you had company.” His eyes felt like maggots crawling all over me. “You know we don’t like to disturb.”
“I’m his sister and who the fuck are you?” My fingers tightened around my knife, not giving away discomfort.
“Why don’t you introduce us to your big sis, Leo.” A smaller man joined the big one. He looked less menacing, but his aura was sinister. “You never told us about her.”
I risked a glance at Leo, who was white as a sheet. “Leo?”
“It’s nothing, Gen. Just go upstairs, I’ll handle it.”
“Uh-uh,” the big guy beat me to speaking. “We love a good family reunion, don’t we, Alexei?”
Alexei? What is Leo’s business with Russians who look like this?
His companion bared his teeth at me.
“Leo, what the fuck is going on here?”
Eyepatch spoke again. “Go on, Leo. Tell big sis about your big scary friends.”
“What’s taking so long?” a voice called from outside. “Bring me the boy or his body.”
A chill skittered down my spine, my mask of courage falling with it. “Leo?” My voice cracked over his name, but he wouldn’t look at me. “Leo!”
His head snapped up. “I owe them, okay. Fuck!”
“You what?”
“I’m only explaining because you’re a pretty one,” Eyepatch commented, walking towards the kitchen. I backed up a little.
“Leo here came to us with eyes full of dreams and a good pitch, and the Pakhan was kind enough to fund it on the grounds that Leo would pay back.” He circled the island, coming to stand in front of me.
“We shook on it, finalized details, only Leo here failed to keep to his end of the deal and the boss is pissed.”
“Leo, is this true?”
“Aw,” his companion cooed. He had walked into the living room and was standing close to the award cupboard. “You don’t believe us, sweetheart?”
I ignored him, focusing on my brother. “Leo?”
“I told you to go upstairs.”
“Answer me.” I was seething. I worked my ass off and starved myself of luxuries to make sure he was good, and he got himself in this mess?
“I told you to—”
It all happened so fast. One moment, Eyepatch was in front of me, and the next he was slamming his fist into Leo’s stomach.
I held up my knife, pointing it at him. “Get away from him.”
Leo cowered over, coughing and spitting.
“I was only teaching him how to speak to a lady.”
“Leave him alone.”
“Genevieve Sinclair.”
I turned to find Eyepatch’s colleague in front of the award cupboard, plaque in hand.
“This all you.”
I didn’t bother with an answer.
“Damn, Leo, ain't nothing about you here. You adopted or something?”
“He’s a good kid and he finished school and graduated. He only made a mistake.”
A beat passed before the two men erupted in laughter. I looked at them, wondering what was funny.
“Leo tell you that shit?” Eyepatch choked with laughter, turning to Leo who was still clutching his abdomen in pain. “You told her you went to college?”
“Bet he said he won a shiny award too,” the other one commented, and their laughter got even louder.
I could only stare at Leo, my head filled with both questions and disbelief.
“You didn’t go to college?”
No answer.
My fingers tightened around the knife for entirely different reasons. “Leo, did you go to college? Fucking answer me.”
“No!” he spat back.
I staggered, the knife suddenly feeling heavy in my hands. The men watched with amusement, no doubt enjoying a little dysfunctional family drama.
“Why?” My throat tightened. “I did everything, I was a good sister, our parents—”
“Didn’t give a shit about me,” he concluded.
I blinked, surprised at the outburst. “That’s a lie.”
“Enough with the act, Gen. You heard him. Where is my name in the hall of fame? It was always you, their golden Genevieve who brought home awards, the star who would one day shine up the family and make it all good with her achievements while I was thrown to the side.”
“That’s not true.” I could only muster a weak defense. “They both loved you a lot. They might’ve believed in tough love but—”
“Spare me the sob story, I believe we both know the truth.”
I swallowed my retort, this was hardly the time for an exchange. “What about me? I helped, didn't I? I sent money for the mortgage and your school fees. What did you—”
“You mean those peanuts you sent?” he barked. His face was almost blotchy. “You left me with nothing while you were out there bouncing on some rich dude's dick and sending me nothing...”
I ignored the “oooh” sound behind me. I felt as though I had been physically struck.
“So don’t come here looking at me with those judgmental eyes for trying to survive.”
“The fuck is taking so long?” The owner of the voice from outside stepped into the living room. He looked more put together and polished than the other two, I figured he must be the one in charge.
“Please don’t hurt him,” I pleaded, ready to get on my knees. If he requested his body dead or alive, his presence scared me a little more than the other two.
He tilted his head in my direction. “Who is she?”
“I’m his sister,” I blurted. “He’s just a kid, please don’t hurt him. I'll pay you, I’ll sell everything I own and I’ll give you the money.”
He regarded me for a moment. “You tell her how much he owes, Alexei?”
“$100,000.”
My head whipped to Leo. He didn’t look so confident.
“One hundred thou… One hundred thousand?”
Oh my god, my savings are only enough to pay off half the debt.
“I told you I was—fuck!” Eyepatch's fist driving back into his abdomen pulled out the guttural cry from him.
“Please!” I was on my knees before I knew it. “Please don’t take him away. He’s all I have. We’ll pay back. Just give us some time and we’ll pack, I promise.”
“Your brother here has had the whole of six months and that is way beyond our mercy period,” the man said. “The boss will be here soon and the account needs to check.”
The boss? So he wasn’t the one in charge?
“Sorry, miss, but the only options are to take him in, chop him up and get the money from the trade or whatever the boss—”
“No!” My voice was almost a scream. Even Leo’s eyes widened at the realization of how dire the situation was.
“You can’t do that to him. He’s just a kid.”
“Someone’s got to pay, ma’am, and if it ain’t him, it’ll be my neck on the table and I ain’t that gracious.”
“Then take mine.”
The room grew quiet.
“Gen…”
I ignored Leo’s voice. No way I would let my family be completely wiped away. He had to live. Someone had to live.
“I’ll do anything. I will work till the money is complete. You own the big club, right?” I rambled off, my mind no longer keeping track of the nonsense I was vomiting.
There was only one thing that mattered and it was Leo.
“… I will work till my legs give out. I’ll scrub the floors, clean up after your guests, anything. Please don’t hurt my brother.” My voice broke.
“You’ll do anything, huh?”
It was a heavy question, but now wasn’t the time to consider consequences. I was fucked either way.
“Anything.”
He regarded me for a moment before whipping out his phone and stepping out.
“Gen, don’t do this, you don’t know what these people are capable of—”
“Shut up.” I was pissed at him, my body was shaking with fury, but beneath all of it was a sliver of guilt and a voice that whispered how this was all my fault and things would’ve been different if I stayed or took him with me.
“It’s quite the sacrifice for this ungrateful brat,” Alexei commented. “You sure he’s worth it?”
“Don’t make the pretty lady change her mind, you idiot. It’s been a long time since I've seen a fresh piece of pretty.”
My skin crawled with Eyepatch’s comment, but I focused on the door, praying the man returned with good news. Whatever that meant for me.
“She has the looks, killer legs and a pretty face.” His voice preceded him. “Sure thing, boss.”
He resurfaced with a smile. “You’ve cut yourself a deal, beautiful, but your brother stays with us till your side of the bargain is complete.”