And that leaves us.
The rest of the younger generation has already gone to bed, though we all know they’ll sneak out to find us once everyone leaves or once they’re all too tired to pay attention. Half of the siblings are in high school and want to experience life to its fullest, the rest are jealous of both and still sneak out with teddy bears in their hands, and thumbs shoved into their mouths.
Except after the thumbs come out, they almost always ask when they can start fight training or if blood really is hot when it comes out of someone’s body.
I only know because of the few times I’ve stayed over—it happened before my very eyes.
The difference, though, between these families and mine?
It’s love.
As simple as that.
They fight. They Kill. They protect.
But in the end, it’s all to protect the love they have for one another.
My now-dead dad? My uncles? My family? They’ve done all those things, but in the end, it’s about money and power.
What a sad existence.
“We are NOT watching John Wick again!” Ash roars above my thoughts.
“He’s hot!” Annie says.
“Agree!” Serena comes up for air. “Did you know that he actually ends up killing around seventy—“
“Veto!” Maksim suddenly yells.
Valerian grins. “Same!” A ping pong ball goes flying, hitting him square in the face. “You did that on purpose!”
“It slipped?”
Tank, a made man and former FBI agent walks in then stops, his wife Kartini at his side. “I feel like this is a bad time?”
“It’s always a bad time!” Ash yells. “When Keanu cock blocks you!”
“Wait, you know Keanu?” Tank asks.
“IT’S A MOTHERFUCKING METAPHOR!” Ash screams.
“She’s pregnant.” King nudges me and whispers, “Annie, because of his past and whatnot, he’s been… emotional, not to mention more difficult than usual.”
“Isn’t that her job? You know being pregnant and all?” I whisper back.
“One would think.” King chuckles, and then his face falls as if he realizes that isn’t going to be his future.
“Let’s go make a drink.” I elbow him.
He looks down at me. His eyes sad, dark. “Sure, whatever you want.”
That’s the problem.
I want him to be happy.
And I’m afraid that he thinks he needs me for that to be so.
Chapter Five
“I don’t suffer from insanity but enjoy every minute of it.” —Edgar Allen Poe
King
Drama, always the drama with my family, and I really wouldn’t want it any other way as I watch Del completely fall into step with the girls. Naturally, they win, and John Wick is the movie of choice. Fucking Keanu Reeves and his inability to age. He’s a vampire. I know it. I just need to prove it… you know when I’m not busy killing people and trying to stay sane while participating in an arranged marriage.
Truth, stranger than fiction. See also: My life.
“Such bullshit,” Ash says to my right while Junior grunts his agreement.
I smirk to myself. “Like you guys can talk, you’re getting sex on the regular, so what if Keanu turns them on? Just think about what happens when the movie ends.”
I really shouldn’t have said that since all it does is make me think of all the sex I’m currently not having when a year ago, I was asking my twenty-three-year-old tutor if she liked it when I pulled her hair.
“Sex,” Maksim says matter-of-factly and then starts to smile—correction, he smirks like he’s about to teach a sex-ed class and get fired in the process. “You know, it’s really interesting if you—”
“What the hell is wrong with people not understanding the whole boundary thing with sisters?” Ash wonders out loud. “At least Valerian’s stopped being—”
He stops talking.
We look in the direction he’s looking as Valerian has Violet pinned against the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist.
“GET A ROOM!” Ash shouts.
I sigh while Maksim pats Ash on the back. “You’re turning red again.”
“Why does nobody respect the rules?” he asks nobody in general.
I have no answer for him because I’m completely distracted by the beautiful girl laughing with Serena and Annie on the couch.
They’re watching Keanu like he’s the second coming.
And I can’t bring myself to be pissed about it, not when she’s smiling like that, not when she seems freer than I’ve ever seen her.
I can’t think back on that moment. The one that solidified our relationship. Where I told her father I would keep her and promised to kill anyone in my way, including her uncles.
I’m pissed her father saw a way into the Families that was almost too easy. Thank God he was dead—no love lost there, but the Buratti Family still wanted too much.
Myself included.
They wanted me. At the end of the day. I was also part of this bargain.
Whatever it took, though, to keep her safe.
She never told me if he put hands on her, but I could only imagine a man like that most likely saw nothing wrong with hitting a woman. I may be a son of the mafia, but one thing our parents always made sure we knew…