Room Eight

Lev always takes the direct approach but his tactic will start a civil war among our men.

“Both of you are not wrong, but you are not right either. It’s never going to be so cut and dry.”

Lev and I both wave Gregor’s thoughts away. “Better to be prepared than hope everything will pan out. The Southern Alliance has fought for every single inch of ground we have. Men have sided with us. Some of them have lost family to the Constantines. If we bring one in, we will have bloodshed. It will be as cut and dry as we make it. Our way or no way. There are three heads of the Southern Alliance. Everyone else takes orders.”

Lev takes a seat and I move to the window. The city below is growing more congested with evening traffic.

“Elyah,” Gregor starts and I hold a hand up.

“They will see we are right. Do not forget what we are doing here,” I remind them both.

Both of my brothers push their heavy weights up and start pacing the office.

“My father did his best to rule over the Southern Alliance. As did yours. But after what happened to us they all lost parts of themselves. And now mine only has weeks left on his ticket. We have a lot to fix and he wants to know the empire will be here long after he is gone. Sapphire is two birds with one stone.”

Lev drops into a chair and throws an ankle over his knee. “Da, get her pregnant and forge ties with the men of Genesis. Easy.” He swirls the liquid of his drink as if it will tell his future.

“Not only will our men fight us,” I remind them, “but the Northern Alliance will not just let us take from them. They will come for blood.”

“You just have to make sure to get her pregnant with your child and then we will have the controlling hand.” Gregor throws me a smug look.

We both swallow a mouthful of vodka and consider the weight of what we are about to do.

“Our child, Gregor. Ours,” I correct him moments later. We knew from a young age we would go through this hard life together. Use each other’s strengths. I’ve had time to think about this. The suffering we survived was only possible because of the strength of our bond.

“We suffered together. We survived together. We will get through this, too.”

All three of us were kidnapped and tortured in retaliation against our fathers for killing the son of a rival mafia family. Now sleep is a fleeting bitch and Lev thinks I have trust issues.

I do. But I trust the plan we have made.

“I miss him.” Lev refills our glasses. “I think he would like Sapphire.”

“Do, moy droog. Da.” Yes, my friend. Yes.

Gregor is quiet. Broody. Fucker gets lost in his mind too often. He won’t say much on the topic but I know he is worried I’ll scare Sapphire away before we have a chance to connect.

Maybe he’s right. But it doesn’t matter. There’s a contract and if there is one thing no one does to the Southern Alliance that is to bail on a contract.

They could have run far away from this life when their fathers died, but Lev and Gregor both opted to stay. Family doesn’t always have to be blood. Even though we were tortured for our fathers’ sins, we all still love each other and respect what has been passed on to us.

Almost every fucker we deal with thinks they know our story. Spoiled brats who have everything handed to them.

They don’t know a damn thing. No one can ever understand the hell we went through for our fathers. We bore the torture and carry the scars because all three of us know the only reason our fathers killed the rival’s son was to save our sisters. Their daughters.

For them and anyone else in our family, I would take that torture again and again. As would Lev and Gregor.

The only way they stayed sane through the torture was by being together and supporting each other through the brutal, ugly aftermath. Lev still wakes with cold sweats and Gregor paces the halls most nights

Lev must be treading on the same thoughts as I am. He falls into a nearby chair and his knee bounces uncontrollably. It’s hard to forget the scars of our past when they are slashed into our flesh.

Two years later and we are still fighting back the demons chasing us into our dreams.

We were lucky. We didn't all make out the day Gregor got the upper hand with a guard and we fought tooth and nail to free ourselves. Axel died giving us time to get out when tens of more men filled the dank cellar, we were locked away in. We owe it to him to try and live. Hard as it might be some days.

“If we do this there is no going back,” I warn them. “Father is growing weaker by the day. The doctors say we don’t have much time.”

Gregor stands, empties his glass, and rolls his wrist around to check his watch. “It’s time.”