Lord of London Town

Breathless and tasting the blood of my enemies coating my teeth, I walked outside the Russian buildings. The sun was starting to rise over the Big Smoke. I pulled out a cig and sparked up the bloodstained stick. I took in a long drag and turned to the soldiers and my family, who were exhausted but buzzing like electrical wires from their kills. I looked at my sisters; their first kills had given meaning to their usually boring lives. No more shelter for them. They were in this shit now too.

“This isn’t over. This is far from fucking over.” I paced in front of them. “They’ll be coming for our docks. They’ll be coming for our routes. They’ll be coming for our territory.” I stopped and pointed at each member of my family. “They’ll be coming for our throats.” I smiled coldly, knowing that Russian blood stained my teeth, and shouted, “LET THEM FUCKING COME!” I closed my eyes and took in another drag, then with a fucking grin on my face said, “Let them try and take us Adleys down. We’ll see who dies first.”

Police sirens wailed in the background. “Go,” I said and walked to the van. My family followed me inside. We were silent all the way back, the stench of gunpowder and wet blood clogging the air.

When we stopped outside the church, I walked inside and went straight to my father’s room. I stopped dead when I entered. He was lying in his bed, tubes and wires sticking out of him, machines creating a fucked-up halo around his head. He was covered by a white sheet. He already looked dead.

“Coma,” my grandma said from behind me. I stared at my dad’s sleeping face. He was grey and already had one foot in the grave. Grandma stood beside Dad and brushed his hair back from his face like my mum used to do to me. “The doctor doesn’t think he’ll ever come out of it. He saved him. But he has no life left in his brain. His body may be alive, but his soul is already below ground.”

I let those words wash over me, but I didn’t let them strike me. I didn’t let them cause me any fucking pain. Nothing would ever cause me fucking pain again. I wouldn’t let it.

“Is it done?” Grandma asked. I nodded. She ran a cold flannel over Dad’s forehead. “That was one battle in what will be a heavily fought war, Artie,” she said, and I knew it to be true. All of London and beyond would be trying to take my father’s place in the crime underworld now.

I wasn’t going to let that happen. There was a new fucking king in the castle.

I went into the shower, ignoring the blood washing from my skin. When I got out, my fucking skin was itching, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I threw on some clothes and grabbed my phone and wallet. As I passed by the living room, I saw my brothers and sisters inside.

“Where are you going?” Eric asked.

“Out,” I said. Their eyes latched on to me.

Just as I was about to go, Charlie said, “She won’t understand what’s going to happen.” I stopped dead. My muscles tensed, and my anger built so high I thought it would incinerate me on the spot. I turned to my cousin. He was smoking his pipe, but his eyes were glued on me.

“She isn’t from this world. The things that will have to be done to keep our firm from being discarded … she won’t get it, Artie.” I thought of green-brown eyes and brown hair and the pussy I’d been fucking and licking for five bloody years. The fucking addictive cunt that always drew me back to her, time and time again.

“I’m leaving,” I said, my deadly gaze telling Charlie to shut the fuck up. She was my fucking heroin. I wasn’t giving her up.

“She’ll get hurt,” Charlie said, and this time I rounded on him. Charlie didn’t flinch as I met him toe to toe, ready to rip his fucking head off if he spoke one more time. I felt my brothers and sisters watching us, but Charlie kept his voice low enough so only I would hear his next words.

“I know you like her, Artie. Really fucking like her. We all know this is more than a fuck, despite how you make it seem. We’re not stupid.” His hand landed on my shoulder. “But you’re the Adley boss now. No longer the heir. With that comes a lot more responsibility. With that comes a new target on your head.” Charlie stepped back and lifted his whisky into the air. “The king is dead; long live the king.”

Despite wanting to rip out his fucking tongue, I knew my cousin wasn’t being a prick. I saw the fucking pain in his eyes as he spoke. My father wasn’t dead, but even if he ever woke up, he wouldn’t be in any state to lead this firm.