He sat in the living room with me, drinking his scotch while the soccer game played on the TV. We were twins who looked so much alike, except he didn’t have any tattoos and I was covered in them. Other than that, people claimed we were identical. He was a little burlier and I was a bit smarter, so we were apples and oranges in my eyes.
I didn’t see any resemblance.
Our personalities were just so different. He was a lot quieter, subtler. And I was the biggest smartass on the planet. It was late in the evening, almost midnight, and it was the time I usually got my day started.
Balto was a domesticated animal now, so he went to bed at a reasonable hour, but he didn’t struggle to stay up with me because he was used to my late-night visits. He finished off his glass before he set it on the coffee table, cutting back and drinking a third of what he used to. “So, you outlawed trafficking everywhere?”
I nodded.
He shook his head slightly. “Wow…you’re a braver man than I ever was.”
“I’ve been saying that for years.”
Now he shook his head for an entirely different reason. “You’re going to get a lot of pushback for that.”
“Oh, I know.” I set down my glass. “I’m trying to turn it into a prostitution business. I’m hoping we can charge more for each girl so the businesses will still thrive, maybe even make more. It’s a slow process, and everyone is watching every little thing I do.”
“Has Vox been a problem?”
“Not yet. But I think he’s waiting for me to crash and burn.”
“Never drop your guard around him.”
“I never drop my guard around anyone.” I would just kill Vox if it wouldn’t upset the rest of the Skull Kings. I couldn’t kill one of my own without justifiable cause. Vox not liking me wasn’t a good enough reason, and it would probably result in my own death.
“Why are you doing this?” He took his gaze off the TV and looked at me, possessing blue eyes that were identical to mine. “When I outlawed it in our organization, you weren’t thrilled about it.”
I dropped my gaze, and I actually felt ashamed for that. “People change.”
“Not people like you…not without reason, at least.”
I shrugged in response.
As the silence passed, he read the expression on my face as if he had access to my thoughts. He’d always been that way, studying someone like he could see what was underneath. It made people writhe, made people break under the intensity and admit their sins. Maybe it really worked. Or maybe it was just a ploy. “There’s a woman, isn’t there?”
I forced myself to laugh. “Woman? Me? No.” I took a drink.
My brother continued to study me, reading between the lines. “There’s no shame, Heath. Look at me.” He nodded to the wall, where a picture of him and his wife was hanging. She was in a wedding dress, and he was in a suit. “I gave it all up. She was the thing that changed me. I have a feeling the same thing changed you.”
I hadn’t told the Skull Kings the real reason I was making so many changes. I pretended it was all business, because if I spoke the truth, I would lose the respect of every man underneath me.
“What happened?”
I didn’t feel like telling every single detail of the story, so I recounted the shorter version. “Yeah…there is someone. She was captured by Popov’s men, and when I saw her down there in the cage, I let her go. She asked me to free the other girls, and I promised I would. Then I started to feel sick, collecting money off girls like that everywhere else, and I just couldn’t do it anymore.” I bowed my head in shame, feeling like less of a man because of what I used to do. “I decided to make a change.”
Balto stared at me with an unreadable expression, taking time to gather his thoughts. “I think you did the right thing.”
I met his look. “You don’t think I’m a pussy?”
“Fuck yes, I think you’re a pussy. You were smart to mask your true intentions as a business venture, at least. But I’m a pussy too.” He grabbed his empty glass and clinked it against mine. “When do I get to meet her?”
“It’s not serious.”
“Changing the infrastructure of your organization says otherwise.”
“Like I said, I didn’t do it for her. I just feel differently about it now. She and I… It’s really complicated. It’s never going to go anywhere. I’m just going to enjoy it before it blows up in my face.”
“Why does it have to blow up in your face?”
I grabbed the bottle of scotch and refilled my glass because I thought I needed a bit more. “Damien is her brother…”