The Ghost

36. you forgot who raised me

This seems to placate her a bit, "I understand that, but you have to be the don for the next year at the very least. We can't have him trying to come back and take over because he doesn't like the way I'm trying to run things. He will at least respect your attempts to run the mafia and you stole the position in a power move against him, so he will give you a chance at keeping it successful."

Mark starts to pace around the room in anger, "Damn it!" he yells out as he punches the wall.

This is the first time she has seen him lose his temper but she knows from her own anger problems that if she doesn't do something quick he won't calm down for a while. So she walks carefully up to him, grabs his fists, and pulls him to sit down with her.

"Breath in. 1... 2... 3... Breath out. 1... 2... 3... " Galaxy leads him through a breathing exercise to help calm his temper. It takes him a few minutes, but eventually he's calmed down enough that he can release the tension in his fists.

"Now tell me what's wrong?" Galaxy asks gently. She doesn't baby him, but she also doesn't want to trigger another episode.

"No... no... no..." Mark cries. "I just can't!"

She stares at him, not judging, but simply showing that she was giving him her full attention. When it's clear that he won't be able to calm down she grabs both his hands, "It's ok, let's just talk about something else for now."

Mark nods his head weakly. "Well the group has been trying to convince me to open up a new nightclub in the territory that we just claimed after you helped us destroy that one group."

"Wow, I'm surprised it's already stable enough for you to even think about opening up a new nightclub." Galaxy replies shocked.

"Yeah I think I'm gonna do it within the next few weeks, but I wanted to run it all by you. I think I'm just going to make it one of our clean businesses that doesn't have the bartenders selling drugs too. We'll probably start with one or two dealers, but wean the club down once it becomes more successful." Mark informs her.

She thinks for a moment, "that sounds like a great idea! I love that you're going to limit the drugs in the club. I understand that some people can't handle not having the drugs so keep it a part of the scene for now."

He glances at her slightly shocked at her response, "Wow you're taking this better than I thought you would. I thought you would be like it's a new club you don't need any dealers to be there. And stuff like that."

She smirks at him, "you forgot who raised me." Then she glances down slowly, "I know exactly what it's like to be addicted to drugs. It took me a few different placements abroad before I managed to break myself out of it, but I know the pain. Eventually I talked with my supplier and convinced him that he had to help me get clean. I didn't tell him how just that I needed the help, and he started with giving me a little less each time I went to him."

"So you speak from experience when you say this will work then?" Mark glances at her sadly. When she quietly nods her head his heart breaks just a little. "Well you've shared one secret with me, I guess it's my turn then." Before he can continue he stands up and does a thorough search of the room and glances outside the door to make sure no one is listening.

Galaxy stares at him confused, but she understands that this is a big secret to him, so she doesn't press him on it.

When he finally is satisfied that no one is listening in he sighs. "So this is something only one other person in the world knows, but..." he hesitates for a moment taking a deep breath, "but I'm... gay."

He flinches away from her as if expecting her to lash out, but instead she just stands up and says, "Cool."

"Wait you're not gonna be all like you're an abomination who doesn't deserve to exist or be disgusted or something?" He asks, completely confused.

She looks him up and down, "Your sexuality has nothing to do with me. We were made to love as human beings and if you prefer to share that with men then so what. It is not my place to judge you for your love, but to accept you and give you a shoulder to lean on. If you believe in God, then who you love and how you love them is entirely between you and God. If he wouldn't stone a woman who was cheating then why would he condemn a person for sharing their love?"

(A/N this is my personal opinion about the LGBTQ+ community. If you do not agree, that is for you to decide. However I do not believe that it is ever our place to judge how we share love.)

Mark bursts into tears before burying his face in her stomach as she stands before him. She gently brushes his hair with her hand before grabbing his chin lightly, "Do not ever be ashamed of who you are. Yes the mafia doesn't particularly like gays, but you are the Don now. It does not matter how they feel about it, your opinion is all that matters. Besides Ashley is a lesbian and Jasmine is bisexual."

He continues to stare, shocked at her revelations, "Why are you telling me?"

She shrugs at him, "It's not like they're actively trying to hide it. They just don't care who knows and who doesn't."

He nods his head numbly, feeling like an idiot for making such a big deal out of this when he should have known that his sister would never hurt him because of something like this. "Well I'm off to bed now. See you tomorrow morning." She nods at him, concealing all of her anger from him.

Once he is finally out the door, she starts pacing angrily. "How dare my sperm donor scare my brother that much. How dare he convince him that it is wrong to be himself. How dare he try to change my brother! " she yells in her head.

She continues pacing for a moment before she walks out of the base to her car, getting in and speeding off as fast as the car can handle. When she reaches her destination she walks in the mansion, up the stairs, down the hallway, and into Jackson's room. The moment she sees his face, any anger that had dissipated on her drive comes back full force, so she pulls her arm back and slaps him across the face.

When he jolts awake, she whispers in his ear, "the next time I find out you hurt someone I care about, I will not allow you to exist peacefully on this earth anymore. Got it!"

He nods his head, his whole body shaking in fear of this monster he had ordered to be created.

She turns and storms out of the building hoping that soon she will get the chance to kill him.