devil's advocate

vingt

I couldn't tell who it was directed towards but I knew that was what I felt. I'd spent so long without a family. My entire life I thought they were some random druggies who didn't give a damn about me and yet here they were. My parents and my brothers I didn't even know existed. They were happy, happy they had found me but the only thing I could bring myself to think was why had it taken so long?

They were Corbeaus, they were in one of the top five mafia families, they had the power so why didn't they find me?

"Cèline? Mon amour petit?" Olivier called out.

"Cèline? What do you mean Cèline?" I questioned.

"It's your name." Raphael called "I took one look at you when you were born and knew that was to be your name. It means heavenly." Raphael said with a small smile.

"I'm far from heavenly Mr. Corbeau." I said with furrowed brows.

He gave a small shake of his head before speaking. "When I first saw you I thought you looked like an angel, and then I held you and I felt like I was there. You are my own piece of heaven, sweetheart."

"Heaven?" I asked with a scoff "If I was your own piece of heaven how could you let me go that easily? You stand here crying but you were never there, it's ironic you call me heavenly after all the blood I've shed. Perhaps you should've named me Lilith? After all, I'm more of a demon than an angel."

"It wasn't a choice. We wanted to raise you... for you to grow up alongside your brothers." Camilla said, it seemed she had composed herself for a moment.

"Then why didn't I?" I hissed. My chest was aching and I could only equate the feeling to pain. Pure, unrelenting pain.

"You were taken from us," she cried out as her husband took over. "You were only three. We had put you down for bed and when we all awoke, you were gone. Taken by our enemies." He hissed out as he neared the end of his sentence.

"I'm so sorry." Cedric said in a soft tone. "We failed you. And I know this might be a lot but please understand we tried everything we could to find you. We've only wanted you back home with us. We wanted to protect you, to never have you experience a drop of pain and we failed. I know that this might be too much to ask but I hope one day you'll find it in your heart to forgive us."

Any trace of anger I held seemingly dissipated. "I want to know everything."

They gave a nod and Mr. Corbeau began to speak. "We've always had conflicts with the Russians spanning back generations. For a while before you were born our families had agreed to a peace treaty of sorts. We wouldn't bother each other as long as nobody instigated anything. However it changed when Anatoly's wife Elena was killed." He sighed as his eyes clouded over.

"From that point on they had waged war on us, believing us to be Elena's killers. Anatoly took you from us when you were only three." Mrs. Corbeau continued, her voice veiled thickly in a mess of grief and sorrow.

"Did you really kill his wife?" I asked with indifference.

"No, we would never!" Raphael spoke with tears in his eyes. "Elena was my sister. She was the sole reason there was a peace treaty in the first place."

"Then why would he believe you did it?" I questioned while looking over them all. They sat with their heads bowed in sadness for their aunt. For my aunt the woman who was married to the man who turned me into a killing machine, the mother of the twins who made my life a living hell— my own cousins.

"When Anatoly had met her was immediately taken with her, and she with him. She had just gotten out of a bad breakup but they'd fallen in love so quickly and deeply that she didn't care about her past heartbreak or that he was destined for the Russian throne. He had never been violent with her but there was always something slightly... off about him. Most of my family had chalked it up to the conflicts we always had with the Russians but it was never like that for me. My father...your grandfather, had agreed to their marriage, if not for her happiness then at least for the treaty it would produce." Camille placed her hand over his clasped hands and gave a small reassuring squeeze.

"One of the last times I saw my sister we argued," I raised a brow in curiosity. "Anatoly had changed, he was becoming more and more paranoid by the day. He thought anyone and everyone was out to get him. I told her to be careful and that he would take her down the wrong path if he continued with this behavior..." he smiled sadly and continued. "She argued back saying there was nothing wrong and that she was fine and so was he. But there was this look in her eyes that I'll never forget...it was like it was too late. She stormed out to return to him and I stayed." He sighed and his voice trembled slightly. "I found out two days later that she never made it back. She was killed and Anatoly thought I was responsible."

"Did you ever find out who did it?" I pried. I couldn't help but have some semblance of sympathy for him, for all of them.

He hummed slightly before clearing his throat. "I did. It was her ex she had been with before Anatoly. He was obsessed with her and had been stalking her since she'd left him. He followed her and killed her before she could even make it to the airport."

"You were the last person she saw, that's why he thought it was you."

"Mhm, he did. Anatoly was so far gone in his madness and grief that he would not see reason and so the treaty was broken. You were taken from us as his revenge for Elena." Raphael said. "I'm so sorry sweet girl. We tried to find you, we never stopped looking."

"We allied with the Italians in order to expand our search and resources. Santiago lost his mother as a result." Camille said with a sad look.

"What?" I gasped in shock while looking at Santiago. He gave me a tight smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"They were aiming for my father and my mother took the bullet for him. I think in some way Anatoly thought that would be enough for him to retreat but it only encouraged my father to ruin him." Santiago's eyes seemed to burn with a fiery rage as he talked about his family and I couldn't help but hold that same rage. A rage for him, his parents, and his brothers; but also for mine.