Conquer
verb — to gain or acquire by force of arms; to defeat and subdue.
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People think conquering is loud.
Gunshots.
Sirens.
Men yelling orders they don't have the heart or brains to follow.
But that's not how it goes.
Conquering is silent.
It's a decision made long before blood hits concrete.
Long before a boy gets zipped into a black bag on the wrong side of the city.
My little brother, Isaac, learned that the hard way.
And so did I.
The night he died, nobody screamed.
Not him.
Not me.
Not even the men who did it. They just did what conquerors do—took what wasn't theirs and forced the rest of us to live with the loss.
Ever since then, I've been trying to force life back into my control.
Force the streets to fear me the way I feared losing family.
Force myself to believe revenge means something.
But no matter how many fights I win, or deals I run, or bones I break, I still wake up with the same truth:
I'm a liar.
Control don't exist here.
Not in this life.
And if you want something—peace, power, answers—you don't ask.
You don't negotiate.
You take.
Or you get taken.
That's the rule.
And I followed it without hesitation.
Until the day I saw her.
Infinity.
The only thing I've ever wanted that I can't take.
The one thing the streets can't conquer.
And the only thing that might get me killed trying.
YOU ARE READING
Never Played
ActionJulius believes life is about taking what you want and controlling what you don't understand. But since his little brother was killed by a rival crew, his control is a lie, and his path is nothing but rage. He's locked in a cycle of debt and dangero...
