Cold Brew and Bullets (Part 1 of the Syndicate Series)

Chapter 25- Boxing

Eliana:

I was asked no more questions, and no more details. In the moment of confession, it had felt a little bit like the floodgates crumbled- I couldn't hold back the words once it started, but they were awful, destructive, terrible. The words were ruining me, but it gained the trust of the other leaders. Some things couldn't be described- the smell of burned coffee that I threw on the police officer, the running mascara on Lily's face as I stabbed the man trying to rape her. There weren't words that could let someone else feel it, much less live it with you as you recollected.

Everyone seemed to know that I was near my boiling point, like a pot sitting on the stove to simmer but the burner's lowest setting is still going to force it to boil over. Some of the other leaders had left, Elias did so almost immediately after the meeting after getting a text from his wife. Something about his absence made the huge house seem slightly lighter, even though I was pretty sure that he had moved past distrust to a general dislike of me. Or maybe he had a resting bitch face- I know that I did a lot of the time. Blaise and Allegra had disappeared for a couple of hours, only to reappear for a few minutes before the leader of the French took his leave. I could see from the window as Allegra stood there on the bottom steps stoically, watching his car pull away slowly. I knew that there had to be something more to their relationship, this only confirmed it.

Fynn was the only one that seemed to be friends with Alessio, or at least the closest you could get when you ran separate mobs. It wasn't a friendliness like Leonardo's, but a seeming mutual understanding and long term partnership that started with their fathers. He even stayed to have dinner and genuinely offered that I eat with them and their capos, but Dr. Montcroix had arrived to check on me and I didn't want to keep him waiting. He left the next morning, and only after he was gone did the leader of the Spaniards arrive. I didn't get a good look since I was upstairs spending time with Lucia, but I remembered Alessio mentioning that some understanding between them had placed them at odds. These men were ruthless adults in many ways, but they were also more petty than high schoolers.

Aldrich stayed for a few hours, meeting briefly with Fynn and Alessio before he stepped onto the front steps next to Allegra, who had returned from her discussion with Blaise. The way that the two of them relaxed their postures and seemed less tense made me think their previous acquaintance was a positive one. I almost asked Alessio if he knew anything about it, but I figured it was best not to be nosy into the life of a fearless assassin. It wasn't like we would ever be close enough friends to eat ice cream and gossip.

Lucia and I, on the other hand, hit it off fairly well. She was understandably busy with work, but she tried to use her free time to keep me company, which I appreciated. She had her injured brother to worry about as well, so I took the free time to look at possible classes for my next semester. I usually tried to take as many online courses as possible, but with the Russian mafia hunting me down, I had a feeling that Alessio would encourage an electronic presence even more.

I was thinking about the Russians when Leonardo and Angelo wandered into the kitchen. One of my dad's famous tortilla soups had been in process for most of the day, multiple men had poked their heads into the kitchen to ask if there would be some extra. After hearing so much public interest, I doubled the recipe.

I had my headphones in, at first humming to Your Daddy's Son from Ragtime before I got too lost in my head to notice that the music had ended entirely and moved on to Bandstand. My brain moved to the people who wanted me dead, who sliced me and broke my bones. Not just the Russians, but everyone who hurt me- foster parents, people on the streets, I was even seething at fate for putting me through everything and still daring to touch Ezrah with cancer.