{Aspen's POV}
"Mafia... yeah that's a good one." I try to hide my concern.
"Seriously though Aspen, it makes sense." Arlo replies.
I suddenly hear a knock at my door and I hang up while hiding my phone under the blanket. The door knob starts to wiggle and some choice words can be heard through the door.
"F*cking lock... stupid Cas... Privacy my ass."
The door swings open to reveal an annoyed looking Sorin and my jaw drops. How did he-
"How did you-"
"Cant hide your secrets from me dear sister. Why would you anyways? I'm your favorite, remember?" Sorin says, closing the door behind him.
"But hey! That's supposed to be part of our deal!" I exclaim.
"I never agreed to such a deal, Cas did." Sorin replies shrugging one of his shoulders. "Anyways, I come bearing gifts."
I sit on my cloud, slightly astounded at Sorin's words. Sorin acts as if it never happened and casually sits beside me. He pulls something from behind him that makes my jaw drop once more. A mini figurine of an aspen tree with a sun carving on the bark is in his hands. I gently take the figurine from his hands to examine it closer.
"The Aspen tree represents you, and I'm the sun on the carving. I want you to know that where ever we are, I will always be with you. Even when I go on little trips like we just did, I'm always with you. I love you Aspen, even if I'm sh*t at showing it."
Speechless.
H ow t o fo rm w ord s?
Ah
whaa
Looking at the figurine and back at Sorin, I almost repeat the words back. I love him. I do. But thinking back to what Arlo and I were talking about makes me hesitant. How can you love someone if all they do is lie and keep secrets from you.
How can you love someone if you only know half of them.
"Sorin.. this is incredible." I say.
"I'm glad you like it." He shows off his dazzling smile.
I almost tell him I love it but refrain from doing so. If I say I love the gift and not him, it would be a bit strange in my mind.
I suddenly look up at him and smile widely.
"You're just a big softie."
Sorin scoffs and removes the smile from his face.
"No wait smile again! It looks better." I exclaim but Sorin emotionlessly gets up from my cloud and walks to the door. I frown. "You're ugly now."
"Correction, I'm the most handsome brother you have." He says blankly.
Ambrose is conveniently walking by the door and scoffs.
"Handsome my ass. With this face?!" Ambrose says pinching Sorin's cheek. Sorin quickly swats his hand away and frowns deeper.
"Damn right." Sorin turns so that only I can see his face and gives me a big smile before going emotionless and closing my door.
I'm left with Sorin's gift in my hands and a million thoughts in my mind. It doesn't make sense for my brothers to be in the mafia. If I really think about it, I can connect some dots though. The guards around the house, the billions of dollars they have, the guns they carry around casually, the people attacking us, the secrets they keep.
oh sh*t
They're in the mafia.
How could I be so stupidly oblivious?
I place Sorin's gift to the side and fish around my blanket for my phone. When I find it I dial Arlo's number again and he picks up shortly after.
"Miss me?" He answers
"Now's not the time Arlo. You were right, it all makes sense now."
"Aha... you've got mafia brothers." Arlo is silent for a moment. "Oh sh*t... you've got mafia brothers."
"What do I do now. You're some kind of criminal right? Drugs or something? Wait.. ARE YOU A PART OF THE MAFIA? Dang Fay told me to stay away from you because you're a criminal but I never took that seriously. Maybe I should have. What kind of drugs do you sell because I could sure use some right now."
"Aspen calm down. I'm not a criminal.. per say. Technically, I never got charged"
"Never got charged.. yeah that makes everything better."
"So I sell some weed here and there, I'm not some bigtime drug dealer." Arlo says casually.
"I mean." What do I say to this? "At least you're honest about it." I shrug although he cant see me.
"So.. what are you going to do now?" Arlo asks.
"You were supposed to tell me." I groan in frustration.
"Well sh*t, how should I know? I don't deal with the mafia, I've only heard rumors from my supplier and Osirus."
"Buttface knows about the mafia?" I question.
"Yeah, he's dealt with them before. Done a few odd jobs, it's how he ended up in juvie in the first place."
"That's just really nice you know.. this whole situation is great." I say sadly.
"Lighten up darling, I'll figure out what I can from Osirus and talk to you Monday. Deal?"
"Hold on, If I make a deal with you.. a drug dealer. does this make this whole exchange a drug deal? Am I a criminal? You know what, might as well take after the family. Deal."
"Don't do drugs Aspen." Arlo says sternly.
"You're one to talk." I hang up on him.
I somehow find raindrops falling directly into my eyes. I aggressively rub them away but they wont go. I lay down on my cloud which has now become a rain cloud from my tear drops. I eventually find myself drifting off.
[[[[]]]]
I wake up earlier than usual. It's a Sunday and my sleep has grown accustom to waking up early for school. Getting out of the comfort of my cloud, I stop at my balcony before starting the usual morning routine. I step out and look to the forest. I miss it. I miss Quest.
Enough is enough.
I need to talk to Caspian about getting Quest back.
Tears threaten to fall at the thought of Quest and I aggressively wipe my eyes which seems to work this time. I quickly get ready and make my way downstairs so that I can catch Caspian before he goes to work.
Work.
The mafia.
I cant focus on this right now, I just need to get Quest. This is operation BBQ, a side operation to WTFIEH.
Operation bring back Quest.
Making my way through this mansion, I go through what I want to say in my mind. Time seems to go by too quickly when I arrive in the kitchen where Caspian is sat drinking coffee and my mind is empty. He glances up from his phone and gives me another mock wave. I guess he just likes those huh.
"Morning" I say while moving to grab a muffin and banana.
When the goods are acquired, I sit across from Caspian and place my items on the table. I stare down at my muffin, wondering when to start talking.
"Aspen." My head shoots up to Caspian at the sound of his voice. His phone is placed face down on the table and he's leaning back in his chair.
All that seems to come to mind is how this man kills people for a living.
"Caspian." I match his tone.
"Try again."
"Yes?" I say and he nods approvingly.
"Is there something you wanted to discuss?"
I wonder if he tapped my brain. Caspian seems like the type to do something like that.
"Yes erm.. Quest. I was wondering if he could come here? It's just you know, he's my dog and I really miss him." I begin like an idiot. Sudden boost of confidence where are you?
"I see." Caspian begins. "I'll think about it."
"Please." I add.
"I'll think about it." He repeats.
{Ash's POV}
Hudson and Yarrow are sat casually on the beds in the run down motel room. I, as usual, am doing the cooking. I place the microwaved ramen in three separate dishes and bring each of their lazy asses one. As we eat, my thoughts wander to Aspen.
I miss her.
This wasn't supposed to go this far. After her brother killed my sister, that was supposed to be the end. The end of my father's gang. Of course it only added fuel to the fire.
My older sister, Dani was in line to inherit the gang. My father trained her from when she was a toddler to take over. She was incredibly skilled and my father was so proud.
But something flipped.
Dani became cruel, ruthless, and power hungry. She had all of our father's worst qualities, multiplied. My father, of course, loved Dani and all her psychotic ways. I however, saw where it was leading.
Dani was planning to kill our father so that she could take over. I couldn't allow that, it would corrupt the gang. Dani was a true psychopath, she had no mercy, no remorse, not even for killing her own father.
I had to do something. Dani would've never stopped trying to be bigger and better and she would do anything to get there. I saw that after she shot me after trying to convince her not to kill our father. It was just a flesh wound, but a gunshot nonetheless.
I reached out to one of our contacts, the American mafia. Specifically, Sorin. We've known each other for as long as I can remember. He had even entrusted me to watch over his sister who I had gotten very close to by that time. We had come up with a plan to kill Dani and hopefully wipe out enough of the gang to take it down for good.
The brother that killed my sister was supposed to make it look like an accident, which was successful. Although, my father retaliated by shooting him and his father. The mission went to sh*t and since my fathers gang is still up and running, it was clearly a fail.
My father is out for revenge. He believes he can even the score by killing Aspen.
A daughter for a daughter.
{Quest's POV}
When I found out I was having a sleepover at aunt Edith's house, I was very excited. She makes the best tasting food. But when Aspen wasn't coming it made me a little sad. It's okay though, I knew I would see her soon.
Edith and I played lots of fetch, ate lots of snacks, and had lots of cuddles. It was over all a 10/10 time.
It soon became a 5/10.
Then a 3/10.
And now, -5/10.
Aspen hasn't come back for me. Edith is very nice, but she's not my Aspen. Her scent has faded and I cant seem to remember it very well.
The days pass in a blur. I wait and I wait but she never comes.
Where is my Aspen?
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YALL WE HIT 100K IM SO EXCITED!!! THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SUPPORT AND CONTINUING TO READ.
P.S. I started on a new book. It's currently unpublished. It's also a mafia brother book but completely different to this one and all the others out there. It's a bit of a mess ngl. But if ya'll are interested, I'll post the first chapter as a gift for silence hitting 100k so let me know!
Any questions/comments/suggestions?
Thank you all! <3
Until next time :)