—✩✩✩✧✩✩✩—
I'm laying in "my" bed, it's been
a few more hours
and I assume it's around ten pm
Braxton and Ethan walk into the room
I keep my eyes on the small red crystal lamp that's sitting on the dark
wood side table, I wish I could ignore
them forever but a few hours will do.
"I came to apologize," Braxton mumbles,
he looks back at Ethan who has his arms crossed and leans against
the chest of drawers "I shouldn't have-"
I don't let him finish his bullshit apology, "Exactly," I say with anger evident in my
voice "You shouldn't have done anything."
His eyes light up with rage but he doesn't express it because of Ethan, both of them
are fucking pricks.
"Sorry that you got your feelings hurt,
it was just a joke, it's not that serious."
Why do all the men who hurt me tell
me it's not serious? And he didn't
apologize for what he did, he made it
sound like it was my fault for being upset.
I start laughing at how stupid he is
and that sets him off, he starts shouting
"Why are you laughing? Do you seriously
think this is funny? I could use you as
leverage; I could demand five million dollars for your "safe" return!"
That only makes me laugh even more,
I guess no one has told him how much
people don't care for my "safe" return
"Tell me how that's funny?!"
he yells, Ethan does nothing to
stop him like usual.
I look at both of them, moving my eyes
with each word, and saying it slowly so
they understand I'm serious "He won't come get me." he's reliable like that.
Braxton scoffs and points toward the
door even though America is the other
way "Yes he will, you're the heir to his mafia, he spent years training you."
Yeah, and apparently after all of those years, I wasn't good enough,
he just decide Dylan would be "better"
Everyone remember
the pancake reference?
"He has two other kids, he won't fucking come," I raise my voice higher but then I
start to let laughter escape me
"Really, you'd be doing him a favor.
Braxton takes a few steps closer,
anger in each stomp and his eyes,
someone doesn't like to be wrong.
"You think you can trick me?!"
I probably could if I tried hard
enough, I nod and smile, hoping
he tries to attack me so I have
an excuse to break his neck
Some part of me wishes he was right,
I wish Marco cared enough to come
and help me, but that's unrealistic.
He punches me, in the same spot the
other guy did, making one
of my teeth break and start to bleed.
I attempt to grab the gun but before I can Ethan is pulling him out of the room, no emotion displayed on his face
"He won't come get me," I whisper to
myself, just a small reminder that the
only person who will help me is me.
I get up and walk into the small bathroom that's connected to the bedroom, it only has
a sink and a toilet.
I turn on the sink faucet and put my
handstogether, holding the water in
them like a cup and putting the cold
water into my mouth.
I try to get the blood out and
once I get most of it to stop
I walk back into the bedroom
When I walk back in, Braxton is sitting
on my bed, no one else is in the room.
I stay by the bathroom door and
give him the coldest look I can.
He looks up at me and smiles,
he looks creepy.
"I came to apologize" I roll my eyes and take a step toward the chest of drawers, where a small gun is neatly placed.
"You already did that-" he grabs my
waist and pulls me on top of him,
he forcefully presses his lips onto
mine and smirks while kissing me.
I do the best I can to push him away,
he digs his dirty nails into my skin and drags them down, leaving red scratch marks on my skin "Get off me!" I yell,
Which is muffled by his lips, I hit him
but he doesn't stop. What's wrong with these stupid people?! I'm already numb from earlier so this isn't as painful but
I'm definitely not enjoying it
Since I'm on top I manage
to knee him in the crotch so
I use all my power and hit him
while kneeing him all at once
I get off of him and run towards
the door, which opens and
surprisingly doesn't hit me in the face.
The man who just open the door
sends a weird feeling down my spine
Why the fuck is he here?
"Marceline Hendrix" he smiles
He sees what's going on and pulls
me out of the room and runs down
the hallway and into a separate room.
The door slams shut and I lock it,
turning around to face him
"Zander solace."
We never went to New Zealand.
Xavier reminded me that the mafia
ball is in a few days and we can't go unprepared. There is no way she will
show up at the ball, that would be
taking a huge risk that is unbelievable
I've already organized which mafias we'll
be ignoring and the ones we will consider talking to, Which Xavier has already complained about, he is convinced I'm
being dramatic when he's the only
one who seems to have a problem with it.
Celeste is the only one who thinks I should
go get Marceline before dealing with everything else. Xavier is too focused on
work to care, I'm not mad about it, I pay him to do that.
Why would she go to New Zealand, I'll be astounded if their mafia isn't already trying
to put an end to her, she better be hiding.
I haven't exactly made friends with them,
I've actually done the opposite
But for good reason, they're all idiots who abuse and manipulate anyone they
come in contact with, and their planning
isn't outstanding.
The only reason I'm willing to talk
to them is if they have
Marceline or know where she is.
Supposedly she believes I tried to kill
her, which is the most ridiculous,
outrageous, dense, idiotic, and mindless
thing I've ever heard.
Why would I try to kill her? It wouldn't
benefit me in any way, and it's a huge
waste of my time. I love her
and I'm convinced she has feeling for me.
It may be hate but things change.
Nonetheless, she still feels
something for me specifically.
"So what is wrong with the New Zealand mafia? I mean like, I heard they were good
at getting information from people." Louis asks Xavier and I
shouldn't he know these things? Marceline told me that when she was going to take
over her father's mafia and Louis was going
to be second in power like Xavier is.
Xavier glances at me from across the table
and sighs "Here we go again."
I start to speak "What isn't wrong with
them? You know why they're good at
getting information, do you know why Louis?"
he shakes his head and I start laughing while speaking
"Because they get people who never did anything, it doesn't make any sense."
I explain "They get homeless people, kids, women, men, and whatever else there is,
and then they torture them to "build" their reputation, and that's if they don't sell them
to other revolting human" everyone
in the room watches at me like I'm insane
Celeste walks into the room and everyone begins to work again "Who the fuck was
yelling in my building?!" I didn't notice
anyone so I just look toward
Xavier and Louis, who are pointing at me.
Izabella walks in and asks "Why is
Aleksander having a temper tantrum?"
I don't have that and I wasn't,
Louis asked me a question and I answered.
"I wasn't trying to start anything, I just
asked what was wrong with the New Zealand mafia, I didn't know it was that serious."
I never said it was that.
Why is everyone being so dramatic?
Celeste walks up to the table, closing the door behind her "The New Zealand mafia is just
like any other mafia." I make a noise mixed between laughter and a scoff "Not like mine."
Xavier stands up and walks over
to Izabella, while Louis smiles
and watches Celete glare at me.
"Everyone in this business is alike, so yes you're just like them." I smile and realize
that saying that is also insulting her business
"So you're little underground organization
is just like Max and his mafia?"
I tilt my head and nod in false agreement.
Louis starts laughing while Izabella and
Xavier are too caught up in their own conversation. Celeste walks over to me and slams a black clipboard into my hands
"Write down what mafias you aren't
besties with and give the
reason why then bring it back to me."
She's a comedian, she gives orders to every single individual she comes in contact with, how narcissistic do you have to be to
assume that you have that much control?
"Unfortunately you're going to have
to work a lot harder to get
that kind of information out of me."
I hand her the clipboard and stand up,
I straighten my suit, making
sure it doesn't look wrinkled or creased
"Well, I'm not selling anything to you so
you're going to do what I told you to or you
can leave my building." I don't believe that
was as threatening as she hoped it would be
I shrug and tilt my head to Xavier, letting
him know I'm leaving. Louis stands up and
lets out a loud sigh then says "why can't you both just work together?" Celeste points her finger at me "he's an egomaniac and doesn't care about anyone's safety."
that's definitely not accurate, I shake my
head and point toward Xavier and Izabella
"I care about my family's safety, and I can't believe I'm admitting this but his also."
Louis spreads his arms when he stand up
and smirks "C'mon buddy."
I frown and glance at him "You still disgust me." he laugh and shrugs "I've heard worse." he walks closer to me and tries to hug me,
I use the only weapon I have near me,
I grab my gun off the table and point it
at him. "Get away from me."
He laughs again and backs away, putting
his hands up in surrender but looking at
me with amusement
"Fine, you care about them, why are you getting in my way? I have things to do."
Celeste complains, and I just don't really
enjoy her company. "You're asking me for information with nothing in return, you
realize how unreasonable that request is?"
Her eyes narrow and look at all of us, she might disagree with everything else I've said but we both know I'm right about this.
Information is one of the best things you
can have in the mafia, everybody longs for
it and if they don't then
they don't have anything valuable.
I'd even say that it's more valuable
then money, maybe not people.
"Fine, I'll agree to work with you if you tell
me what happened with New Zealand, Max,
and the Italian mafia." She continues to
make me laugh, even when she's serious
"Why max," she flinches hearing his name,
her eyes go empty in a way that makes me believe that she was hit by a wave
filled with memories, although I can't tell
if she's scared or mad.
Her eyes go back to normal, cold, stubborn glare, that makes her whole appearance look like an illusion.
She snaps in front of my face, making me
hit her hand away like any self-respecting individual would
"Did you think you could sneak his name
in the middle and we'd just ignore it?"
Celeste scoffs "He means nothing to me, he's just like everyone else." lies and more lies,
I'm starting to accept that's all people can tell.
"If he doesn't mean anything why did you
say his name?" her eyebrows furrow and
she scrunches her face, pretending to be confused "What are-" I don't let her
finish the act she puts on for us and herself.
"You listed the Italian mafia and New
Zealand mafia; you didn't say German mafia, you said Max, not his full name, just Max."
her face goes slightly red and I realize I've embarrassed her, it wasn't my purpose for asking and now everyone is watching her
This reminds me of Marceline and my workplace, before I fucked her in my
office, on my desk, with the door unlocked;
one of my old employees named Ivan
had a bad plan and I feel like an idiot for
not realizing before.
Anyways my point was that I had to pull
her out of the meeting room because she
was embarrassed, so I get up and walk out
of the room, I point my finger from her to
the door motioning Celeste to come with me.
She follows me out into the hallway, not
many people are in it, but some periodically walkthrough.
"Are you going to tell me or not?" she refuses to look at me but taps her finger on the lousy-painted wall. I sigh and start to walk back into the room, I don't really care, I'm just asking
so we can understand each other, sort of.
She grabs my arm and pulls me back
into the hallway, I see Xavier smile
and then I'm looking at Celeste
"He and I worked together, he stole my work and became the boss, I want to get revenge." that's only part of the story, I can tell
she's picking up small pieces of their history
"You slept with him?" she backs up and scoffs "why would you assume that?" I shrug and
talk in an understanding voice "I did too."
She hits me, once, enough to feel the burn
for a few seconds on the right side of my
face, just below my eye, not enough to cause
a bruise but possibly a red mark
"Jealous?" I laugh, and she scoffs "No, just annoyed, I told you what happened so now
you tell me what I asked for."
I would've preferred more information from her but clearly, it's just a deceitful romantic relationship, like most of them.
"Would you prefer I tell everyone or just
you?" she stares at me while she thinks,
I keep a blank expression on my face.
She points at herself, telling me to only
speak to her, I go into the meeting room
and prepare myself to tell everyone.
I sit down in one of the black office chairs
and look at everyone in the room, I don't completely trust anyone but I'm willing to share this information because it's mostly
just relationships
"The Italian mafia and mine have a business deal that's mostly shipments, but it's
possible for it to break because Max,
The German mafia is closer to them."
Xavier nods because he knows most of what
I know; most information goes through him and them too me.
"I stopped working with The German Mafia for-" I stop and smile "Personal reasons." Louis laughs but Celeste pouts;
I'm not telling them it was about Marceline because she was only a part of it and I don't want to get her in anymore trouble.
"New Zealand mafia has disgusting people running it." That's all that needs to be said,
they're irritating and ludicrous.
"Explain." Celeste orders, not surprising but
I liked the silence. I'm not telling them everything because that would risk multiple people's safety, and I didn't help them just to put them in danger.
Xavier doesn't even know everything, just
very basic details "Braxton is brother to
the mafia leader, he's also second in power."
I lean back and grab the memories from a
few years ago, making sure my stories are
clear enough too not be questioned.
"Braxton was dating this girl, she was barely eighteen and he was trying to force her into a marriage, and other things." I watch everyone "They were mad because I got involved in
the situation and made their plans difficult."
I laugh, trying to make it less serious than
it is, which is what Louis is supposed to be
doing. "After I left Braxton didn't have
a wife and Ethan had a problem with his management."
That's definitely not the whole story
but they don't need to know anything else.
"You killed her," Louis asks "You fucking
killed her because you were jealous?!"
No, she's hiding in Russia, at first she was
here in America, and then with Marcus,
he didn't know who she was so it was perfect.
Her name was Adeline and she was pregnant with his baby, if she had it while she was still with them, it would've made
an escape more complicated
I'll let them believe whatever they want to,
I don't want them to think of me as a kind person because I'm not, and I don't
really care, being nice rarely benefits anyone.
Out of nowhere, Xavier blurts out "There is
a rumor that The American mafia is going to be announcing Dylan as the new heir to The Hendrix Mafia!"
We all slowly turn out heads to look at him, even Izabella does and she's leaning against the wall next to him.
Celeste makes an odd noise that's something like a scoff and a cry, she walks out of the
room and I follow because whatever's about
to happen is going to be something I want to witness
"Another thing added to my fucking to-do list!" I laugh at all the people handing us folders and clipboards while we walk down the hall,
I assume she told her employees to trust
me because they keep handing me things
for both of us to sign and read through
"Is Max one of those things?"
she hits my shoulder and grabs everything
out of my hands, walking ahead of me and
into her office saying
"I hate you, Petrov"
To quote the idiot sitting in the
meeting room named Louis Madden
"I've heard worse"
___________________________
𝟤-𝟣𝟫-𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟥