Chapter three
My head tried to wrap around what Levi told me, when we were on our way, wherever Levi had directed them to. Levi had a brother? And he never told me about him? I felt slightly hurt by this. I knew his family mantra involved not trusting people, but this was huge. Even for him.
I looked between the faces of the few of us in the van, and noticed the uncomfortable looks, in some of their faces, then turned my head back at Levi. "What's the deal with your brother and why is everyone acting like we're walking on eggshells just by talking about him?"
T.j hummed. "That's because we're not supposed to talk about him. An unspoken issue, at most."
Now I was more confused. Why weren't they allowed to talk about him? Levi looked too deep in thought, to pay attention to anything around him.
Laurena tightened the grip on the steering wheel. "He's a fucking traitor, that's what he is. Whatever plan you have in mind, Levi, I want none of it. There's no way we'd take help from him. There's also no way he'd really want to help us. Not after everything."
Levi gritted his teeth. "We have no choice."
Laurena scoffed. "Yes we do. Let's go back. Let's meet with the council. Why should we bother ourselves with the people who are captured, and risk getting on the bad side of the council?"
The guy—who I recognized as the one who couldn't stop talking about Eloise, earlier today— sent Laurena a furious look. "Can you even hear the bullshit you're saying?"
Laurena didn't seemed fazed by his words. "Think about it. What happens when we save them? What happens next? Do you think the Council would let us in back?"
I scoffed. "Let's deal with one first, and worry about the other."
Laurena didn't budge. "What if we can't save them? I'm not going to risk my life saving a bunch of people that I've hardly ever interacted with. I only care about one person, and that's Red. Since he's safe here with me, then I don't need to bother myself with anyone else."
T.j, who never seemed to show any indifferent form of emotions, instantly lost his cool. "You selfish human being. How dare you pretend like none of them matters? It's no longer a choice anymore. We are going, no matter how much we don't like Odell, because we aren't doing it for ourselves anymore. We're doing it for them."
Laurena looked perplexed, by his outbursts, and instead, chose to say nothing. Levi, on the other hand, had a lot to say. "You're lucky Red's in the other van, because he'd be so disappointed in what you said. Might possibly leave you."
Laurena's eyes narrowed. "So what are you insinuating?"
"I'm simply saying that you need to be on your best behaviour. Our destination's a long ride from here, and we'd hate to waste time reporting such harsh words to him. He's been patient with you. Let's not give him reasons not to be."
I had questions to ask, especially about Odell. I wanted to know why he was such a touchy subject here, and why everyone practically erased him out of existence. "What did Odell do that's making every where seem like a grave yard just by mentioning his name?"
Levi raked his hand down his hair. "Odell Caden is my adopted older brother and also the former leader of the Strikers Unit."
My eyes widened. Levi wasn't the first Caden to lead here? Instantly, everything began to click. From Aliyah's hostility (she had to deal with two Cadens as leaders, while she never got the chance to) and the sensitive talk about a former leader no one ever talked about. I couldn't help wondering what went down. How did a beloved member of the Caden family turn to the most hated person ever mentioned? "What did he do?"
Levi said quietly. "He left."
My eyebrow raised. That was all. He left? I knew the severity of a leader leaving, but that wasn't enough to make a lot people to hate him. "He left?"
Laurena's voice rang. "That's not all. He left his girlfriend and their child, and caused a lot of fucked up shit."
I asked. "Like what?"
Levi said glumly. "He's entangled with the first and so far the only suicide in the Clandestine."
"I'm confused. Who died?"
Levi didn't seem comfortable talking about it. "Her name was Feyi. She uhm died under unfair circumstances."
"Can you be a little specific?"
Levi tightened his fist, almost like he didn't want to speak about it. Laurena instead, did the talking. "Feyi was in love with him, but he wasn't interested. Everyone knew that Feyi was a little crazy, kind of psycho, and she was obsessed with him. So it wasn't weird that she followed him around, as usual. But one day, he flipped out, he said something that disorientated her. Probably insulted her, I don't know. But a lot of people saw it, they say it wasn't pretty. The following morning, she killed herself. A week later he left completely. He left my best friend, who had to raise their kid all alone, and left the Clandestine to deal with HIS mistake."
T.j sighed. "I remember what he said, because I was there. He made mention that it was her fault that all her family was dead. They died, when they tried to resist her arrest from the enforcement agency. She already had an underlying psychosis. The reminder practically drove her insane. She wrote a suicide letter. Odell was all in it. It didn't bode well with people. He cut everyone off, and everything changed in his administration. Besides, Vikram Caden doesn't want us talking about him. He's salvaging his image and we had to follow his lead."
I looked at Levi, who wore a tight expression on his face. This looked like it was harder for him to do, than anyone else. This was his brother, and he looked so miserable doing this. I could feel his pain, and couldn't help entangling my hand with his. Without looking at my face, he pulled his hand away, and wore a stoic look.
I felt baffled. His whole reaction was alarming. Normally, he always needed emotional support like this, but it looked like he just wanted to be left alone.
Levi's voice pulled me away from my distant thoughts. "We're here."