“You aregoingto go to that initiation, Ms. Nikitin. And then you are going to do whatever it takes to make it through.”
My brows pinch as my throat bobs heavily.
“I have a bastard son.” His eyes narrow. “An illegitimate child, born out of wedlock. I’ve never met him, and I very much doubt he knows I exist. But he’s out there. And while I’ve never cared to seek him out, I now find myself in a situation where it might become necessary.” His dark eyes pierce into me. “I have no other sons, Ms. Nikitin. I think we both know how problematic that can be in our world for the transfer of power. Now, I don’t know who he is, don’t know what he even looks like. But Idoknow that he’s in the upper echelon of the Obsidian Syndicate.”
My heart races. “M-Mr. Torvallés?—”
“You’re going to that initiation, Evelina,” he says quietly. “Because you’re going to become a member of the Syndicate, and then you’re going to find my heir.”
The world starts to shrink around me, so tightly that the air feels squeezed from my lungs.
“And Iknowyou’re going to do this for me, Evelina,” Diego Torvallés continues, “because if you don’t, I’ll kill your father, and your brother, and his little boyfriend, andI’ll make you watch while I do it.”
8
DEMON
How dowe feel about this?
Our mind twists and shape-shifts amorphously as we stand at the foot of the king-sized bed, watching Val sleep with Roman in his arms.
Howdowe feel about this…
We watched our brother from afar for years while he grew up in the foster system, and we were climbing the ranks of the Syndicate.
We have a strange relationship with the brotherhood that we’ve spent almost our entire life in. On the one hand, it’s the reason we’re alive. It gave us food and shelter when we were starving and cold, and gave us purpose when we were ready to give up on life.
But this brotherhood isn’t and has never been all sunshine and roses. It was a brutal environment in which to grow up. Yes, Val’s upbringing in the system, facing down the monsters andpredators that scarred and almost broke him was hard—harder than any child should have to endure.
But growing up in the Syndicate meant pledging your soul to darkness. We didn't want that for him.
Instead, we watched from a distance as he stared down those monsters, growing stronger and finding himself through ballet.
Our uncertainty concerning his current and quite serious relationship with Roman Nikitin is not based on anything qualms surrounding sexual orientation.
Fuck who you want. We don’t care. The concern about "how we feel about this" has nothing to do with the fact that he’s got a man in his arms.
It'swhothat man is.
Our jaw ticks as we stand in the darkness, watching.
The Nikitin Bratva doesn't have anywherenearthe level of global power and influence that the Syndicate does. None of the great underworld families of New York does, honestly. But still. They sit at the Iron Table. Collectively, with their allies, there’s a potential for them to be…bothersome.
We could just kill him.
Our brow furrows.
No, we couldn’t.
Sure we could. It would be easy. And it’s been so long since we snuffed out a life.
Our jaw tightens.
Since YOU took a life, one of us corrects the other.
The other part of us laughs coldly.
It’s always adorable when you try to pretend there’s no us..
