Smoke billows from the fires that have finally been put out, working nicely to distract from the smell of blood, and death, which unfortunately is quite pungent.
We lost some good men—well, notgood, but you know.Not including the prisoners killed in the fall, and those who attempted escaping after the fall and were gunned down in the forest like animals.
Thing is, I’m not a hypocrite. I won’t sit here and say that if the prison had fallen while we were still in charge, we wouldn’t have been the ones taking out escaped prisoners on behalf of our boss. We’d done it before.
Still, it’s the lives lost during this month-long war that are sitting on my shoulders with the rest of the stress I’m hoping will be rubbed out soon.
We spilled blood for this island, and we won it.
Soon, it’ll be time to collect, but in the meantime, I’m looking forward to being home for the first time since we were evicted weeks ago.
If you need me, I’ll be standing in the shower for three days.
The Ivory Mansion is bustling with more people than I’ve ever seen in mythirteen yearsof living here. There were never more than maybe fifty people in here at a time. And that might seem like a lot, but this place is the size of a resort. It can fit hundreds, and now itis.
Fortunately, the cartel isn’t staying. They’re packing up and shipping off, back to wherever they came from—I’m given to understand his soldiers were pulled from their stations all over the world. But now they’re leaving, and it’s a good thing. Because we really need the space.
It could be unsettling, sharing a roof with the prisoners we once patrolled over.Many of them are… let’s just say not ideal roommates.But the way I see it, if they could be trusted enough to carry guns and fight alongside us, they’re no threat.
We’ll see how it goes. They’ve all been strictly warned that anyprison behaviorwill lead to eviction.No debate.
This whole thing is going to be a work-in-progress. But right now, I don’t give a good Goddamn about any of it.
I just wanna wash my balls.
Coming up the staircase feels surreal. So much has changed, and yet it’s like déjà vu. Rook, Joy, and I, dragging our tired asses up to the third floor, exhausted and ready to lose ourselves in one another.
Outside of our bedroom, we bump into Dante Shen, a former guard-turned-capo, he worked with us about six years ago, untilthe Warden transferred him to help with some cartel business in Miami. And then, when the prison fell, he was brought back to fightagainstus.
Talk about a conflict of interest.
“Yo…” Dante says warily, bag of his belongings slung over his shoulder. “I just wanted to say I hope there are no hard feelings.”
Rook, Joy and I share a look before they shuffle into the bedroom, leaving me to doleader shit.
“I was just following orders,” he rumbles, nervously. Like he thinks I might try to hit him or something.
I chuckle, patting him on the shoulder. “It’s cool, man. I get it. Been there.”
He huffs. “Right. You definitely have…”
“I’m not saying I wouldn’t be feeling some type of way if we’d lost.” I smirk. “But then I’d probably be dead, so it wouldn’t much matter.”
He blinks. “Bro… there was no way you were gonna lose.” I scoff, but he goes on, “No, I’m serious. And you sure as shit weren’t gonna die. We all knew it was only a matter of time. He refused to hit you guys as hard as he obviously could have. I mean, he brought over enough reinforcements to wipe out three islands, but half the time, most of us were just standing around.”
Gaze narrowed, I stare at him for a second, considering this. Of course, I knew The Ivory was holding back. In the moment, I told myself it was a tactic, because I had to. I refused to let him get into my headagainby making me think he cared too much to actually kill me.
As it turns out, that’s exactly what was happening.
It’s interesting, and also infuriating. That war was as close to pointless as it gets. But then… isn’t war usually sort of pointless?
It always comes down topride. Even when fighting for a purpose, one side refuses to stand down first. Everyone wants towin, and it’s a fucked-up game to play when people’s lives are on the line.
The moral of this story is that revenge accomplishes nothing but more pain. The real closure comes from taking a step back and seeing the bigger picture. And if that’s the metric, thanThe Ivoryactually won this war.
Typical. Has to win even when he loses.
Casting Shen a tired smile, I hum, “It’s good to see you, kid.” My eyes fall to his bag, brow furrowing. “You should stay. This place was your home once too.”
