“Natalia,” I soothe, my palms open beseechingly, but I don’t know what else to say to her, or how to make this right. It’s not just the pile of bodies at her feet. Or the monster she just saw in Sisco, from the madness that lives inside him. It’s all of it and there’s no way to save this situation.
Thankfully, I don’t need to.
“It’s…it’s okay…I think,” she says, letting out a slow, careful breath. “I can deal with this.” She blinks rapidly and gives a nod. I can see that she’s still shaking, but she seems so strong. So determined. I glance at Joey, seeing the look of pride on his face.
My brothers were right all along, shewasmade for us.
Sisco wipes a hand down his face, smearing the blood. He looks even more monstrous now but Natalia seems unfazed.
“I should change and then go and find Eva and your mom. They’ll be scared,” she says, her gaze darting between us all. “Will you…”
“This will be cleared within the hour,” I promise her immediately, and she nods satisfied by my answer. She turns to leave but Sisco’s next words stop her in her tracks and she turns back.
“Brothers, have you seen this,” he says, pushing one of the bodies out of the way to reveal a familiar face.
She gasps, her hand flying to her mouth as she looks from the deathly pale face and then up to all of us. “Oh my God. This is my fault,” she sobs. “I’m so sorry.”
“No, it’s not,” I say automatically as I come forwards.
Sisco rolls Alfonso over onto his back and his eyes stare up emptily.
“It is, it’s my fault. You all could have bene killed because of me.Evacould have been killed because of me . . . because of his jealousy.” She’s shaking, but I think it’s as much anger as it is sadness, and there’s something about that that makes me desire her even more.
“There are things you need to know, Natalia, but right now I need to get my men in here to clear this up. We will talk about this later and you’ll understand that none of this was your fault,” I say firmly.
“But—”
“Natalia,” I warn, “go find my sister and keep her safe while we sort this mess out. That’s an order.”
Her eyes narrow at that last part and I can’t help the devilish smile that comes to my face at the thought of her defiance.
“Do as I say now before I take you over my damn knee, Natalia,” I say with a firmer tone, “and it will not be for pleasure.”
There’s blood, bodies and bullets everywhere. It’s not a new phenomenon for this office or this home. I was raised on hells grounds and we bathed our childhood in death and destruction. We had no choice then, but we do now, and I do not want Eva to become accustomed to this way of life.
My tone has the desired effect on Natalia, and she nods and leaves the room quickly. I pull my phone from my pocket and call in my cleanup team. This whole mess will be gone by morning.
Something dawns on me then, as I look around at the blank-eyed stares of the dead men at my feet, and I look across at my brothers.
“You know what this means?”
“Frank’s gone,” Sisco says, and glances at Joey.
“And now Alfonso is gone too,” Joey adds.
I nod in agreement, the same conclusion drawing in their minds. “That makes us the new kings of the city, brothers.”
They both smile widely, and I can’t help smiling too, despite what we’ve just been through.
It was an ambition that our father had always had for us.
A pipedream, so to speak.
Only now it wasn’t a dream, it was reality.
Myself and my brothers now ruled this city. With the three of us in charge, the world was our oyster and we would be unstoppable.
Things hadn’t played out exactly how I’d expected them to, but the result was still the same. We were three brothers, the new three kings of the city, and with our queen by our side we were strong enough to take on anyone and anything.
