Page 91 of Claimed By the Ruthless King

“Power can only belong to one person, and at the moment, it is split. Salvatore will fall, and I will rise.” David pops open the car door, circling around the vehicle to grab my side.

I kick the door open before he can reach me, stumbling straight out of the car. I need to run, but I’m not sure where to go. There’s a train track in front of me, and the Long Island Express is meant to roll through any second.

I glance over my shoulder, legging it across the cracked train platform. An old building materializes up ahead, but David catches me before I can check it out.

“Nice try.”

Despair weighs heavy on my heart, pushing the organ all the way down into my stomach.

The fight leaves my body once again, and I crumble as David drags me back onto the platform.

The atmosphere is orange and hazy, one single light preventing the atmosphere from falling dark.

David pulls up his phone, a bright white light illuminating in front of me.

I stare into space, wondering how my life went from zero to a hundred, back to fucking zero again. Aunt Viv is the reason I never met my father, the reason I have spent countless years believing he was selfish.

A bird swoops low, landing on the railway. It pecks at something between the tracks. I stare at the bird, noting the jet-black color, the ragged edges of its wings. Small, but not to be underestimated.

It caws, flapping away.

A few moments later, the silence is broken as the sound of an engine crescendos, the noise growing louder until a train is shooting past, hot wind slapping me in the face, the platform shaking.

I stumble back, endless carriages rattling through the platform. The wind dies as soon as the final carriage leaves, and the train disappears back into the darkness.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” says David, holding me close. “The crow senses the danger before we even hear it coming.” He tucks his phone into his suit jacket, guiding me down the platform. “Crows are intelligent creatures. Small but mighty.”

“And what happens when these Crows grow up and become billionaire philanthropists like yourself?”

David flashes me a dark glare. “The Crows will never die out. These boys will turn into ruthless killing machines. They will fly through the city, using fear to control. Every powerful person will have to answer to me as I threaten to expose their secrets. They want to stay at the top, remain in power? They better pay up and answer to their king.”

My stomach twists. What the fuck does this mean for Salvatore?

“Your boyfriend has a big choice to make. He will hand his business over to me, or he will bury your dead body if he refuses.”

Shivers rush through my spine, sending me back into that transient state where I feel like I’m floating, my body no longer mine.

My head turns fuzzy, consciousness slipping away.

I wanted to be loved, to be chosen by someone important, but I attached myself to the wrong person. Salvatore values freedom above all else. He keeps knives sheathed under his belt and isn’t afraid to use them. He murdered his way up to the very top of the ladder and has a very long way to fall, as he said himself.

David is tampering with the ladder, and now Salvatore has a choice to make. He chooses me and falls, or he walks away with his business intact, his mafia secrets kept hidden.

“Come here,” says David, dragging me across the platform. “In here.”

He unlocks the old station house, the door groaning on old hinges. Dust enters my nostrils. I cough, sneezing as he pushes me inside.

There’s an old ticket office in the corner gathering dust, but the huge crow symbol plastered across the wall grabs my attention more.

“Welcome to the Crow’s den,” says David, dragging me in.

A trap door lifts, bodies appearing. Boys filter out holding weapons. They’re topless, black crow tattoos marked across their small chests. They have lean muscle, their bodies malnourished. I can see the look of starvation in their eyes as they pile out of the trap door, waiting to be fed.

I stumble back, my heart beating out of my chest, not out of fear, but something much worse. Pity.

Cuts and bruises line their entire body. They have been beaten, broken, but they don’t blame David. After all, he trained them. He saved them from misery, put roofs over their heads, gave them shelter…

I suppose an old festering station building is better than nothing.