Page 33 of Chaos
The air becomes thick with the anger radiating from Dante.
“Give me your phone.” He demands.
I obliged, taking my phone out of my bag and handing it over to him. I watch as he reads over the messages that were sent to me from the stalker. His jaw is thrumming the more he reads. I watch as he forwards the messages to himself and then sends them to Michael.
“I promise you that I will find this person and he will find a fitting end.” There is so much conviction in his voice, I know he is telling the truth.
He is now the fourth person to promise that to me. It should terrify me that they speak of killing like it is a normal thing. That they can take a life without any remorse, but that is the life they have grown up in. From this meeting, it is obvious to me that Dante is a part of a gang.
Just another thing to get used to in my new reality.
Instead, warmth rushes through my entire body. I understand being happy about someone committing to killing another person for you is wrong on so many levels, but maybe I need a little wrong in my life.
“Let’s get out of here.” Dante steps out of the booth, extending his hand for me to take.
I don’t have to think twice before placing my hand in his. He grips my hand tight, pulling me out and tucking me under his arm. We walked out of the restaurant and to his waiting car that Michael brought around for us.
In this moment, I knew I would follow him to hell and back.
Midas
We drove Serena’s car home after letting her leave with Dante. None of us wanted her to go with him, but when she whispered in my ear that she was going and there was nothing I could do about it, I knew she was right.
We haven’t yet told her that we think it was Dante behind the attack, and with him there, we couldn’t voice that to her. He would have been able to easily sway her opinion, and I can’t have that. She can never know that I was the one behind her getting hurt. I am not her stalker, but I took advantage of the situation, hoping it would work out in my favor.
It’s still hard to think that the four of us used to be inseparable, and then one day he vowed he would get his vengeance against us. I still don’t know what he thinks we did, but that doesn’t matter anymore. All the years of friendship between us didn’t matter to him, so it didn’t to us either.
I never meant for it to get as far as it did. I wanted her to be scared, not shot. I still am debating if I should kill that fucking prospect or not. He knew what he was supposed to do, and he fucked up.
I fucked up worse.
There is so much truth in those words. I messed up more than I ever could have imagined. I should never have acted on that plan, or come up with it in the first place. But now that I have, I have to hide it any way that I can.
After watching her get shot, I knew at that moment that I would do anything to keep her safe and happy. I would try to be a better man for her. Pops’ words were ringing loud in my head.We protect the ones we love, because harming them will do nothing but harm you more.
I always took the words to heart. I have spent my life protecting my brothers. Making sure that in any situation we got into, I was the one who would be harmed instead of them.
A couple of years back, our dads sent us on a stupid drug run for them. We shouldn’t have been there that day. We were only sixteen and had just gotten our licenses. To reward us, our fathers sent us out to help with a drug shipment. Making sure it got to the warehouse on time, and no one was attacked.
Halfway to the warehouse, we were ambushed. Some small-time gang, that I can’t even remember the name of, wanted to make a name for themselves. Thinking they could take on the Kings and win.
They blocked off the road, forcing us to stop, and shot at the truck. The driver lost his life that day. We were lucky enough to get out of the way in time and started returning fire. Someone got behind us, aimed his gun at Zeus, and shot. I managed to push him out of the way at the last second, which resulted in me being shot in the stomach.
We were only supposed to be backup. Making sure the shipment got there in time. Instead, we could have lost our lives that day.
Someone was near the deserted road we were using, heard the shots, and called the cops. The second you could hear the sirens, the other gang took off, leaving us alone with a truck filled with cocaine.
Panicked, Odin and Zeus loaded me up in the truck, pushing the driver out onto the road, and sped off. To keep the cops off our backs, Zeus drove us to a town far away. What should have been a forty-five-minute drive to the hospital took almost three hours. I was convinced I was going to die that day.
We made it to a small hospital in a town so small that if you blinked, you would miss it. Giving them a bullshit story of a random shooting. Saying we were out for a drive when a blackout car pulled up next to us and shot me while I was driving. There is no way I would have been shot in the gut while driving, but they didn’t question it.
We each gave false names. Filled a bogus police report. I got patched up, had some blood given to me, and we bolted out there.
We still managed to take the shipment to the warehouse, but our fathers were pissed we were over a day late. I took the blame; it was my fault. I was the one who got hurt.
My dad beat me black and blue that night. I ripped my incisions, and had to get Doc to patch me up again.
That was normal for me. My father beat me when I messed up. He always told me that same thing each time. ‘You are the leader. It’s your job that everything gets done properly. You failed. You are weak and worthless. You don’t deserve my last name or the title of President one day.’
