Page 216 of Fall Before Her Throne

Ekene had looked at me with blood on my hands and accused me of becoming the very thing that took our parents from us. I had always known she was right—but I’d also sheltered her, provided for her, gained enough power to change our city and make sure what happened to us never happened to another family. Didn’t that prove that the power I had acquired gave us the safety they deserved?

I was torn.

Max and Leona had both warned against taking over the Camorra. They feared that the power was too much, that we didn’t need it, and that it would poison us.

I knew, deep inside my heart, that they were most likely right. I just didn’t know if I could let go of the control that power would give me. I had always been the monster my siblings thought I was—so wouldn’t it be right to remain so? To take the Camorra, knowing what it would do to me, but also knowing what it could provide for us?

No, Leona’s voice whispered in my ear. No, Obi. We don’t need it. That power won’t give you control. That power won’t give us safety. Trust us instead.

I could hear her as if she sat right beside me in this cell.

I let out a heavy sigh. Leona believed our power came from the trust we had in each other and our willingness to fight for one another. That our family, the Shadows, would keep us safe. That together we could face anything in our path.

Let it go, Obi, she whispered. Let it go and come to us instead.

The idea of letting it go was…tempting.

Ever since I first saw Leona, she’d brightened my life—all our lives. She’d built something within us I never could have on my own. She’d taken away my nightmares. She’d given my soul respite. She’d helped me know peace in her arms.

I believed in her and in my brothers. I’d chosen us all for a reason—to act as chess pieces on my board and aid me in my goals—but instead we’d fit together like puzzle pieces. A tapestry that Leona had woven, an image that I never could have dreamed.

When I thought about our future and the world I wanted to create for us, I felt peace. Hope.

In the span of a breath, my world seemed to tilt on its axis.

To realign.

To reshape around what she’d been trying to tell me for weeks.

I didn’t need the power the Camorra offered.

I just needed her, us, the Shadows.

Our family. One that we’d built together. One that I could trust and rely on to keep all of us safe. The burden didn’t have to fall on me alone; we carried it together.

Suddenly, an urge overwhelmed me. To bring my family to Nigeria and introduce them to my siblings. To sleep in the home I grew up in, Leona in my arms, and rest.

The feeling was so powerful, so overwhelming, it clogged my throat and turned my breath short.

It was enough.

Together, we were enough.

After what could have been minutes or hours, the heavy metal door to my cell screeched open.

I opened my eyes.

It was time.

The Chief of the Department of Corrections stood in front of the door, his hand fisted into the shirt of his newest prisoner.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Piero Greco shouted while the Chief pushed him inside the cell.

The Chief closed the door, and it shut with a screech. Through the small glass window, he gave me a nod. His favor was complete. The blackmail we had against him would be destroyed, as per our agreement.

I stood from my seat on the cot. “I’ve been planning this for a long time.”

“Obi,” he said with narrowed eyes and a hiss like a snake. He puffed his chest. “What are you doing? You think you can train under my men and then steal my empire out from under me?”