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Chapter Four
Luca
I only see Elena at the party one more time, when she finally comes back. I watched her and the Badescu sisters as long as I could for a little while, and I came back to the party before someone tried to seek me out.
Plus, I wanted to keep an eye on Father Pavel and Isaac. Just in case they tried to do something that I wouldn’t want them to do.
I can’t tell if anything happened before I came back. Some of the Clan members are getting tipsy and acting like fools by now. And I am eager to get out of here.
“So, brother, you going out after this? I mean, wearein Rome.”
Isaac and I haven’t seen eye to eye for years, despite being twins. There is always some assumption that just because we grew in our mother’s womb at the same time that we have similarities and some uncanny connection. Maybe I am a psycho, but I just don’t feel it. We didn’t even get along as children because I was selfish, torturous, the ‘bad’ brother, and our mother made sure I fucking knew it at every turn. Not that Isaac ever refuted it, only tiptoed around the subject like the coward he is.
The truth is there’s only one thing that the two of us can agree upon in some way. That is the fact we like to party. By party, I mean party hard. The only difference is how we want to end up at the end of the night. Isaac wants the end to be with him completely drunk so he can use that as an excuse to do what he wants with men. He likes to pretend the next morning like it only happened because he had too much to drink. Because he had beer goggles on, as they say.
And he likes to socialize and get to know people. I’m not exactly like that. One, I like women. I like the way they look at me, and I like to sit back and look at them. When their bodies move on the dance floor, it’s as hypnotic as their smell, even though they all smell a little bit different. But they all smell better than men, no matter how much cologne a man wears and how many times he washes his ass. The other thing I like is when women fall all over me, willing to do anything. The desperation. It’s interesting to me. But it never lasts. Because women who stay like that get to be very boring. Either they were only acting that way for one night but will never do it again, or they are these little weaklings forever. There’s no spunk, no fight, no reason to continue molding them to love me; training them to be mine. The first part will never happen anyway.
Oh, I’ve tried. Tried harder than men like me should admit to. I’ve failed to woo so many women. I have fucked so many women.
And, I have killed many women.
I will never tell anyone I’m anything but a monster. That’s all I have room to be, and I don’t play pretend. I am too fucking old for that. I was too old for that shit when I was eight.
And even though I do like my drinking and even my drugs on occasion, I will never blame my behavior on those things. Vices are vices, and decisions are decisions. And my decisions, they come from the darkest part of my heart, if I even have one.
I don’t know if I was born with my heart many sizes too small like the Grinch or if it shrank every time I knew that my family didn’t really love me. I don’t know if this world ruined it even more once I found out the way things work was to take what I wanted, and that was all the world was about.
It’s all about fucking making a way for yourself. I’m okay with that now. I’ve accepted it and want to go with the flow. That doesn’t mean that every little boy doesn’t hold this little light of hope inside them throughout their childhood which has to die for them to discover the man they were meant to be.
And I’ve been dead a hell of a long time.
“Well, I think we should celebrate being here in this lovely city. I don’t want to be out too late tonight. But I suppose we could hop to a couple of the best clubs. I heard they’re excellent.”
The beaming look on Isaac’s face tells me he is ready to party. And I bet I can convince him to stay out longer than he thinks he’s going to.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here, then.”
Both of us go outside and have our driver pull up the car and get in the backseat of the black vehicle with illegally tinted windows. If someone pulls us over, it’s not like they’d be around for very long anyway. I’d handle it, even if Isaac doesn’t want to. Even if he thinks that the police have their time and place. Me? I have no qualms about eliminating whoever is in my way, including law enforcement which has better things to do than fucking harass me about some damn windows.
We pull up to the first club, and I go to get out of the car, but Isaac stops me. He looks at me like he has something important to say, and I don’t know if I’m in the mood... “Before I get too drunk or try to, there’s something I should tell you. And a favor I have to ask. I know you’re not going to understand, but I hope as my brother, you will help me.” See, that’s where Isaac could be a good leader. All because he is so fucking manipulative. He always has just the right words to say to make you feel guilty for ever thinking ill of him. For ever wanting what he has. A method that, for right now, will allow him to continue talking. Continue breathing.
“I couldn’t find you to be a part of the meeting, but Pavel and I sat down with a lawyer tonight. We drew up a contract. He should be getting Elena to sign too at any minute, but not like it matters. Ion and Mariana will go ahead and approve as well as force it on her if they must. You know how they want all of us married off. And we’ve all decided that it would be best, and most romantic, if we get married while still here in Rome. Tonight.”
Never fucking mind that whole still breathing thing. But he continues, and I get even more fucking pissed the more he says to me.
“What the fuck does any of this have to do with me?” I rage.
“Brother,” he stops me, looking at me with sympathy. Something I am not fucking okay with. “I know that you wanted this. I know that you may always want this. Trust me when I say that you’re better off this way. I think you have some great things ahead of you, and you’re going to be my right hand man in this. And hey, to be honest with you, Elena is probably going to be just as fucked up about this as we are and need satisfying in a way that I can’t give her. I think I will have to be honest with her once we say I do, about certain preferences I have, and maybe that’s something you can help us with. It’s just a marriage. You know the Clans; that doesn’t mean as much as you think it means. It’s just about power. It’s just about protection. Nothing else. You can help me protect her. And I want you to be my best man. That being said, I need your help. I need you to keep me sober enough to be able to go through with this wedding, and I was hoping that I could get you to go pick up the marriage certificate and a set of rings for us? I think you’d be better at picking those out. Besides, I think there’s something about the best man hanging onto the ring.” He smiles at me like it’s so fucking amazing he just asked me, his twin brother and a Clan member in my own right, to be his errand boy. And that was after offering for me to be his wife’s side piece.
We have plenty of people that could do this job for us, including the driver that’s sitting here, waiting for us to get out of the fucking car. Conversations like this whole thing just ruin the mood for the night. Maybe he knew it would do that. Maybe he doesn’t want me to party with him at all.
And here I was thinking that sometime after we had a few drinks enough to stomach it, I would bring up the Badescu sisters. Tell him that they were in town and sitting right across the street from the event. Probably planning their next move. I mean, he is the Clanleader. It ishisjob to know and do something about it. But between this, and the fact that our little sister, Annamaria, has bigger kahunas than Isaac, I’m not even going to fucking bother. Not only can I use this to my advantage, but I don’t see him being able to deal with these women anyway. They’re too good at what they do. And they’ve had years and years in the dark hole of Eastern Europe to plan their revenge in order to kill us all.
And with Isaac at the helm, they just might succeed. Time for me to be the hero.
“Why don’t you go ahead and head in there; I’ll go ahead and run those errands you want. You’re the one that deserves the party tonight. I can get my drink on afterward and maybe some of the Clan women might want to attend – and then attend to me once I come back to the room tonight or something. I will handle everything. I’ll get you your own room. I’ll get everyone that needs to be there. I’ll even grab Annamaria so that she can be a part of the ceremony. I don’t think that Elena has anyone with her to be the maid of honor, anyway.” I tried to put the best smile that I can muster on my face. Something that looks genuine, but I don’t know if I’m that great of an actor.
I must be, because he accepts that and gets out of the car, thanking me. I don’t know how I’m going to pull this off, but I do know I don’t think he will be thanking me by the end of the night.
