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“That’s okay, this is better.”
We stand in the small square courtyard, prisoners surrounding us from all angles, bright spotlights illuminating the area, but after all the shit I’ve been through today, this week—hell, even my whole life—this moment right now is one of my favourites.
“Besides, it might be sunny next time.” I smile and hook my pinkie finger through his. “Shall we bet on it?”
“You’re on, T.”
I laugh and look at Puck’s smile, grateful to have him in here with me. Silver linings and all that.
15
KING
The driveback to the Rhivers mansion was unbearable. Dax insisted on driving because according to him, my foul mood would get us killed. Anger is an emotion I know very well. Anger has consumed me since I was young.
Losing my mother after only having her for four years of my life is something no child should ever go through. To lose your sister, the most loving relative you have and a possible niece or nephew just over a decade later is pain beyond measure that no human being should have to endure. To find out that the reason for both their deaths was by the hand of the man who raised you.
The whole thing should be fictional. Something you read about or see in movies. But growing up in the world of the mafia and the shadow of the biggest and baddest… it was my reality.
Anger consumed me. My rage was focused and centred on avenging my mother and sister. But being a naive seventeen-year-old had no match for Carlo Rhivers. It was then that I learned where the District leaders’ income came from.
The District Prison. Buried away for the criminals who they deemed fit for it, innocent or guilty, including me.
I push the thought out of my mind, not wanting to relive the year I endured in that very same hell hole I’m guilty of placing Theo in. Of where I’m guilty of keeping Puck.
Instead, my mind drifts back to Theo and my first memory of her, only weeks before I ended up in that very same cell of hers.
But the thought pains me, to hear her voice, innocent and oblivious to what was going on around her. Theo was the same age as my sister but had a much easier life. Consumed by my anger over the years, I had a rage built up for Theo.
A beautiful sixteen-year-old girl, the daughter of a District leader, yet she lived a happy, easy, guilt-free life. But my sister, who was in the exact same position, was shunned from existence, forced to hide her whole life to pay the ultimate price for falling in love and becoming pregnant.
Why was that fair?
But for a short, sweet moment, Theo had simmered the anger that brewed inside me and every day that followed?until Bonnie’s death and the day I was locked up. Then by the time I got back, she was gone.
I shake my head of the past, trying to forget all the pent-up emotion surrounding my feelings towards Theo. She didn’t deserve me or my life then and she definitely doesn’t deserve it now.
Dax doesn’t speak to me the whole drive home, letting me suffer in silence. The car slows down as we turn onto the estate of the Rhivers mansion.
The long driveway stretches out way ahead of us behind the huge iron gates, the gravel softly crunching underneath the tyres as we draw closer to my home.
Dax turns the steering wheel, manoeuvring the car around the large fountain before coming to a stop at the bottom of the marble stairs leading to the front door. I stare out the tinted window up at the large double doors, the famous R staking its claim as the mansion of the Rhivers family.
“Time to rule the empire, cuz,” Dax says, his voice rough from not speaking for over an hour.
I nod and clear my head, unbuckling my seat belt.
I’m now the leader of the First District, whether people like it or not, and I’m going to do a better job than my father ever did.
I jump out of the car and stalk up the stairs, Dax a beat behind me. The huge guard hovering in front of the door nods and hastily opens the door for my entrance.
Ignoring him, I push my way through and head straight for my room. I need to clean up.
“Sir,” a timid, quiet voice calls out as I’m halfway up the stairs. I pause mid-step and turn to the ‘assistant’ my father always used, in more ways than one. I didn’t even know her name. I just look at her, urging her to continue.
“Welcome home, sir. Kennedy Harlow and Edison Ramon are waiting to see you.”
I roll my eyes. I knew I wouldn’t be able to postpone it any longer, but I was hoping for at least one night home before dealing with the other District leaders, especially Theo’s father.
