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I adjustmy cuff links as Sophia, Gio, my head of security and underboss, and I walk from our SUV to the stage. The simple movement gives me an excuse to lower my head so that no one notices the raw agony smeared across my features. Today, I’m going to tell a lie. Not unlike most days. Though, today, the lie hurts just as much as the truth. I’m going to tell the world that my sister Cara was killed in a car accident in Europe while studying abroad. A car accident. No one will question it. Not the police nor those looking for any excuse to challenge my rule. Though, just in case, I staged a crash in Italy to help sell the story. And yet, my body is still riddled with anxiety and heartache as I prepare to say the words. Because no matter how true or untrue they are, one tragic fact remains—my sister is dead and now there is no more pretending otherwise.
“Alister!” As Gio enters my office, pale and breathless, all oxygen leaves my lungs. My pen falls from between my fingers as the large wooden door slams shut behind him. Gio hesitates. Slowly, I stand, though the look on Gio’s face lets me know I’ll wish I was sitting when he shares his news. He takes a step forward with his head lowered. His actions force me to lean forward and brace myself against the edge of my desk.
“What’s happened?” The words scrape through me as a million scenarios run through my mind.
Gio bites the inside of his cheek as he struggles to collect himself. Finally, he says, “Cara’s guards aren’t answering. After the brotherhood’s threats—”
“Let’s go.”
Of all the scenarios I imagined, nothing prepared me for what I found when I finally made it to my sister’s dorm room or what followed in the months afterward. Her room had been tossed, furniture flipped. There were papers, books, and clothes all over the floor. The brotherhood’s calling card, a note etched with gold calligraphy, rested on her pillow. The moment I saw it, I knew she was gone, and it was all my fault.
“Alister? Alister, are you okay?” As Sophia’s voice pulls me back to the present, I realize I’ve stopped walking and find myself standing still among the swaying branches of the oaks above. Spanish moss catches in the breeze, filling the air with the scent of the earth. It’s quiet, despite all the media outlets in New Orleans on the other side of the stage just up ahead.
“Alister?” Sophia moves closer to me. Concern furrows her brows as she places her hand on my cheek. She’s freezing, despite the warmth of the sun streaming down on us.
“I’m fine,” I tell her. “Just ready to get this over with.”
Sophia shakes her head, prompting Gio to distance himself as he monitors our perimeter. “It’ll never be over, Alister. No matter what we do or say today, this pain will never end.” I wish I could tell her she’s wrong, that it’ll get better. But, as more memories flood me, I can only nod.
Our bullets rip through the dark night, muffled by the sounds of the ocean waves. Lifeless bodies fall around me as Gio and I make our way onto the black-painted sea vessel in search of my sister and the man who stole her from me. I’ve been anticipating this moment ever since the night I lost her. And yet, it has done nothing to prepare my heart, which pounds desperately in my chest. Desperation—that is what I’ve felt for months now as I’ve followed up on every possible lead to find Cara. I thought it would’ve left me by now and been replaced by something else, something that makes me feel powerful. And yet, as Gio and I pummel our way through the lower deck, I’ve never felt weaker.
Inside every room there is a girl restrained in some fashion. Some are tied to the bed. Others are bound in other positions. They’ve been beaten and branded with tattoos of their captor’s mark. Despite this, their faces have been left untouched. I suppose only at the request of this monster’s clientele. But their eyes—their eyes say it all. They are empty, and not just because they’ve been drugged to keep them obedient, but because the horror they’ve endured, the degradation, has stolen their souls and their will to live.
As I reach the last of the girls’ rooms, I hesitate. I’ve yet to find Cara, which means she’s either in this room or she’s with him. Either way, I’m afraid of what I will find. Gio comes up behind me and places his hand on my shoulder. Sweat drips down both of our faces as sadness fills our eyes. Gio knew coming here was a suicide mission. Either we’d both die or what we’d find would make us wish we were dead. And yet, without hesitation, he followed my every move. He’s the only one who knows the truth about Cara. He’s the only one I can trust.
“I’ve got your back, Boss,” Gio says. I nod as my hand moves to the doorknob.
“And I’ve got yours.” At that, I open the door to an empty room, the sight of which nearly brings me to my knees. Blood and other bodily fluids stain the sheets of the twin bed and the leather of the cuffs still attached to the wall. Unlike the other girls’ rooms, there are signs of a struggle or, perhaps, even more. There’s a broken mirror to my left. It looks as if someone, someone meaning my sister, was thrown into it. I manage to take another step into the room only to find a wooden X to my right. I look away, unwilling to examine the torture devices sitting on a table nearby.
My throat burns with the cries and screams I refuse to let out. Instead, I press my lips together and ball my fists in an effort to maintain control. I do so until I taste blood and until the skin stretched across my knuckles feels as if it may split open.
“There’s one more room to check,” Gio says. Despite his determination, I note the hopelessness in his voice. There’s only one place left on this ship Cara could be. If she isn’t there…
The silencers on our weapons, accompanied by the roar of the ocean, has kept our presence a secret from the man who owns this ship, the man who believes he owns these women. The element of surprise is to our advantage. Though as I exit Cara’s room and assess the lock on the door of the captain’s quarters, I realize there is no way to enter quietly.
“If she’s in there, he could use her as a shield or a hostage,” Gio says, putting his tactical knowledge to good use. Despite the sense he makes, I can only home in on the word if. Because the fact is, if Cara isn’t in this room, then she’s either dead or she’s been sold to another who will surely kill her once he learns of the fate that will befall him.
“Then I go in alone.”
“What? Boss, no. You shouldn’t see your sister like—”
“If I go in alone, he’ll think there’s only one of us,” I say, fighting through the mental images of Cara and this man, the same images that’ve haunted me ever since the night she was taken. “If he demands I put down my weapon, you’ll still have yours. Wait until he lets his guard down and then disarm him. Just be careful not to hit anything vital. I want to take my time with him.”
Gio’s dark eyes scan mine, searching for any hesitation. He finds none, because despite everything I feel inside, the thought of finally seeing my sister again, holding her, saving her, breaks through and leaves only clarity. Gio nods and backs away. At that, I take my shotgun and blow through the only thing standing between me and the man who will soon die the slowest of deaths. The metal blackens as the gunpowder connects. Though, not nearly as much as my heart as—
She wasn’t there. My lips part as I reach the steps to the stage. I move up them slowly, almost as slowly as I exacted my revenge against the overweight, balding bastard who thought himself a god among men. Or rather, among women. I made sure he knew his real place though, before sending him to meet his maker. Though, it wouldn’t surprise me if God skipped the whole judgment thing and sent his wretched ass straight to Hell. Perhaps I’ll meet him there one day and we can continue our session. It would almost make burning for eternity worth it.
Where is she? Where is she!?As I reach the mic stand, I keep my eyes plastered to my shoes as, for the millionth time, memories of my cries rip through me. My throat still aches as I mouth the words. My eyes widen and glisten with unspeakable emotion as they did that night, the night I was told I was too late.
By the time we reached the ship, Cara had already been killed. Apparently, she’d outlived her usefulness. Only days before Gio’s and my arrival, her body was disposed of in a barrel filled with lye. When I said before that there was nothing left of her to find, I meant it. When we finally tracked down the location of the barrel, the chemical had done its job. Inside the stainless-steel cylinder was nothing more than a brown syrup-like liquid.
At that, I pinch my eyes closed as emotion roils through me. I never got to see my sister again—her dark hair, her hopeful eyes, her tan skin. She never got the chance to grow up, to fall in love, to have a life all her own. As a member of our family, she never would’ve had a normal life. But it didn’t have to be torturous and far too short.
The man who bought my sister from the brotherhood had no idea she was a Mafia princess, no idea she was my sister, the sister of the Blood King. No doubt the brotherhood kept those details to themselves, knowing no one would dare touch Cara for fear of my retribution. When they sold her, they thought they were saving themselves. They thought I’d be so focused on finding her I’d forget about them and the fact that they were the ones who started all of this. But I didn’t. Just like the slow and sinister revenge I took upon the man who raped and tortured Cara, I had my way with the members of the brotherhood who had abducted and sold her. It’s been three months since their fall, three months since I thought this Hell would finally come to an end. But Sophia is right. Cara’s death has filled us both with unceasing pain that rattles us to our cores.
I can’t. I can’t lose it here, not in front of all these cameras. In my world, weakness gets you killed. Which is why I didn’t tell anyone about Cara or bring backup on my quest to save her. It’s why I didn’t tell Sophia, because the burden of the truth is unbearable. It’s why, even now, on the day I reveal this heartbreaking news to the world, I still can’t tell the whole truth. I can’t cry. I can’t yell. I can’t break. Because then, they’ll come for me. They’ll come for her. At that, I turn to Sophia.
Sophia stands behind me to my right, while Gio stands behind me on my left dressed in his typical navy blue suit. Her face is damp with tears, though her expression is vacant. She’s trying to be strong, even though she’s broken inside, tortured even. She’s like me. And like me, she needs this to be over, even if only for a moment.
