AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glance at the intricate red handwoven rugs covering every inch of the floor, following the design in the matching hangings on the walls. If nothing else, I can appreciate the symmetry of the office Cristo shares with his father, Nelu. As anyone can tell from the decorations, it’s a different world out here, across from the sparkling skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan.
We’d be a better fit for a Habsburg castle in the old country rather than twenty-first-century New York City. Every piece of furniture is ornate carved mahogany, from the two desks facing each other to the vintage ruby-colored velvet couch.
“You’ve succeeded in doing that on your own…by flunking,” Cristo reminds me.
Anton makes a choking sound of holding back laughter and I throw him a killer glare.
Placing my elbows on my knees, I glower over my steepled fingers, as warm, dusky light filters through the three stumpy windows hovering at street level. One can even hear the clip-clop of heels from a woman passing by on the sidewalk outside.
It’s bad enough that I have to get a tutor, but to have it be a girl is infinitely worse. A smart girl at that. And he said she’s pretty. I’m torn on that last bit. I’ve had plenty of pretty women. I don’t need help finding myself a fucktoy.
“Who the hell is she?” I bark out.
“Watch your fucking mouth with me, whelp,” he snarls in my face. I snarl back.
We Popescus are savages and proud of it. With the kind of brutes we breed, it’s easy to pick fights, although touching a prince like Cristo is unusual.
But not unheard of.
“Up till now, you’ve gone above and beyond to prove yourself as a top dog in this clan. You keep harping on about how you want to be myconsilier. How’s that gonna work if you don’t graduate high school? ’Cause no way in hell is myconsiliera high-school dropout. Talk about a fucking embarrassment to the clan.”
My heart plummets. When it comes to my goals, intense is my resting bitch face. I may only be nineteen years old, but in a world where boys are inducted at the ripe age of thirteen, a man my age is ready to carry the world on his shoulders.
I wasn’t inducted this year, when a kill would be easy, what with violence bloodying the streets.
No, I came up six years ago, when this city was squeaky clean. When Bushwick was a fucking artist’s’ colony and Times Square had been chewed up and spit out by a Disney princess, farting out fairy dust instead of pollution. The epitome of gentrification.
Fuck, he’s got me and he’s got me good. The Popescu clan is my life. I’ve finally schemed and definitively fought off Dimu, my main competitor for the position. I’m on the brink of bringing my family name back to the top after my father shunted it into a ditch. I’m not going to become theconsiliermy father once was, I’m going to bebetterthan theconsilierhe once was.
“And before you argue with me, no, I’m not going to let you squeak by. I want you to fucking prove to me that you can do this. I’m not asking for Honor Roll here, but for fuck’s sake, no straight D’s either.”
That was exactly where I was about to go, damn him. I stare at him incredulously. “Since when do we care aboutgrades?”
“Since we’ve partnered with the Lupu clan.”
I know this, but I’m going to fight him just to win the point. Any point.
“Why? Because they’re into graduate degrees doesn’t mean we have to follow. I’m your toughest solider. I have a cadre of men under my command. I’ve wrestled territory from the Bratva that we’ve panted after for decades. I’ve already proven my worth.”
“Goddammit, Lucian, I’m not asking you to go to Harvard and become a nuclear physicist.”
Cristo expels an impatient sigh. “We have a reputation to uphold. You graduate from Empire Academy with decent grades and marry Roxie, and I’ll fuck off without you saying a word. But until I get what I want, you’d better bet that on your mama’s life, I’ll be up your ass.”
He bares his teeth at me. “Oh, and Lucian, in case there’s any doubt in the matter, I always get what I want.”
He's not wrong.
It’s one of the many reasons I admire him.
Ignoring the growing smirks on my friends’ faces, I push off the chair and pace up and down the small, cramped office. Five steps, turn, five steps, turn. “Fuck, okay, I’ll accept your tutor. Get a Popescu girl and keep it in the family.”
“I wish I could, but you’re so fucked they’re not good enough. You know how obsessed those Lupu are with education. The best tutors are from that clan, but don’t worry, I’ve got just the girl for you.”
The silence seething between us is punctuated by Anton’s howl of amusement.
I give him the evil eye before turning my suspicious gaze on Cristo. I know every student at Empire Academy, home of the children of killers and sinners, aka the Romanianmafie. We’ve all been stuffed in one fancy, shiny new brick building off Park Avenue in Manhattan.Thank you, Alex Lupu, for pioneering that move.
“Who is the bitch?”
