JAXON FIFTEEN YEARS AGO “You crazy bastard!” His screams give me nothing but pleasure as he grips my left shoulder. I see the fear and shock in his eyes, and it’s so delicious, I almost lick my lips. Not so bold now, is he? I don’t let go. I can’t. I do not fucking want to. Still, it’s not enough. My head and whatever remains of my heart are filled with the desire to watch him bleed out, clinging on for his dear life like mom did. Did she even have the time to think of us before the rope strangled and sniffed the life out of her? I guess not. So I shouldn’t give him the luxury of time either. “I’ll fucking kill you!” He spits on my face, but I don’t bother to wipe it off. Even till death, he remains annoying. I’ll give him that. One hand squeezes my shoulder and the other holds his belly tight. The blade is in your chest, silly. A small laugh echoes from the back of my throat as I shake my head. “How can you?” I ask. “You’ll be dead once I pull out this knife.” Dad looks at me like he’s seen a ghost. I watch the tears rush down his cheeks, and I frown at him. Mom had no dry tears on her cheeks, so why the fuck is he crying? It’s not so fun to die now, is it? “I knew you were a demon,” he breathes out, earning him a raised brow. “You and your brothers. You ruined my marriage! You ruined our lives!” Me and my brothers? Molten rage courses through my chest. Enough. I’ve heard enough from him. “I’ll ask you to say hi to mom, but you’ll be in hell, so I guess you won’t be able to do that.” Then I pull the blade out, and he screams, falling to the ground. There’s blood all over his checkered blue shirt, there’s blood on the ground beside me–dripping from the blade in my right hand, there’s blood on the… On the… He’s coughing, choking, pressing his hand against his bleeding chest like it’s going to stop it. The room begins to spin around me. I did it. I killed him like he killed mom. The door bursts open all of a sudden, and I look up to see Ronan and Malachi. A bright smile forms on my face. “Back from the mall already?” Their gazes drop down to the floor. “Jay,” Malachi calls out. I wipe dad’s slimy spit off my face with the back of my elbow. “Yes?” “What the fuck did you do?!” He screams at me. Tears well up in my eyes. I suddenly feel so bad. Why is he screaming? Didn’t he say he was going to kill dad? Ronan said the same thing too. That’s why I did it. I want to be big and strong, just like them. “Leave it, Malachi.” Ronan steps forward. I watch him crossover dad’s dead body, as he walks to me. “I thought that…I thought that…I wanted to…” I stutter, unable to form any words. Ronan goes down on his knees and cups my cheeks. “He killed mom.” I say. I want him to understand. I don’t want him to be angry like Malachi. “I know, Jay.” Ronan cups my cheeks and smiles at me. “You did good, okay?” “Are you fucking serious, Ronan?” Malachi hisses, running his hand down his hair. “We don’t fucking need this right now. The police are already breathing down our necks for mom. And now this? Fuck.” “Stay still, Malachi,” Ronan reprimands him, rising to his feet. I love brother Ronan. I want to be like him when I grow up. He’s big, and strong, and he would do anything to protect us. “I said I’ll handle it.” He turns to me and smiles. “Brother Ronan would take care of everything.” ~•~ I wake up to find myself drenched in sweat. Did someone turn off the air conditioner? A groaning sound escapes my lips as my eyelids part open on their own accord, only to find Ronan and Malachi staring down at me. Wait a minute. Did I pass out on the damned couch? “Took you long enough.” Malachi’s voice fills my ears, and I roll my eyes while struggling to sit up. When I can finally see clearly, I realize they’re both suited up and ready for work. Of course. The brain and the eyes of the business, always ready to show up and show out. The fact that they didn’t bother waking me up can only mean they do not intend to take me along to the office today. Not that I want to. I’m so hungover, I’ll rather stay home and… Malachi tosses a file towards me, and it falls beside my right leg. My gaze drops to the white office file, then travels to my brother’s deep grey eyes. “And this is?” Ronan drops his cup of coffee on the glass table in front of him. “Your to-do list,” he sits up straight. “For today.” I’m not certain if I’m excited or annoyed. Perhaps a bit of both. I can feel both their eyes on me as I pick it up. It doesn’t take me long to flip it open. The first item on it has me frowning. “Really? Again?” “Apparently, you didn’t teach him a good enough lesson the last time,” Malachi cuts in. I look up and find him reaching for Ronan’s half empty cup of coffee. I know it’s coffee because of the strong smell. Ronan likes it black, bitter, just like his heart. Malachi takes a sip, and holds it in his right hand. He sucks in a deep breath before narrowing his eyes on me. “Now, you can take off his tongue.” “Or take his life.” My brother’s head whips sideways, sending my eldest brother a stern glare. “We cannot possibly get rid of everyone who is a threat to our business now, can we?” “Why not?” The question leaves both our lips at the same time, and Malachi’s nostrils flare up, brows knitting into a scowl. He rises up from his seat without looking at any of us. “I can’t do this with you two. Not this morning.” Ronan and I smile at each other, and Malachi is halfway out of the living room when Ronan clears his throat. “We’ll have a meeting with Lilith Cruz tonight. At our west end hotel. She insisted we make it a dinner.” I raise my left brow, sending him a knowing look. It was Ronan’s idea to get entangled with Lilith Cruz about a year ago. Sure, she was a good sport, but Malachi and I could tell it was Ronan she was completely and utterly obsessed with. Still, we had our fun with her until Sarah changed things for us. “It’s just work,” Ronan adds, heaving a tired sigh. I can only imagine how much torture he had to endure to agree to meeting her in our hotel. Well, she was his idea. So he should be the one to carry the cross. “We still need to strategize for our expansion into Eastern Europe. They’re not exactly our best friends, but we need what they have. So you three…” he stands up. “…need to be there. 9pm. Sharp.” When we all agree, they leave for work, and I’m left alone in our seven bedroom mansion. I make myself coffee and watch TV. That’s where I find Sarah. She’s having a press conference, and she speaks on her lack of involvement in her husband’s crime, saying that he abused her for all the years they were together, and she only got the courage to leave him a month ago. She apologizes to everyone she ever lied to, and to everyone he has hurt. She says she has no affiliations to him, and as of this moment, she is no longer Aaron Connor’s wife, as they have just signed the divorce papers. A smile forms on my lips. “You’re all ours now, baby.” She begins to say a word to the victim’s family when I turn the TV off and head upstairs to my room.It’s time to get to work. I head to my drawer and open the first cabinet. There they are, my babies, shining and ready for use. I run my fingers on the body of each and every single blade, wondering which of them would get rid of a man’s tongue quicker. I need a fast and clean cut. I don’t want him screaming too much before I get the job done. My right fingers scratch the right side of my head while I’m lost in thought. Perhaps I should use scissors? My silly phone picks that exact time to ring. I reach for it in my side pocket. It’s a private number. Why the hell is someone calling me with a private number? When I answer it, I press the speaker against my right ear, still rummaging through my knives. “Jaxon HawkThorne here.” “I know.” Two words. Two syllables. But it’s not his words that cause my heart to freeze. No. It’s the voice. His voice. Suddenly, I’m fourteen again. Weak. Scared. Tired. The room is spinning around my head. I lose my balance and fall sideways into my bed. My throat is dry, so dry I can feel it crack. It can’t be. He should be dead. But he’s not, because he speaks again. “How are you doing, son?”