63

Eros
I stand behind my desk in the office of the Lord of the Khazan Family. To my left, Cara leans against the bookshelf, looking exhausted. Her eyes are bloodshot from the struggle of staying alive and there’s an ugly yellow bruise forming on her cheek. Dr. Kalivas says she’ll be okay-she doesn’t seem to have any permanent damage, which was a relief beyond measure.
To my right is my mother. She’s in all black like always, her face cold and passive, showing no emotion. She stares straight ahead, unwilling to look at me.
That’s okay. I can’t blame her. This won’t be easy for my mother. She’s lost so much already, but now there’s more to lose.
Straight ahead, Anissa and Sophia kneel on the floor, their hands tied behind their backs. Sophia doesn’t look great-apparently, she tried to fight when Lycus caught her, screaming obscenities, halfway to the dock and the jet skis, and the guards might’ve gone a little overboard when they captured her. Aunt Anissa came peacefully though, and her hair is in a perfect bun, her clothes neat and orderly, her chin held high.
Behind them, Lycus and Alonzo stand with guns aimed.
Rage simmers in my stomach.
Rage and a sorrow I can’t describe.
How did my family get here? After everything I’ve been through, how am I here right now, looking at these two women?
I didn’t hate Sophia, not before I took over the family, and not after. I didn’t love how her and her aunt were always trying to undermine me-but I never blamed them.
Back when we were kids, I was even close with my cousin. We used to play together, her and her brother and I. We’d explore the grounds, go out on the lake, get into trouble in the city. Typical kid shit. We grew apart as we got older, but I’ve never forgotten the girl I used to spend so much time with.
That girl is gone now.
And I mourn for her. I mourn deeply, so deeply it hurts, clouded only by the anger that drives me.
I understand why my mother always wears black.
But I won’t succumb to my bitterness.
Along the walls are my captains, at least those that could come on short notice. There’s Spyro, Damon, Kosmos my consigliere, and Stavros, one of the old guard. The other captains are on their way, but this can’t wait any longer.
Justice must be done.
“Sophia Khazan. Anissa Khazan. You are traitors to your family.” My voice breaks the tense silence as I stare at the women on their knees.
My family.
Dead to me now.
“Not guilty,” Anissa says primly.
“This isn’t a fucking trial,” I say, my voice a growl. “This is a dictatorship. I am the lord in this room, and my will is the word of god as far as you’re concerned. Aunt Anissa, I have tolerated your disobedience for long enough. You’ve done nothing but conspire with the captains behind my back-”
“I have done nothing but work for my family,” Anissa says.
I nod to Alonzo. He kicks her hard between the shoulder blades, knocking her face-first onto the floor.
“Speak again and I’ll have him stand on the back of your skull,” I say.
Aunt Anissa groans as she struggles to right herself. Alonzo drags her up by her hair, but I wave him off before he can do more.
“There’s no need to be cruel, Eros,” Mother says softly from my elbow. “They know what they did.”
“Maybe they do, but my captains need to hear it.” I stare at her. “Do you deny that Sophia tried to murder my wife?”
“I don’t,” Mother says.
“Do you deny that Anissa and Sophia worked with Zale to have Cara kidnaped and sent back to the Italians?”
“I don’t,” Mother says. “I know it was them.”
“Then be silent.” I work my jaw, not happy about talking to my mother like that, but I can’t accept anyone undermining me right now. This is too important. I turn back to Anissa and Sophia, and both women are staring at me with fear in their eyes. I come around the desk, pausing only to kiss Cara on the forehead. She smiles at me, pain in her expression.
I stand in front of my cousin and my aunt.
“I know you both hate me,” I say, looking from one to the other. Anissa shows nothing, though a thin trickle of blood rolls down from her nose. Sophia, however, stares death at me, like a caged, rabid fox. “You both have good reason. I killed the former lord of this family, your husband and father, for murdering my father. I killed his son and heir, your child and your brother, when he tried to stop me. I did what I felt was necessary and right, but I understand why you both still hold that against me. That is the only reason you have both been tolerated for this long.”
“I don’t need a murderer to tolerate me,” Sophia hisses.
I hold up a hand to keep Lycus from silencing her. “You have been my punishment,” I say softly, staring at the pathetic rage flowing from Sophia like a river. I hate my cousin, my half-sister, as much as she hates me. But she’s a pathetic creature, twisted by grief and revenge. “I killed my uncle. I killed my lord and his son. Though I did it for good reasons, I still felt as though I owed the world something. You two were that something. You two were the price I paid to remember the terrible things that I did.”
“That’s a shame,” Anissa says. “If you felt so bad, you could’ve just killed yourself and saved us all the trouble.”
I let out a long breath and look from face to face. The captains watch me with rapt attention. Mother seems distraught, but she’s doing a good job holding it back. Cara looks exhausted and sick.
This nightmare is never going to end.
Violence only brings more violence.
I kill, and I kill, and there are always more people that want to hurt those I care about.
Death isn’t an answer. It’s only an invitation for more death.
“The pair of you are banished to our home on the Upper Peninsula.” My mother’s shocked gasp is the only sound. “You will both be confined there for the rest of your lives. If I hear either of you have left the grounds, you will both die. You will both be stripped of the Khazan name. You will receive a paltry stipend to afford food. There will be no internet. There will be no phones. You will exist in limbo until your final days, and may God have mercy on your souls.”
“I don’t need mercy,” Sophia hisses and spits on my carpet. “I need your blood. I need your wife lying dead at my feet. I need-”
Lycus slams his gun into the back of her head. She grunts and topples forward, not quite knocked out, but stunned.
I nod at my men. Lycus lifts groaning Sophia, and Alonzo pulls Anissa to her feet. My aunt stares at me with an expression caught between surprise and hate but I turn my back on them and walk over to my mother.
Tears roll down her face. I take her hands in mine and hold them tightly as Anissa and Sophia are led from the room. The remaining captains are staring, not speaking. I don’t know what they’re thinking. A betrayal like what Sophia did normally that would end in an execution. I’m guessing they don’t know what to think.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Mother says and smiles sadly. “They didn’t deserve it.”
“No, they didn’t,” I say loudly enough for everyone to agree. “But I’ve killed enough members of this family. And besides, they’ll live out their days in the middle of nowhere. They’ll never be a threat to us again. That house is deep in the forest, far from civilization.”
“They could come back,” Mother says, shaking her head sadly. “They hate you enough to try it.”
“I’ll make sure they don’t. And if they try, I’ll kill them myself, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
Mother hugs me tightly. “I hope not, Eros. I really hope not.”
I release her and turn to my captains. I meet their gazes, one by one. “Don’t mistake what just happened for weakness.”
“We wouldn’t dare, Lord,” Stavros says firmly. His eyes are narrowed and he nods to me with approval.
“There has been enough bloodshed in this family. Enough good Greek men and women killed in the war with the Italians. Sophia and Anissa have been lost for a long time, and now they’ve been sent away where they will be dealt with. What I did was not mercy. Death would be a kindness. They will suffer and wither away. Spread the word to the rest of the family. Tell them the Khazan family still believes in justice.”
“Yes, Lord,” my captains chorus and exit the office, one by one. My mother follows the procession out, looking lost and small.
I slump back against the desk, exhaustion falling over me like a chain around my throat.
“Are you sure you made the right choice?” Cara asks as she puts a hand on my chest and leans her head on my shoulder.
I put an arm around her waist. “I’m sure. Living out in isolation will be hell for them. I’d be shocked if they last a year.”
“Would you have done it if I weren’t still alive?”
I shake my head. “No. They’d be dead.”
“I’m glad then. I don’t think you could live with yourself if you had to kill more people in your family.”
She holds me tightly and I don’t reply.
A deep, horrible blackness sits in my stomach.
She’s very wrong about me.
I didn’t spare them because I can’t handle killing them.
I spared them because they still hold sway on some of the captains, and I can’t afford pissing anyone off at this point in the war.
But once the Italians are completely finished?
I’ll know where Sophia and Anissa are.
And they will get exactly what they deserve.