Chapter 4- Kalel's POV

"Fuck Anton!" I roar. "Sorry man your head is all over the place," Anton says. "No shit man, you know what tomorrow means," I say grabbing my jaw that he just punched.

Anton and I have been blowing off steam for the last two hours while Elaine and Miranda are getting their hair and nails done for the wedding.

"Fuck off Kal, she is just as much my sister as she is yours, I know exactly what tomorrow means and I also know how fucking upset she is about the whole damn thing," he says through gritted teeth.

I know he's not angry at me but at the situation my asshole of a father has created with Elaine. The look on his face matches mine, our moms were best friends and we were actually born just a few days apart, we were raised as brothers and are in every sense of the word.

Our world was turned upside down the day Elaine was born. I remember like it was yesterday my mom calling us in "Boys I want you to meet your sister Elaine, you both must promise to keep her safe forever," she says to us.

Mind you we were both five but the look on her face told me to hold on to every word. We both looked up at her and said " We swear to protect her forever!", in our bravest voice that we could muster.

For the last eighteen years there has never been a time when she has been truly left alone. Anton or I are always with her whenever she leaves and all three of us live in the same wing of the house, far away from the mafia business that takes place here.

For times when she is at school I keep track of her through her jewelry. She has no idea but every piece of jewelry I've ever given her has a tracking device in it. I figured if anything ever went wrong it would be a sure way to find her.

Bringing me out of my thoughts Anton says," She is putting on strong face in front of everyone, you know she will ask you if she can tell Miranda the truth about tomorrow." He looks like he is fighting a battle within himself just like I am, "What will you say?"

Taking a deep breath, "I'm honestly surprised she hasn't asked sooner but perhaps she didn't want to upset Miranda." That's our sister, never wanting anyone to get hurt especially if she feels that she is the cause, always seeing the good and always caring for others even if she is suffering more than anyone else. When dad slashed my face I thought she was going to break into a million pieces she was so distraught over the whole ordeal.

"Of course I'll say that it's okay if she truly wants to tell her," I say because I honestly could never deny El anything. "You know Miranda is going to lose her shit when she hears what's going to take place tomorrow, she is a fucking firecracker, but Elaine is going to need her," He says as a matter of factly.

We both laugh at the fact we know exactly how Miranda will react, she is protective as all hell over our sister and I respect her all the more for it. It truly amazes me how different they are but they have a friendship like no other.

Looking at my phone the girls should be finishing up in the next thirty minutes giving us enough time to get cleaned up. "Hey man, how about we call it a night and go get cleaned up. I know the girls will want to hang out for a while longer before Miranda goes home. How about we take them out for a birthday dinner?" I say knowing that when it comes to El's happiness we will do anything.

"Of course, wanna take her to her favorite place? I know she would love that," he states. Grabbing my phone I call the restaurant and make reservations for the four of us and then b-line it back to my room to get cleaned up.

Anton and I have a system that if one of us is unavailable the other will wait that way she's never left alone because we trust noone. It has been like this since she was born, most of the time she never even knows. However there are a few instances where both of us are unavailable so I always send teams of two to be our eyes and ears in case of a true emergency.

I shoot a text to Anton as I'm heading down to the girls telling him to hurry up. As I come into earshot I can hear them giggling away and hearing how happy they are brings a smile to my face.

However that is short lived as my mind turns to the events that are going to happen tomorrow 'How the fuck could dad think that his daughter is just some pawn to be used in his play to get more power and territory? Why could he not just be happy with what he has ? Why could he not trust that I can help him?' my blood is fucking boiling.

I'm quickly brought out of my train of thought as El screams "Kal!" just as she throws herself towards me. Thank God my reflexes are quick otherwise she would have fell on her ass but at the same time I scold myself for being so distracted that she caught me standing here.

"El, did yall have a good time?" I say as I set her down.

Her smile that reached all the way to her eyes instantly fell and in that moment I wanted to go on a killing rampage and hurt whoever was hurting her.

She quickly recovers from her thoughts as she looks up at me, "Of course, we had a great time, didn't we M?" Miranda walks over to us, "We had an amazing time, I wonder what we should do next?" she says putting her hand on her hip.

" Actually I already have the next thing lined up if you ladies won't mind being stuck with the two of us?" I say as I hear Anton walking up behind me. "Yes ladies, would you do us the honor of accompanying us on to our next adventure?" Anton says as he finishes buttoning up his shirt.

At the mention of doing something El perks up and her face shines with excitement, "Of course, What did you guys have in mind?" Miranda grabs her arm, "Hold on just a minute, what makes you think we wanna hang out with the two of you when we are having girl time?"

Anton looks at me and we both just burst into laughter, "Told you she's a firecracker, it never fails." If looks could kill Anton and I would both be dead from the glare on Miranda's face.

Even Elaine giggles at our banter, "So what did you have in mind?" Smiling at her, "Oh nothing too special, just dinner at your favorite resta-" "OMG!! Yes, yes, yes we will gladly join you," El says interrupting me.

I knew that would get her on the hook, now we just gotta get Miranda to agree. El turns to Miranda putting on her sad face, "Please M, I know we are having a girls day but with what's happening tomorrow we won't be able to do our traditional birthday dinner."

Every year the four of us celebrate our birthday's together seeing as all of our birthdays were only a few weeks apart. As soon as El mentions tomorrow Miranda immediately starts to tense but it fades quickly almost as if she doesn't agree with tomorrow either.

However Miranda has no idea that Elaine's marriage is an arranged marriage so I wonder why she is so upset. "Well when you put it like that sure, why not? Let's go have one more night of freedom! " she says.

El gives Miranda a big hug and whispers "Thank you M, you're the best!" With that we are off to Anthony's, this amazing seafood restaurant right on the water.

Dinner went great but the girls still wanted to hang out so we came back home. They are in her room watching some awful chick flick. Meanwhile I'm sitting in my room drinking whiskey and going through reports Anton has gathered on the Anello family and everyone who is in the inner circle.

Tonight is the last night that I can truly protect my sister and its pissing me off. From the moment I found out about this fucking arrangement I have been trying to stop it even after dad slashed a knife across my face two years ago.

Even Anton tried to interfere but unfortunately he was beat within an inch of his life. I had to lie to El and say Anton had to go out of the country for a month on emergency family business just so he could recover without her finding out.

It nearly killed her emotionally when dad slashed my face, I feared this would only hurt her more because she would feel responsible. So I chose the lesser of two evils and lied to El however I made sure Anton called her once a week so she wouldn't worry too much.

I could care less about expanding our territory at the expense of my sister. My sister is innocent of this world we live in because I've shielded her from it as best as I can.

I hope that Dimitri can continue to protect her from this world but from the reports I'm reading I'm not sure what kind of man he is which terrifies me even more. Even though we have met in fromal situations we have never befriended each other. I can't just flat out threaten the man because that will only cause more problems for my sister.

Being pulled out of my thoughts as I hear my sister and Miranda coming out if her room I make my way to my door. I open it just as El was going to knock,"Oh Kal, you scared me how do you always know that it's me," she says smiling," Miranda is ready to go home so I'm just gonna walk her downstairs and then I'll be right back."

"Goodnight Miranda and thank you for hanging out with El all day, what time will you be here in the morning?" I say as I send Anton a text to take the girls to the garage.

"Bright and early of course! Tomorrow is a double celebration after all!" she grins ear to ear as she looks at El.

"That it is, have a safe drive home and we will see you first thing in the morning," I say as they turn to walk down the hall.

'Fuck! I fucking wish I could do something more!' I think as I walk back into my room finding the bottle of whiskey and filling my glass again.

I would love nothing more than to drown myself in this bottle but can't get shit faced because El needs me on my game one hundred percent tomorrow and I won't let her down.