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A Storm (Hazel)
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Don Markos Violet (Hazel)
I stirred awake, the morning light filtering through the thin and worn out curtains of my small apartment. I stretched, trying to shake off the remnants of a restless night, filled with the thought of Markos and his confusing actions towards me. Even early in the morning, the thought of him was exhausting. Just as I was about to get up, a sharp knock echoed through my small sanctuary. My heart raced. I half-expected it to be Markos, coming back for another confrontation and I hated that a part of me wished it was. Just so I could see him again. To my annoyance, the sight of him was oddly comforting just as much as it was intense and overwhelming.I pulled on a robe and shuffled to the door, mentally preparing myself for whatever awaited me on the other side.When I opened the door, it wasn’t Markos standing there. It was Lucy, my sister Violet’s roommate. Lucy’s usually bitchy face was a mask of distress, her eyes wild with worry and anger. Without waiting for an invitation, she p
Don Markos Weight of Responsibility (Hazel)
On my way home, I decided to look for the homeless man who had told me he saw Violet being taken to a hospital. Most of the hospitals I had checked didn’t have her admitted there.It may have seemed biased but I needed to ask him again. I thought that maybe he was high when he told me that piece of information. My search seemed fruitless. I had to confirm what he saw.I went back to the street I talked to him but he wasn’t there. When I gave the description to someone there, he told me where I was going to find him.I never imagined the day would end like this, standing on a desolate street corner, talking to a man wrapped in rags. He had seemed so much put together when I saw him previously. His eyes, tired and distant, flickered with a strange knowing.He had seen something—a girl, my sister, Violet—being carried away on a stretcher. "She looked like she needed help," he muttered, clutching his blanket tighter against the cold. It was too late to verify anything at the hospital;
Don Markos Again...(Hazel)
My thoughts were a tangled mess as I stood by the window, staring blankly at the cityscape. The bills piled up like a mountain I couldn't climb. Violet's hospital stay, the psychiatric center for my brother, and the regular expenses loomed over me. My phone lay useless on the counter, the screen cracked and the battery dead. Even if I had the money to replace it, there were more pressing needs. I had no idea how I was going to manage it all, especially with my pitiful salary. The whispers about my past with Markos and the rumors about our present made work unbearable, but I couldn't leave. I needed every penny.The side gig Julia had suggested had seemed like a lifeline at first. Escorting men to high-profile events was easy money, or so I thought. But it had turned out to be a dangerous game. The night with that client who took me to a secluded place instead of home was a wake-up call. He had been charming at first, all smooth smiles and expensive cologne. But as the night wore on, h
Don Markos Leading…
I fixed my posture and approached my parents at the coffee shop. They weren’t even conversing when I got there. Mother was talking Father’a ear off and wasn’t even listening. He was too busy looking through his cell.None of that deterred Mother from speaking. I felt sorry for her.“Good morning,” I greeted as I sat. I gestured for my guards to give us a considerable amount of space and they did.“At least your husband is protecting you well,” Father remarked and sized me up. “He’s not doing the right thing. Women always become whores when given freedom. He shouldn’t let you leave the house or have a phone.”I wish I could have said I was shocked by his statement but I wasn’t. Mother wasn’t allowed to leave the house unless it was with him. There were a few times when she was allowed to leave; when she was taking us shopping.She wasn’t even allowed to have friends.I looked down, refusing to meet his eye. I didn’t want to risk angering him and triggering his anger.“Where is the docu
Don Markos Number three
What Ricco told me happened during Viola’s coffee date with her parents did not sit well with me. Viola’s relationship with her parents was abusive. She may not have admitted it but I knew that for a fact.“What are we going to do about the Serbians?” Dante asked as he entered my office and made himself comfortable.“Nothing. We’ll wait for them to make their move.”“You should have just let that old man marry Viola. We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for her.”I shot him a warning look but he ignored me. He was the only person who wasn’t afraid of me. People shook at the sound of my name—women included. Even Viola was scared of me when we first met.I had only partially succeeded in making her comfortable with me.“Don’t speak on my wife.”“Oh, you like her now? I thought you couldn’t stand her. Now you’re here defending her. She’s a mafia princess. Marrying a man old enough to be her grandfather is barely a surprise.”“Don’t. Speak. On. My. Wife.”He shut his mouth immediately
Don Markos Beggar
Violeta was in the hospital and so was my brother. Things were not going great for me. It had been three days since I went to work. Derek had probably ranted to Markos and convinced him to fire me.But what choice did I have? This was what my sister we were talking about. I had a duty to take care of her even though she was older than me. None of us were responsible for how our lives turned out.Father was the one who dug us into a mess and then Mother decided this life wasn’t hers to leave. If I didn’t protect Violet, I was going to lose her. That was the last thing I needed.I was short on money. I had no phone, no money to pay bills, pay my brother’s hospital fees, and my sister’s hospital bills. I sat at the waiting room of the hospital with my head in my hands.Tears flowed freely down my face but I didn’t dare look up. I was too proud to let someone see me cry. People had already seen me in my worst moments but crying was never going to be one of those moments.“What am I going
Don Markos Don't need you (Hazel)
I begged like they wanted. I even licked the floor for thirty minutes just to make sure they were impressed enough to help me out. I should have known the two heartless individuals were never going to show me empathy.They acted worse than those strangers who saw us as an abomination in society. They sabotaged their own blood and humiliated them greatly. I would never forgive them for putting me though hell like they did.After I was done licking the floor, they ordered gusrds to show up, grab me and kick me out of theior home. I was sent away screaming and begging for them to hear me out. I cried and begged for them to make me their slave or maid.But no matter what I said, nothing seemed to move them. They were devils.I wiped my tears as I walked away from the estate. I had used the last of my money to pay for the taxi to go to their house. I thought that maybe they were going to give me a ride. I should have known better than to expect such things from superficial people.I shiver
Don Markos Mistakes
I shook as I stood in the middle of the bedroom wondering what I would do. There was no time to put on makeup to hide how much Mother had punctured my flesh with her long nails. Or the handprint from where Father grabbed me roughly.I wished more than anything that I had covered up the marks first thing when I arrived home. Instead, I’d wallowed in my sadness–something that was getting me in trouble already.“You’re not naked,” Nikolas said from the door. He still had his gun in his hands and that dangerous look in his eyes. Any remnants of the gentle man who made love to me nice and slow so he wouldn’t hurt me were gone. The man who cleaned me after he took my virginity and changed our sheets was gone. In his place was the ruthless man he had always been–the man I refused to see all along. The other version was made up in my mind. Mafioso men were all the same. One wrong move and he would kill me with that very gun he was holding.“I–”He raised the gun and pointed it at me. “I c
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