LOGIN"Sir, your phone." A servant, Christian, rushed to Mr. Jeffery McCoy with a ringing phone in hand just when he was about to take a good swing."Who could that be?" He wondered out loud, reaching for the phone. "Mayor Adler..." He handed the golf club to the servant and gestured to him to start packing up. "Not at all, I haven't forgotten...yes...I'll join you shortly. Please, feel at home.""Christian," he called as he pocketed his phone. "Hurry, get the cart ready. You'll ride me home. My wife and the little one will have it with Adam.""Yes, sir."Dressed in a white La Coste t-shirt, a pair of white pants, and a white ball cap, Mr. McCoy climbed a small slope to where his wife and son sat. "Welcome, Adam." He bent over for a bottle of water, unscrewed it, and took two tiny gulps. "I was hoping not to see you until Christmas break.""Why not? It's not like I school a sea apart.""It's not like you school at all, Adam. If you're not busy chasing after girls and jeopardizing people's d
Then there was him, deprived of most of his youth by shouldering the responsibilities of a provider. Working his arse day and night to sustain his family."The struggle went on and on and on. Persisted. Like a stubborn stain. A never-ending agony." His voice had receded to almost a whisper. "A pit of despair.""I want to end it all. The poverty, the devaluing, the disrespect, the suffering. All of it. I want to revive a suppressed...almost nonexistent legacy." He said, resolved.As it had been when Sean started speaking, the room remained void of any sound even after he finished. Not a cough was voiced. Not a skin rubbed against fabric. Not a cricket chirped. Not even Ratti the rat, which scavenged Mikai's kitchen once the kitchen light was turned off--as it did that night earlier on--noised.But then, in the midst of the long, eerie, deafening silence a Levi farted, a brief yet thunderous duty, thawing away the time freeze."That was...super intense," Levi added to the silence breake
Adam drove through the serenity of Main Street Avenue. Hugged, from both sides of the sidewalk by a lined up variety of greenery from Maples and Lindens, commercial buildings, pedestrians, cyclist, and shade seekers beneath trees and parasols, he zoomed towards his first stop.It would've been to Mimie's, to fulfill his promise to Gianna but the thought of Mrs. Bakers turned the hairs at the back of his neck rigid. The woman didn't like him. That, he knew. Her face was always crunched when he was around, as if he was a stubborn toilet limescale without remedy. She did not hide her distaste for him the first time he stepped into her home. Her needle eyes constantly pierced him each time she pretended to fetch or fix something in the sitting room so much that, he suffered from a chronic back ache later that day.He never visited ever since.When he walked with Mimie home after school, Mrs. Bakers, when chanced, sometimes waited for her daughter at the doorstep. She would mutter somethin
"Sean Dimitri Vladimir. Russian-American; basically born in America to Russian parents. Mother, pâtissière, and father—stepfather, a hometown hotel logistics manager. Got two sisters." He paused, contemplating. "High school graduate. I'm good at football. I can't say I have any peculiar talent like the lot of you do, but I'm not less worthy of this place than any of you."He looked at their faces one after the other. They were all staring back at him, no doubt wondering how he had gotten there without any influential, powerful, or nepotistic assistance or extraordinary skill. They were open books, even Vadim, who wore aloofness and nonchalance like a second skin, had a ghost of curiosity roaming his countenance."I got here through the underground fight Arena, Fury Coliseum. I—""What??!!" Mikai, Andrei, and Levi exclaimed in unison, eyes almost popping out of their sockets while Vadim stayed calm. Almost undisturbed, had it not been for the clenched muscles of his sharp jaws."You're
Adam drove straight to Cold Spring after he visited the mental health hospital. His consideration to return all fifteen missed calls and seven messages began with Gianna's."Adam? Jeez, where on earth have you been all day?"Adam grinned, glad to be a trigger of worry. A clear proof of importance. He intentionally did not inform her of his absence to see how much she would miss him and how far it could go. Six of the fifteen missed calls were hers just like five of the seven unreplied messages."Someone misses me?" He pictured her rolling her eyes. One of the many expressions of displeasure he refused to get accustomed to as each one stung worse than the previous. He still could not get a grip on why Gianna avoided him so badly after all he'd done, despite being attracted to him."You did not send in your report today, remember?"It was as clear as day. She exhibited the behaviors of a girl longing, a girl in admiration, a girl in love. That, he knew so well because he was a regular,
"Levi Alekseev. Eighteen. Russian...brain freeze."Mikai shook his head. "Family, hobbies, integration...""Oh," The tousled brown haired boy smacked his fingers in remembrance. "Adopted son of the Baby Face Killer, older of two children. I'm—""Who's that?" Sean cut in."He's Imperiya's Almighty Underboss: Alaverdi Alekseev." Mikai clarified.Levi eagerly nodded. "I'm a sucker for parties. Diagnosed with CD: Conduct Disorder. Should explain why I love doing what I do when I get the slightest opportunity," he grinned then abruptly frowned. "Though I barely go on missions on my own, unsupervised, especially when information is expected from the victim. Father fears I'll terminate them before thinking of the most important part which is asking questions." His eyes lit up. "Have you ever tortured someone, Sean?"The mentioned shook his head because even though he thought he did, Sean believed he and Levi had different definitions of the word torture."Then you're missing a whole lot. See







