“You are only as free as you think you are and freedom will always be as real as you believe it to be.” – Robert M. Drake JORDAN POVThe morning came sooner than I hoped, and I fought curses from raining down my mouth as I rolled off the bed before sitting on the edge of it, my feet disappearing into 4 plies of lushness and softness of the big rug in Mel’s room. My head felt heavy, and my back felt like it was under the endless torment of being pricked by millions of needles every now and then. My skin was hot, feverish even, and my breath smelled like I swallowed 10 dead frogs. A heavy groan escaped from my mouth as I got up, and winced when a slicing pain soared through my back. I stood stoic for a second, letting my body get accustomed to being awake and very much alive. I must have pissed the gods. That would be the only plausible explanation to my sudden rotten luck. But hey, all of that started when Melody walked into my life. But last night made me see her with a differen
Chapter 20“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” – Plato MELODY POVUnease settled in the messy puddle of my stomach, terror icing the blood in my veins with every tension-filled second. Damir showed up unannounced in the morning, before dropping a bombshell to our lap that they were invaded by some miniature cartels forming all around him. I previously thought it might take time before the dimwits revealed the color of their roots, or show the world how stupid they were. But all of that was a white lie. They were up and acting. And they were acting fast. They did not just attack our Russian base. They hit us in the stomach by bombing our Krokodil plant. And that was going to cost us a fuckin’ arm and a leg to recover. Krokodil was lethal, and it was our best-selling drug thus far. Man-made morphine that guaranteed you a prolonged state of high, and some sweet, sweet addiction. I grew impatient in
“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.” – Walt WhitmanMELODY POVBreath ragged from the run, I yanked off the band that held my curls in an upward ponytail throwing it into the neatly trimmed bushes marring the small roundabout in front of the manor. I didn't stop until I was pushing the heavy double doors made of pure oak only to halt when a pair of hard eyes landed on me. My heart skitted to a stop before I found my breath, and all I managed to do was let out a small smile. Jordan stood by the staircase, looking as sinful as ever in a pair blue of jeans and a white T-shirt. The ink running down his arm was on full display, and my mouth dried up instantly."You’ll tell me when you're done glaring." his voice sounded like Christmas morning, and it took every ounce of my willpower to not jump his bones and start kissing the living life out of him."You are early." I was abrupt as I took small steps to where he was standing. My main target was the staircase, not him."Change of
"When you have a dark side, nothing is ever as good as it seems.”- PinkMELODY POV As much as I hated to admit it, Damir's plan was actually genius. Put aside everything that happened in between. But everything did happen the way he said it would, and I would be a lying ball sack if I said I wasn't loving every minute of it. Not that I would tell him that. Damir was the kind of guy who had an ego bigger than the Kilimanjaro itself. I wasn't ready to be graced by his everlasting, undying conceit.But that was beside the point. Right now, the tabloids were going berserk with pictures of Jordan and I, and things were looking pretty for Thomas thus far. As predicted, the people seemed to be focusing on the possibility of their favorite politician joining hands and forces with their idols, US. And it was funny how they all seemed to think my marriage with Jordan was going to save the world from AIDS. Jordan and I fell into our roles, playing the lovey-dovey couple in front of the whole wo
Chapter 23“What you see in me is what you don't see... And what you don't is what I am.” - Omesh Crasher.Jordan POVI'd always imagined marriage as nothing but an impediment. Waking up next to somebody for the rest of your days, put up with their shit and temper tantrums. whenever I tried to broaden the aspect, I would see the little shit machines that were going to be neglected when the going gets tough. Literally, everything that would have me running for my life. I have seen married people before, happy married people. But something always told me a lot was going on behind closed doors, and that scared the shit out of me. The idea of spending the rest of my life with one person was mortifying enough. But spending life with the person you barely knew was far worst.That was all until I met Melody. She never hinted anything of happily ever after, but I found myself thinking of something entirely apart. Now I knew it was more than the vows said in front of the priest, false promi
CHAPTER 24“All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.” - Swami VivekanandaJORDAN POVMy fist slammed into his stomach, sending a stabbing pang into my arm through my knuckles. The blow was intentional, hard, and precise.Kory grunted before hissing like a feral cat, then leaped backward and grinned like the idiot he was."Welcome back to the game, brother." he jumped effortlessly on his toes as he glared at me. We were going down at it without gloves, and anyone would have backed out as soon as a bare fist made the first contact with their ribs. But Kory loved the ache. He got off from sore ribs and blue eyes. He wore his bruises like a medal."Don't hold back." I wiped the sweat dripping down my forehead with the back of my hand, then braced my ground. Adrenalin soared through me with a roar as he countered with his right leg. I leaped into the air and landed on my good foot before hooking my knee and ja
“Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily." _ Napoleon Bonaparte.MELODY POVI was far from perfect. matter of fact, I perfected in imperfections. My whole life revolved around all the wickedness and unwavering vileness of this world. I always found ways to go against the laws of humanity.I broke the law of gods and men like I broke necks. I did all the bad things in the world, to the point where I believed the devil hated me.Word has it that he hates competition more than he hated salvation.With all the sins I have committed in my 23 years in this world, not even once did I flinch. I was not capable of things like regret, andI slit a throat right now and went home to watch Tom and Jerry before dreaming of my next kill. Never have I felt even a slight smidgeon of guilt. it was my life, and nobody ever made me feel shitty about it. But right now, I was placed before a black mirror, forced to look at the monster I have become. The blackness of my soul fo
" Evil is a source of moral intelligence in the sense that we need to learn from our shadow from our dark side, in order to be good "- John BradshawJORDAN POV I waded into a pile of clothes. I could not decide between simple jeans and a button-down shirt, and a suit. But I chew for a fact she was going to be dashing. As always. But who was I kidding? Melody could be down on en old sacks and she would still be the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on.Those curves, the way her body dipped and rose in all the right places made her look like an entity that could fit in any era.After an eternity of imprecision and doubt, I settled for plain black dress pants and a dress shirt. It was not a formal dinner, so I foregone the tie. The belt settled on my waist firmly, and black dress shoes completed my look. I was running late, I knew I was because dinner was scheduled to start about half an hour ago, but I had suddenly turned into this teenager who could not leave the house wit
"Together, we are untouchable. Like Bonnie and Clyde." ~ UNKNOWNJORDAN POVI knew he had to die. I knew I should have killed the bloody bastard the first time I learned of everything he had done, instead of letting him breathe for another second. Nothing killed a husband more than seeing his wife crumbling and fumbling for control when everything else just continued spiraling, and I hated that I seemed powerless and helpless about it all. Peter Rothschild should have died a long time ago, but I hesitated;And now he was brazenly threatening everything that my wife and her family had worked for so long… for decades. Maybe I wasn’t being loyal to blood. But blood alone was not what made you family. And learning everything that my grandfather did just proved that. My family was with Melody, because it was with her I got to be the man I was today. And the mere fact that my in-laws would burn the whole world for me was what made them family to me, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
“Any distraction tends to get in the way of being an effective gangster.” — Terence Winter~THREE WEEK LATER~MELODY POVIt was nostalgic. Almost not disheartening now that I knew where it came from. Like back when I was young and everything was just going so smoothly. I woke up every day and lazed around the rest of the day like a headless, aimless chicken with nothing to do on my hand. Maybe I was so used to spilling blood that going on for three weeks straight without seeing red coating my hands was a sin in itself.But this one was boring as hell. Sure, it was better when I was younger and didn’t know what had happened when my fathers were all home. But now I did, and I kind of missed the thrill of the fight. With these thoughts coursing through my mind, I glanced at an empty space beside me on the bed, and then thought hard on it. The sun was already out, and it was dang late. But I had no fuckin’ plans. Sure, I could visit the coke plant and see how my people were doing, and
“Best way to not get your heart broken is to not have one.” ~ UNKNOWNMELODY POVWe slipped through the security, and one of the guards (whatever his name was) took us up to the VIP booth on the second floor. “The Eagle is one of the most… he is not our usual client. So we thought we could take him up to the VIP.” He explained, stopping outside the booth that was covered with a violet curtain. “Is it true he is unarmed?” I asked with knitted brows, and the man nodded. “He didn’t bring any of his dogs?” Jord chimed in, and I looked at him before shifting my questioning gaze at the gaze. “He just showed up. No underman, nothing.” The man explained with a puzzled shrug, and my gaze collided with Jord’s.“Sounds fishy.” He said the exact thing I said when Douglass laid the news to me. “Okay, bud. Keep out on the lookout for things. And if you see anything out of place, kill it. No second thought or hesitation.” That came from Jordan, and if I wasn’t as puzzled as I was, I would have
"Blood makes you related, and loyalty makes you family.” ~ UNKNOWNMELODY POV“The Eagle is here.” The words caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on attention. My expression morphed from one of softness to stone cold in a fraction of a second, and I heard a small whistle coming from the other side of the terrace where Emily stood. I gave her a stink eye before getting up from where I was perched, then walked away without much of a word.“What the hell is Valero doing here? Is he armed?” I asked when I was out of ear shorts, already racing down the stairs to put on different clothes. I didn’t approach situations like those clad in jeans and a sweater. “That’s the exciting part. He is alone. He didn’t bring anyone with him and he is unarmed.” He revealed, and my confusion spiked through the roof. “Where are you? Is he with you?” I got into my bedroom before heading straight for my closet, then rummaged through my collection of leather pants because truth be told; nothing
"A guy told me one time… don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.” ~ Neil McCauleyMELODY POVThe touch came in innocent; like the feel of a light feather when it ghosted against the skin. My mind exploded under the two stimulants of the hot, soft tuch and the thickness and richness of the hot chocolate, causing heat to flood to every single part of my body. Every cell in my body buzzed with alertness when Jordan’s strong arms trapped me against the kitchen island. It was 8 in the morning, and he had to have left for work already. Sometimes I liked to picture us living in the classic French house with a white picket fence and annoying shit machines running around the house and wreaking havoc in nothing but diapers. It was safer to have a little bit of reality escape, especially when it was free to think. “What are you thinking of?” He drawled, his fingers caressing my barely dressed self
“I don’t like violence, Tom. I’m a businessman. Blood is a big expense.” ~ SollozzoJORDAN POVThe evening was pleasant, with the fresh scent of a live city and blinding lights. Few clouds hung from the sky staring down at the world like they were watchers of humanity. The air was dense, and humidity painted small vapor droplets on the windows. Everything was pleasant, everything but the LA night traffic which was a colossal pain in the ass, and every second we wasted traipsing in a convoy made me want to lose my mind.. Melody's presence was a heavy entity dominating my resolutions by my side, and her thoughts were so fuckin' loud I couldn't focus on anything but everything that turmoiled in her mind. And to think we ditched our own party and ran behind some retarded folk gangster to save the damsel in distress still sounded so crazy to me. But in all honesty, I would do it all over again if my time with my woman was guaranteed. I mean, what can I say? Mel always had that effect on m
"Do not fear death. Death is just a reformation of something even more magnificent. Death is where it all starts, death; it’s not the end.’~ UNKNOWNJORDAN POVAs though it was waiting to be opened, the first thing to flash across the screen was a blurred video that seemed to play on a broken loop. A few seconds in, everything cleared, revealing a very familiar, sweet, and feminine voice. The voice belonged to none but Emee, and that spiked my interest in knowing what exactly was in the device she gave us.Probably because I was still in wonder. Wondering how the hell someone like Emee, someone so kind and loving ended up licking the ass of someone as horrible as Peter. None of this made sense. Grandpops... He used to be... he was so different. He was a man. A father. Or maybe everything I saw through the eyes of a small boy was just a facade, and everything I saw was him trying to butter me up and suck me into his lair. Just that my father refused to give him that chance. And Emee
"I don’t wanna be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.” ~ Frank CostelloEMILY POVLike a ray of sun piercing through the darkest clouds of a bitter storm, her presence alone was the resemblance of the sweet taste of redemption. For over twenty years now, I have been living as a hollow of a woman I once was. I saw myself changing in front of my eyes, from a loving, caring human into this shell of a human that cared less about… anything. My soul was so empty, my heart so drained. I lived every day like it was my last on earth, having no hope of seeing tomorrow or even the thirst of dreaming about the future. Everything was here, yet so out of reach. I had everything a woman my age could think of. Everything money could buy. But happiness? Freedom? Those were the two things that millions in my bank account failed to give me. Of course, on my most blue days, I drowned my sorrows in a bottle of the world's most expensive alcohol, but that was just
" “The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room.” — Frank LucasJORDAN POVI didn’t realize the restlessness that ghosted under my skin until I tried to sit down and calm the fuck down while trying by all means not to murder my grandad who stood in front of me like a pompous dick he was. I watched with obsidian as my wife skitted across the room towards the wine cabinet, then poured some good whiskey in the four flutes before returning with a tray. Always a good hostess she was!‘’A drink?” She stood in front of me and bent down to place the tray, sounding as though she was making an offer while I knew damn well in my heart and my soul that she would blow the fucker’s brains out if they tried to turn down her whiskey offer. Nothing got in the way of whiskey to Mel. And I just loved her for that. Emily jumped up and took a glass, passed it to Peter who leaned in to place and caught her by her nape before devouring her face in a sloppy wet kiss that had me gagging eve