Jake

I sit across the table from two men that if I’d met in a dark alley, I’ll admit I may have feared them. They are both built; fuck that, they are stacked more than anyone I’ve ever met before. I am not a small guy. At 6’ 2”, my stance is broad and intimidating. But these two, hell they even scare me.

“How do we know this is truly what you want?” the larger of the two asks with a narrowed stare. “Why should we believe that this entire plea of yours isn’t your way of creating a distraction? Maybe you’re all in this game together attempting to play us for fools.”

“The only thing I can give you is my word.”

The other man scoffs at my comment.

“I’ve lived in hell since the day I was born, and I just want out. I may be a Gunther but I’m nothing like any of them.” I lean forward, resting my elbows on the table as I stare between the two of them, refusing to be intimidated. “What I can tell you for a fact is that either you bring them down, or I kill every motherfucker in there myself. One by one.”

The bigger man lounges back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest.

“You decide,” I add, still staring at each of them.

“You’re okay with the fact that every member of your family will be brought down?” I nod, waiting for them to say what I need to hear. “You’ll be forced to go undercover, to gather all we need on them, to ensure they are put away for good.” I shrug this time because I’ll do whatever it takes.

“We have a long rap sheet on every one of your sorry asses, but I’ll admit yours is thin and weak.” I can see a trace of a smile tugging at the corner of the prick’s mouth.

“I told you I’m not like them, and I want out.”

The door behind the two of them opens and two other men step inside. They are in black suits, serious looking fuckers with badges hanging from their waistbands.

I stood outside Blair’s apartment building in the same place she left me long after she was gone. The sound of Sadie crying at my side didn’t even phase me. All I could see was the sadness in Blair’s eyes, the heartbreak that I was partially responsible for, and it gutted me. I gathered Sadie in my arms, and she gave me no resistance as I carried her to the car I’d arrived in. She curled into herself, turning away as I started the car and drove her to her apartment. Once she was safely inside, I drove across town, parked the car outside my place, and hailed a cab.

Now here I sit inside the police station with not one but four detectives standing in front of me and I’m offering them the chance to bring down the biggest crime lord in their city. The things my father is responsible for, the hatred and destruction he’s inflicted on many, have rocked this city. But I feel no remorse for laying out this plan before them. I feel nothing for my father or my brother. Nothing for the woman who stands behind a man like Zeke Gunther. They are all dead to me.

“You only have one family, son,” the older man who entered only moments ago says as he steps up to the side of the table. I lift my gaze and meet his, hoping he can see that I am completely void of any type of emotion toward those I want to destroy.

“They aren’t my family. They took the family I could have had and destroyed it.” I fist my hands on the table as I picture Blair’s smile in my mind. “Now I want them to pay for what they cost me. Either you help me make that happen, or I’ll do it alone. One way or another they will fall.”

“Okay, Cyrus, looks like we got some work to do.” The two men across from me stand, and I follow suit.

“There’s only one thing I need from you all.” I see those I knew it looks on all their faces as they wait for me to continue. “Don’t ever refer to me as Cyrus, it’s Jake. No Cyrus, no Gunther, just Jake, got it?”

Smiles slowly creep across each of their mouths and I know when they get it. They understand my need for revenge and justice.

I’m not the same as my family; I’m not cut out for this type of life.

“Did you take care of the problem?” My father asks Gabe as he enters the warehouse, wiping his hands on a cloth he’d pulled from his back pocket. Red smears from his fingers are left on the light-colored material and it makes my stomach ache with sympathy for whomever the blood belonged to. Most likely a desperate soul who got wrapped up in the ugly part of my father's world and couldn’t find a way out.

“Problem has been rectified.” Gabe smiles in that sadistic way of his and it takes all I have not to jump up and pound his face until I ensured he’d never smile again. But I can’t cross that line; I have to remain calm. Collecting all the information I can about the operations behind the Gunther name is the only thing that will bring this all to an end.

It is the key to my freedom.

“Good.” My father’s response is followed by a click as he lights his cigar.

There are always those trigger points in life, times you are reminded of what you otherwise may have forgotten. A familiar place, the taste of something you’ve had before; you just know it, yet can’t remember exactly when or even where. Or in my case the recognizable scent of a Cohiba Cuban cigar. But the scent alone never brought good memories of my childhood, only the nightmares that were inflicted whenever we were out of line. My father had no problem putting them out on Gabe or me whenever he felt we needed to be reminded of our place in his world. I had many scars across my back to prove this.

“Eddie is disposing of the evidence now.” I try my best not to react to the fact that my brother is talking so casually about the death of another human. At his hands, no less, and the saddest part of all is that I know there were many more before him.

“We located Nate.” I turn in the chair to look back at my father. “He’s been shacked up with some strung out princess in Bolingbrook. They’ve been using up the product he so eagerly ran off with and living off the poor girl's grandparents.”

He says this like he actually has a conscience and feels for the elderly couple.

“We’ve been scoping out the place, waiting for the perfect time to move in.”

“What do you plan to do with him?” I ask as I lean over and rest my elbows on my knees. “It’s not like you’re gonna get the money or drugs out of him.”

My father stares at me, lifting his cigar once more and puffing on the end before lowering it. I never thought it possible for any person to hate their parent as much as I hated Zeke, but I can assure you it is. What kind of person imagines killing their own dad a hundred different ways? Because that shit rolls around in my mind daily, hourly even, each method becoming more violent and vengeful than the last.

“I think this will be the perfect time for you to see just how we handle those who cross us, Cyrus.” I try to hide the cringe I feel when he says my first name. It is a name chosen by him, and when this is all said and done, I will never be referred to as Cyrus again. “Since you have somewhat of a personal connection to this situation, I’d say it’s only right you handle the man that once bedded the girl you seem so fond of.”

My hatred for my father was overpowering.

“How is our sweet Blair doing these days?” Gabe rings in from my side and without even taking the time to look at him I know he wears a smirk on his lips. He always did, that cocky arrogance my father had bestowed on him after years of convincing him he was invincible. The dumb ass isn’t smart enough to figure out Zeke will tell him anything if he continues to be his bitch. “I swung by her place a couple of days ago, but she didn’t answer her door.”

I turn my head just slightly, enough to meet his stare and instead of attacking him, which is what I truly want to do, I gave him a matching stare. The corner of my lip lifting, giving the impression that his words don’t affect me in the slightest.

“Tomorrow evening, you and Gabe are gonna take a little drive,” my father continues, ignoring the way my brother and I simply stare at one another waiting for the other to break or react. “Eddie and Squeak will follow. I want you all to scope out the area, then I want you to bring that sorry ass back to me. I don’t care who gets in your way, do whatever it takes.”