Page 61 of Callan

Many members of my family got wiped out, so on that day, it wasn’t a matter of choosing what to do.

We had to do what we were about to do.

We fought back and killed our way to the top.

There was no other choice.

We had to save our legacy, what was left of our empire and also save ourselves.

It was brutal.

I lost my parents, and Ewan and Duncan lost more than that.

Alistair was barely fresh out of high school, and he had a thirst for learning and wanted to prove himself.

We succeeded.

We became the most powerful and feared family in our area.

We put checkpoints in place, so no one could ever get to us again and try to destroy us.

We kept the appearances while running our underground empire with an iron fist and stopping at nothing to eliminate threats.

A portfolio of businesses has given us the legitimacy that we sought, and in a way, we made our father’s dream come true. Yet we couldn’t walk away from the dark world we had come from.

We stayed and became kings again despite paying a heavy price for that.

We still don’t have our own families.It hasn’t been in the cards for us after our parents' death.

It’s not like we’ve planned for all this, and I understand Ewan and Duncan’s reason, but Ali and I?

It’s never happened for us, and it came naturally to us to just live our lives and not worry about it.But what happened lately has turned things on their heads.

Having that necklace stolen from me is a big red flag that someone is after me. Or us. Or our empire.

They’re teasing me or warning me. Harassing me, perhaps, and waiting for me to make a mistake.

I thought the FBI might’ve set me up, but no. This is not their style.

The whole thing was a bit sloppy, hinting, again, at people who don’t know much about us.

The thought that they’re still playing this cat and mouse game makes my teeth grind.

And then, there is this woman.

Mackenzie.

Yes… Going back to how we grew up.

The women in our family pulled away from us.They have married regular guys and started families.

We occasionally get in touch with each other, but it’s mostly at the funerals and once in a while at someone’s wedding.We try to avoid each other for the most part to protect them and their families.

The women we had as very young men were more like Carmen. A tease for the flesh and a way to forget about ourlives. A sure thing when it came to unloading our tension and annihilating our dark thoughts.

I have the other kind of women at my workplace.The business that I’m running. But I don’t pay attention to them. It’s safe to keep things that way.

They’re someone’s sister, mother, fiancé, or wife.

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