Page 108 of Fate and Family

“I don’t know, you two look cute together.”

My cousin sighs. “Markus is… we would be real. And I still need training wheels. It’s not fair to make him deal with all my insecurity and shit.”

I’m about to say that’s sort of the point of a relationship, but hey, who am I to talk. “Wait, if it wasn’t him, who was it?”

He blushes and grins a little. “Grae.”

I whip my head around so quickly I almost run the car off the road. “HOLY SHIT!” Once I’m back in my lane, I clear my throat. “That’s one hell of a pull, well done.” And I stay silent because the question I want to ask would be rude.

He laughs. “You want to know how it was?”

“Yes, please,” I answer too fast.

Uri—badass, tough guy, Mafia don’s son—squirms in his seat and smiles. “It was the best weekend of my life. We fucked, played video games, and he made steak.” He adds under his breath, “It was perfect.”

And it all makes sense. “You wanted to reconnect with him.”

Uri nods. “Nothing serious, but just some fun.” He gets quiet. “And instead, we all got kidnapped and Markus had to save my ass, again.”

Oh, guilt and shame will be the death of all of us.

I pull into the parking lot of the meeting place. It’s one of Joey’s buildings. Uri grabs the bag from the back seat, and we head in. We’re the last to show up. Everyone’s there. Literally everyone: The Four Fathers, the Sons, even some second and third-ranking soldiers. The table is a circle, and fathers and sons are already at their seats, lower ranking men stand along the wall.

Uri hands the gift bag over to Alana.

“What’s this?” She pokes her head into the bag.

“It’s a replacement for the dress that got ruined.” He rubs his thumb over his knuckle, a tick he does when he feels bad. “Um, I got the black one with the pink lacy stuff. I figured it would hide… any stains.”

She huffs at the bag. “It’s like my prom dress, but in reverse. Mine was pink with black lace.”

Donny cocks his head to the side. “You went to prom?”

“Yeah, so? Why?”

He shrugs. “I thought you spawned as an adult. I didn’t think you had a whole childhood and shit.”

It’s nice to see Donny back and less of a human pile of anxiety and mess. Apparently, he upped his meds and his gummy intake at night.

Placing the gift bag on the table, Alana addresses the room. “For the past four years, the Olympians have been acquiring the land used to produce Majesty. There are large scale resources the family sees as world wide benefits. They,” she pauses, “we had a plan to remove The Deviant and to secure the rest of the land. One that did not require the endangerment of,” her voice drops, “your children.”

Alana’s guilt makes me uncomfortable. She lifts her head and rolls back her shoulders, taking command of the space. “The action that occurred was unsanctioned and ordered by a member of the Olympian family who thought our plan wastaking too long. He has been reprimanded and punished.” She digs through her pocket and tosses a test tube over at me. “That’s for Ian.”

There’s something hard and white with red fangs… oh God. “Where did this tooth come from?”

“Does it matter?” Alana raises an eyebrow.

“A little,” I say, more than mildly grossed out. I push it to the side and sneer at it.

“A tooth for a tooth,” she says with a darkness that makes me one hundred percent sure she’s the one who yanked it out. “I assure you justice has been served.” She winks at me and adds, “Ian’s gonna think it’s the coolest thing ever.”

I know she’s right, but still.

Alana puts her hands on the table and leans forward. “Over the past week, the Olympians have bought all The Deviant’s properties and seized his assets. To make amends for the actions of The Deviant, they are offering the Four Families a one-time gift.”

She quiets for a moment as murmurs ripple through the rest of the group. “As restitution for the incident, the Olympians are willing to offer each child who was abducted five million dollars to be kept in a trust fund until the age of twenty-five. I am recommending making an adjustment to the timeline so all the kids receive the money at the same time.” She turns to me. “We can roll this money into Ian’s current trust fund if you would like.”

“Ian doesn’t have a trust fund,” I remind her. “All of our assets were frozen when we fled Russia.”

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