One: Sworn Enemies

DAMIEN

My blood boiled with rage as I stared at the group of guys that just entered the party.

Fucking Aiden and his guys.

My fingers tightened around the cup in my hand before I drank the content in a go and I started making my way towards them.

"I think you should chill," a hand suddenly appeared in front of me, stopping my movement, "it's a party," my friend Sam continued, "they can attend the party because it's not ours."

"No, they can't," I spat out angrily, "this party is being held in our territory, bastards from the Brotherhood are not welcomed here and I'm not going to stay back and allow them just waltz into this party."

"One would think that from years of interacting with civilized people, you'd have learned a thing or two about manners and interacting with humans but it seemed like we thought wrong."

That bastard Aiden was suddenly in my face, a smug and unbothered expression on his face as he spat out those words that made me lunge for and my hand had barely grazed his collar when I was held back.

By Sam.

"I fucking dare you to repeat what you just said," I spar out angrily, hating the fact that he looked so laid back and unbothered while I was seething with a rage so intense I could feel dark fumes emanating from my ears.

"Why should I bother?" the corners of his lips curved into a degrading smirk, "it's not my fault that you have hearing problems."

That was it. I flung Sam off my body and before the stupid motherfucker could see it coming, my fist had connected with his jaws and he staggered back.

The party continued with the loud music and rocking bodies. No one seemed to notice that a war was about to start between the two most formidable mafia heirs.

Aiden straightened, wiped the blood off his lips, grinned like a maniac when he saw the blood stain on his finger and he started making his way toward me with rage so regal in his eyes.

"Aiden," a soft feminine voice that seemed to work wonders on the bastard called out because he actually stopped two steps away from me but didn't stop looking at me like he wanted to bury me six feet underground.

And I was pretty sure that my expression mirrored his.

The owner of the voice came into view and despite the dim light of the room, it didn't stop her from being the center of attraction, it didn't stop me from noticing her.

From her blonde hair to her pink top to her bikers shorts to her knee-length boots and a fucking pink backpack.

And the uncanny resemblance that she shared with the bastard in front of me.

She was Aiden's sister. I knew he had a sister but I've never seen her before. Just like most mafia princesses, she has carefully been hidden away from public eyes, from enemies' eyes.

"This is my first party in College, Aiden," she continued, not looking at me for a fraction of a second, "and you really want to get into a fight with a nobody?"

I chuckled at her audacity. From her tone, it wasn't lost that she knew who I was and yet, she had the audacity to call me a nobody.

"You really want to ruin the experience for me by getting into a fight with someone that isn't worth it?" she continued and my eyes trained on her neck, thoughts of how perfect it'd look with my hand wrapped around her neck, draining life out of her as I ask her to repeat her statement.

Suddenly, my aim became just that, and dealing with Aiden went to the furthest back of my mind.

She tugged at her brother's arm and wordlessly, he turned around and followed her. The guys with him followed them and I couldn't stop looking at them till they were out of my view.

"Aiden is a fucking asshole but that's some hot chic he has as a girlfriend or whatever."

"Not girlfriend," I told Sam as I placed a cigarette stick in my mouth and lighted it, "that's his sister."

Two sticks and lots of fresh air later, I made my way back to the party and the first thing I saw was a head full of blonde hair that fell over a pink backpack making its way into the bathroom.

Without thinking, I made my way after her, and I didn't know when I lit another stick while waiting for her to come out of the toilet.

She emerged a few minutes later and she paled for a full second when she saw me standing by the entrance and blowing rings of smoke in her direction.

"For someone who called me a nobody less than an hour ago, it's almost absurd that you're paling as if I have a knife to your throat."

"So that's why has gotten your panties in a twist," she spat out, her voice as sassy and as dismissive as earlier, "a girl called you a nobody and it bothered you so much that you cornered her in a deserted bathroom. How very typical of a mafia heir!"

My lips curved into a sardonic smile. She was just like her brother but unlike her brother whose mere presence grates on my nerves and brings out the absolute worst in me. Hers annoyed and amused me, made me want to wrap my hand around her neck till she begged for mercy.

But not from pain.

"If you know I'm a mafia heir, then you should have known better than to talk to me like that. Maybe I don't just corner girls that call me a nobody in deserted places to warn them, maybe I do that to make them take back their words," I started advancing towards her, watching as the ringlet of smoke danced over her face and she kept an impassive face.

I stopped right in front of her and apart from the quickening of the pulse on her neck, nothing else changed.

"Maybe I want to check if you'd still call me a nobody if I have my hand wrapped around your neck and snuffing the life out of you."

My eyes lingered on her neck and fuck if she wasn't so fragile, so easily breakable that the thought of having my hand around her neck and inflicting pain on her made excitement drum in my veins.

"My brother would kill you for standing this close to me and if you should even put your hands on me for a fraction of a second, you'd be starting a war."

"Starting a war over you might not be that much of a bad idea."

Her eyes widened, then paled and she swallowed at my words. She was so expressive, this one and it makes me wonder what her family was doing. The first thing about coming from a mafia family was to be able to school your expressions and here she was, the mafia princess of one of the most formidable mafia groups as expressive as hell.

It is a world of predators and prey, that one attribute will make her easy prey.

"God! Now I understand why Aiden abhors you so much. You're so insufferable," then she pushed past me, surprising me with a strength I didn't know she could hold in that frail body of hers.

I watched her walk away, feeling a strange excitement that I couldn't name or place and just before she stepped out, a small item fell out from her pink bag.

I picked it up, flicked to a random page and the first words I read made me choke harshly on smoke.

What the fuck?