Semua Bab The Price Of Us: Bab 1 - Bab 10

ELIAS“Sir, you have to understand—the stocks are plummeting. We need to do something about it, and fast.” I tuned out the voice of the financial manager. I hadn’t even wanted him in this board meeting, but somehow the rat managed to weasel his way in. I wasn’t in the mood for any of this. In reality, all of this—the real estate holdings, the casinos—was just a façade. A convenient mask for my true kingdom.The mafia empire my family had built over the last sixty years. There were more pressing matters to attend to in that world. And though this company was the perfect front for our darker dealings, I was growing increasingly sick of pretending to care about its surface-level issues. Rising from my chair, I turned to my second-in-command, Cathan, and gave him a single look—one he immediately understood. He addressed the board without missing a beat. “Mr. Montgomery will ensure these matters are resolved. For now, he has urgent business elsewhere.”“So, the fact that stocks are cr

ELIASMy twin sister, Elaine, was as annoying as ever during my short visit to her place. She never missed a chance to needle me about “settling down,” even while I bounced her youngest on my knee and pretended not to hear. The woman had a mouth like a whip and the subtlety of a jackhammer.Annoying.Her children were equally chaotic. I left with more hair pulled from my head than I cared to count. They’re the only ones who could bring me to my knees—literally and figuratively speaking. I loved them, of course, but my tolerance had its limits.So, I left earlier than usual.I had work to do anyway—my bimonthly check-in at Allure, one of my more legitimate fronts, though anyone in Chicago with half a brain knew better than to think that was all it was. Cathan had also just closed a deal with an arms supplier we’d been circling for months. Not many people could convince a man like Jakob Huber to sign anything, let alone trust again after what happened in Prague. But Cathan? He could tal

ELIASTwo days had passed, and yet, I couldn’t get the boy out of my head. Cathan had already questioned me numerous times about the cause of my restlessness.I blamed it on the accident, some vague excuse about the aftershocks of injury—but we both knew better. A scratch like that wasn’t enough to hold me down. It was the boy.His vulnerability was what had caught my attention the most.In a strange, ugly way, he reminded me of myself when I was his age—broken, damaged, having seen too much pain to not have embodied it.But for some inexplicable reason, I couldn’t bear the thought of him suffering alone. So, I did the only thing that came to mind. I went back to the hospital.Behind Cathan’s back of course.Even though I held all the power between us, Cathan never hesitated to make his displeasure known, especially when I was reckless.And walking around in the open, without security? Reckless was an understatement.The moment I arrived, the hospital’s pitiful state hit me like a

ELIASAaron was becoming a thorn in my side planted too deeply.His men were gouging into my businesses, milking profits, and trying to buy out my suppliers.His actions were small things. Petty things that weren’t mean to put a dent in my business.But even a small infection can rot if you don't cut it out before it's too late.I leaned back in the leather seat of my blacked-out SUV, my fingers drumming an uneven rhythm on my thigh. Next to me, Cathan sat with hard, assessing eyes.“You're distracted,” he said, turning his face to mine.I looked out at the smudged city as we sped towards the casino, my mind racing. "No more than usual," I said."You're brooding over the boy again."It was not a question; it was a statement."Drop it, Cathan," I growled, feeling the new itch, I’d recently begun to feel under my skin. The desire to turn the car around. To find Louis again.Just to make sure he's okay.It was pathetic.I was getting pathetic.We've got greater concerns," Cathan said, ad

ELIASI should have known better.The moment I stepped into the hospital parking lot—alone, clad only in jeans, a hoodie, and a tattered leather jacket—I felt it.That shiver at the back of my neck.That metallic, biting tang of danger.But stupidity got the best of me.But as childish as it seems, I’ll blame it on the boy. Louis, with his sun-faded curls and haunting blue eyes dragging my mind from the sharpness I'd taken years to build.Stupid.I pulled my hands into my jacket pockets and made my way towards the side door.One look through the glass doors, and there he was—Louis—marching determinedly along the corridor with a mop cradled to his chest, head down.He looked…drained. Worn out at the edges.And yet, something inside of me twisted—a foul, animalistic impulse.Mine.The thought arose uninvited, unwanted.I gritted my teeth and started to make my way forward—but as soon as I took the turn beyond the ambulance bay, they were waiting.Three men with poor posture, poor shoes