Page 8 of Promise to Break

I look at the menu, knowing very well that everything was purchased fresh at 5 a.m. this morning and cooked to perfection by Ronen, the main chef, me and others. I choose some white rice with freshly cooked fish.

"What do you want today?" I ask my friend, who just shrugs. Raven isn't a big fan of seafood, but for me, it was a revelation. The mere thought of a life without fish is something I never want to entertain.

"I'll probably take some salad without the fish," she replies. I smile and make our plates for us.

"Hey, it's the little princess and her hot servant," Ronen sings in his theatrical manner. I shake my head as he hugs a piece of lettuce to his heart, making a show of dancing with some undeciphered moves. His long hair dangling out of his chef hat. We both chuckle at his antics, letting him fill the plates for us.

"I want payment for this food, woman." He takes the plate of my Dover sole filet with one hand as he holds out the other, waiting for what I made today in class. I give him the same portion I gave to Raven in exchange for my plate of food. He doesn't wait to pull a spoon from the collection on the line and tastes the chocolate the same as Raven did in the hallway. "This is amazing. Tell me what you did later."

"Emanuel told her off again," Raven snitches. I send her a disapproving glare, but she doesn't pay me any mind. Ronen hates Emanuel with all his might, as passionately as he loves everything about Gordon Ramsay. While Ronen believes Emanuel is stifling my talent, I am convinced that there is something more to it because none of my other teachers criticize me, despite their capability to be harsh.

"What did Emanuel tell you?" Ronen inquires.

"That it was too stiff."

Raven scoffs. "It melted on my tongue. He hates her for no reason."

"That British fop," Ronen says with a sneer.

I wonder what the story between those two is. I've never asked. Ronen treats me like one of his little sisters. He has five of them, and he helps his parents with the bills as much as possible.

I kiss Ronen on the cheek and go to our table in the corner, with Raven right behind me.

We try to be as invisible as possible. It would probably help if I didn't insist on taking my food from the kitchen by myself. I put my plate on the table and smile at Ronda, one of the new waitstaff.

As soon as I sit my bum on the chair, I see them doing the same at their personal table. The three deviants. Killian Fierro, Liam Bourne, and Kai Karalov. The biggest mafia alliance this country has ever known.

From the information I've gathered, the three families were rivals up until nineteen years ago, when the Italian capo Franco asked for the help of the heads of the other families to fight the Irish mafia.

I always wondered about Killian's name. To call your son by the name of your enemy? How sick is that?

Each man looks vastly different from the other two. Each could easily pass as a model.

Kai is the silent one. They call him The Mute because he doesn't speak much, and I don't think I've yet had the fortune—or misfortune—to hear his voice. According to rumor, any step Kai takes is deadly and purposeful. He doesn't have any Russian accent whatsoever, and yet his aura is all Russian. He's untouchable but polite. They say the moment he speaks more than one sentence at a time, you know it's over for you.

Kai, like the other two, is already promised in marriage, but his wife-to-be is a mystery he hasn't met yet. She's from Ukraine, which makes it a problem because of the politics of the two countries at the moment.

In the looks department, Kai is a beautiful contrast. His hair and eyes are black as the night, and his skin is so pale it's almost see-through. Like his two friends, he's tall and muscled. Unlike his friends, I don't hate him because he hasn't done a thing to me. Yes, he's part of the group, but he doesn't partake in the bullying.

The other fucker is Liam. The one, if rumors are correct, takes joy in the hunt and the kill. He likes to torture his victims until they beg him to kill them. He's horribly British to the point that his tea has to have the right temperature. His accent is posh and alluring, and each syllable he utters from his dirty mouth sounds like sex and bewitchment. Unfortunately, my best friend is promised to this crazy motherfucker, even though they hate each other.

Scratch that. They repulse each other.

Liam, unlike his two friends, appears kind on the outside. That is until he smiles. I've seen it directed toward my best friend more than once, and let me tell you, it's horrifying. He, too, is tall and muscular, yet he exudes class with each step he takes. It's like he dances on the water when he walks.

The last of the deviants is Killian Fierro, The Ax. The man who hates me because I dared to stand up to him two years ago. He's the second in line to the Fierro family and, by fate, my brother-in-law. From what I know, Killian is the fixer for his father. From time to time, he's absent from school, sometimes for days on end, and I can only guess why.

Killian is the standout of the three of them. His eyes are blue and soulless, and his hair is black as the void, but this is not what makes him different. His skin is covered with art, and he hates shirts for some unbeknownst reason. Raven claims it's a "fuck you" to his dad, who hates the way he dresses and acts. I agree with her on this point because since moving into the dorms, every time I've gone to the mansion during breaks from school to spend time with Serena, Killian has made a point not to be there. The only person he is somehow cordial with is his mother. To the rest of his family, he's marginally polite, and to me, he's spiteful and vengeful.

Raven, nevertheless, likes him. She doesn't tell me why, but I can imagine that the childhood of a mafia princess isn't full of good things. And I know he's her cousin, but still… The only thing that comes to mind is that he must have protected her from something at some point in the past.

And then there's Lila Knight, his betrothed. The biggest bitch of them all, who's strutting toward our table now with three bananas in hand.

Bananas?

Great. What now?

"Don't pay her any mind," Raven whispers. Raven's tried to protect me more than once, but I typically don't let her. I hate bullies. My father was the biggest of them all, but he wasn't the only one. I know how to protect myself, yet when it comes to certain people, I choose not to.

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