Page 73 of Fixation of the Mind

Cin nodded. “I know, right?! That family has some gorgeous genes, fucking gorgeous bitches. Seiko has set them all up with arranged marriages.” She shrugged then moved on to the next table.

“Those model-beautiful men are part of the Tutu family. They’re in charge of the African territories. The gentleman in the deep royal suit is Kasim, the head of the family. He has three boys: Akpan, Dejin, and Itoro.” Her voice got lower, and I strained to follow along. “His wife was pregnant with twin girls, but some rival company assassinated her. He’s been on a cold warpath ever since.”

His face looked like it was set in a permanent frown, but the sadness around his eyes couldn't be hidden. “Do you blame him?”

Cin shook her head. “They’re one of the most lethal families because they’re quick to use our resources to take out our rivals swift and painfully.”

She looked to the next group and rolled her eyes. “That's the Maxima table.” I glanced up, receiving five sets of eyes on me at once. Roux growled and stabbed a knife into our table before glancing at them. Cin flipped them off, and they started to laugh, only further pissing her off.

“Yeah, they’re the fuckboys of this whole group, sticking their dicks in any hole they can find. Their head, Mateo, likes to think of their family as the originators of the ‘Latin lover’ stereotype, but that's just their inflated egos. They run the South American territories.”

Roux nodded in agreement, and Cin eyed him like she was trying to figure out what was different about him. Grabbing her hand, I tried to distract her. “You never confirmed earlier... Did you sleep with any of them?”

Cin looked down at her nails, her lips pinched as she mumbled, “I may have done a thing or two.” I gasped, and she looked at me before rushing out, “But it was only one time, and I am never, never doing that again. Nope. I won't touch them with a ten-foot pole.” Her eyes snuck over to the table again before she shook her head.

“Anyway, you know us, the Ricci family, in charge of Europe, excluding the UK, and Eurasia. Then there's the Ambros family.” She motioned to Roux.

“She knows what we run,” his stiff voice making it known he was done with this conversation.

“Well, for now.” She wagged her finger at him. “See, the Ambros family took over North America when the Rose family died out, but now that you’re here…” She left the ending of her sentence open, eyeing Roux like she was testing him.

He faced her, hands on his knees as he leaned in. “She can have whatever she wants.”

Cin’s eyes went wide, like he’d said something that he shouldn’t have, and I laughed it off, already knowing most of this part. “Oh, all that stuff will be figured out. I'm still brand new and will need some help.”

She eyed him again, opening her mouth to say something, but Maria called out to her, waving her over to join a conversation at their table.

“I'll be back,” she said, but it sounded more like a warning.

Once she left, I hit him in the arm. “What the hell! Now, she’s suspicious.”

Roux shrugged. “What? It’s true, and she was already getting suspicious.”

While Cin had done a great job, I still had another question, and it wasn’t like we could talk more about us while so many people could overhear. “I see the head tables and understand those positions, but who are all the people behind the head tables?” Neither the Rose nor Ambros head tables had any others behind them.

He took a bite of the cake and shrugged. I guessed that meant he didn't hate it?

“They are the subfamilies. Those are comprised of the head families’ siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins. If you have a large family, it can signify a position of strength. It's one of the reasons our uncle trained us so hard to be the best. Since we don’t have a subfamily, our position is only as strong as we are.”

It seemed like most of the other families had a good amount of people behind the head family. “Well, I’m fucked.”

Roux immediately grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed. “No, you're not. You're going to continue to be trained by me. I'm going to turn you into a fighting machine, and no one will be able to touch you. Plus, subfamilies can cause a lot of trouble, so it's not that bad to skip all that dissention.”

Afraid that I would look into his eyes too lovingly and betray the mentor/mentee vibe we were going for, I murmured, “Thank you,” through my fingers. “It means a lot to me.”

He nodded, eyes softening before he tilted his head to the side growled, “Shut up! I'm going.”

Almost laughing, I asked him, “So you need to go to the bathroom?” He bobbed his head, grumbling to himself about an “annoying asshole,” so I knew Ravi was probably giving him a hard time in his ear. “Go. I got this.” Leaning into him, I whispered, “I’ll see you later.”

His neck became red, and he ran his hand through his hair before he got up and walked away. That was Roux, always awkward when it came to feeling any positive emotions.

Music started, and I looked over to the side where a band had set up. I was so engrossed in what Cin and Roux were telling me that I hadn’t realized people were starting to gather near the dance floor. A few couples came out for the first song, and I watched.

“I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t take the woman we are training out on the dance floor.” A chill ran down my back, my heart beating loudly when I realized it was their uncle behind me. His hand came out, and I looked up at him with wide, horror-filled eyes. He bent down, his face stopping right next to mine. “You don’t have your little protector at the moment. Take. My. Hand. Now.”

Looking around, I saw a few people watching, and his smile grew tighter with every second I waited. Closing my eyes, I bit the bullet and put my hand into his cold soft grip. His fingers gripped my hand so hard I clenched my teeth to keep from crying out.

Swinging me around like he was some professional dancer, he smiled at our audience. He yanked me closer, gripping my waist so hard I could feel the ache from a building bruise. “Now that we are alone, you can call me Neil.”

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