Page 21 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family
I earned every job. Every contract. Every bit of respect. I didn’t fuck up, leaving bodies unfinished or shit for anyone else to clean up.
Kades watched me carefully. My brothers knew me better than anyone so he was reading me, trying to figure out where my head was with this. If I went after Trent and it wasn’t sanctioned, they would be right there with me, but that meant pissing off Shadow Court.
They were the council which policed our movements and controlled our ability to have access. Being independent worked but it didn’t grant the high-end contracts. It also put you at risk with legal shit and being left open to people with vendettas. Rules existed to keep order, and like it or not, killing a court member wasn’t approved without just cause. Trent talking shit wouldn’t qualify.
No matter how much of a fuck up he was…
“Let him talk. It doesn’t change shit,” I confirmed.
Kades’s jaw flexed in aggravation. This was a complication and he liked shit to be simple and neat. He didn’t like it, but he also didn’t argue. As the oldest my call was the final word with shit that affected all of us.
Yair wasn’t the type to let shit go. He leaned forward again and his voice was angry. “If he decides to do more than talk, we’re ending this shit, Mir.”
“If he tries something,I’llend it,” I made clear.
I wouldn’t let this be my brother’s issue, even if I knew they had no problem being in the trenches. I was the oldest and my father always drilled into me that I was responsible for both of them.
Kades shook his head. “Move smart, Mir.”
I pushed off the sofa, heading toward the kitchen.
“You already know how that shit goes.” I smiled cockily.
I was always on point. Trent was not.
He was desperate to be something. I already was so I didn’t have shit to prove. I also wouldn’t back down. If he came for me, I would deal with him.
“That’s it?” I asked making sure there wasn’t anything else I needed to be concerned about.
“Fuck you mean is that it. Isn’t that enough.” Yair said with a smirk.
I chuckled. Trent was out there being reckless, but none of us were about to lose sleep over it.
At least, not tonight.
Yair pulled a blunt from his pocket and twisted it between his fingers before glancing at Kades. “You gonna lose your shit about me lighting this in here?”
Kades gave him a hard look before sitting down on the arm of the couch. “Open the damn balcony door. I don’t want that shit all in my furniture.”
Yair was already moving. “Your OCD ass.”
I grinned heading to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge as Yair slid the door open, letting in the night air. He leaned against the frame, fired up, and inhaled deeply. Neither of us said shit for awhile. Me and Yair blazed and Kades was chillin on the sofa until Yair said some random shit.
“It’s crazy how fast people forget who the fuck we are.”
I exhaled a cloud of smoke, passed him the blunt and walked back in the living room, dropping onto the opposite end of the sofa across from Kades. “That about me or you?”
Yair frowned. “Both.”
Kades turned toward the door where Yair was. “Somebody fucking with you, Yair?”
“Nah not really.” He took another hit, holding the smoke before letting it go. “Just thinking about some of these underground tech muthafuckers who think they can outmaneuver me. Tried to send some bullshit malware through one of my servers last week. Didn’t even get past the first line of encryption.”
Yair lived in chaos but his mind was years ahead of most when it came to technology. He was a gotdamn genius, smart as hell with tech shit. Half of it I didn’t understand and didn’t want to but I knew he always had us covered.
“Shit is crazy because they should know better.” Kades said.
He crossed the room and handed the blunt to me. Kades grilled the fuck out of him but didn’t say shit. “Yeah they should. I stay ahead of these dumbasses for a reason.”
