Page 9 of Rising Queen (Blood Empire 1)

No one bothers to ask him how he knows all this information, and I don't think we even want to know.

“Where can we find her?” Axel asks, leaning himself back against the now empty desk.

“There's a club called Evolution. Supposedly that is where she conducts all of her business,” Neo answers.

“Do you think you could get a hold of her?” Dean asks, pacing around the room.

“No,” Neo says, looking at his nails then back up to our frustrated faces. “But I know someone who can.”

“Get in touch with them, have them set up a meeting. Anything is worth a shot at this point, but I'll keep looking for other options in the meantime,” Dean says, storming out of the room with Axel following after him like a good little lapdog, leaving me alone with Neo.

My brother is a brooding asshole that doesn't take orders from anyone but Dean, so being his second in command, he likes to follow rank and keep order.

“Soooo,” Neo says, looking at me. “You think someone that batshit crazy is hot?” he says, wiggling his eyebrows. “Ibet she’s a fucking vision.” His eyes glaze over in a dreamy state. The fucker’s probably imagining himself going on a murdering spree with the woman.

We have to keep Neo on a tight leash; otherwise, he takes off like a rabid dog, looking for a fight with any poor soul who dares to mess with him.

On more than one occasion, we’ve had to clean up his mess and get rid of the bodies. He doesn't set out to kill, but when he’s in a certain mindset, and we aren't there to put an end to it, he doesn’t stop until there's nothing left.

If he’s not beating someone, he’s fucking women as if he’s on a mission to break a world record or something.

Women are definitely charmed by his playful personality and good looks. Neo works out like a beast to work off his extra energy, so his body is ripped and bulky. We are almost certain that he has undiagnosed ADHD. He can't sit still for shit.

We are all attractive men and are pretty popular with women, though none of us are looking to settle down.

Neo with his short black hair and clean-shaven face. Dean with his brown hair and stubble beard. Then there's Axel and me. We are identical twins. The only way to tell us apart is our hair. Though we both have the same toffee-colored hair with natural blonde streaks. I wear my hair long, just past my shoulders, and Axel wears his just below his chin. Both still long enough to put in a man bun that women seem to go crazy over.

None of us want to make a commitment, not after losing the one woman we all loved.

She wasmygirlfriend. This feisty, take no shit, gorgeous girl. With her long black raven hair and piercing blue eyes, she stopped any boy in his tracks.

Harlow was new to Long Beach, just starting at our high school when we met her. Even though most of the students at the school were pretty wealthy and entitled assholes, she always held her ground, never letting any of the students make her feel less for being herself.

The guys and I took a liking to Harlow from the moment we set eyes on her, much like every other guy, but the difference was we were the only ones shewantedto get to know.

That very first day, we invited her to sit with us and, with caution, she accepted. It took a long time to tear down some of the walls she had built around herself. We worked hard at gaining her trust and breaking her out of her shell.

At first, Harlow became one of us, a part of our little group. Over time, we all slowly fell in love with her, but none of the others wanted to admit it. I, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to be with the girl I was head over heels for, so I took it. She became my girlfriend, the person I lost my virginity to, and the one I told all my darkest secrets to.

Even though my cousins and I grew up with money, our lives were anything but glamorous.

In the beginning, our family money was just something our mothers and fathers inherited from their own wealthy families, but over the years, it became blood money. After some bad business decisions, much like the situation we are in now, our fathers chose to go dark.

By the time they handed everything over to us, they had involved themselves in every wrong, dirty, and illegal kind of business dealings you could think of.

Our mothers were all sisters whose parents married them off to wealthy families. Our fathers formed a bond and combined everything they had, as well as our mothers’ wealth, to create Pentagon Industries.

Once each sister gave them a son, they were no longer considered useful. The men had their money and an heir for their family.

We were raised by ruthless men. We spent every day not wanting to be anything like them, but we had no means of escape. We just dealt with what we had to to survive. Surviving was something we had in common, Harlow, the guys, and I.

That is, until she was forced to leave our lives eight years ago.

I had no choice but to end things between us without any explanation. I still hold a massive grudge against Dean for forcing my hand.

After a long, heated discussion that involved things getting smashed and a few broken noses, we all decided that because we were set to take over the family businesses as soon as we were out of high school, it would be safer for Harlow to be completely gone from our lives. Our world consisted of rape, murder, and violence. Not by us, but by our fathers and the world they were so deeply woven into.

We always planned to turn the company around and go legit, but it would have taken years of being in a very dangerous world before that could happen. We couldn't risk the one person who meant the world to us, even if that meant breaking our own hearts as well as hers to keep her safe. We would rather her have a broken heart than ending up dead because of us.

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