Page 118 of The Book of Kings

We spread out, trying to cover all directions at once, the strongest feeling of helplessness and despair was driving me wild.

I wasn’t sure if I was even going the right way, but I need to go somewhere... anywhere in search of her.

My ears were burning with a new type of sound of insanity. I was risking losing her and the feeling was maddening me. Branches were whipping into my face as I ran between the trees to try and find her. But I didn’t care. All I wanted to know was that she was safe and all hopes of that were shattered as a loud gunshot made the birds from the trees scatter into the abyss of the sky.

It was coming from the opposite corner of the cemetery.

I started running faster than before, racing to see what had happened, but by the time I got there, I could see Brax coming out of a small chapel, roaring toward the medics that were just entering a secondary gate. ‘I need medical assistance right now!’

The doctors didn’t get to reach Jenna’s mother since something much more severe seemed to have happened.

It was all my fault. I was supposed to be watching Bea so she wouldn’t do anything stupid.

A throwing-up sensation engulfed me while the strongest knot was clenching the pit of my stomach, but I needed to ask, ‘Is Bea ok?’

I dreaded the answer, and from the pain in Brax’s eyes, I was prepared for it to be something unbearable to hear. ‘Bea is okay... but Cole... Cole’s been shot.’ I never heard Brax stutter before. And that made the anguish that much more intense. ‘He doesn’t have a pulse.’

His words drifted into space while I was pushing them back, unwilling to believe them. It couldn’t be true. Cole couldn’t be dead.....

Chapter 28

Brax

I took a drag of my cigarette while looking through the window.

I was in-fucking-awe with the view.

Four blocks of lights were shining only for me. I owned each square inch of them... all the apartments, the businesses, even the souls of the men and women living there. It was my unwritten legacy and my curse altogether. A place that I loathed and adored, ruled by decadent pleasure and misery.

Somehow I always thought the Pit was built on pain and suffering. And my own suffering definitely contributed to placing its basis. My mom abandoned us when I was five, and if I could ever understand the reasons behind her leaving my father, I could never understand why she leftme.

It was all in the past anyway. In time, I managed to turn the pain of being rejected into a quality.

It hardened me.

It made me as cold as steel, emptying my heart.

I never knew real love, therefore never sought it. I was sure that love was just an emotion made up by our minds to deal with the fear of being alone.

I did use to believe my father nurtured some kind of feelings for me in his fucked-up way, but he never had the time or the will to prove it. His thirst for power outweighed any sentiments for his family while his ambitions always overcame any intention he might have had of properly raising his kid.

All he ever did was train me for, when the day came, to rule beside him.

We never had that chance. He died a couple of months after I finished the Academy, leaving me all alone to rule above an empire that was falling apart piece by piece.

That was more than two years ago. In the meantime, I became a whole different person.

Although I hated it, I was beginning to think I was stepping into my father’s shoes. But my goal wasn’t to own everything. It was to own something great. Unfortunately, greatness didn’t come very often in the Pit, and ascending the Hills into the Elites’ territories was a little out of my league.

My main focus was bars and clubs. Alcohol and sex — both had the special ability of bringing money into my own pocket. And if my clubs were usually frequented by those from the Pit, I did also have a few distractions suited for the Elite’s wallets.

Not that my mind was on business lately. Something else was bothering me to the point that I was beginning to have trouble sleeping at night. I had an old score to settle, and the day when I would be the judge, jury, and executioner was closing in with rushed steps.

I lit myself another cigarette while looking through the black file on my desk. It was time, I just needed to decide who I could use as a cover for the mission I had planned. A couple of girls that worked in my clubs came to my mind, but neither of them could be trusted enough not to betray me. They would all sell me for the right price, the way they sell their bodies for a dime, no matter the consequences.

Sure, I could have made them disappear after the job was done, but finding good employees was pretty difficult in the Pit, and the girls working in my clubs went through a few selections to get there.

Despite my reticence, it seemed I didn’t have a choice. I was pressed for time, and soon I would be needing to decide who would join me on my trip.

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