Page 2 of Destroyer

Nico walks over and opens the door, then he closes it and studies the cupboard door decor. "It is looking like the other doors."

"Hey, this will blow your mind." Gregory opens the washing machine door and then the dishwasher."

"They all look like the potty cupboard?" Nico gasps.

"Potty cupboard?" Gregory gives me a sideways glance.

"Space for the potsnpans."

"Pots and pans, you numpty." Gregory gives him a playful slap around the back of his head while roaring with laughter.

Poor Nico. He spent the first twelve years in Romania with his homeless mother, and the last eight with a Russian man who wasted all his money on gambling debts. Gavriil had one of those freestanding fridges tucked under the counter, and Nico was the dishwasher. There was nothing there that was sleek and shiny like my fitted kitchen. Just basic and bare. But he has spent the last few months with Knox and Porter, where I'm certain he would have encountered a fridge.

"Knox has built-in appliances. How long have you lived there?" Surely, he looked around their monstrous kitchen.

"Long enough to know better than touching anything in Gladys' kitchen."

Nico is an enigma. He moulds his personality to fit others’ expectations of him. I'm not sure if this childish ignorance is for my benefit or Gregory's. I hope it is Gregory; as much as it pushes all my buttons, I want Nico to have his suspicions about the man too.

I have my doubts about Gregory since I overheard a phone call where he said it was all going easy.

"Yes, it's all going exactly as you predicted,"

"You were dead right."

"Yeah, no one suspects a thing. The kid? Putty in my hands. No issues with him."

That is why I am keeping my enemies close and my small wayward brat closer.… not that he's mine.

I need to work out what Gregory is up to, and as whatever it is involves Nico, I need to observe them together. I don't think they'll start discussing anything in front of me, but I need to fathom their relationship.

Nico isn't stupid, but he isn't world-wise. He can't read and write, and that puts him at a huge disadvantage in a world of conmen and criminals.

Chapter two

Nico

SpendingtimewithCaeois fun, but being at his house is odd. I'm so used to him and Gregory being at Porter's house. While I'm there, I'm some kind of live-in pet for Porter's amusement. Then at the end of each day, Gregory and Caeo argue over who takes me home for the night. Or more accurately, who doesn't.

I don't mind; Knox and Porter are quite vocal at night when I really shouldn't be listening. I'm glad my presence doesn't stop them, I'm sure they don't care that I can hear. They deserve the house to themselves. But so do Caeo and Gregory.

Caeo has a nice house, too nice for a kid like me to ruin. I don't feel so bad in Knox's house as I'm there for Porter. I just feel bad here.

Gregory has a new place which is barely habitable. He wants to teach me to paint but I want to be free. I don't need one big brother; I certainly don't need two.

Both of them are overprotective and think I need looking after. At least Knox and Caeo know better. I've been looking after myself since I was twelve. What, I didn't know fridges came in disguise as cupboards. I know more important things, like how to turn over a house in under five minutes. No one keeps important shit in the fridge.

"Dinners ready," Caeo announces, carrying two plates through into the dining room. Both Gregory and I glance at the remaining plate before I walk off empty-handed.

"Damn…"

"No swearing please," Caeo interrupts.

"Yeah, don't want your pet torturer learning how to swear in English." Gregory brings his plate through and sits in the empty chair, shooting me a grin.

"Not pet. Feral." Caeo smiles fondly at me. It's a smile I'd like to see more of, but the behaviour that earns me that grin isn't fitting of the cartel torturer, feral or otherwise.

"Mr Caeo, you is a really good cook," I grin, tucking in with my best table manners.

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