Again I woke up, in the same room. This time I was shackled to the bed post. This was a bit of over kill I think. I looked down to see I was soaked in ice cold water, it was what brought me out of that void. I shivered slightly at the coldness, was there not a better way to wake someone?

At this point it was hard to even think after I've had two blows to the head, I wouldn't be surprised if I had a concussion. I looked up to see my father sitting in a chair in front of me and Dolce besides him. My brother was no where to be found.

"Just what... is going on" I asked tired, not enough strength to even think. I couldn't wrap my brain around it, why was my father teaming up with dolce- attacking his own men?

"You see this is why I should've killed that Arif boy instead of his father. I never would've thought you'd be so damn infatuated" my father said leaning against his cane. My eyes widened at him, he killed Damien's father? So he was just feeding me lies? Every time I defended him, I told myself that whatever happened to Damien wasn't our fault.

I should've known better, but I was to busy wanting to be apart of a family no matter what.

"Why? Why do all of this!" I yelled thrashing against the shackles. I bit my lip as I felt his cane strike one of my legs.

"Calm down boy. You have so much potential but I knew you would not agree with my plan so I left you out of it. I just never expected you to team up with Damien." He explained, irritation laced in his voice.

"Just what was your plan?" I asked.

"To wipe out the Arifs of course. They own more territory then I do, and for a while had a better standing then me. I was growing smaller while they were growing bigger. I just can't have that, I thought taking down Dominic would solve that issue- who knew his son was so competent"

"So your willing to create a war over something so trivial?" I gritted out, this old man was 50 shades of insane. So much blood shed would come of it, it would endanger not only our lives but the lives of civilians as well.

"Trivial to you, if I had raised you as mine from the beginning it'd be different. This right here, this good moral standing, is your mothers influence" the mention of my mother made me angry, talking as if she did a bad job of raising me.

"So the seperation circus group, your the leader?" I asked, the person I was looking for was right under my nose?

"No that would be me, it's just a smaller branch of the Giottos. Our job is simply to frame the Arifs for crimes they didn't commit. Other families would see how out of line they are and would join us to take down the Arifs. We had to sacrifice some people sure, but all the stolen weapons, drugs they all came right back to us" dolce explained and I stared in utter shock. I had to give it to them, it wasn't a bad plan. There name alone though is a joke, I suspect Dolce came up with it.

Maybe if they weren't so sloppy with it I wouldn't have found out.

Actually... if Damien never reached out to me, I would've been following blindly. I could've ended up killing him myself If I continued to believe the lies my father spun.The thought alone sent shivers down my spine.

"I won't let you get away with this" I growled out and my father gave a heavy laugh.

"It's already to late, soon Damien and his men will come to save you. Unfortunate how they won't make it through the front door." My father explained, my heart fell in my stomach at the words.

"He won't come, he's not that stupid" I said seriously.

"He's not but love makes anyone go dumb, and with his stupidity will be the end of the Arif empire!" my father said as he stood up. He was an insane old man, willing to take any risks for what? 5 more years of fame before he himself croaks.

"Love? What do you know about that" I seethed, this man has never loved anyone but himself.

My words must've effected him as he stopped in his tracks but did not turn around to look at me.

"If you weren't your mothers child I would've shot you by now. That is me showing my love" he said and exited the room, Dolce following behind.

I felt defeated as I threw my head back. All of this was in vain, I was so caught up with Damien that I didn't dare see the red flags that were in front of me. I can only wish that if he does come- he brings enough people to make it through the night.

But will he really come for me? I never thought deeply about it, but was Damien really in love with me. It was hard to think about, because I knew no matter how I acted I love him too.

Since we were kids, to teenagers and to now. Call it strange but I knew it was destiny. Every meeting, every fight, every embrace couldn't have led to this- To him dying like a dog.

Minutes pass and I lose track of time, I stopped trying to get out. These cuffs needed a key, and I didn't have the energy to break my wrists to get out of them. I heard the creak of the door and my head turned slowly to see who it was, hoping that Damien would walk right in.

Of course it was not him.

But Craven. I dropped my head again, with a heavy sigh. I could see him kneel infront of my through the strands of hair. If he's going to lecture me I'd rather bite my own tongue off.

"Hey get it together! You have to tell my what's going on" he said shoving my head back to look at him, I gave a grimace.

"What don't you believe dad? You suck up to him so much you'd bark if he told you to" I retorted and he glared at me and grabbed me by the collar.

"I'm not that naive, you wouldn't betray us" he said truthfully and I was semi touched. To think my stuck up arrogant brother would trust me ever almost brought a tear to my eye.

"Doesn't matter now, he's gonna kill off the Arifs. Father was behind it all, the recent Arif attacks, it was all him" I told him truthfully, my brother stared at me but I could tell he already figured that was the case. I felt my shackles come undone and I immediately jolted forward in shock, he had the key..? And let me go?

"I don't know what you plan to do. But do it quickly" he told me seriously and I sat on my knees. I rubbed my wrists now that I had freedom again, this wasn't the end maybe I could still help- do something! I looked at craven again and placed my hands on his shoulders.

"Help me, you can't let father do this" I quickly said regaining hope. He immediately turned his head away from me and stood up.

"I can't go against him-" he tried to say.

"But why not? All your life you've tried to be something your not, to get his approval! You hated me because he showed the smidge of interest, you do the littlest tasks just because he says to-" I snapped at him, he couldn't let that bastard control his life anymore. I only let him into my life for 5 years and look what's happened, nothing good!

"You don't understand! My whole life I've been raised to be the heir of the Giottos. I'm nothing without that title" he bit back cutting me off. I stood to my feet to be equal to him, it was time he started living his own life.

"You are! You are Craven, nothing more nothing less. We both know deep inside you just want to be normal like everyone else, that's why you keep going back to that damn hick town." I accused him, and he shook his head stepping away from me.

"You can have that life, Craven. but right now we need to do something about father. You'll never be happy if you follow his path, you need to be who you are. Who you always wanted to be." I continued and grabbed his hand. He was in shock, I was in shock too. I was fired up, I needed him to hear what I should've told him years ago.

He stayed silent and slowly removed his hand from mine. He was thinking, unsure of what was the right call to make.

He pulled out his gun and for a moment I thought he was going to shoot me with it. Instead gun slid into my hand and I couldn't fight off the grin I felt.

"I'll help you" he said seriously.

"First we need to let Damien know it's a trap before he gets to close" I said seriously. If I can alert him, maybe I can prevent a massacre.

It was far too late for that idea as gun shots rang out and I whipped my head to the door. It had already begun.

••••

Who's readyyyy

I'm fired up to finish this book!

Any one have any character favorites? Though there aren't too many to begin with.

Again thanks for reading onyx blues!