Secrets and Lies | COMPLETE

30| 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜

Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.

"Why are we here?" Holden asked and I didn't blame his confusion.

We were at Holden's brothers' club in the outskirts of the town, the dingy club dirty and greasy and not a place I ever expected to be. The neon light which showcased the letter PRIZON, the nightclub they had bought a couple of years ago made me feel a little sick but confident in my path.

This was just the next step.

"Clubbing? Seriously? Is this what was so important you couldn't wait?" Ivan questioned, disgust layered on disbelief.

But I didn't take note of it and I ignored all their questions, instead stepping inside the warm room and the layer of stuffiness that coated my skin upon entering. I was at this stage, a level of calm that managed to emphasise my independence. Yes, they were all here with me and apart from Holden, I did everything myself, I fixed myself, picking up all the broken pieces and I'd just have to do it all over again.

It was how I worked.

Involving people involved their feelings and their opinions on things.

I was just there to get the job done and to disappear; I wasn't one for teams.

I carried on walking, not being able to hear the guys behind me above the obnoxiously loud techno sort of music that filled the club and my ears but I still knew that they were behind me.

The club smelt stuffy as if the air had been charged with everyone's sweat that poured off their bodies as they danced but there was something sweeter in the air: a tang of the cocktails that poured off people's drunken smiles and onto the hard and dirty ground.

I ignored it all: the drunk bodies that swayed in time with the music, the raucous screaming that somehow managed to flow with the music and the boys that followed on carefully behind me before I found the door for the manager's office.

Barely bypassing a drunk couple making out in the shadows that they hoped tomorrow would not see, I opened the door and fell behind it, the loud and heavy sounds disappearing almost completely the further I walked away from the door in the corridor to the office.

I knocked once, took a deep breath and then stepped inside.

Both brothers were there.

Hler sat proudly with a glass of a dark scotch or whisky which danced in the cup as he brought it to his lips. His scar wasn't so prominent today or maybe that was just because he was sat in the shadows which cast a dark prominence around him as he scanned through some documents.

Hector, on the other hand, was on the opposite side of the room starring at something on his laptop screen, body relaxed but eyes laser-focused and ready. Whatever he was looking at wasn't making him happy as he wore an animalistic frown that almost barred his teeth but he often looked like that, savage and ready for whatever came at him even if it was harmless.

And looking at them both and comparing them, whilst both brothers were often drained of any emotion, Hler definitely was the 'nicer' one out of the two. Hector was just such a presence of negativity and power, it was hard to ever think you were on his level.

"Talor," Hler announced, bringing Hector's scary gaze to me too, "What do we owe the pleasure?"

I was about to speak but Holden walked in and it was almost like a breath of fresh air.

The three Black brothers looked so similar and shared many characteristics that were deeper than physical appearances but Holden was just entirely different. When he walked in, his presence itself cast a beautiful light in this dingy room that felt suffocating with its intensity. Holden had this thing inside of him that he couldn't help but shine and draw people in which differed so greatly from his brothers.