Little Ebony

Five.

              "you think you're better than them, but when it          comes  to the end, you're same as them"     
             "Imagine Dragons"

Rain

- "Little bird. Thought you could hide?"
I knew well enough not to answer. He's questions were often rhetorical and after months of learning the hard way, I could not bring myself to speak to him.

"You are going to come out like the good little msichana (girl) you are, take your punishment then go meet your father. He's looking for you."

I choked back on a sob as I dragged myself from the pitiful excuse of a hideout I had convinced myself was perfect. He grabbed me painfully as he pushed me forward, falling to the floor face first.

"Aish!" He kissed his teeth in distaste as he pinched my cheeks together with brutal force I was afraid my jaws would break.

" Ona chenye umefanya!" ( Look what you did)

I knew my face was bruised from the fall. And what he really meant was that I had to find the perfect excuse to my father. It was against his law that my father finds out he does to me.
Though I doubt he would concern himself with trivial matters like he likes to call them...

I scream in pain as the barbed tip of the whip found it's home on my back.

Someone touched me, successfully drawing me out of the memory haze I was lost in. I looked at the woman with the big belly as she pushed a plate of cake towards me.
My uninterested gaze must have gotten to her as she put the plate down, and with a pout reached for the older man across the table.
I noticed we were now sitting at the dinning table. Well.. I was sitting while they all stood around me.

" You were so against me marrying her. What changed?!" His husky deep voice captured my attention, making me turn to look at the man with short hair who, from my father, I knew was named Alex.

"I changed my mind." The older man said casually.

No. He had not. Rather he had.
When my father had first presented me with the marriage proposal I almost wept in relief. For me that was freedom calling. The Armani family reputation was not lost on me, but that was a better choice. 
Just as my hopes of living a somewhat normal life, as normal as the wife of the most powerful mafia known, he went and whispered poison into father's ear.

That wretched man!

But after careful consideration, he just figured that my marriage to the Armani family may just be the perfect idea. Why aim for the fruit when you can have the whole tree?

Alex touched my cheek, his icy cold eyes never once leaving mine. His brothers eyes followed his fingers trail until they reached at the nape of my neck.

"This brother you say. Tell me more about him." Alex asked, eyes still not leaving mine.

He's not my brother! I wanted to shout but I just remained silent.

I still remember, clear as day, the day he came into my life. Back then I was my father's favourite child. The was he always looked at me with love, the way his tone always turned into soft hushed murmurs when he talked to me. But it all went away. The moment that man forced himself to my father's side, it all died!

"He has taken over. Killed their father." The old man looked at me as he said it and when he did not get any reaction from me, he turned his attention to his wife who looked at me with eyes filled with pity.
Even if I wanted to, I could not bring myself to be affected by his death. I always knew it was a matter of time.

Am glad he's dead.

"That's merely anything about him."  Alex's voice was a deep baritone laced with playfulness. Not the one that makes you all happy and giggly, no! The one that makes your blood run cold with fright. This contrasted with his brother's, Xander had a rich deep voice that was clam. The calm before a raging storm.

" I don't know." The older man shrugged nonchalantly and pointed a finger towards me.

"Ask her."
Four sets of eyes turn to me, one looking at me expectantly while the rest just bore icily into my soul. The Smith Armani men were a delight.

I just lazily stared back. I had a half mind to just get up and leave but in all rationality I could not. They were my best bet.

"Robert Simba. Born 1986. Height 159cm. Blood type A negative. Parents unknown. Position deputy general.
Initiated in 2006, January 3rd."

After a few silent heart beats, " that's it!" The pregnant lady whom I do not know asked.

No! That was not it.

I knew more. More than anyone in the mafia world. I knew them too, but the woman, she was not on any report, document or g that I had to memorize over the years. They must have hid her well.

Why?

Knowledge is power you know.
And I was not about to give them my power.

"Lily?!" I exclaim as the two figures walked into the room. all eyes turned to the direction I was looking at. she was not moving. and from where I was, I could see the massive gush on her stomach and the only way her entrails were not out of her body was due to the tight hold the man had on her. I wonder how he was able to do that seeing as he was in no better state.

"Fuck Joe!"

" who  is she?"

" said s-she -fuck! She h-a d " he groans then, depositing Lily on the white couch.

That is going to stain bad.

"You risked your life for her?!" I could tell Alex was getting angry. " she better be fucking important or else I'll kill you both."

So he is important to him? I mused.

But then Lily was important to me too, and I did not take kindly to treats. She was the only one I had left. And I will be damned if anyone tries to take her from me.

I stood then, walked to him " if you touch her i'll kill you." my voice was as robotic as it could get, and I  knew I was smiling then like the psychopath I was.

Alex released the scruffs of the injured man and turned to look at me. I turned my head slowly to the side, my smile getting bigger. At my eyes' periphery I could see cold electric blue eyes trained on me, shades darker than the ones in front of.

" ma'am? can I please get a meddical thread and needle?" I asked without looking away from the slightly stunned man, smile still in place. He was beautiful, his family was. The kind of beauty that was sinful.

Beauty that was evil.

"Oh! and a bottle of whisky."

I turned and kneeled next to Lily. I tore away what was left of her already shredded clothes, sighing as I took in the damage on her.
"Y-you ar-e ok." She whispered painfully.
Thank the universe she has not lost consciousness yet. With the amount of blood she lost I was surprised she had the energy to talk. I was no stranger to such kinds of injuries, any injuries for that. Living in the house I did, I came across a lot of body damage.

"Here!" A strange voice said. They pushed what looked like heavy, metal doctors bag my way and left abruptly the way they came. I opened the box as was not surprised. I took the bottle of whiskey and fed Lily after, making her sit up slightly.  I cleaned her wound as much as I could and without warning I dug the needle into her skin. She howls in pain, but knew better than stop me. With Shakey hands she reached for the whisky bottle and took a heavy swig.

It took sometimes to patch her best as I could. By the time I was done, Lily had lost consciousness.

"Call a doctor. " I said as I moved to the man Joe. He saved Lily, least I could do was tend to him too before the doctor arrived. If he was going to arrive as no one had made a move to call the damn doctor.

I reached for Joe but he moves as if to evede my touch.

Well... I tried my best.