The Devil's Debt

Sane

"What are you planning to do?" Mom asks as we sit at the dinner table.

"First, we need to figure out who's sending these threats, obviously." I respond.

"Have you gotten any calls recently?" Isa asks her.

"Yes, a few. It's from a restricted number though, there's no way you could get a ping off it."

"There is." Carter says. "Milo's got a computer for a brain, he'll be able to trace it."

"Good. Milo, you trace it and let us know what we're dealing with. How fast can you get it done?" Isa says.

"As little as an hour if we start now." Milo replies.

"Cool. We'll have a mission to go on tonight if this goes right." Isa says.

I nod my head in confirmation.

"Alright. You know what to do, so get it done. Report to me when we've got a location. Dismissed."

Everyone gets up and I grab Isa's hand to walk her up to our room. I shut the door and we sit on the bed, Isa's body pressed against mine.

"So, I got something for you." I say, rubbing her head.

"Really? What?" she says, looking up at me.

I reach back on the nightstand and I open it's drawer to grab a silk box out of it. I sit up and I sit back on the headboard and she does the same.

I put the box out in front of me and I pop it open to reveal a little ring, not an engagement, but a promise ring.

"It's a promise ring." I say, looking down at it.

She climbs onto my lap and pokes her lip out, tears building in her eyes.

"Don't cry. I'm not marrying you yet." I say, smiling.

"Still." she says sniffling and looking down at it.

"I just want to make you a promise. And that promise is to always be there for you and to always show you how much I love you, because you deserve it. I promise to be there when you call, and to protect and love you for as long as I live."

"That sounds a lot like a proposal to me." she says, laughing and wiping her tears.

"I have a way with words. Besides, my proposal speech will be way better than that."

"I'll hold you to it."

I take it out and I put it on her finger and she looks down at it with a warm smile on her face.

It's a small ring, but it's gold and has rhinestones all over the band and a big diamond on the front of it.

I pick up her hand and I raise the ring to my lips to kiss it, and after, I look up at her.

"I love you. We've got a long way to go, baby, but bare with me, okay?"

"I love you more you know I do, right?"

"Yeah. I do."

She kisses me and hugs me as her hand rests in mine.

After a while, I hear a knock at the door, so I sit up as Isa rests next to me.

I go to the door and I open it, and there stands Milo.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"I got an I.D of the guy who's sending these threats. Apparently they're affiliated with the Versales, but according to what I found, the hatred for these guys run deep in this family."

"Who are they? If it's a generational hatred, Dad had to have told me about it."

"They go by the Sánchez's. They're real tight with the Versales's and their friendship runs deep."

"I remember him telling me about them. What's the status on family?" I say, shutting the door and walking down the hall and to the staircase with Milo.

"They've got two kids. One is sixteen and the other is eighteen. They're young."

"That doesn't change anything. It sounds heartless, but all threats need to be eliminated. I can't chance it."

"I know."

We reach downstairs and the boys, Mom, Victor, and M'Kenna sit there, laughing and talking.

"Victor." I call out.

He looks up at me and turns his nose up to me.

"Take M'Kenna to her room. We have family matters to discuss."

"I'm family too." he says.

"You do not share Caruso blood, therefore, you do not hold a spot in this family. So if you'd excuse us, we have important family matters to talk about." I say to him.

"Kyzer." Mom says, giving me a look.

I look at her, then I look over and I scoff.

When he goes upstairs, I begin to speak to Mom.

"How can you defend him?" I ask angrily.

"He's still my husband, Ky. Isa would do the same if-"

"Don't drag her into this, Mom. He's an asshole."

"But he's still my husband, and you'll treat him as such."

"I don't have to treat him any goddamn way, he put his hands on my girlfriend. I'm not letting that go."

"Language!"

"You're worried about my language right now?"

"Kyzer-"

"What are we talking about?" I hear Isa say.

I exhale deeply, shaking my head as she walks over to me to sit on my lap.

"Nothing." I say.

She lies to the side, resting her head on her hand as she rubs my knee. I rub her hip and thighs as I start to speak.

"Milo figured out where these notes came from. Apparently they're affiliated with the Versales, they go by the Sánchez's. Them and the Versales's are good friends, they have been for years. All we need now is to ping a location."

"Just got one. They're on Brooklyn Boulevard. Supposedly they're the only house on the street, closed off from the rest of the city."

"Good. Let's suit up and get going." I say.

We get up and I pick Isa up to sit her down. When we get to the room, she sits on the bed and looks at me.

"You seem on edge, babe. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just... I need to blow off some steam and this mission is how I'm gonna do it."

"What happened down there?"

"Victor. He just pisses me off sometimes. I go down to talk about the mafia and obviously I don't want M'Kenna around it yet, and I tell Victor to bring her to her room because we have to discuss family matters and he goes 'I'm family too' and I said he wasn't and Mom gives me this look, like I'm an asshole. I just don't understand why she defends him like she does. I'm gonna hold a grudge with him because of how he treated you before, that's not changing. And besides, he's just an asshole. What kind of dad tries to keep his daughter away from her brother?"

"I understand. Just brush it off, we don't have to be here for forever."

I sigh, plopping down on the bed.

"I'm sorry." I say.

"It's okay. That's what I'm here for, right?"

I grab her waists and I put her on top of me, then I grab her face to kiss her. We pull away and I keep her forehead on mine, putting her hair behind her ear.

"You keep me sane." I say, kissing her nose and rubbing her thigh afterwards.