Vera

chapter 2

S O R E N
5  Y E A R S  L A T E R

"Get your asses ready, Kohl hates it when people are late to his ceremonies," Tristan says, throwing a towel in my face and another in Damien's. Damien and I have been sparring the entire morning because I need to throw my fist into something. I'd usually punch walls but I like having someone who can fight back and hold their own against me.

I jumped out of the ring, after bidding a see you later to Damien. The memories of her started to flash in whenever I didn't have anything else on my mind but I didn't care because it was something that I had left of her.

The hurt in her face when she saw my betrayal, her flinches when I spoke to her with no hint of emotion, her body trembling as she laid there and bled out beneath me, and how she was motionless after I looked back at her for one last time.

I looked into the mirror, as I stepped out of the shower. Most of the scars on my biceps, chest, and abdomen were from her. She never pierced my skin roughly, but it was enough to leave a mark.

I dressed up in a white dress shirt, black trousers, and a black blazer. I scrunched up my hair which was still a bit wet from my shower. I grabbed my diamond gold Rolex watch before pushing weapons into hidden slots in my blazer.

Tristan, the current underboss of Philly, and older brother, who has taken over for my father ever since he passed away from a heart attack over two years ago decided to head out and come earlier than expected. He thinks that if he arrives earlier, he'll get a chance to find out what this announcement that Kohl has prepared for us.

Kohl Caldarella, is the Capo of New York and runs the entire east coast. His entire family has been running the east coast for over centuries and no one has been able to dethrone them. Many have tried, but yet nobody has succeeded. Although my father worked for him, he constantly argued how Kohl was too young to rule so our families never clashed well together. Just because we get invited, doesn't mean we're extremely friendly with each other.

These nights can end with a couple of nosebleeds, a missing tongue, or a leg. Damien and I head over to Kohl's mansion, he lives alone on the upper east side, his land being five hundred acres of land. If you didn't have a layout of his land, you wouldn't be able to escape it.

Walking into the gigantic house filled with dozens of men dressed in designer suits and women dressed in long gowns. My eyes immediately wandered to Gabriel Wells, the underboss of New Jersey and the man my father hated most. For years they fought over the title of underboss, only for my dad to win the title for Philadelphia. Gabriel Wells worked for Kohl's dad until he was granted New Jersey in which he rules diligently. The best underboss New Jersey has ever had in years.

Usually, he'd bring his daughter and show her off to those who couldn't have her. She was his pride and joy.

Tristan had taunted her death in his face multiple times at these social gatherings but never once did Gabriel unleash his anger towards Tristan. He knew Tristan would be satisfied if he burst, so he kept it under wraps.

Tristan thinks it's because he's scared of him but in reality, that man is planning his death. No offense to my brother but if there was a fight between those two, Gabriel would certainly have the bigger hand with more experience and the fact that his eyes overanalyze before he makes a move while Tristan makes moves based on emotions.

"Stop staring at the man before everyone starts to think you have a crush on him." Damien elbows my side and I send him a glare.

Damien is the only other person who I can handle on a daily basis, his personality is extremely loud and sometimes even obnoxious but he's been with me through the hardest times.