Six Crimson Seeds (A VegasPete Persephone AU)

Chapter 11: Spare Me Your Judgments and Spare Me Your Dreams

    "You were so close. And yet you failed. Again."

Vegas tried to steady his breathing, unable to determine if it would be better to meet his father's eyes unlike a coward, or pin them to the floor in deference. He settled for oscillating between the two, watching his father when he was being spoken to, and averting his gaze as he responded so as not to seem disrespectful.

"Kinn showed up. It was too risky. He had the tracker with him. They would have sensed me if I hadn't left."

"What about your men?" Kan's voice was cold. Direct. In complete control. Vegas knew precisely how he was expected to answer.

He licked his lips. "I will handle them."

Satisfied, Kan sat back in his plush leather chair. As much as he longed to strike Vegas, to beat him into submission, he knew this punishment would hurt the boy more. It would serve him right, Kan thought. He needed to get rid of every ounce of weakness in the boy. After all, he had less than three years remaining to use the boy's talents. The cracks only made him more fragile. More likely to break.

"Immediately."

"Yes, Pa."

Vegas turned on his heel, his stomach twisting in sickening knots. He hated this. He hated his father. Vegas hated every fragment of his very being.

The men were waiting in the basement, as instructed. As much as he would like to pretend he didn't, Vegas knew their names. He knew one of them was expecting a baby soon. He knew another one of them preferred golf to football. Another had a mother who was battling cancer. Exhaling quickly through his mouth, Vegas closed his eyes as the door shut behind him. Within seconds they were all dispatched with and the hot blood that had been their life force was cooling rapidly on the walls, on the floor, on Vegas.

Vegas wasted no time in hurrying to his room. He needed to be clean. He needed to be alone.

"Vegas?"

A concerned voice repeated itself until it finally registered to Vegas that someone was speaking to him.

"Macau...I thought you had already left."

The boy's eyes were wide, though he tried to appear normal. Nonchalant. As if it were perfectly natural to see your quiet older brother drenched in blood walking through your home.

After clearing his throat, he said, "I was just leaving now. I can wait for you to shower if you-"

"I'm not going."

That was all Vegas said before continuing to his room, leaving Macau to gawk at the crimson trail speckling the polished floor. Someone would be along to clean it up, but it wouldn't be fast enough. The image of it was already burned into Macau's brain, seamlessly attaching itself to the hundreds of other similarly scarring moments.

Macau walked faster, not wanting to be late for the dinner at Olympus.

Vegas stood under the showerhead for far longer than necessary, just letting the water run over his skin. He had watched carefully as the water circling the drain went from carmine to pink to clear. Even then, after scrubbing his skin raw, he didn't feel clean. When the water was cold enough to make him shiver he shut it off and stood dripping on the tile for several minutes before finally drying himself off and dressing in soft pajamas.

He hadn't expected to follow the two boys he was assigned to approach to one of Kim's concerts. As soon as he realized that Pete would be arriving, Vegas had told his men to bring the brothers to him, at any cost. Even if Kinn and Tay hadn't arrived with Pete, Kim would have surely noticed his presence. Vegas had panicked, trying to think of the best plan as quickly as possible. His father had given him clear instructions when he had slid a photo of the two brothers across the desk. Their uncle owed Kan a lot of money from overusing the casinos and sold them to Kan to save his own skin. At first, Kan hadn't been interested in a couple of brats, but the uncle said they were special. Could do things. That had piqued Kan's interest.