War

Chapter Thirty-One

A/N - here we go....

TW - scenes of violence this chapter

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Marco
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I hadn't felt this domestic in a while now, yet here I was out of the house before eleven o'clock and picking up breakfast for my wife while she waited at home.

While I'd wanted to go alone, Rio and Emiliano had trailed along, and as much as it pained me to say it, their company wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Sometimes, at least.

"So all three bags of pastries are for Aniyah?", my brother asked, looking at said bags as if he were about to rip them open and devour the contents.

"I got her a variety", I replied, not seeing anything wrong with that, "buy your own".

"See Emi? He's whipped", Rio grinned from the backseat, the pair of them had fought for the passenger seat as if they were children, "more whipped than me when my dad got out the belt".

"You're a sick piece of shit", Emiliano shook his head, "how have you been friends with him for so long?".

"You're forgetting he's also a sick piece of shit", Rio scoffed, "it's how we bond".

"We don't bond", I spat the word like it was poison, my best friend just looked at me knowingly through the overhead mirror and I scowled, "we're getting the drinks, then going home". Neither of them had any protests so I started the engine, frowning when my phone started ringing.

"I bet the twins are still asleep", Rio's voice filled my ears as I rummaged around in my pockets, "they're angels when it comes to bedtime".

"And little terrors in the daytime", Milo shivered, "your son threw up on me the other day".

"Good", I stiffened upon seeing Ezekiel's name on my screen, the instant worry that he may have hurt himself or be experiencing the urge to filling my mind immediately.

"Ezekiel?", I held the phone to my ear and waved a hand at the two of them, urging them to shut up before I shot someone, "what's wrong?".

"Marco? I'm so sorry, I was asleep- I didn't hear anything happening- I'm so sorry", I didn't think I'd ever heard my brother more distraught, the rapid breaths he was taking alarming me, as well as the tears mixed in with his voice, "I'm so sorry- you need to come home".

"Respirar, hablame", I urged, needing to know what was going on as I turned the car around, heading in the direction of home with the idea of breakfast instantly pushed to the back of my mind, "Ezekiel". Rio and Emiliano were silent, the familiar cock of a gun filling the backseat and my brother watching me with such an intensity that he could've burned holes into my temple.

"The door's open, I-I just came downstairs and the door's open", he gasped, sounding as if he was fucking choking - where the fuck was Elijah when you needed him?, "the guards are dead- they're all dead Marco, I just came down I promise".

"It's not your fault", my voice was sterner than it should've been, especially while he was panicking, "where's Aniyah? Reyna and Sol?".