Burning Ties

Chapter twenty-six

Carmine POV

Ever since dad died, the air in the house has changed drastically. As much as I try to convince Iris that the rest of our brothers are just hesitant about speaking to her at the moment because they're trying to give her space, she doesn't believe it - but to be fair, neither do I - they've all been jerks recently, and I think it's about time I take matters into my own hands before Slater does. 

Slater can pass as a normal person, but, not only is he probably some form of a psychopath; but his family's power can very well rival ours. See, in the mafia, we have people called enforcers who usually carry out the dirty work for us unless we're personally offended by something done. Slater's family on the other hand are from an organisation of the sorts that thrives on the shedding of blood. 

They work on money, yes, but if you're important enough, they deal in something far more deadly; secrets. If he chooses to be personally offended by any of my brother's actions, he could very well declare war on us. He's taken a liking to Iris, which is funny to think about since he barely even talks to anyone, but he's been there for her in the time since dad's death, so I think it's a good match. Besides he's the type of psychopath that very rarely cares about anyone or anything, and once he finally does, he's obsessive about everything regarding his obsession. There's no doubt in my mind that he'll do nothing but protect Iris. Besides, as I mentioned earlier, he's been there for her while we were sitting around and wallowing in our own misery - and avoiding talking to Iris for fear of seeing hatred in her eyes - so he gets a free pass. 

Anyway, I decided to approach Leandro today since his behaviour is the most alarming. There's no way he just decided that he can't be around Iris just because of dad's death. I'm willing to bet that Leandro doesn't even feel the loss anymore. He's never really cared for anyone who wasn't Iris so the whole thing doesn't make sense to me. I assume he's also some form of psychopath considering he barely manages to show human emotion on a good day, but I digress. 

That brings us to where I am now, standing in front of the closed door to Leandro's office. I barge right in, knocking on doors was never really a think we've made common practice in this family. The only one who occasionally knocks on the door before entering is Iris, but she rarely walks into our rooms anyway. 

He's sitting at his desk, reading through some paperwork when I waltz into the office like I own it. "Yes, Carmine?" Leandro sighs, not even bothering to look up from whatever document he's reading. 

Does he expect me to talk? There's no way I'm going to speak in front of him, not when I'm mad at him at least. So, I start signing instead, knowing that he's a dick who'll probably know what I'm saying despite his refusal to look up at me. 

'You're ignoring Iris, why?' I sign. 

"I owe you no explanation, Carmine."

'You're breaking her heart.' 

"Yeah, well I can't help that she's so sensitive, Carmine." He snaps, glaring at me. It's only now that he's finally bothered to look up at me that I notice the dark circles under his eyes and how tired he actually looks. Leandro looks like he's aged at least five years in the past couple weeks. 

'What's wrong?' 

"Nothing, Carmine. Is that all that you wanted?" He sighs. 

'No, I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong.' I sign angrily, taking a seat at his desk. 

"Fine, we'll just sit in silence then." With that, he turns his attention back to the paperwork and ignores my existence. Which is fine, I know how to get on his nerves. So, I pull out my phone and start to play music without connecting my air pods. 

Yes, I know, Samsung is better than Apple, but I'm a firm believer of if it works, it works. The second the music begins playing, I watch Leandro's patience faltering. It's white girl music, obviously. I fear not only is that my taste, but it's also the type of music Leandro hates most. 

Watching his patience fail him is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. To his credit, Leandro really does try to not lose his cool, but, fortunately for me, Firework by Katy Perry starts playing, making him lose it. 

Damn, if I knew how fun this was, I would've done it sooner. Anyway, Leandro yanks the phone out of my hand and throws it right out of his office window. Whatever, I'll make him buy me another. 

"If I tell you, will you leave?" He grits out, his jaw clenched. I smile, nodding at him in response. 

"There's a few reasons. The first is that I failed her. She sent me a text to let me know she found it suspicious that Adrianna wanted to take her out that day, but I was too busy with my fucking paperwork and ended up seeing the text too late. It's a stupid reason, I know, but it doesn't change the fact that because of me, she ended up having to watch dad die. There's also the fact that I don't want to see the disappointment in her eyes when she realises that  can't grieve him. Not when I don't care enough to do so. And, I think she needs to be independent. She cannot be so reliant on us anymore, not when I found the new contract dad made with Slater's family. Dad wanted Antione and the majority of the French mafia leadership gone, so, he hired Slater's family to do it, the fucking Volkov's, who didn't want their usual currencies, they wanted Iris." 

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Guyssssss, there we go. I don't think anyone was expecting that one lmao. 
It's fun to just randomly throw things in to throw people off - mainly because it throws me off too - but that's not the point. 

Anyway, this is possibly the last update for a bit because my exams start on Tuesday (I didn't do any homework after the second week of school and slept through alllll my classes so I don't know wtf is going on for anything so wish me luck LOL)

On the flip side, maybe because of my exams, you guys might get a couple more updates. Depends on my mood.

Anyway, WE'RE ALMOST AT 20K HOW????????

LIKE WHAT???? I REMEMBER BEING AT LEGIT THREE READERS. YOU CAN'T TELL ME I'M NOT DREAMING LOL. 

ANYWAYYYYYYY 

LOVE YA LOTS, BYEEEEEEE