THE RISE OF CAIN FAULKNER

eight

how does it feel | citizen

"You cannot be serious," I echoed, clutching Cain's arm like it was my lifeline. Of all the things to be unintentionally involved in, I was smack in the middle of some sort of gang war. He shot me a look that I couldn't decipher and I worried even more. I made eye contact with Riley and even her carefree mask slipped a little bit.

"Girlie you have absolutely no idea what you've dragged yourself involved in," Wasp sneered and lit a cigarette. After taking a long drag, he exhaled and muttered, "this will become war."

"What do you mean?" I hesitantly asked, mentally debating if I really wanted to know.

"It means that there will be a shitstorm that no one in this room will be able to handle alone," Brennon narrowed his eyes at Cain. Cain responded by lightly tilting his head in agreement.

"That also means we have to keep an eye out for you," Brennon pointed at me. "Your brothers have already been targeted, it's just a matter of time before someone tries to off you." I slowly turned my round eyes to him and stared. How could he be so casual?

"Bren, half our men and women are busy," Jill brought up, gazing at me with an apologetic expression. "Alex, the best we can do now is keep an eye on you from afar."

"Are you seriously going to let her walk free?" Wasp interjected in exasperation. "Jillian, do you not know what they will do to her once they have a chance?"

"Do I really want to know?" I agitatedly ran my fingers through my hair. At the slight delay in everyone's response, my scattered thoughts came to an unsettling solution. "Actually, scratch that. I don't want to know."

"Let me do the honors, please," Wasp stated in a sinister voice. "The Russian Mob already knows who you are, babe, don't kid yourself that they don't. To unnerve you, they're gonna stalk you for the first two or three days. Then, they will start making visits to places you feel the most comfortable in- when you're not there," Wasp curled his lip in disdain. "Your home, for instance. They will break in, and perhaps move things here and there, maybe add a hidden camera somewhere. And you won't outright know it, but you'll feel it."

"Wasp, that is enough," Jill told him in a firm voice.

"She needs to hear this, Jillian!" Wasp asserted and breathed through his nose. "This will continue for a few weeks. After that, they'll leave you alone for a day or so; just the right amount so you think you're safe. That's when they will torture, kidnap, imprison, and kill you, in whatever order they wish."

If I was terrified before, it was nothing compared to what I was feeling at the moment.

"They will skin you alive. They will force you to kill your own family. They will terrorize you," Wasp got silent for a moment. "They will make sure you never leave their possession, and if by some miracle, you do manage to escape, you will never be the same."

"Did they do that to you?" The words tumbled out of my mouth before I got a chance to stop them. To make it worse, I continued. "Is that why you're the way you are?"

I thought for sure Wasp would skin me alive just for saying that, but I couldn't be more wrong. He gave a pathetic little scoff and made a tsk-ing noise.

"They broke almost every single bone in my body," he grimaced. "The only thing the bastards left in tact was my spine." At my disgusted look, he sighed in a 'what-can-you-do' manner.

"When my bones were broken, they burned my skin and branded me with iron." I could feel whatever that was left in my body surfacing into my throat, and hurriedly swallowed as to not throw up. "Why else do you think I've gotten so many tatts? Most of them aren't there for decoration purposes, I got them to cover up the shit they branded me with."