The Mafias Protection

1: thief in the night

I pinch the bridge of my nose as I slowly made my way down the basement stairs towards the gym. The aroma of sweat wasn't the greatest welcoming, but I push the sickly smell to the back of my mind and focus on what I came down here for.

Tonight we have a mission, nothing different from our usual, but under Louis demands we were all forced to train.

None of us dared to go against Louis's demands, he was the oldest and with our father no longer around and our mother dead, he was in charge, and what he says goes.

I glance around the dimly lit gym and see both Louis and Hunter fighting in the ring, both throwing foul punches at each other and dodging as many of the blows they can.

In this world, we didn't care about having a 'fair fight' because in the end it wouldn't matter, what matters is getting out of the fight alive.

Jack was alone throwing punches and kicks at a boxing bag, you could hear the hits echoing throughout the gym. The chain that held the boxing bag to the ceiling was rattling about with every powerful hit. You could sense Jack's anger just by looking at him, he took after our dad like that.

Ethan and Noah are on the other side of the gym, the side which hoarded all the weapons. Ethan and Noah weren't known for fighting with their hands, they took an interest in weapons such as knives and guns. You would think with these kinds of weapons our enemies deaths would come quickly, but somehow in their twisted minds they would find a way to prolong the death sentence and have fun with it.

"Eleanor," I turn around to see Clarissa, Jacks girlfriend walking towards me with a friendly smile. Clarissa is my closest friends, well she's one of my only friend. "what's your plan for this training session?" We look around the gym to see if anything took our interest.

"I was thinking of doing self-defence." I say, before I could ask her to be my partner she shakes her head frantically. I guess she learnt from our first training session I'm not a good partner to have, as I take training seriously.

"Please Clar, I have no one else to help me practice." I whine, but she still doesn't give in.

"Practice on one of the boys, I like my body, especially my face being bruise free." She says gesturing to her perfect slim figure.

Clarissa was gorgeous, with her Afro black hair which complemented her high cheekbones. She looked like she belonged on the cover of a magazine, with her high cheek bones and pump lips. I often question how someone like Jack got a girl like Clarissa.

She should be walking hand-in-hand with a man who could promise the world to her. But she was here, risking her life for a guy she couldn't spend a day without. It's weird how the world works like that.

"I too, like my body and my face being bruise free." I say to her suggestion with working with my brothers. "Plus they're all busy doing their own thing." I watch as Clarissa eyes search the gym, they stop for a minute on Jack, clearly checking him out.

"I can get Jack to help you out." She offers, just like she did moments ago I shake my head. Does she mistake me for an idiot? Jack is clearly enraged right now, if I was to fight him, he would take his frustrations out on me, and that would not be a pretty sight.

"Hell no-"

"What are you ladies doing chit-chatting and not working out?" Me and Clarissa jump at the sound of Neels jogging down the stairs, and coming in our direction.

"Scared me half-to-death." Clarissa said as she let out a breath. I'll be lying if I didn't feel my heart shoot out my body when I heard him.

"Good." Neel said as he walks past us in the direction of Jack.