Hearts on Fire | Jalex

19. Alex's POV

I walked into Justin's house and instantly knew something was wrong. Then again, anyone could tell, really. There were three dead guys once holding weapons spread through the main entry.

Believe it or not, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. I pulled my hood way up over my head, covering my face, and grabbed the gun from my bag, fixing a silencer on the end.

I followed the blood upstairs, taking care to move silently.

"I know he has he knows who did it! Know you tell me where he is, or next time you'll catch a bullet, not a fist." Justin growled from a spare room. I slipped in unnoticed, and just watched. I liked watching him in interrogations. He sort of transformed into someone else, which was really interesting to watch.

The guy in the chair I didn't recognize around the blood and bruises, but I could see he was horrified of me. I clicked the safety off the gun, and pointed it at the guy's head. The petty theft and grade changes were covers. We, as a whole, now extended across a nation. More, if Oli was recruiting in England. White Skull was an empire, and any threat had to be extinguished.

"I suggest you do as he says," I said coldly. Justin didn't even jump at me coming up behind him.

"Answer the goddamn question." He snarled, pressing a knife to the guy's throat.

"O-okay fine. I heard a rumor-"

"Not rumor." I said before Justin could. "Fact." He gave us and address, stuttering out the numbers. Justin nodded to me, and I pulled the trigger without hesitation. His head fell back, body going limp.

"Thanks. Do me a favor and call the others while I clean up. This involves all of us." I nodded, and started calling people, watching idly as he set about draining and dismembering the bodies.

Twenty minutes later, the seven of us were gathered in Justin's kitchen, around a pile of photos. All of our families, dead.

That, while disturbing, was not the most worst part, at least not for me. My family was posed around my already dead brother's grave.

"Who?" Gabe asked, sounding like he was trying to hold back a sob. His parents and siblings, one of them only ten years old, were all dead.

"A gang leader in this area. Or, one of his rogues. He goes by BK. It was signed here," Oli said, his voice quivering ever so slightly as he pointed to the blood surrounding the body of his sister. It could look like a twisted BK, but it could be something else.

"That's not his signature," Justin said, looking slightly sick. "That's a mockery. That's not BK. But BK knows something. Otherwise it wouldn't be written like that."

"I think it's time we pay him a visit," Oli said, his voice hardening. The rest of us nodded.

"Follow me. Let's hear up." Justin said, leading us to a back room behind the wine cellar. We layered on bulletproof vests under White Skull hoodies and leather jackets, steel toed boots, and, naturally, our bandanas. Then we stocked up on weapons, which varies by person. I had three knives, one for close combat, two throwing, and two hand guns.

"Let's go." I said, taking the lead on this mission. Fury didn't begin to describe what I felt. I may not have liked my parents but this was far from acceptable.

Ten minutes later we pulled up at BK's mansion, easily bypassing his security. He wasn't home at the time, so we made ourselves comfortable in his lounge. Not long after, he came in, surrounded by six guards, who instantly pointed their weapons at us, the same time as we did them.

"Weapons down. We're not here to kill believe it or not," I said coldly. "We need answers."

"No." BK said simply. I shot the ground less than an inch from his feet.

"See, that wasn't a request," Justin said, picking up where I left off. "We need you to tell us who's work that is. Don't lie and say you don't know because we know it's one of yours. You're going to tell us who and where to find this person." He threw the photos at BK's feet. Was it sick that I found pleasure in his disgust?

"Why would I do that?" He said, once he had gotten over his initial repulsion.

"So I can behind him and put his head on a stake in my front yard," Oli snarled viciously.

"I can't help you," BK said. Justin shot the guard standing right beside BK in the arm, making them cry out. The voice was female, but none of us showed any mercy.

"Now you've annoyed me. Make me angry and I'll put a bullet in her pretty little skull," Justin hissed. Concern flashed in BK's eyes as he held the guard in his arms.

"Fine." He looked over the pictures. "It looks the work of an old agent who went rogue, by the name of Zack Merrick." Justin and I exchanged a look. "I don't know where to find him."

"Luckily we do," I responded, and walked over to him, snatching up the photos. "If he does, by chance, make contact, tell him he's made some very dangerous enemies, and if any of your people try to help him, we will know, and we will kill them. Now you might want to tend to her. Flesh wound, nothing more, but still not something you want infected," I said in an emotionless tone.

"Who's we?" BK asked, as we went to leave.

"We're called White Skull. And now you've met our leaders." Justin said simply.

"What, no names?" I got the feeling he was stalling. Why, I don't know. But he was.

"When you need to know our names you will." Oli said, and with that, we left, walking quickly backwards until we were out of their line of sight, then we turned and bolted out of there.

"Merrick will die," Rian swore, running effortlessly. He was an active guy, so that was no surprise.

"Slowly, painfully," Gabe agreed through gritted teeth.

"But carefully. He's crossed us. We have to let the world know that that's not something you can get away with," Oli said.

"It has to be huge, public, something no one can ignore," I said, picturing his bloodied, dead body hanging from a skyscraper.

"More than that, it has to be clear who it was, but untraceable. We may be heirs now, but we can't go down for murder," Justin said. Only at that point did I realize that all of my parents' money was mine. Any other time I would be over the moon. Now, I felt like the money was contaminated. I almost didn't want it, but I wanted someone else to get it less.

"Our lives just got a hell of a lot more complicated, didn't they?" Rian asked, evidently realizing the same thing.

"Undoubtably," I muttered back. From this point out, we were on our own. That freedom was terrifying, but refreshing. I hated feeling happy at a time like this, but I oil don't help but feel a little bit glad that no one could hold me back anymore. I pushed that thought aside, though. In order to do this properly, I couldn't be happy. I had to be furious. Angry enough to fuck consequence and set off on a journey of vengeance, one I was determined to finish.