"Do you know why my brothers and I were involved with Marco?"
I swallowed. "I know that he ran a business with your father and after your father had died he took over. That's about it. The girls don't like talkin' about it so I'm short on information."
"Okay, that's true, but there is a lot more to it than that." He sighed and prepared himself to say words he didn't want to say. "Marco and my father ran a business that earned them the title of gangsters. Nothing they did was straight up-even the legal shit was corrupt. Everything from drugs, to weapons and prostitution, was fair game."
Wow.
"I, along with my brothers, was raised in a compound back in New York. We were homeschooled so we never got out much. The compound was huge and there was always something to do so we weren't bored... until we were old enough to be put to work."
I didn't like the sound of that.
"The twins were still kids when Ryder, Alec, and myself started out. We did small-time shit like moving product, delivering it, breaking in new recruits. Bullshit like that. Marco always said my dad had big plans for us, but I don't think he ever did. I think it was Marco who had plans for us, and when my dad double-crossed him, killing him and my mom gave him access to us. Granted the three of us were old enough to leave if we wanted to-and we did-but we couldn't get out with the twins fast enough."
"What do you mean?" I murmured.
Kane leaned his head back against the sofa cushion. "Damien had this girlfriend called Nala. She was a cute Asian kid and he adored her. That was little brother's problem-he cared too much about people. He was messed up when our parents died. He understood we couldn't cross Marco though. We were brought up around an empire that preached loyalty. It was instilled in us from a very young age. We were loyal to the core to one another, to our parents, and even to Marco, even though the three of them didn't deserve it. What our father did was wrong; he betrayed someone he swore to be loyal to, and to us and that's not right. You don't turn your back on your own, but my parents did."
I listened to Kane as he spoke, and the more I listened, the more scared I became.
"Even though Damien understood our father was a traitor, he wouldn't let anyone talk smack about him. One of Marco's nephews, Trent, did just that. He said our father deserved to be shot and buried, and it was no more than he deserved. That set Damien off; they fought, but Trent pulled a gun-"
I cut Kane off on a gasp, but he pressed on.
"Long story short, Damien somehow got the gun and shot Trent. We were told he died, and in order to protect Damien for betraying one of our own, we began to work for Marco. Different work for each of us. He thrust us into different environments-Dominic into fighting, Alec into being an escort, Ryder into dealing, and me... I became a monster."
I shook my head.
"Slow down. You said you were told this Trent kid died?"
Kane growled, "Yeah, up until few years ago when the little prick resurfaced. We found out Marco betrayed us, so we bounced. We were paying a debt that wasn't valid in the first place. Damien never killed Trent... not the first time anyway."
I blinked. "I don't want to know what that means."
"Good," Kane grunted.
I flicked my eyes over his body.
"Okay, so you got a job to hurt people... how did you get your scars?"
Kane swallowed and looked away from me. "Punishment."
"Punishment?" I repeated.
Kane nodded his head, still looking away.
"When I didn't do a job... correctly, I was punished. Severely."
I didn't like how that sounded, not one bit.
"I'm confused, Kane," I murmured. "What job? What punishment?"
"Aideen, you have to have an inkling of the people I am involved with. Even before I explained shit, you had to know deep down that I don't deal with straight people."
Why wasn't that phrased in the past tense?
"I... I guess so," I admitted. "I know Marco was like Keela's uncle Brandon, a crooked prick... but that is it. Keela doesn't talk about Marco or anything that went down with him. He had me knocked out before he shot Storm and took Keela, Alec, and Bronagh to Darkness, remember?"
Kane balled his hands into fists. "I found you unconscious on the floor of Keela's apartment. Of course I fucking remember. It haunts me."
It did?
I was taken back by his sudden anger. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Don't apologise," Kane sighed. "I'm not angry with you, none of that was your fault. I just get pissed with I remember what happened to you."
I knew he found me before anyone else last year when Marco trashed Keela's place and took her, Alec, and Bronagh captive. It was like something out of a film. They knocked me out, hurt Storm, and just took the others. It was surreal to even think it happened let alone realise I was part of it. Kane found me that night, then he left me with Branna while he and the rest of his brothers went to get Brandon so they could rid themselves of Marco for once and for all.
Ridding themselves of Marco hurt my friend though. Marco was no longer on this Earth, not amongst the living anyway, and yet he still had a hold of Keela through her nightmares. I was beyond delighted to hear her mind was fighting back and was slowly, but surely, ridding her of Marco too.
Fucking Marco.
"Can I ask you something that has been on my mind since the day you woke up in the hospital?"
Kane shrugged. "Shoot."
"What is your problems with needles?"
Kane stilled. "It's not the needle, it's the stabbing."
I swallowed. "What stabbin'?"
He scrubbed his face with his hands. "When I was punished, to keep me from fighting back, my wrists were bound with rope and strung up above my head." He paused to touch the scars that looked like circular burns around his wrists.
Rope burns.
"When I was bound, the boss would take a needle so thin you could barely see it. It wasn't long enough to pierce any organs, so he would stab me in the back over and over until I screamed. He said if I was stabbing him in the back by not working, then he would stab me in mine. Literally."
My stomach twisted.
My eyes flicked to his neck then. "And the name on your neck?"
Kane looked down. "I refused to hurt a woman. She was a horrible person who drugged women who were trafficked into the compound. Her name was Jenna. She crossed Marco and he wanted me to hurt her, but I refused. Marco had me tied up with ropes and he carved his name into my neck, he branded me as his. It was to be a constant reminder that I was owned by him."
That was why he hated the name Jenna.
I wanted to cry my eyes out.
I hated Marco Miles, and I was glad the son of a bitch was dead.
"Why would Marco do that?" I whispered. "Why would he stab you and hurt you so badly?"
Kane tensed for a moment. "You think Marco was the one who stabbed me?"
What?
"Wasn't he the only man involved with you and your family?" I asked, confused.
Kane laughed, "I wish. I wish Marco was all I had to worry about, but no, Marco was the big boss of me, but he wasn't the one who gave me jobs."
Plural?
"So... who else gave you... jobs?"
Kane growled, "You already know who."
I did?
"What? Who?"
Kane's voice was not his own when he snarled, "Big Phil. He was my old boss. He caused the scars. He caused the hurt." He locked his eyes on mine and said, "He created me."
"Big Phil?" I questioned. "The man Damien mentioned was comin' to Ireland?"
Kane nodded his head. "Yeah. Him."
"Wh-what did he make you do?"
Kane looked away from me then. "Horrible things."
"I don't want to make you relive anything, but can you tell me a little?"
Kane rubbed his eyes. "Big Phil was a clean-up guy. Marco ran everything and made the deals, but if deals were never fulfilled, Big Phil was the one to go and find out why. That means if someone never paid Marco the money he was owed, the clean-up crew went in to rectify that. It wasn't just money; if someone did anything wrong to Marco, the crew went in. I was just under Big Phil in a chain of command with the crew. He said jump, I asked ‘how high'."
Kane laughed, but it wasn't humorous.
"I had to hurt people... pain was an easy way to get people to pay up."
I stared at him, horrified at the life he lived. Kane looked at me and saw the mixture of sadness and disgust on my face, and he panicked.
"Please understand we all had a role to play, and this was mine. I was protecting my little brother, Aideen. I was afraid if I pulled back too much and didn't do what I was supposed to do then Marco would kill Damien."
"I understand," I whispered.
I surprised Kane with my reply, but I surprised myself even more. I understood why Kane did what he did, and it was because I truly understood that he was doing horrible things to protect his brother. If I were put in a position to save one of my brother's lives, I'd do it no matter what the cost.