fitiing something. "She was screaming at me, like I was some monster, some street rat." A muscle in his jaw tightens. "That she was going to tell t

edal?" Lu

n grumbles. "We've heard his s

is way. "That's f

ut stays shu

skylight opens to the air above-right over the red chair.

d do-must do

breaking it is his life. There ha

The last I have left of my bl

we would rule it together. How can I abandon him to su

it. Osip, always the strutter, the lax leaner-he has his legs splayed and tap

eatures, tortured humans crawling and screaming

have anything to s

, the scowl is ugly. Out of place. "That wife's in the psych ward, and we just wasted a good

ts already? She wouldn't say anything. And I'll pay back the mon

le

t the money," someo

upid, righteous rules. Hate to break it to you, but what I did is what we do every other day. You wouldn't lose sleep over a dead Skull King pledge, would you? And Skull Kings are lower than dirt! So why lose sl

crime. I speak only to Osip, hoping beyond hope that he'll hear me. Repentance is his only chance to surv

in one clench. "Not like

lready, though I say through

Gavril, tell me-you've never come close

ondering and the echoes of Osip's vo

l us about just ho

t's

t over. Osip splays to the ground, laughing

he room quietly, "And I never will. No m

oot me a look of pure disdain. "You're drawing a

agreed to

indly follow just get s

nd jab and jab at me until I crack. Until we scrap, punch, and rip at

olved like that. He has gone too

I repeat in an even ton

erence doe

Bratva Syndicate alongside me and our brothers in cities across the continent, all those years ago. "It's what keeps us human beings

needs a code that limits an

off long before. Days, weeks, maybe e

time to st

I look at each of them. "We joined because we believed in a better world. Not one that was limited by the outside world's morality-but one of our own choosing. A world we could shape to our very own limitlessness."

Osip's bitterly mutter

about him anymore. I'm not going to conv

he crowd again. All the cracks have sealed