Ghosts

prologue

After the sound of that final shot rang out, he looked around the chamber at the hanging dead body and at his best friend. His eldest brother had made his way up the stairs in silence, not bothering to look back at them. Danny gave his best friend a look, before nodding to one of the guards standing by to help him bring the dead body down.

Danny undid the chains that held up Francisco's corpse and let him drop to the ground with a thud. Sam jumped at the sound and quickly turned around, following up the same stairs his brother went to. Sam walked out into the backyard, seeing Josh sitting in a chair in the back. Two bodies were strewn across the ground, the aftermath of the tragedy that took place moments before. Sam stood next to his brother, the sight almost peaceful, the white scene being tainted with blood splatters and bullet shells.

"Why-"

"He didn't want to live without her," Josh said, answering Sam's question, "He wrote a note a couple days ago, changed some things around with the will. I think he knew all along something like this could happen."

"What do we do with them?" Sam couldn't look away from the bodies. Her perfect white dress had a large blood spot from where the bullet had pierced her skin.

"Reaper's on his way," Josh said, pushing himself up from his chair, "Gianni said they'll decide on what they want to do with her, let us bury her in the family vault or they take her back to Italy."

Sam nodded, as Josh patted his shoulder before walking back into the house. Sam took in the silence of the backyard. His eyes clouded with tears as he sat down in the chair Josh was once in. Sam held his head in his hands as he sobbed. Sam didn't allow himself to feel, he had been hiding his emotions for years, something he had to do when Jake showed up at MIT and dragged him home.

Sam was angry at Jake. Angry that he had gotten his way out, something that Sam had wanted for years. Sam had seen this moment, but the roles were reversed. Jake was the one alive, his heart beating in his chest, his blood warm, and Sam was the one on the ground, a self-inflicted bullet wound to his head.

"You fucker. . . you motherfucker!" Sam yelled out, "How could you fucking do this!? You coward! Your love got torn away from you and you make us all suffer! How the hell is that fair?!"

Sam ran a hand down his face. He didn't even know if he had tears to cry over Jake. All he could see was red. Red in anger, red in envy, and the red blood on the ground. He took a deep breath and pushed himself up from his seat, and made his way into the house. He didn't even bother to look at the faces of his two living brothers as he went straight to his office. Sam sat down in his chair, looking at the bottle placed in front of him. The bottle of Irish Whiskey that was given as a gift to celebrate Jake's engagement. Sam bit his lip, reaching forward and opening it.

— — —

It had been three years since that fateful day at the Kiszka Mansion. The images of the two lovers laying side by side in peaceful death were forever ingrained in the mind of Samuel Kiszka, the youngest of the three boys. He was the one who found Jake, and it took Josh and Danny to pull him away from the mafia leader's dead body. Josh had the lovers buried in the Kiszka mausoleum, side by side, like they would want.

It took Sam months to get over that day. Every time he closed his eyes, the image of his sister in law falling into his brother's arms would play. Sam could still see the look of fear in both of their eyes, something he never wanted to see. Sam would wake up in the middle of the night, screaming for Jake and his wife, only to have Josh barge in and hold him, as he sobbed.

He found solace though, drowning the images in booze and pussy. He spent most of his days staggering around the clubs fully plastered. Danny usually brought him home, carrying him bridal style to his room. Sam was basically useless to the operation of the Mafia, and he didn't have an issue with that.

If it were up to Sam, he never would've joined his family business. He wanted nothing to do with it, ever. He thought he had escaped it, going to MIT and studying software engineering. But after the death of Jake's first fiancé, they needed Sam. Sam was too smart for his own good, being able to design and hack into software people only dreamed of doing. Sam had protested and begged his older brother to let him stay in school, to let him have a normal life, but Jake refused, leading to a huge argument between the two.

"Just because you couldn't protect your girlfriend doesn't mean you have to ruin my life!"

"I'm not ruining your fucking life! I'm saving it!"

"No. you're placing your guilt for not being able to save Katherine on me."

Jake stormed over and grabbed his baby brother by the neck, slamming his body up against the wall. Even though Jake was a little shorter, he was stronger, holding on to his brother's throat with a tight grip. Sam stuttered out breaths, gasping as he tried to get his brother to let go.

"You will do as I say. I'm in charge. You got that shit, Samuel?"

"loud and clear, Jacob"

Sam finally snapped out of his mood after Josh got hurt. He broke down, crying to Danny in the middle of the night. He couldn't lose anyone else in his family. Josh and Danny were all he had left, and he'd rather die than lose one of them. So Sam dove in full force into the business. With Jake gone, they all had to take on more responsibilities. Sam had taken over the financial side of things, splitting promoting duties for the various clubs with Danny. Sam had become a zombie of who he once was, helping build back relationships that had been broken and buried along with his brother.