Jerome's P.O.V.
"But I wanna go with you!" Vikk whined, pouting. I felt really bad for him, he wasn't allowed to go anywhere because it was too 'unsafe' for him but it was for his own good. He could get hurt, and that was last thing any of us wanted.
"You can't Vikk, you know you can't." Simon said, patting Vikk's shoulder gently. Vikk glared at him and tore his hand away, stalking off upstairs to sulk by himself.
He would be on his own for a while, all 11 of us were heading out to work and I didn't doubt that we'd be out for at least a few days, maybe even closer to a week depending on how long the job took. It wasn't pleasant work but it paid well and there was no risk of us being caught as long as we were sensible, we were well protected from the police and such with bribes and deals. Our boss took care of that.
We had no idea who our boss was, we only ever heard a digitally altered voice over a call or messages directly from his henchmen to carry out certain jobs, and I understood why he was protecting his identity, or her identity actually. They were running one of the biggest gangs in Europe, so they had to keep themselves hidden.
"Is Vikk sulking again?" JJ asked from us the stairs.
"Yeah, he's pissed he can't go out." I called back, waiting for some of the others to come downstairs.
Lachlan and Rob were the last ones down, still half asleep because they had literally just arrived back in England after a job in America and they weren't allowed a break. This next job was a big one which required all of us, so they would take a break afterwards. Harry and Josh were late too, they had been having showers.
"You ready to go?" Ethan spoke up, kicking a stone on the ground.
There was a general census of yes, so we headed out the front door into our cars and set off.
Just as the car I was in pulled out of the driveway I saw Vikk sitting at his window forlornly, his hands folded into his lap. I felt bad for him but it was because of our association with the gang that he couldn't go anywhere, he was constantly at risk because of us so he couldn't leave.
He disappeared behind the curtain and I sighed, knowing that one day he would get sick of it. I hated to think of what that day would look like.
Vikk's P.O.V.
Oh how they were going to regret the way they hid me away one day. They didn't know how much I did know, I wasn't the little one of the group, I wasn't the baby of the group and I certainly wasn't the little innocent boy they thought I was.
I hated just thinking about it because they tried to hide me away from the world for my own safety but what they didn't know was that I controlled it all. I was their boss, I controlled the gang, I sent them on the huge mission today so I could have some time to myself.
I waited half an hour to make sure they were completely gone before preparing everything I needed, pulling on completely black clothing, a black beanie, a pair of sunglasses, and then a bandana over my face. I slipped a knife into my sock and pushed a gun into my belt. You could never be too prepared.
One of my henchmen picked me up, there were no cars left after all, and drove me to our rendezvous, where the other boys were already waiting for their briefing. I could tell they were all nervous, they were meeting their boss of course, and Lachlan and Tobi were both shifting from foot to foot, JJ was rubbing his hands together, Ethan was bouncing on his toes, just a few of the nervous habits they had.
I pushed a voice synthesizer into the neck of my hood, which would distort my voice behind recognition. I was standing behind a paper thin curtain so they could see my outline and I could see theirs, but that was all.
"You understand you have a mission?" My voice was deep and unrecognisable, no one would be able to tell that it was me. Preston spoke up, his voice a little nervous.
"Yeah, we do."
"Good. You have the list of targets, you know what to do. Don't screw this up." I watched as a few of them shifted a little uncomfortably, rolling my eyes. Good, let them squirm. "Le-ave."
I swore under my breath as the voice synthesizer cut out, revealing my real voice for a split second. I pulled it out and fiddled with it, trying to work out why it had cut out and how I could fix it, but it wasn't really needed because I didn't need to talk again.
There was hushed whispering on the other side of the curtain and I had just turned to leave when Mitch spoke up.
"Vikk?" His voice shook with fear and uncertainty. "Was that you?"
I sighed and held my head in my hands for a few seconds before motioning for the screen to be pulled away. At first they couldn't see anything because of the beanie, bandana and glasses but when I pulled them off one by one I saw the look of shock on their faces. I raised one eyebrow.
"Guess you don't know everything, do you." I crossed my arms and looked at the stunned looks on everyone's faces.
JJ, Ethan and Jerome all had their mouths hanging open, Simon and Josh were just standing there in stunned silence, Preston seemed to be mouthing 'oh my god' under his breath, Harry, Tobi and Mitch were all glancing between each other and me, floored. Lachlan was smiling a little, one hand on his hip.
"Hey Lachy, guess you ain't the only one who knows now." He nodded, coming to stand by my side.
"Wait, you knew?!" Simon exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air.
"Of course I knew, he shares everything with me." I squeezed his hand and he wrapped his arm around my side. "I've known pretty much since day one."
Josh shrugged.
"Well I guess Vikk being the little one of the group is out the window now." I raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think? I ain't the baby anymore." There was a general feeling of oh shit around the room and I could see everyone, everyone bar Lachlan, was looking very uncomfortable and shuffling around a little.
"So... have you really been the boss the whole time? You ordered all the hits?"
"Yeah, which reminds me, you still have a job to do. Lachlan and Rob, you two can stay behind and get some rest but the rest of you better get going." Everyone but the two I mentioned scrambled out of the room, leaving me to think for a little while.
Rob looked a little weirded out but Lachlan just hugged me, squeezing me tightly.
"Are you glad they found out?" He asked.
"Yeah, a bit. At least I don't have to hide it anymore." Rob yawned. "Alright we're going home now, you two are going to bed. I'm sorry I sent you to America but I had to, part of a allied thing."
Rob nodded and Lachlan shrugged, following me out to the car. I waved away one of my henchmen, who was offering to drive to car to take us back home, but I shook him off and hopped into the drivers seat myself.
At home Rob disappeared upstairs but I didn't mind. Imagine finding out your boss, the boss of a gang no less, was your closest friend who you had thought was the quiet one, the innocent one of the group.
Lachlan and I decided to get some food, throwing a pie in the oven and some chips as well before we sat down at the kitchen bench to talk about anything we could think of. We liked to talk, ramble about YouTube or movies or problems we were having.
Lachlan kicked his legs back and forwards under the bench, quite happy and upbeat for the most part even though he was still pretty exhausted. I was glad to see him happy, because I knew he struggled a lot of the time with the work he was doing.
He was trying out with other things, mostly online things that may bring in money in the future and he found something called YouTube which he thought might have potential. He wanted to get out and I didn't blame him, it was dangerous and pretty terrible work.
He told me about it and eventually he got me and some of the others to start as well, as a way out.
"You going to bed now?" I asked when he stood up and he nodded.
"Yeah, I might be down for dinner, I might not be." I inclined my head.
"Sleep tight Lachy." I hugged him. "I'll see you later."
