RAZE (Fighter's Den, #0.5)

Chapter Twelve

I burst inside my father's office without warning, confidence urging each step forward. He startles and looks up from his desk, confusion and anger on his face. I take care of both.

"I'm leaving." I waste no time.

"Leaving?" He repeats.

"You will have to find a new leader effective immediately. You're hardly fit to run this gang anymore so my next recommendation is Byron. He knows everything there is to know and can oversee business as I would. I won't be coming back, ever. And if anyone so much as attempts to come near me once I'm gone, don't think I won't use my training to kill them before they even understand what's happening."

He merely stares at me. At least until a loud chortle bursts out of him and he shakes his head as if he's talking to a toddler. My anger increases tenfold. "I've no time for your games, boy. The 5th Street Saints have a business proposal for us. Something about trading members. Their leader will be here in an hour and I expect you to see to it."

I slam my hands on his desk and lean down, seething. "Get it through your head, old man. I am through being leader or having any part in this gang. I have already led them for years against my own will but no more. I have a life to tend to and it has no space for your tyranny."

"Careful. You're scaring me," Father goads with a cruel sneer. "Stop behaving as if you have a choice. What's gotten into you? You will lead this gang for the rest of your life and your sons will lead it after you. This is where we belong. Enough with your delusions."

"Enough with yours! You never gave me a fucking choice! I was a child and you were showing me how to shoot a gun with impeccable precision. You taught me that killing was normal. You made me fight and train until my arms felt like they'd fall off when I should have been kicking a soccer ball or some shit. You conditioned me to become a monster, you sick fuck! I never wanted to be one but I didn't have control over my own life. But now I do and I'm walking away. I will not come back under any circumstance. This isn't my life anymore because I say it isn't. Just try and fucking stop me."

Father stands too, his face contorted with rage. "Where will you go? What will you do? You think you can just move on and pretend the last three decades of your life did not happen? Don't be a child."

"What I do from here on is none of your business. But believe me when I say I'm finally going to live the life I want with the people I want. Consider yourself dead to me."

Father barks out a laugh and puts his hands on his hips. "With the people you want? Don't tell me you're talking about a woman, Gregory."

I have never been more grateful for my ability to keep a straight face through anything. All I want to do is strangle him for closing in on who Laura is but I keep my ground, unblinking. "Don't come after me. You know as well as I do that you can't break the blood law."

"Maybe not for you," He shrugs. "But this woman...I'm under no obligation to protect her. She's putting ideas in your head and I taught you better. I would make a convincing bet that you'd stay right where you are if she wasn't around, wouldn't you?"

My arm shoots out and I grab him by the throat. His breath catches when I dig my fingers in and squeeze as tight as possible. Within seconds he's purple in the face. "You don't touch her. She's carrying my child—your future grandchild. If you touch her then you break the blood law. And once you break the blood law you are no longer protected by it. I would make a convincing bet that your enemies would have you killed within seconds of the blood law being stripped away, wouldn't they?"

I release him and he coughs out in relief, stumbling over and grasping the edge of his desk while he pulls in air. I watch him with a sneer. I should have finished the job while I had the chance.