Alexander POV

I zoned out the rest of the meeting. Alec is more than capable of handling the gang business - the only reason I got the title of leader is because he, like our mother, wanted to pursue a career and do something good for the world.

The world doesn't deserve people like them. The world is a fucked up place and in the end, the bad guys always win. It doesn't matter if a murderer is charged and put behind bars, they already did their crime, they won. 

It's no secret that I'm not a good guy in the world. I know that, and I've long ago accepted and promised that I because I was the bad guy, I wouldn't drag someone else down with me.

Marriage.

Even if this is all a ploy, a technique in our battle plans, the word seems too real for me.

He had stated that the Night Howlers wouldn't accept Amy because she wasn't trained for the world, because she would be too unstable and uncontrollable. Despite being, through blood, the rightful leader, she would still be an outsider.

Therefore, she need a 'leash'. I'm the best option because apparently, I'm no stranger to this world. Everyone knows my name, they know my reputation.

My reputation.

That's the reason why they believe I can put a leash on the Mafia Princess, Amy Kuether. Oh, believe me when I say that I've tried. Hell, I think Amy herself has tried to put a leash on herself and she didn't succeed. 

There are two different reputations I have, and that I tried to hold at the same time. One for this world, and one for the world of High School. In both of them, I tried to make myself the bad guy. It should have been simple, right? Bad boy, gang leader. They both are practically the same.

Wrong.

High School puts a certain pressure on that facade. I can't exactly do and lead and control everything like I do for my gang, teenagers are too unpredictable. Therefore, I followed the expectations. Which was stupid.

In this world however, each gang is led in a unique way, and deals with certain things. In the end, what we all have in common is that we are not the good people.

Amy Kuether might be from this world, she might not know anything about it, but I've learned long ago not to underestimate her. This marriage/engagement thing might only last a few weeks, months at the most, but like Alec said, there's something in this picture that we're missing.

And missing it was.

-------

"I can't believe you agreed to go along with the plan!" 

Alec shrugs at my outburst. "You were zoned out, what was I supposed to do?"

"Say no!"

"Listen Alex, in the end, it's a win win situation. We get two very big threats to our gang out of the way with only one stone. Besides, it's all a ruse. What's the big deal?" Kylie speaks calmly, but her eyes are hard.

My eyes jump from Alec, Kylie and Shawn. "We don't know if they can be trusted!"

"What else do you want from them?" Shawn asks. He, like everyone else, is annoyed and confused by my reluctance to follow through with this commitment. "He told us his past, why they have a grudge. They are giving us members and have promised us peace and possible trade in the future. If you want anything else from them, it would be their disbanding."

"But there's one piece of information we're missing!" I exclaim. "He never told us why and how he started the gang! There's something fishy there!"

Kylie rolls her eyes. "You're overreacting Alex. Calm down."

Maybe I was overreacting, but I had a gut feeling that whatever was missing from the picture would be big. "I'm telling you that there's something wrong with this plan! Something is going to blow up in our faces and it'll be because you guys didn't listen to me!" My next sentence is directed towards Alec. "I've learned long ago not to ignore my gut feeling. You, out of everyone else, should understand."

They stand there in shock as I turn around and leave. My head was pounding, not only because of this conversation, but because of the guilt pounding through my body.

External Narrator

Riley is looking out towards the same tree where a few weeks ago, Amy Kuether had sat and sobbed. Adrenaline was running through her veins. The knowledge of what she knew was pounding through her and she knew that what she was about to do could very well be defined as breaking code. 

It was too late to turn back and not do anything. Maybe her fate would end the same way as her mother's - she would die to protect the people she loved. 

Her mind drifts to Shawn. She's been hung up over him since middle school and it may have been an order, but every moment they shared had been very real in her mind. 

She was a liar and she was his enemy, yet, she couldn't help her feelings that she had for a while now. Maybe one day it would all blow up in her face, but her job was a priority.

Footsteps crunch underneath the snow. Riley doesn't turn away from the tree, already knowing who it would be.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the snitch." There's a mocking bite to Helen's tone.

"What information is important enough to be sold?" Steven cuts to the case.

Glancing one last time to the tree, Riley turns and faces the siblings. "This is the missing puzzle that no one saw coming."

The siblings glance at each other with curiosity. Helen speaks up, "And what exactly does that puzzle state?"

"It isn't much of a statement, so much as it is a person."

Helen's gaze narrow. "Who?"

"What? No mocking me now?" Riley was done playing the good cop. It was time for her to be the bad cop for once. "I don't trust you, but for Amy, you need to know."

Steven raises an eyebrow. "What do we need to know?"

It's silent in their hidden corner of the cemetery. The wind blows causing goosebumps to appear on the arms of Riley. Their location adding an ominous feeling to their meeting. 

"You need to know who exactly it is you're working for."

A grin breaks across Helen's face. "Pease, we know who we work for. That information was something we knew before you. Hell, I think the Black Knights figured it out a long time ago, at least part of it."

Wisps of hair tickle Riley's face as she shakes her head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," she mocks. "I don't think anyone has really figured it out."

Her employers themselves hadn't even figured it out. Riley was starting to take things into her own hands.

"What do you know?" Steven grounds out through his teeth. 

"You told me you worked for the former third in command for the Night Howlers," Riley pauses before continuing, "and you said he hadn't been seen in years."

"Your point?" Helen growls.

"Well, the reason he hadn't been seen in years, is because he isn't a he."

------

"So?"

"Well, you see, Jared never let anyone know she was female."

"So?" Helen repeats herself, impatience filling her tone.

"Jared never let anyone know that she was a female, that's why it was so easy for her to disappear. If someone found out that Jared had been betrayed by a female, his leadership would turn into a mockery, and it would flush the Night Howler's reputation down the drain."

"What does the fact that she's female have to do with anything?"

"How informed are you on Amy's past?" 

"We know everything there is to know." Steven declared proudly. Helen elbows him for his stupidity.

"Then you'll know how Fredrick Kuether started his gang, the Black Mississippi gang?" Riley raises an eyebrow. She has a smirk on her face knowing full well that no one knew.

"Listen snitch. We are not here to play games, we have things to accomplish today so if you're done, I'd like to get a move on!" Helen exclaims, her patience with Riley having officially disappeared.

"Oh, but I don't think I'm done quite yet. You see, you are on the edge of discovering one of this country's greatest secrets yet, I can't tell you, sorry." Riley shrugs her shoulders innocently.

Growling, Helen throws herself at Riley. Steven grabs her by the waist before she makes it to her. Her nails miss Riley's face by an inch.

A phone rings once, twice, thrice in the cemetery before Helen calms down enough to answer it.

"What?" She snarls while glaring at a smug Riley.

Immediately, her facial expression changed from hostile to shock. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is making a little o.

Steven nudged her but she doesn't take notice, too engrossed by the information she's receiving from the person on the other end of the line. Riley watches with curiosity. There was no way anyone else could have figured out what she knew, not with the dirty work she had to do to attain the information.

"I see," Helen mutters while glancing at Steven, her face no longer in shock, but she isn't relaxed quite yet. "That does provide some . . . bumps in the road."

When Helen finally hangs up the phone, her face is pale. "There's been a development."

"What kind of development?" Riley questions.

"What? No smug remarks?" Steven mutters.

"I'll tell you what I know in exchange for you telling me what you know." Helen replies to Riley. Her voice is steady, but her hands are slightly shaking. Riley knows it's not from the cold.

She nods in response. "Your third in command struck a deal with Fredrick; he was to build a gang from scratch and grow it until it was enough to challenge someone of the likes of the Night Howlers. Once there, her plan was to crush them with the palm of her hand. She believed them too dangerous to continue and she wanted to put an end to them." Riley recites the contents of the contract she had recently deciphered. 

"That's impossible," Helen whispers. "She wouldn't . . . She wants Amy to take up the throne?" 

"Which throne?" Riley throws back. "Now, what was that phone call about?"

"I-it seems her plan is going into action," Helen mutters, still bewildered by everything she just learned. "Our person on the inside just told us that Fred is announcing his daughter, Amy Kuether's engagement to Alexander Black." 

--------

Quill reads the message a few times before fully absorbing it. "What is this?" His whisper is soft, but the tone promises death.

"That is the announcement of Amy Kuether and Alexander Black's en-"

"I know what it is you idiot!" He growls. "What I want to know is why? Why would they be engaged? Why is Amy Kuether still alive? She should be dead with the poison we injected into her!

"And what about Alexander Black? Should he too not be dead? Did I not send that idiot after him?"

"You sent Ben less than a week ago after Mr. Black," Quill's second in command responds.

"Are you telling me that they didn't get the message? They were supposed to stay away from that Heir! The were not supposed to marry her!"

"Yes, but our mole believes tha-"

"I do not have time nor care for useless beliefs, I want facts! Bring me the video from the night of her renouncing her title as Heir of the Night Howlers! Now!"

The second in command sighs and does as he's told, leaving the room.

It's only a few minutes later that he comes back strolling into the room and hands a device to his leader.

Again, Quil watches the scene in which Amy Kuether denies a throne only to take up another one. This time, she continues to watch past the point from which she takes off her mask. 

Chaos breaks out in the video as the Black Knights lunge forward in anger and surprise. Quill chuckles. These people are just children, they do not deserve the title of leader to one of the biggest gangs in the country. Of course, they only got the title through inheritance.

A few seconds after that, Quill watches how in the corner of the screen a young women who looks so similar sneaks out the back doors with horror on her face. His eyes narrow as they try to study the few characteristics on the woman that he can see. She has golden eyes.

He zooms in the video and now he could make out her pointy chin and strong jawline. Her skin is light and pale from lack of time in the sun. It's her nose that makes his realize why she's familiar.

His laugh is deep and scratchy, but with no humor. He couldn't believe he hadn't realized this before, it was like they never learned.

"Well, well, well," he looks up to his current second in command. "It looks like some old friends have come back to say hello. Maybe we should pay another visit to Rob and tell him to get his dirty little spies out of where they don't belong. I have no doubt that he would hate to lose little Riley Smith."

Hey! 👋

Update 2 of 2 completed!

And the plot thickens once again! (Please dont forget to vote)

Question: How did y'all find this story?

From a tag?
List which tag! (Broken, Badboy, Gang, ect)

From a friend?
Tag the friend! (If you want)

From a reading list?
Tell me! (Obviously I dont expect you to tell me the exact name and author/creator)

Shout to KaSh48   Who asked me why and how Fred created his gang! Trust me when I say that there is more to it than Riley believes!

First person to tell me how Riley and Quil are connected will get a shout out and follow!

Till next time!

Bye! 👋

P.s. fun fact: most of this story was created and unraveled while I was washing the dishes