PLAYLIST

♩ You Should See Me In A Crown - Billie Eilish

♩ Needed Me - Rihanna

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As I sit back in my chair, I hear a neck crack.

"I can book you a masseuse if you'd like," I say.

"I'm fine," says Elijah as he takes his seat at the head of the conference table beside me. Crossing my arms, I size him up. He looks as perfect as he ever had, not a hair out of place and neither spot nor wrinkle on his suit. His posture exudes the confidence of the leader that he is, and his commanding baritone is ever-present when he speaks.

Yet his eyes, as always, give him away.

"This is about Sienna, isn't it?" I raise an eyebrow.

His intensifying glare was my answer.

"Don't start with me, Tiago," he says. Slightly, almost imperceptibly, his jaw flexed. That told me all I needed to know.

"You're jealous," I voice my conclusion, "you know you shouldn't be, but you are. The fact that she chose Gage first is eating you up, and Jesse spending the night with her is only making it worse. In fact, I'm willing to bet you've only been half-listening to everything I've said so far. Would I be correct?"

When he doesn't answer, I continue, "It's distracting you; making you lose focus. Last night, especially, brought you out of sorts. You're not used to not being in control, and you're sure as hell not used to being outsmarted by a woman. One you admire, no less. Admit it, brother, you're scared."

Like the edges of a knife, his eyes slice the distance between us as they dart to me. Barely held back anger roils in them, and I think of all the unfortunate bastards, dear old Wallace being the last of them, who fell apart under this very stare. Even back when we were just kids selling burners, our "customers" would avoid his eyes.

"Save your pouting for our enemies, brother," I say nonchalantly, "you look like you're battling a severe case of hemorrhoids."

A minuscule upward quirk of his mouth slips through his mask for a mere second before he looks away.

"Is our package on its way?" he tries to change the subject.

"It should arrive this evening at the latest. Look, Elijah, I'm serious. You didn't listen to me when I told you Sienna would contact us on her own, and I was right. So listen to me now, please. Okay?"

He looks at me again, but this time the look in his eyes is more defeated than angry.

"Talk to her," I say, "whatever you want to sort out, you can't do it without communicating. And no, having no time isn't an excuse. Even five minutes can change a lot. You have time for us, find time for her. It'll eat you up if you don't."

His eyes move downward as he considers before opening his mouth to speak. But, with an impeccable sense of timing, a knock sounds at the door. I check the time on my phone — 8 o'clock on the dot. Meeting his eyes again, I see him nod and yell for those outside to enter.

Gage and Kaen walk in first, all cheers and teases as they seat themselves at the table. After last night, Gage's happy mood, the spring in his step, and his smug smile are unsurprising — no matter how uncharacteristic they are for him. But Kaen's mood piques my interest. His usual swagger is just a dash more energetic, his smirk but a fraction wider as he puts his feet up on the table. Curious. Very curious, indeed.

On their tails come Imari and Valerie. Imari sits beside Gage with a tablet in his hand, and both men stare at the screen as he explains something in whatever tech-bro jargon they use. Valerie, meanwhile, smiles at the blueprints on the table in satisfaction and sits across from Imari, beside me.

"Thanks for doing the printing, I hate those things," she says.

"I got you," I nod to her.

Then, last but certainly not least, Jesse and Sienna walk in.

If Kaen is in a good mood, and Gage is buoyant, then Jesse is ecstatic. He guides her with his hand on the small of her back, smiling from ear to ear like a mesmerized idiot. I can't blame him, because he's escorting a Greek goddess.

She's wearing her hair in a half updo, her curls cascading from the subtle, twisted knot at the back of her head like a chocolate waterfall. Her skin glows like silk reflecting sunlight, and her full lips sparkle with a light coat of red. Her breathtaking eyes, grey as much as they are green, are accentuated by a thin flick of eyeliner and dark mascara. She's clad in a black T-shirt that hugs her curves and accentuates her full breasts, and dark blue mid-rise jeans that sculpt her ass like Canova's mallet and chisel sculpted The Three Graces.

She smiles and nods at Elijah as she walks up to greet Imari. I glance at my brother watching her. There, once again, a tiny twitch of his masseter.

"Hey," a whisky-soaked voice makes me turn. She sits across from me, eyes darting from Valerie to myself and a gorgeous smile dancing on her lips.

"Geia sou, Sienna. Ti káneis?" I smile back at her and watch her full brows lift slightly in surprise.

"Kalá. I didn't know you spoke Greek," she says.

"I am full of surprises."

Her eyes linger on mine for a moment too long, enough to make me wish we were alone. But we are not, and she soon looks at the blueprints and says, "I'm guessing one of them's whatever this is."

I nod and turn to Elijah. His ice-blue stare travels across everyone, raising silence in its wake and thawing just a little when it meets Sienna's gaze. In her eyes, I see a ghost of knowing sympathy, as if she sees in him and understands more than she lets on. The woman surprises and impresses me more and more by the minute. Elijah, too, must have seen that whisper in her eyes, for he quickly averts his own.

"So," he begins, "we have ourselves quite the shit show, don't we?"

"Nothing we can't handle, I'm sure," says Kaen, examining his nails.

"That depends. Gage, Imari," the two men stand on alert, "what do you have for me?"

"We're good on the cyber end," says Gage, "but Imari thinks we need to improve our physical security. Alarms, detectors, that sort of thing."

"And not just here," the younger man adds, "I'd like to go over all the systems in HQ and your other businesses and locations."

"How long will it take?" asks Elijah.

"Probably the rest of the day here, then another day at HQ. The rest depends on the place. I can get it done quicker if I split my boys up by location and let them have a couple of cracks at it."

"Do it. I want you and Gage in charge of the house and HQ, but everything else is up to you. As long as you keep me informed."

"Always, brother," says Gage.

"Very well," Elijah nods and looks at Kaen, "weapons?"

"All accounted for," my brother lazily replies, "I e-mailed you the full inventory. We have enough to outfit a small army."

"And The Vault?"

Kaen smirks, looking ever the sadist, "All ready for new occupants. Just say the word."

Elijah's answering smirk is quite subtle in appearance, but all the more bone-chilling. The bloodthirst in his eyes and the small quirk of the corner of his mouth make him seem like a rabid wolf holding back his snarl. Where most piss themselves when they see his piercing stare, I feel chills running down my spine when I see him like this. Whether I'm afraid for him or those around him, I do not know.

The rest of my brothers know what Kaen and Elijah mean, and our newcomers seem to catch on quickly, so nobody speaks until Elijah does.

"That's what I like to hear," he says. Then, he blinks, the smirk erased and eyes flicking to Jesse. "Finances?"

"Imari's installed some pretty useful software," he says like nothing of concern just happened, "it should be much harder to steal from us, now, and, if they do, we'll be on them before they can say 'jackpot'. Oh, we've recovered the full amount Wallace stole thanks to Sienna and her people, and we've gained quite a lot on top of that. I still need to finish sorting out the budget allocations, but I should be done in the next couple of hours."

"Talk to me when you're done," says Elijah, "I want a full report."

Jesse nods, and Elijah turns to me and Valerie.

"Show us what you have," he says.

I let Valerie take the stage, leaning back as I unfold my pocket notebook and begin sketching.

"Right," she clears her throat, "Maintenance and security are all well and good, but I think it's fair to say we're all on the same page here in terms of priorities, right? We need to disrupt Vasilios's operation and help those children."

Nods come from around the table.

"Well, in order to do that, we need a mode of transportation. A discreet one. Something they won't be able to detect. Like..." she looks around at everyone expectantly.

"Concealment vehicles?" Gage asks.

I roll my eyes at his narrow thinking. Valerie sighs, shoulders falling in disappointment.

"Underground tunnels," she shakes her head, "cars and buses are too risky. They're too small for all the kids and their security will catch us at a moment's notice."

"You're right," Jesse says, "but we don't even know where they are. And even if we did, how are we gonna build a system of tunnels under their noses without being caught?"

"We don't," she smiles excitedly and takes out her phone, "build there, that is. Because we do know where they are, and it's right here." She unlocks it and presses a button. A buzz of five mobile phones sounds and everyone but myself, Elijah, and Valerie unlock their devices. Sienna's eyebrows slowly rise and a smirk forms on her face as she looks at her friend.

"They came through, huh?" she asks her.

"I don't know exactly what you did," Valerie says, "but whatever it was, they flipped. We have people on the inside now."

"Wait, what's going on?" Gage looks from one woman to another, brows furrowed.

"There's a certain couple of guys, twins, in my father's inner circle," says Sienna, "let's just say I convinced them to turn on him."

"Is their information reliable?" asks Elijah.

"Most certainly."

"Jesus, Sienna," Imari shakes his head in bewilderment at his screen, "what the fuck did you do?"

She smirks, "Everyone has something to hide, Imari. The trick is finding out what it is and exploiting it."

"So, blackmail? That's it?" He looks skeptical.

"Let me take care of it," Sienna pats his knee, "you have your own shit to worry about."

I stop mid-stroke and look up at her as a little ball of apprehensive dread rises in the pit of my stomach. The fact that she didn't answer any of Imari's questions is not lost on me. There's something more to this.

"Sienna," Elijah's stern voice makes her turn, "I don't like being kept out of the loop."

"Well, that's too bad, Elijah," she says, "because, if this is gonna work, you'll have to trust me. That includes letting me do my job my way."

"You agreed to work under me, Sienna," his eyes narrow slightly, "in fact, you proposed it. Better than anyone, you know that keeping me out of the loop does not bode well for our operation."

"Under you?" she quirks her head to the side, the gesture eerily reminding me of Elijah's habit, "When did I say that?"

The ball of dread in my stomach grows as tension thickens the air. I slowly put my notebook and pen down as I lean forward. Gage and Jesse stiffen and exchange an uneasy look. Kaen takes his feet off the table and watches Sienna with ferocious interest. Imari and Valerie, like soldiers trained to obedience and intimidation, turn their sharp gazes at Elijah. The man in question remains silent. This time, I sense, it is not for intimidation, but from the lack of things to say.

"I believe," Sienna continues, voice low and slow, "my exact words were that I want to offer a merger. Would I be correct, Imari?"

"You would."

"Good. Valerie, can you explain to our big garter snake here what a merger is?"

"I believe it's when two businesses combine to form a new one."

"And how does it compare, say, to an acquisition?"

"An acquisition would be when a business acquires another."

"And did I propose that?"

"Certainly not."

"Thank you."

She gets out of her seat, not taking her eyes off Elijah.

"Now, you might be asking yourself, 'What's the difference, really? Mergers, acquisitions, don't they all mean the same thing in business jargon?' And to that, I'd say, 'I'm surprised you lasted this long.'"

She turns her back to us and walks up to Elijah's desk, then turns back around and leans against it, arms crossed like she owns the place.

"But you aren't asking yourself this, are you? You know that every word has its meaning in our world. So you know exactly what I mean by a merger, and can't possibly be thinking that it means I'd like to work under you, right Elijah?"

I can almost taste the tension in the air, can feel it like a guitar string about to snap. Everything goes silent, all my brothers' eyes are on the woman towering over us. I don't move a muscle as a knife stabs me in my gut and puts my heart into overdrive. This is the Sienna I first fell for. The one that puts the fear of God in everyone around her with nothing more than a few words and a glare. As she speaks again, I pick up my pen and notebook, discard the page I was working on, and begin anew.

"Let me spell it out for you all," she says as she peels herself off of the desk and slowly paces around the conference table, "everything you just discussed; all the new security, the weapons, the finances. It all came from me, and I can easily take it all back because I don't owe you a thing, I don't need you, and I don't need this partnership to destroy my father or help these kids. Wanna know why?"

She stops behind me and looks down at my work. A few seconds pass, then she snickers and shakes her head.

"Because you're all obsessed with me," she continues her slow pacing, "the moment you find out I've laid claim against my father, you'll fold yours like a fucking paper boat and sink it to the bottom of the Mariana Trench before speed-running to my aid."

She stops behind Kaen now and exchanges a knowing glance with Imari.

"Hell, I killed one of you and you're still drooling over me. Matter of fact," quicker than my entranced mind can react, she grabs a fistful of Kaen's hair, pulls his head back to expose his neck, and presses a knife to his jugular, "I bet I can slice this one's throat right now and he'll thank me for it."

Again, I freeze mid-stroke. My brothers all pull their chairs back but likewise freeze as her words settle in. She wouldn't do it. There is no way she would actually kill him. I know it, they know it, even she knows it. But that's not the point, is it?

My heart sinks as realization dawns on me; she is right. I look around at my free brothers as their faces morph into those of horrible realization. It being that we, when it comes to her, are wholly, absolutely, and completely powerless. She is Circe bending us to her will and dragging us to our fates, yet she does not need to. For, like Odysseus, we will stay by her side regardless. And Kaen, smiling and gliding his tongue over his top teeth like a starved animal, has known and been relishing in this fact since long before today.

"Sienna..." says Elijah, voice on the brink of cracking, crazed stare more a plea than a warning. She meets that stare confidently, betraying nothing of what's behind those bright, fiery eyes. Instead, a wide smirk slowly splits her face before she speaks.

"Sienna has five of the most dangerous men wrapped around her finger. And when she says 'jump,' they'll trip over their tongues to be the first to ask 'how high?'"

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TRANSLATIONS (Greek to English):

Geia sou or Γεια σας literally means "your health" which is a common greeting used as "hello".

 Ti káneis or Τι κάνεις is an informal way to ask "how are you".

Kalá or Καλά means "well".

Note: I do not speek Greek; I found these translations and definitions from a couple of different websites. If you speak it and see something incorrect, feel free to let me know, I'll happily fix it. ♥