"You couldn't possibly be considering doing this," I asked Devin before the idea sunk into his head.

Sure Juno was an asshole that the world could do without but that doesn't mean that Devin should be the one to get rid of him.

" I don't know," he said simply. Although he agreed, something told me that part of him was willing to do it.

"Devin! No! You have never killed anyone before. And then Juno is always surrounded by an army of blood-hungry guard dogs ready to kill on his command." I pleaded.

"I know Darius," he said sitting in the old office chair staring directly at the bathroom where the message was written.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked though I was afraid of the answer.

Then the cell phone rang. We both stared at each other before he picked it up and answered. He put the phone on speaker.

"Devin my friend. How are you doing?" the man on the other end said.

"I'm not your friend." He responded with a deep gravelly tone, suggesting that he was not in the mood for the bullshit.

"Well, they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And you are an enemy of many of my enemies."

"Where's Dahlia?" He growled over the phone.

"Did you get my message?" the man asked, ignoring Devin's question.

"Yes. But I'm not doing anything till we know Dahlia is alive." He bargained, just as we had discussed.

"Devin! Devin! Don't do anything this asshole says!" we heard Dahlia shout from the background.

"You can relax Devin. I'm a man of my word."

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Devin shouted at the phone.

"Oh Devin, all will be answered in time. Your sister stays alive until I get my diamonds and proof Juno is dead." He responded calmly, a stark contrast to Devin's current demeanour.

He looked at me then hung his head.

"Oh and Devin, you have 24 hours to do both. We'll be in touch soon." The man hung up.

In a fit of anger and frustration, he flung the phone straight at the wall and it shattered into a million pieces.

"AHHHH!"

He was loud enough to wake the entire block. Then he picked up the chair and swung it at the wall. I jumped at the sudden crash as the legs broke off immediately. He kept swinging it at the wall until he only held the arms of the chair and all other parts had scattered about the room.

I sat on the bed and avoided all the missiles that were launched my way. I knew better than to say anything when Devin lost his cool. It happened rarely, but when it did, it was best to let him vent.

When throwing items could no longer serve as an effective outlet for his rage; he took it outside jumping through the shattered window. I followed him. I'm not sure what I could do, but I'd be there to stop him from doing something stupid.

He pulled off a piece of wood that was loose, from the balustrade of the front steps and walked down the street to the nearest car he could find.

He started with the windshield, using all his might to strike the vulnerable glass. The glass evolved into a brilliant display of tiny cracks. Then he moved to the driver's window, breaking it with one swing and another took out the side-view mirror. Then he moved to the hood of the car.

Each strike left a deep dent. By the time Devin was finished, the whole front end was warped. Whoever the poor soul was who owned this car was going to be pissed, to say the least.

When Devin was done punishing the side and rear of the car, he dropped the wood and took in his crumpled masterpiece, breathing heavily.

"Well, good thing it wasn't alarmed," I said, standing in the middle of the street. No one on the block turned their lights on. It's as if they heard the banging but chose to ignore it. Then we heard the low hum of a car engine a few houses down. It eased out of its parking spot, but its headlights were dimmed. Then it accelerated and veered towards us. The driver showed no sign of slowing down.

"Darius!" I heard Devin shout and at the last second, I leaped out of the way onto the sidewalk, landing heavily on my right elbow. It sent a shock of pain through my arm.

"Shit! Are you ok?" Devin asked grabbing my arm. He helped me up and I stretched my right hand out to try and work out the pain. It didn't help much, as another wave of pain rippled through my arm. 

"What the..." was all I could say, as my heart was still in my mouth.

"They're watching us. We can't stay here."

~~~~

In a couple of minutes, we were back on the road again, in another car that we stole.

No sleep, no shower, nothing. We'd collected our bag and the pieces of the phone from the house and taken off. Thankfully, after putting it back together, the phone still worked. 

In an hour, the sun would be coming up over the horizon. The weight of what we had to do hung heavily over our heads. Neither of us spoke while Devin drove.

He manoeuvred slowly through the streets, so as to not attract any attention in the early morning. I knew where we were going. We were headed back in the direction of the waterfront. It had only been a few hours since we robbed Fitz. I was afraid that we'd come upon his men searching for us. But there was strangely no one in the streets. I was relieved when we turned onto the old bridge and there was no one there.

The drive wasn't too long. I had fallen asleep for a short while or at least it felt short. I woke up when he pulled over at the shed. It looked the same as we had left it a couple of hours ago. After a quick scan of the area, Devin got out.

"Stay here," he commanded. I wasn't about to argue. I watched him go in and a few seconds later he was out with one hand stuffed in his pocket.

I assumed he had the diamonds since he didn't say a word about it.

"You should get more sleep." Again I didn't argue, as soon as he drove off I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

~~~~

Devin envied Darius in this moment. He could sleep seemingly peacefully as they drove, while his mind was in turmoil and his nerves on edge.

Plenty of times he wished he could just turn off and relax. Maybe act like regular seventeen-year-olds with their under-aged drinking, partying and smoking. He never indulged in any of those activities that regular teenagers used to rebel against their parents.

In this city, these streets, you had to keep your mind clear, eyes open and always be on alert, if you wanted to survive; and if he wanted to protect his siblings.

It's the burden that was cast on him the moment their parents died. He was doing his best, he really was.

But Dahlia was a wild card that was always getting into trouble.

She made it so fucking hard sometimes. She really indulged in the teenage activities. Devin tried to keep it away from Darius but there was no hiding it. Once you live in this city, you inhaled its toxicity with every breath. 

As Devin drove back into the heart of the city, he considered his options on where to really settle down and get a grip of the situation.

It would be difficult because he was playing a high stakes game and he had no moves except the one he was set up to make; which was to kill a man that probably deserved to die.

Killing Juno would bring him so much satisfaction for all the times he'd hurt Dahlia. But the fact that this man wanted Juno dead made Devin wonder who he was even more.

He was literally making Devin take out their enemies but to what end game? Why was this guy doing this?

Maybe he wants us to get killed on this mission. Maybe Juno and the man are in cahoots? Devin thought.

There were too many questions and not enough answers. This was what frustrated Devin the most; the questions that went unanswered. But he knew just where to find them this time. It was time to pay Marcus a visit.