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When Father Marcum approached me nearly two years after my little sister’s tragic demise with the name of the man who tortured, raped, and killed her, I was in disbelief. I am not a good man by any means, but even I know not to confess my sins to a priest, but he did.
And I slaughtered him and the men who had a hand in her death. None of them made it through the night.
After that, I wondered what other types of confessions the Father heard, and for the first time in two years, I returned to the church. Standing in the shadows, listening from the alcoves, and watching the men, women, and children who came and went, discovering many secrets.
The people of Poti, Georgia, my city, my home, needed protection. They needed a savior—something I am not. But eliminating the evil in their lives was not only possible for me to do but has brought me immense pleasure since I began.
Father Marcum has not been pleased with my efforts, but he can’t deny the peace his people are feeling. “Father?” Abilene’s scared voice breaches my ears, and I know it’s time for her to receive the safety of my protection. I was too blind before.
By rage. Resentment. Guilt.
Abilene Bondar isn’t just a girl from the village.
She was Yelena’s best friend their entire lives.
After Yelena was gone, I wished for so long that Abilene would have been the victim of the bastards who took my sister from me. Fortunately, once I slaughtered them all, I realized what I felt was irrational and undeserved. Abilene was quiet as a mouse and sweet as candy. She didn’t deserve it any more than Yelena.
That guilt has now crashed into the present because I often wonder if what she’s presently suffering isn’t due to wishes I had before.
“I absolve you.” I finally give her the grace she’s seeking. “Soon, very soon, things will change for you, and you’ll live a life of safety and peace.” After we say a prayer together, I leave through the back of the confessional box and head to Father Marcum’s office to change. I’ve been taking confessions from Abilene and several others in place of Father Marcum when needed because he can’t absolvemeof anything.
No one can.
I know that when I die, I’ll have a direct path to hell.
I’ve made my peace with that. So have my men.
The Georgia Brotherhood is much more than a group of hired hitmen. We rule the streets of this country because we don’t just crave power, we are the power. We are the boogeyman hiding in your children’s closets. We are the shadows in the streets that make you run. We are the haunted whispers of corrupt soldiers of war.
Over the years, we have evolved from selling drugs and exporting guns to funding small wars in other countries. We’ve grown into an elite assassination team of men with no morals and fewer qualms about whom we hurt.
Valerian Tamar and Zakar Joseph have been with me since the beginning, and we’ve had men come and go for various reasons over the years, but the three of us are the core, the founders. And now, we’ve added protection for those who can’t protect themselves in deference to Yelena.
For years, she begged me to get out of the business. To start something new. Something worthwhile. And if I had listened to her, she might very well still be alive. I’ll never know, and I try not to think too hard about it because it would eat me alive.
Exiting the rear of the church, Valerian waits for me in an obsidian SUV. “Not yet,” I tell him when he begins to move the vehicle forward. I must watch Abilene leave the church. I need to know where she lives because when I went searching for her a year ago, she was no longer at the address we used to retrieve her from when she visited.
“Is that–”
“Yes.” Yelena and Abilene meant just as much to Val and Zak as they did to me.
“Why are we stalking her?” Val glances at me as Abi hunches her shoulders in the freezing cold. Not even a jacket on her.
Fuck.I don’t care where she’s going, I can’t leave her. “Pull up beside her.” We’re next to her in seconds because Valerian does not obey traffic laws. Stepping out of the vehicle, I realize she doesn’t notice me as she attempts to hide her face from the wind in the collar of her sweater. “Abilene,” I snap because I’m angry she’s out like this.
Stopping short, she nearly slips on the ice under her crappy shoes. Catching her by the arms, her body crashes into mine, and as I hold her, the feel of her soft, womanly curves does something to me that hasn’t happened in so long I’ve nearly forgotten about it.
Abilene awakens my body, recognizing her as a woman instead of my sister’s schoolgirl friend.
Angry over the realization, I growl, “What the hell are you doing out here like this? You’re not dressed for the weather.”
“I…I…” Her teeth chatter, and her body shakes.
“Never mind.” I pick her up and place her in the back seat. Val turns on the heated seats and blasts the hot air on her, and I strip off my sherpa-lined parka and lay it across her lap before slamming the door shut and climbing back in the front. “Home,” I demand. His eyebrows raise, and my irises darken with the promise of pain if he doesn’t do as I say.
Abilene’s chattering teeth mix with the sounds of the heat blowing through the vents as we head back to my estate, where I’ve texted Ana to have the fireplace going and soup warming for Abilene. She could catch her death out here, and she doesn’t even care.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Spinning in my seat, I hiss the question at her, but she doesn’t seem to hear me. “Abilene!” Shouting her name makes her jump as she buries herself into the seat, hiding behind my coat.
