The war grinds to a halt.
It’s an uncomfortable truce. Baltimore feels like it’s about to explode at any second. More than once over the next week, I have to put out a fire when some of my younger and stupider soldiers nearly broke the agreement and reignited the fighting.
Everyone’s on edge. I want to get this fucking deal done and so do all my captains and lieutenants.
Everyone except for Garen.
The old prick’s acting like this is no big deal. Every time we meet to discuss terms, he comes up with some fucking excuse to drag things out.
And to make it all worse, Lena’s avoiding me.
She’s not running away every time I see her, but it’s like she’s hiding in plain sight.
There’s no spark. No excitement.
And she’s sleeping in the fucking guest room.
It’s driving me crazy, but I can tell she needs some space. I won’t force her into anything she doesn’t want to do, but I wish she could understand.
I care about her.
Way more than is fucking healthy.
I was watching her in the walls because I had to be near her, but I didn’t want to suffocate her either. She’s the kind of woman that needs a little space and freedom to thrive.
And it felt like she was growing and blossoming, at least until lately.
Now she’s pulling into herself, and it’s stressing me the fuck out.
But as the clock runs out, the war takes precedent.
The back room of the Brotherhood-owned laundromat smells like chemicals and cleaning solvents. Huge, industrial cleaners hum and groan as clothes spin around and around in the fancy mixtures. Pants hang in neat rows, and suits are draped in plastic. Six men sit around a table groaning under the weight of alcohol bottles and decent cheese.
Tigran’s scowling at everyone. The uncles are acting like nothing’s going on, but there’s an ugly undercurrent to the whole proceedings. I smile and nod and talk as if nothing’s going on, but we all know we’re pretending. We all know what’s happening here.
Uncle Narek’s the one to finally broach the subject. He lights a cigar and grips it between his hairy knuckles. I’m thinking smoking around dry-cleaned clothes is probably a bad idea, but it’s not my problem.
“At the start of all this, we gave you a month to figure it out.” Narek’s staring at me with that almost amused smile of his. He’s good at making it seem like this is no big deal. “And now, that month is over.”
“We wanted more,” Uncle Levon says. The wiry fucker crosses his arms.
Sevan and Razmik exchange looks with each other, but they’re cousins and not ranked high enough to have a fucking opinion right now.
“We delivered,” Tigran says. He leans forward. “We have Aunt Sona. Garen’s in the process of negotiating. The ceasefire holds.”
“Ceasefire is not a truce.” Narek gestures with his cigar. “We wanted the war to be fucking over, like it was supposed to be before Arsen here decided to marry some random fucking Russian girl.”
My hands curl against the table. “You will be respectful of my wife,” I say with a dagger edge.
Narek’s lips curl. He’s about to say something that will get him killed, but clearly thinks better of it and deflates.
“We gave you clear instructions,” Levon says, swirling a bottle of beer in a slow circle. “You accepted our offer.”
“I ended the war.” I meet his gaze coolly.
“You set up a ceasefire. It’s not the same thing.”
“We’re going to argue fucking semantics?” Tigran asks, sounding angry. “That’s why you brought us here.”
“Enough of this.” Narek sneers again. “Arsen, you did well to get as far as you have, but it isn’t enough. You’ve lost the faith of your family. It’s time to step down.”
He stares at me, lips curled. Levon’s showing nothing but disdain. My cousins look like they want to run the fuck away, and I can’t blame them. They’re only here as muscle for the uncles, but they’re goddamn cowards.
Slowly, under the table so nobody can see, I draw my pistol.
I wait before I speak. I let them stew in what they just said. It’s no small thing, to depose a patron, and even worse that they’re trying to do it without blood. I don’t know why the fuckers think they have the right.
“The war is over,” I declare and bang my fist once on the table. “You may not like the way it’s ending, but it’s over. Garen will lose without Sona. They both know they’ve been outmaneuvered. It’s just a matter of time.”
“Time is the one thing you don’t have,” Narek grunts.
“Don’t you fucking get it?” Tigran gestures around the table. “Garen’s been stalling. He must know about this deal you all agreed to, and he thinks he can run out the clock. He probably figured whoever takes over for Arsen will be very amenable to a quick and beneficial deal.”
“Maybe Garen’s smarter than you give him credit,” Levon says.
“And maybe you’re weaker.” I lean toward my uncles. “I fulfilled my half of the bargain. I will not step down.”
They exchange a look. The moment is deadly silent and filled with promise. Narek’s cigar smokes in slow curls and Levon stops rolling his beer bottle.
“Nobody wanted this,” Levon says.
Narek moves first. He throws his cigar at Tigran’s face. My brother curses and falls backward, swatting at the glowing embers.
I shoot first. Bullets rip into the quiet space. Levon screams in pain as I fire into his belly, knocking him backward. Narek’s roaring with rage as he draws his weapon, but I manage to shoot him twice in the leg. His answering shots go high, smashing into the ceiling.
I’m up and vaulting the table. I land on the other side, boot crunching down onto Levon’s throat. He gags, his hands scrambling at his bloody guts. I twist my ankle, crushing his windpipe. His tongue lolls out, his face turns purple, and he twitches like a dying fish.
I put two bullets in Narek’s chest and one more in his skull, blowing it to bloody chunks.
“What do you two think?” I ask, aiming at Sevan and Razmik. “Do you see much daylight between a ceasefire and a truce?”
“Not me,” Sevan says quickly, shaking his head. He’s pale and trembling.
“I couldn’t fucking care less.” Razmik’s holding his hands in the air.
Neither of them went for their guns. That’s a good thing.
Tigran’s cursing and stomping on the cigar to put it out. “Fucking prick,” he snaps and kicks the table aside. “Got ash on my goddamn shirt.”
“You’ll survive, brother.” Blood leaks all over the floor. It’s a real mess, but at least we’re surrounded by cleaning agents. “Cousins, swear loyalty.”
Both instantly drop to their knees. “Patron,” they say in unison, heads bowed.
I look at Tigran and he nods.
“Spread the word of what happened today,” I tell them. “Make sure everyone understands. The war is all but over, and I will not tolerate dissent. Narek and Levon made their choices. I won’t hesitate to treat any other traitors the same way.”
“We understand, patron,” Sevan mutters, staring at the floor. “We’re on your side.”
“Good. Get the fuck up. Go find some guys and clean this mess up.” I kick at Levon’s corpse and shove my gun back into its holster.
The cousins hurry away.
Tigran grabs a bottle of vodka and pours a drink. He tosses it back with a mean grunt and slaps my back. His laugh doesn’t feel fucking right, and when he offers me a drink, I shove it away.
“Today was a fucking bad day,” I snarl at him.
“Lighten up. We both know that was necessary.”
“I hoped they were going to listen to reason. Our fucking family’s been killing itself enough lately. I don’t want more Armenian blood to be spilled.”
Tigran doesn’t always agree with my methods. He thinks I’m too soft. But he doesn’t understand that this family is all we have, and if we treat it like we’re brutal dictators, we’ll eventually lose it entirely.
Killing Narek and Levon will haunt me for a while.
I agree that it was necessary, but that doesn’t change anything.
“What’s the next move?” Tigran asks as we leave the laundromat together. Our soldiers are waiting in the street. If Narek and Levon brought more men, they’ve either been subdued and killed, or they saw which way the wind was blowing and decided not to be stupid.
“Garen really is trying to delay. Now we make him understand that there’s no time left.” I feel heavy as I ease myself down into the car. “Find anyone that still thinks like Narek and Levon and make them see how things are going to be.”
“Any means necessary?”
“No more killing.”
“Believe it or not, I’m not a bloodthirsty psychopath. I just think these fucking assholes only understand brutality.”
“Do what you have to do, but no more killing.” I start the engine and gesture for a few guards to come with me. “I’m heading back home to speak with Aunt Sona. Hopefully now she’ll understand there’s no winning this war and she’ll talk sense into Garen.”
“Good luck, brother.”
I leave Tigran on the sidewalk. The sound of bullets thudding into Narek keeps playing through my head. The crunch of Levon’s windpipe echoes up my leg.
More men I grew up with. More corpses in my wake.
This family won’t stop until it tears itself to pieces.
