The Five-Brother Vengeance

The kitchen fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.

Chloe stood frozen in the corner, clutching her silk robe around her like armor, shaking from head to toe. She looked at my five brothers, then at me, realizing with absolute terror that she was entirely alone in a house belonging to people who didn't play by normal rules.

“And you,” Kane said, turning his cold, piercing gaze toward Chloe.

Chloe dropped to her knees on the tile floor. “Please! Don't hurt me! I’ll leave! I’ll pack my bags right now! I swear I’ll never come back to this city!”

I walked over to her, looking down at the woman who had smiled while my daughter bled.

“You’re going to pack your bags, Chloe,” I said quietly. “Every single designer dress, every piece of jewelry Marcus bought you with embezzled funds. You’re going to pack it all into plastic trash bags.”

She nodded frantically. “Yes! Yes, I will! Right now!”

“And then,” I continued, my voice hardening, “you are going to walk out the front gates into the freezing rain with zero dollars, zero credit cards, and zero phones. Because Vance has already wiped every digital trace of your existence from the banking system. If you ever try to contact Marcus, or step foot in this state again, my brothers won't call the police. They’ll introduce you to real trouble.”

Chloe scrambled up off the floor, stumbling backward toward the stairs, her face streaked with mascara tears. She bolted up to the guest room like a frightened animal.

I turned back to my brothers.

For the first time in nine years, the tight, suffocating knot in my chest completely dissolved. I looked at the five men who had dropped everything, crossing state lines in the middle of the night, simply because their sister called.

“You okay, El?” Kane asked, stepping closer and placing a heavy, warm hand on my shoulder.