The original group had six families—four Italian and two Bratva. My father was part of the Italians, and Aiden’s father was one of the Bratva families.
I’m the only member of the Syndicate at the moment with a dual background. I was invited by Massimo to join as a member because of my father, and at the same time, Aiden asked me to join the Voirik because of my grandfather.
Each member has voting rights, and apart from Massimo and his brothers who make up the leadership, everyone has a counterpart. I’m the only member without one. I assume it’s going to stay like that for some time because there isn’t anyone I trust to have that position. It’s not something I mind, though.
“I think his membership would be good for us,” I state.
“Me too. This thing with his brother shook him up a little. But we’ll see what happens. Dominic and Massimo have gone back to Brazil with him to investigate a few things leaving Tristan in charge of the Syndicate business. So, we’ll be reporting to him until they get back.”
Tristan is the second eldest D’Agostino brother and the most similar to Massimo.
“That’s fine. Is there any Brotherhood business you’d like me to do before I check out?”
“No, focus on this. We’ve got Voirik business covered. Maksim will take over your duties while you’re working on this.”
As the Obshchak, I take care of the money and security, which come naturally to me because of what I already do with Markov Tech.
Maksim stands. “And with that said, I’m going to do the figures. See you guys later.”
“See you,” I say, and he leaves.
It’s time for me to go, too. I’m about to get up, but Aiden stops me.
“Just a sec,” he says with a firm nod, and I set my shoulders back. “Eric, I know what finding Robert means for you.”
Aiden’s a good leader, but he’s been a good friend to me too. I respect him for choosing me to be his Obshchak when there were plenty of other suitable candidates to choose from. Most of all, what I like about him is, he made me trust him in the simplest of ways just for loving my sister. He would give his life for her in a heartbeat. That’s why I trust him, and I know whatever he’s about to tell me is because of her too.
“I know you do,” I say.
“Good, because I have your back, and you need to know that. So, if the shit hits the fan, I don’t want you handling things on your own. You fucking call me and call in reinforcements if you need to. Don’t allow the thirst for revenge to screw with you.”
It’s scary sometimes just how well he knows me. I guess that’s down to having similar life experiences. Both our fathers died in the syndicate bombing, but the experiences I mean are the kind that leaves you feeling like you’ve been screwed for eternity, and those you love were screwed equally because of you.
For him, his biggest loss was his first wife. She was killed in a fire. His son also went missing for nearly ten years as a result of the same incident. Both occurred because of his previous links to the Order, the same terrorist group I got myself mixed up with. If anyone knows how I feel, it’s him.
But even he doesn’t know what broke me and made me insane. What truly did it was knowing my sister was raped over and over again because of me. Jude held a gun to my head and forced me to watch a recording of one of the many occasions— as he so kindly informed me—of him raping her. Then he made me do his bidding by threatening her life and my mother’s if I didn’t do as I was told.
That’s what broke me.
Not the other stuff, even though they were bad enough.
I lived to protect my family. During that time I couldn’t do anything.
The weapon they’d taken me captive to make was called the Crucible. It was supposed to be an electromagnetic device that can send off a pulse to disable anything. Literally anything. A plane would fall out of the sky, a rocket could be shut down, anything like that. Robert and Jude knew about the blueprints my Grandfather hid away because he didn’t want it falling in the wrong hands. Cleverly, I never created the weapon for that reason but also because I knew its creation meant death for my family.
Every day I was in captivity I had to find some creative way of stalling because I knew they’d kill me once I made it and if I was dead, my mother and sister would be dead too.
“I won’t,” I say, but deep down, I know that’s not something I can promise.
“Besides, Olivia wouldn’t be too happy if I allowed something to happen to you.”
I chuckle. “My sister’s worried about me?”
“Always. I try to keep her out of the business as much as possible, but this is personal for her because she knew Robert as well. I haven’t told her much, but she’s aware of what’s happening.”
“I’ll bear that in mind.”
“My goal is to get this last part of the puzzle resolved so we can all move on.”
I nod, although I’m not sure about the moving on part. I still have the psychological wounds to bear. When I first got back, I had therapy only because my mother wanted me to. It didn’t work, and I don’t know if I had PTSD or something like that, but I know whatever broke inside me can’t be fixed. I was in captivity for five years, and everybody I loved thought I was dead. Nobody will ever know the pain I went through and the fucking suffering. But what is worse was my desire for death and knowing I couldn’t have it or my family would suffer more than they had.
“Yeah. It will be good to close this chapter of my life,” I say to humor him, but I know part of me that can’t be fixed will always be damaged.
Always be broken.
You can’t unbreak something once the damage is done. Even if you try.