Read episode 4 here: https://bit.ly/shatteredspirit4
“FUCK!” I slam my hand against my steering wheel, the world turning red before my eyes.
My brother Remington laughs in my ear. “And they say I’m the one with a temper.”
I’m tempted to rip off the BlueTooth and fling it into the eye of one of the passing drivers.
“Do me a favor Remy, and shut the fuck up.” My hands tighten around the steering wheel.
“Tell me, what’s pissing you off more? The fact that you’re stuck in traffic, or what’s waiting for you when you arrive at your destination?”
“I repeat: shut the fuck up, Remy.”
He guffaws like his life fucking depends on it.
I reach up to yank off the headset when he yells out, “No, wait! Don’t hang up. I’m sorry, man. It’s just hilarious how much this has you worked up. Capable of facing off against mortality, criminality, and swimming in the darkest shit, but this is what does you in, huh?”
I sigh and let my head fall back. “Easy for you to say, you’re not here to deal with this situation.”
“I will be,” he says, voice coming out slightly muffled.
“Yeah. In three weeks. And what the fuck are you doing?” I adjust the clutch and step on the gas as the cars began to move.
“Eating. What else?” comes his reply.
Yeah, what else?
I shake my head ruefully. “Remind me why I agreed to this again?”
“Simple. Family loyalty—whether blood or otherwise—comes above all,” he replies, echoing the family creed that rules over every one of us—and the same creed that has ruined countless lives.
Ours.
Those of our enemies.
If I’m not careful, it’ll ruin that young girl I agreed to take in, as well.
Eventually, that creed comes to warp everything and everyone around us.
The Carters descended from the Machiavellis.
We prove that to be true every single day.
And, yet, it’s that same loyalty that led me to this place to begin with. It’s the only reason I agreed to help that girl out.
“It’s not like we could say no. Nana was as much family as anyone else.”
No. She was more.
Nana—Meredith Noir—was the woman that actually raised us.
As is common in families that come from wealth.
She was my father’s Nanny, and lived long enough to be ours.
Now, her last remaining family member has been left alone in the world. How could I not step in to help?
Wrong move, and you know it. People like you don’t help. You’re meant only to destroy.