"So much for leaving it all behind," I mumble as Xi Benhaim pats me down.
The guy promised his girl he was leaving NSC after finding love and all. But here he is, checking I don't have any weapons on me as I stand in Emma Scott's living room.
Xi's brother, Lik, is here too, and he's sitting on the sofa next to Emma's dad.
"I'm not here because I want to be, and I'm not here to participate in this shit." His blasé voice tells me it was probably Emma who begged him to be at the house for this.
"I guess you're just the welcoming committee, then."
He grunts a barely understandable yes and nods to Emma, standing right behind him as he steps to the side.
"Kayla." Her taunting smile deserves a punch to the face just to see how it would look without her teeth.
"Emma," I answer sharply.
There's always been nothing but hate between us. We grew up side by side, living in the same town, going to the same school, learning the tough life by being part of two opposite gangs. In another world, we might have been best friends, or we might have been two bitchy girls who hate each other. In our world, our crews fight. Often to death.
I don't know how our relationship would have been if we hadn't grown up with hatred toward each other's last names. We did, and that's all that matters to me.
In this life, in this world, in this town, our confrontations have always been akin to a boxing game. With a stupid fighter who barely uses their brain, but struts around like a peacock, taunting and threatening the other with empty threats. And a smart
fighter who works hard and thinks twice before any move they make.
I'm the smart one, of course.
I tilt my head to the side, observing her as she bravely turns her back to me to go sit down on her sofa. She doesn't offer me a seat, and I don't take one.
"Who is it?"
I don't need to explain my question. Emma isn't acting on her own, and I don't need anyone to tell me to know that. She has never made such bold moves against me. If anything, Xi used to be the bravest one of their crew, always going hard at my men to teach us a lesson despite the Kings being in power. Emma was the one trying to keep him on a leash because she was too scared of repercussions. Not anymore. Xi left this life, and Emma somehow has been the one making moves to take me down.
She rolls a blonde hair extension around her index finger and unrolls it, watching me dying for an answer.
"Is it the Lucianos? Has Vito been spilling info on my crew?"
"Vito Luciano doesn't know shit about what your crew has been up to."
Her evasive answer makes me want to curve my back and hiss in her face like a frustrated cat.
"So who is it?" I grit out.
She shrugs, so cocky and proud of her plan. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't need anyone? Maybe I have the right people in the right places? Or that you weren't that discreet about the robbery? That NSC has been putting up with your shit for too long and we've been planning our takeover for a while behind your back? The Kings' reign of this town is over, Kay. I've got your money, I've got your products, and my people are more than ready to kill yours to take over the territories you stole from us. Be a good sport and accept the fight so NSC can take over the town the right way. We wouldn't want a bloodbath. At least, you wouldn't."
The gangs of this town have put rules in place for as long as I can remember. We respect no laws other than ours. When the power balance starts to tip, we have something in place to avoid an all-time war.
A fight in the Death Cage.
Both crews send a fighter, and only one gets to come out alive. Whichever crew that fighter belongs to, they get the town.
That's how us Kings got back the North Shore four years ago. We grew stronger and stronger, and NSC knew they had to have a fight before we ate them alive. The Bratva sent one of their fighters for us, and we absolutely annihilated whoever NSC sent.
Emma has been asking for a fight for months. I've been categorically refusing because we were still in a place where we could defend ourselves. That was before she stole all my money.
Now…I have nothing to fight back with. Now she's got me backed into a corner and I have no fucking choice. If I don't want the streets of the North Shore to run red with blood—Kings' blood—I have to take the fight.
My hands curl into fists. Next to Emma, Lik and her dad look at me with bored gazes. Like they already know I don't have a choice. Xi leans against the back wall, watching us, but clearly unwilling to participate in this conversation.
"Kayla." Lik's smooth voice forces my gaze to him. "We have everything in place to take over. The fight is for you. To give you a fair chance. To save your people's lives." He talks in a way that almost sounds reassuring next to Emma's threatening tone.
"Who says you'll win?" I snap defensively. "You don't know who I'm going to send. You could be shooting yourself in the foot here."
Emma snorts, sending her hair over her shoulder before leaning forward. "Why don't you fight and see? Here's the deal, Kay. Get someone in that cage against NSC. If we win, as the rules go, the town will belong to us. But here's what else I'm throwing in for you. Call it a gesture of goodwill. If the Kings win, I will admit defeat. That my plan didn't fucking work. I will not only let you have the North Shore, but I will give you back the ten million you and your boys stole from the bank." She flashed me a wicked smile. "How does that sound?"
In usual situations, I would be sharper than this. If Emma is willing to bet that much on the fight, it's because she has a plan in place that is probably hard as steel.
But this isn't a normal situation. She's put me between a rock and a hard place. She holds all the cards, and I'm left with no choice but to send my very best fighter into the Death Cage and hope for the fucking best. With teeth gritting so tightly my jaw is bound to dislocate, I eye them all one last time before digging my gaze into Emma's pale blue eyes.
And I nod.
She catches her surprise quickly, pretending to be a tough girl who knew this would work all along.
"Tonight," she finally says. "I won't wait another day for this town to belong to me."
"I'll see you there."
That's all I can muster before leaving. I close the door quietly and stride to my car, calm as the sea on a beautiful day. I sail through the streets, open my door, and look ahead of me as I grab the steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip.
Ivan is right here next to me. He was waiting for me in case this was a trap.
It was a trap. Because while it wasn't violent, I came in owning the North Shore, and walked out in some sort of limbo where these streets don't really belong to me anymore. At least not until I win that fight.
"So?" Ivan asks softly as he puts a hand on my thigh.
"Fuck," I whisper. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!"
I hit the wheel so hard a honk resonates down the empty streets. It's bordered by dilapidated homes with front yards that look like dumpsters. Broken cars, broken windows, broken lives. That's what this town is. Broken. And yet we all fight to make it our own.
My phone rings the second I put the car into drive. This time, I ignore it on purpose. I need to go to Elliot's house and tell him what happened.
I'm haunted by my dad's bored voice as I drive. He had that way of putting you down so low yet still acting like he didn't care about it.
You lost the deal with the Wolves.
You lost the money from the robbery.
You're going to lose the North Shore.
Someone is going to die tonight. Either from NSC or the Kings. And only one crew will keep control of the North Shore.
One life lost to save many others. When my phone rings again, I grunt in frustration.
"Do you want me to take that?"
"No," I snap at Ivan.
I park in front of the brothers' house and walk in without knocking.
Not knowing what my eyes would meet. Or preparing myself for the shock of it.