96 - Treaty

"And when you told me what your favorite books was, I bought it and read it over and over...trying to find pieces of you in it."

- Unknown

. . .

Ashton

"So, yes, father burned her. In this very mansion," Xerxes said. "And we ran. We ran to them, our girlfriends of the time. Unfortunately, Igor had his eyes on us. He grabbed us, slaughtering everyone in the mansion but us six. He took us to Russia." He settled Olivia between his legs. She leaned back into him.

"He tortured us there," Zavier said, his eyes fixed on his hands. "He made us torture each other. He made us fuck and kill. He made us who we were. He assaulted our girlfriends, sometimes he made us watch. He threw us in the cold cells. He threw us in white rooms, too. Anything to make us lose it, and we did. We lost it. Then, after two years, he killed them."

"We loved them," I told her as she took my hand. "We let Igor torture us for them so that he wouldn't hurt them. But, we couldn't choose them over each other."

"Then, the Valentinos came," Xerxes said, running a hand through Olivia's hair. "Given to Igor by their mother. We planned together. One of the maids in the mansion took pity on us and helped us escape. She was a spy for the Spanish mafia before Igor captured her. She got us weapons and we broke out. We bombed the place."

"That maid slash spy is Miss Summers," Zavier said. "So, that's it. He tortured us. Made us torture each other if we did anything he didn't like. He raped our girlfriends. He made us fuck his whores. He made us watch as he killed the three women we loved."

"How...how many years were you guys there?" she asked, her voice small. She kept looking down at her hands. I did not have to look at her face to know that her eyes were filled with tears.

"Five," I muttered. "Zavier and I were thirteen. Xerxes was fifteen."

Five years. Those years had felt like a decade - probably more. I didn't remember much of it.

"What happened afterwards?" She asked.

I picked her up and sat her on my lap, unable to resist anymore. She set her head against my chest, her small hands picking mine up and holding it between them. "We ran. We worked at small places, hiding from the numerous enemies we had. We worked at stupid diners, at bars and anywhere we could get money from."

"We did illegal fighting a little," Xerxes shrugged. "We were rejected at first because we were too skinny. We worked out, built our bodies up, and went back. We quickly climbed the ladder and before we knew it, we had people having our backs. Michael was one of them."

"Our father didn't think of us as a threat," Zavier said. "He still thought we'd not be able to get revenge for what he did to our mother. But we did. We attached this mansion, grabbed him from his bed, killed his mistresses, and burnt him alive in the same room he burn our mother. We watched till he died, till he was nothing but burn flesh and nothing of the monster he had always been to us."

I chuckled. "Our mother used to say 'A monster makes a monster'. She always begged us to not let our father take our goodness away from us, to not let him make us a monster. Then, she died. And then, those five years happened."

She peaked up at and sure enough, there were tears in those gorgeous eyes of hers. "Do you think you are monsters?"

"Igor fucked us up," Xerxes said. "He is the monster who made us monsters and we are monsters, my love but...we are your monsters." Zavier and Xerxes shifted closer. She looked at us one by one, her eyes holding tears and a deep understanding. She now knew why we were the way we were.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" She asked.

Zavier scratched the back of his neck. "Carrie Arnaud wants you in Paris for two years to learn fine arts under her. "

"...Oh."

That was not the reaction I had been accepting.

. . .

Zavier

I sat down on the chair, looking at the three people in front of me. Alisa had her head down, looking exhausted. Alexi's gaze was fixed out of the window, at the sun which was rising. I knew what he was looking at. Adrik looked pale.

Ashton looked at Michael. "Get Olivia."

He nodded and walked out, returning minutes later with Olivia following him, walking slowly because of her wound.

He had carved 'I' her skin.

I gripped the armrest of my chair tightly and smiled at Olivia as she looked at me nervously, her hands gripping the edge of the sleeves of her sweatshirt. She looked pale. There were shadows under her eyes. It looked as if she had lost all her weight in mere days. "Come here, my love."

She walked closer and I helped her sit on my lap.

She looked at Alisa and then Alexi, avoiding looking at Adrik. "What...what are you doing?" She whispered to me.

I ran a hand through her hair, loving the softness of it. "These people have wronged you as much as they have wronged us, if not more. I would like you to have a say in what happens to them."

She looked at Alisa. "Georgie."

Alisa looked at her. I could see the scars on her skin, scars which had not been there before. She had been tortured and from what Olivia had told us, she had been trying to keep Olivia safe. Knowing how paranoid and psychotic Igor was, it made sense that he'd torture her to make sure she kept quiet.

"Olivia."

Olivia sighed. "You hid everything." She shrugged. "I had to."

"You didn't keep...him from hurting me."

Alisa's jaw clenched. "Igor is...was paranoid. He knew I had visited you. He kept me from coming to you."

"Why should I believe you?"

She let out a humourless chuckle. "I don't care, Livy. Honestly. I did everything I could. There is not much you can do when you are daughter to a control freak."

Olivia stayed quiet for a while. "I don't want you hurt...or dead." She looked at me. I shrugged.

"We can let her go." We could easily have men after her. She nodded.

Ashton looked at Alexi. "I presume you are innocent too?"

Alexi chuckled. He might be in handcuffs, surrounded by people who wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in his head, yet he stood like a capo. "I am hardly innocent. But, I did not have any part in all of this."

We could kill him. I could somehow push aside the picture of him as a little boy in my head, eyes filled with fear when we had taken him out of his burning house. He had tried y fingers, shaking his head furiously as tears left his eyes. He had begged us to take him with us.

He was going to be the Russian Capo. He was not lying. I knew a lie when I heard it.

"Sign a treaty," Giovanni said. "For peace between us three. If you break it we will kill you sister."

Alexi chuckled. "Put a hand on her, I dare you." He looked at us. "I presume you know that men are surrounding your mansion right now? Eyes are looking into this room right through that window." He nodded towards the window.

I chuckled, shaking my head. "We have unbreachable security, now that Edrick is dead and all."

"It can be breached, I assure you." "People will die," Ashton said carelessly.

"I will sign the treaty. My sister and I go free, no one gets hurt."

"Don't come to America unannounced," Xerxes said. "And you have our word. You and your sister go free. We can kill you and deal with the men around us, but I think we've all had our fill for blood for quite a while."

. . .