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Now that I know my father can’t be trusted, he’ll never know what we have going on. Sure he knows about the parties, but he doesn’t know the true nature behind them. By the time he figures it out, his time as a Devil of Cliffside will be up.
As I drive down the new road we paved and named, Devils Lane, I pull up to the security panel and roll my window down. I punch in the code and wait for the wrought iron gate to open.
I cruise down the driveway, watching the gate close behind me as I think about how this place came to be. We paved a new road, named it, and built us a mansion. The old mill still stands, and that’s where we host the parties, but this… This is our fortress. A mansion fit for Devils. We’ve come a long way from the day we first got started.
Five wet-behind-the-ear boys, brought up in a cruel world. We had to learn the hard way that nothing was ever given to you and everything had a price. Am I proud of the things we had to do to get where we are? Fuckin’ right I am. We’ve come a long way, and this is only our beginning.
When I step out of my car, one of the valets comes and grabs my keys to go and park my baby. There is a garage located behind the house near the woods. We all played a part in fixing this place up to keep it as discreet as possible. How can that be when everyone knows about Baker’s Field Mill and its location? Easy, the new road is hidden and leads to our Devils’ Fortress, and not just anybody can get in or out alive without one of us. Another reason the staff has living quarters on the same grounds as us.
I smile to myself as I make sure and grab the folder resting on the passenger side before he takes off. I stand back and admire the mansion we designed for ourselves. It’s rather large with seven bedrooms, each one having a fully functional bathroom. There is also a game room, theater room, library, indoor pool, gym, and two offices. I can’t forget about one of my favorite spots in the whole house… The mudroom. Ever since the day I became a Devil of Cliffside, I said I would have one when I owned my own house, and now I do. It’s a three story mansion that’s roughly around twenty-five thousand square feet.
Why would we need something this big? Because why the fuck not? We all deserve it. Trust me when I say, we’ve worked our asses off for this and more.
Casually walking up the stairs, I enter, and I’m immediately greeted by Tiger.
“Hey, buddy, did you miss me?” Tiger is my beautiful Norwegian Forest cat.
Bending down to pick him up as he purrs at my feet, he starts clinging to me. “I know, it’s been a while.”
“That little monster is happy to see ya’.” Maeve comes sashaying out of the kitchen. “That mean little bugger missed ya’.” She says in her thick Irish accent. She’s the head of this household and our right hand woman. She proved herself to us long ago when a deal went sour, and she killed the leader of The Wild Ones, her husband Rhian, for us and has been in our employment ever since. He wasn’t a good man and needed to be eliminated.
“You already know he hates everyone, he is a Devil afterall.” I wink at her.
“Don’t ya go makin’ them sweet eyes at meh. I’m too old fer that shite.” She huffs.
“Apologies, old girl.” I say, pulling her in for a hug. “Are the others here?”
“No, yer de first one.” She hugs me back. “Yer guest of honor is downstairs, waiting fer yer, too.”
“Thanks, old girl. I’ll wait for the others before I go down to… Talk with them.” I wink again, releasing her and heading to my living quarters.
I could use the elevator to get there, but I didn’t work out this morning, and I need the exercise. Hopefully, tonight’s activities will give me the workout I missed this morning.
I unlock the door and step inside. Smells and looks just like I left it. Maeve does a great job keeping it all up when we’re gone. She is the only one with a key to every room in the house other than us. She needs one to get in and out while the cleaning is being done.
She’s long since stopped cleaning, now she rules with an iron fist. It’s either her way or the highway.
Bouncing up the stairs as I go, I make it to the third floor in no time. Karter and I share this floor while Onyx, Dash, and Wells share the second. The only reason for that is because we all have a job to do. We need our own space to get that and more done.
We also have the basement. It’s my favorite part of the house, well besides the mudroom, because it’s soundproof, and it’s as big as mine and Karter’s room put together. Of course, those aren’t the only reasons. I love when we bring our captives down there to milk them for all their dirty secrets. Their cries and pleas for life give me a high no drug could manage.
I pull out a chair and sit at my big, beautiful, mahogany desk and pull up camera footage from one of our warehouses. It’s been brought to my attention that someone has been dipping into our pots when it comes to product and money handling. I have a suspect in mind but can’t seem to catch them in action. That’s why the person waiting downstairs has been brought here tonight.
Looking at the cameras, I don’t see anything unusual besides people coming and going like usual. Everything we do is a front to something bigger and this particular location is a wine warehouse. We make and sell some of the best wine, distributing it in various locations with a little something extra inside. Now, we aren’t drug pushers or anything, but we do sell pounds on top of pounds of weed a week to some top paying customers.
No, it’s not legal, but it doesn’t kill people like the drugs they make in crack houses. We employ scientists that want to see a change in the world by using home grown weed, with a little something extra.
After many failed attempts, they have finally figured out how to enhance the drug using compounds from within to bring the person smoking our weed to an all natural high. Imagine when we started to distribute it to some of the local drug lords, how things took off for us. We were making a name for ourselves and this put us one step closer to running the city.
Who the fuck am I kidding, we run every fucking inch of this city and soon, we will be ready to conquer our next location.
“What the fuck are you doing up here?” Onyx says, striding in like he owns the place.
“Minding my fucking business, like you should be doing.” I grunt.
“Oh, someone is in a mood I see.” He says, coming around to sit at the edge of my desk. “Tell Onyx what’s the matter.” He says, pouting like a child.
I want nothing more than to punch him in the face, but I settle for a snide remark. “Fuck off, Onyx.”