Page 9 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family

Chapter

Six

Emir.

I stepped into Kades’s apartment, shutting the door behind me. His home fit his personality. No unnecessary shit cluttering up the space, nothing out of place. He was the most controlled between the three of us. Kades kept shit simple in his life.

Yair, the the complete opposite. His space was always a mess, he did chaotic shit like underground fighting and the only thing he put a lot of thought into were the jobs he accepted.

That was rare but he occasionally dropped bodies.

Even now, his personality was on display with him sprawled across the couch, lazily scrolling through his phone like this was his shit and not Kades.

“About damn time,” Yair muttered, not bothering to look up.

Kades was by the window with his arms crossed. I glanced between them, sensing this wasn’t a casual check-in. Something was wrong…

“What’s up?” I asked, stepping further inside.

Kades crossed the room, pulled his phone from his pocket, and handed it to me.

I glanced at it and found screenshots of a message thread on the screen.

Trent Kendricks.

Years ago when my father accepted the son of a friend, Carter Reed into our private circle.

Trent thought that was an open invitation to attach himself to the Corvidae name.

The difference was, Carter didn’t need shit from us other than to make sure his girl was covered.

As much as he hated it, he was only one man.

Carter had people gunning for him and until he had that shit figured out, he wanted to make sure McKenna remained untouchable.

He couldn’t guarantee that and focus on the people who where trying to take him down.

He set his pride aside and reached out to our father.

Carter had always been independent but working with our father was necessary.

Shit worked out and even though Carter was on his own again, their bond was still tight.

Carter was family. Trent could never be and that pissed him off so he had issues with our family but mostly me since I was the one most like our father.

I focused on the most recent message that was on Kades’s phone.

Emir’s not untouchable. People forget that we all bleed.

I yanked at my beard. “Who sent that to you?”

“Don’t know. It was sent anonymously but that’s a conversation Trent had with someone he was trying to get a job with.” Kades stared at me, waiting.

“His pride is hurt and the muthafucker is still running his mouth? Why the fuck you sound surprised.”

“He’s not just running his mouth. That shit right there is a threat, Mir. That muthafucker is getting bold.”

Yair snorted, tossing his phone onto the sofa. “He’s desperate as fuck. No real work, no money coming in, and no one’s hiring him for the big shit anymore. He’s acting out like a gotdamn child.”

I stayed quiet because I wasn’t surprised.

Trent had always been reckless. Never planned his moves properly, always thinking a fast job was better than a smart one. When shit went left, it was never his fault and he blamed everyone else. His problem wasn’t me. It was a lack of respect for the job but for some reason, I was his target.

Kades’s voice cut through my thoughts. “People are listening when he talks, Mir.”

“People with money? Because that’s all the fuck that matters?” I asked.

As long as Trent running his mouth didn’t hurt my pockets, I didn’t give a damn about any of that shit.

Kades nodded. “Some.”

Yair scoffed. “Yeah, the type who don’t fact-check and we know that shit it’s dangerous in our world.”

It was. Gun for hire wasn’t something to take likely on either side. You hire the wrong person for the job and that shit could come back on you. When it came to us, if we accepted the wrong job, it could mean death or a life sentence. There was just as much risk as reward.

“Let that muthafucker talk. That’s all he’s ever been good at.” I said unbothered by any of this.

Yair leaned forward and dropped his elbows on his knees. “Yeah, well, talking isn’t all he’s doing. Word is, he’s been putting out feelers, seeing if there’s work for him outside the usual circles.”

I narrowed my eyes. “That means he’s getting desperate.”

And it created problems for the rest of us. We were protected but if Trent got caught up it sent unwanted attention our way.

Kades nodded. “Which means he’s willing to do dumb shit and that puts us at risk.”

“He doesn’t have any leverage.”

Kades’s expression turned hard. “Not yet but Trent has a hard on for you, Mir. He’s going to keep pushing.”

Yair shook his head, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “Man, fuck this. We should handle it now before he gets a chance to make it an actual problem.”

Kades delivered a hard glare. “Handling shit our way is exactly what he wants. There are codes we have to live by. I’m not trying to deal with Shadow Court and neither are you.”

Yair shrugged. “That muthafucker has to live by the same codes. If he doesn’t, we don’t. Balance of power.”

Kades’s jaw flexed. “He’s baiting Emir. If he falls for it, Trent has the upper hand.”

I stayed quiet, letting the two of them go back and forth.

Trent couldn’t touch me directly. If he could, he would’ve tried by now.

I knew what this was. He wanted to make people second guess me by trying to convince them I wasn’t as untouchable as my name suggested or my reputation wasn’t earned.

Our family was respected and he hated that shit.

“His dumb ass needs to put some time into understanding why he’s not getting contracts anymore.”

Kades’s expression darkened. “He’s always been reckless but that’s not the issue. The problem is you make him look bad, Mir.”

“Nah, he makes himself look bad. I just do my fucking job.”

“And people notice when you don’t fuck up and he does,” Kades said with a smirk.

They do…

Trent had always been fast and careless. A gun for hire who took as many jobs as possible, stacking them without doing research. He liked the money and the kill but didn’t like the details which meant he left loose ends.

Missed targets.

Sloppy results.

I was who they called when Trent fucked up. That was why he hated me.

He saw me and my brothers as legacy because of our father. Kohen Corvidae was legendary and had more respect than most. Trent assumed we got a free ride because of the Corvidae name, like we didn’t have to work for this shit.

That muthafucker was wrong.

I earned every job. Every contract. Every bit of respect. I didn’t fuck up, leaving bodies unfinished or shit for anyone else to clean up.

Kades watched me carefully. My brothers knew me better than anyone so he was reading me, trying to figure out where my head was with this. If I went after Trent and it wasn’t sanctioned, they would be right there with me, but that meant pissing off Shadow Court.

They were the council which policed our movements and controlled our ability to have access.

Being independent worked but it didn’t grant the high-end contracts.

It also put you at risk with legal shit and being left open to people with vendettas.

Rules existed to keep order, and like it or not, killing a court member wasn’t approved without just cause. Trent talking shit wouldn’t qualify.

No matter how much of a fuck up he was…

“Let him talk. It doesn’t change shit,” I confirmed.

Kades’s jaw flexed in aggravation. This was a complication and he liked shit to be simple and neat. He didn’t like it, but he also didn’t argue. As the oldest my call was the final word with shit that affected all of us.

Yair wasn’t the type to let shit go. He leaned forward again and his voice was angry. “If he decides to do more than talk, we’re ending this shit, Mir.”

“If he tries something, I’ll end it,” I made clear.

I wouldn’t let this be my brother’s issue, even if I knew they had no problem being in the trenches. I was the oldest and my father always drilled into me that I was responsible for both of them.

Kades shook his head. “Move smart, Mir.”

I pushed off the sofa, heading toward the kitchen.

“You already know how that shit goes.” I smiled cockily.

I was always on point. Trent was not.

He was desperate to be something. I already was so I didn’t have shit to prove. I also wouldn’t back down. If he came for me, I would deal with him.

“That’s it?” I asked making sure there wasn’t anything else I needed to be concerned about.

“Fuck you mean is that it. Isn’t that enough.” Yair said with a smirk.

I chuckled. Trent was out there being reckless, but none of us were about to lose sleep over it.

At least, not tonight.

Yair pulled a blunt from his pocket and twisted it between his fingers before glancing at Kades. “You gonna lose your shit about me lighting this in here?”

Kades gave him a hard look before sitting down on the arm of the couch. “Open the damn balcony door. I don’t want that shit all in my furniture.”

Yair was already moving. “Your OCD ass.”

I grinned heading to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge as Yair slid the door open, letting in the night air.

He leaned against the frame, fired up, and inhaled deeply.

Neither of us said shit for awhile. Me and Yair blazed and Kades was chillin on the sofa until Yair said some random shit.

“It’s crazy how fast people forget who the fuck we are.”

I exhaled a cloud of smoke, passed him the blunt and walked back in the living room, dropping onto the opposite end of the sofa across from Kades. “That about me or you?”

Yair frowned. “Both.”

Kades turned toward the door where Yair was. “Somebody fucking with you, Yair?”

“Nah not really.” He took another hit, holding the smoke before letting it go.

“Just thinking about some of these underground tech muthafuckers who think they can outmaneuver me. Tried to send some bullshit malware through one of my servers last week. Didn’t even get past the first line of encryption. ”