Page 46 of Savage Empire

I’m not ready to explore this new area, nor am I willing to be a tag-along with them tomorrow. Standing around while they test Yordan and then spoil him with custom suits… yeah, no thank you.

Yordan smiles triumphantly. “I’m so excited to come home to dessert.” His enthusiasm is enough to make me feel like I’ve made the right choice.

Looks like my plans for tomorrow include the whole new collection of clothes I have to organize, and baking something sweet so that my little brother doesn’t forget how much he loves me while Apollo Moretti single-handedly makes all of his dreams come true.

Chapter Fourteen

Apollo

The private Moretti Family training facility is fuller than it has been in months. With constantly varying schedules, my brothers and I tend to keep up with our training in sporadic bursts. But today, several of them have conveniently decided they’re free.

Matteo, Armani, Elio, and even Nico have joined me and Yordan for the day. Nosy bastards just want to see what the kid has, and I don’t see a reason to turn them away. They’re likely interested in what I see in him, since I’ve never taken an interest in mentoring anyone before. Yes, I’ve taught my brothers nearly everything I’ve learned from our father over the years, but this is different. Yordan isn’t family. Until a couple of days ago, he was a complete and total stranger.

They’re barking up the wrong tree if they think they’ll figure out my motives today. Even I don’t know why I feel so particularly compelled to keep Yordan close. To not only protect him and his sister, but to mold him into someone who can protect himself. I suppose I see a bit of myself in him, in the wayhe stood between his sister and a violent grown man, and in his eagerness to grow up.

But he’s happier than I ever remember being at his age, in the kind of joyous infectious way that I would normally find irritating. I was never miserable or depressed, really, but Yordan seems to soak up life and enjoy it like every day might be his last. Even on my most favorable days, I don’t smile or laugh like him. And I didn’t grow up in the shitty situations he did.

Radiating happiness is not something I’m unaccustomed to either. Matteo has been a ball of joy and smiles since he was a baby; Armani has typically been in high spirits too. I suppose it’s just something about the way that Yordan has been dealt bad hand after bad hand, and he just…preserves. Resilience isn’t a quality you can teach, really. You’re born with it, or you’re not.

With his level of internal strength and my mentorship, Yordan Todorov is going to be a lethal force someday.

But right now, he’s a bit of a mess.

“Tighten up your stance,” Armani instructs him, grabbing the short barrel of the pistol in Yordan’s hands.

“You just told me to relax my shoulders.” Yordan sighs. He’s sweaty and tired from the sparring he just went through with Matteo. And still, he’s smiling, eager to keep going.

We’ve put him through a variable of tests and gun handling will probably be the last event for today. I want to see where he’s at before I decide what he needs the most training in, and how best to mold his skills.

“Because you looked like you were stiff from being cryogenically frozen.” Armani tsks, removing his hand from the gun and manually fixing the way Yordan is standing. He maneuvers behind him and continues, “You need to be firm and strong, but able to move without delay. Now hit the target this time.”

A shot rings out, a small hole blasting into the human-shaped target. Instead of narrowly missing again, Yordan hits the spleen area and Armani slaps his shoulder in approval.

“Better,” he says happily. “You’re veering left a little, correct it.”

“You got it, boss.”

A couple more shots sound, each of them hitting the target again.

“He’s not overly skilled with any weapon type,” Elio comments, standing at my side. “His fighting skills aren’t honed either. But he’s got great reflexes. He’s very fast, and easily trainable. He listens well, and I think he could build muscle quickly if he trained and ate right.”

“He has a lot of fucking energy too,” Matteo adds, having overheard Elio. He chugs a few gulps from his water bottle and breathes out heavily. “He might have better stamina than me.”

“Yordan ran a lot at Federico’s,” I tell him, ignoring the easy jab I could make about his failing endurance. “He told me he wasn’t allowed to train much, but he could run around the property all he wanted. It’s likely why he’s thinner. He has a runner’s body currently.”

“Not the worst physique to have,” Elio agrees, nodding. “Reminds me more of Nico and Ivan’s size.” Nico who’s done nothing but observe so far, like a watchful ghost in the corner of the room. A ghost that twirls a knife whilst bored.

“And Ivan can lay abigmotherfucker out.” Matteo chuckles. “I don’t know how he does it, but he’s strong as hell.”

“Think he’d want to get involved?” Elio asks, directing his question to our youngest brother. Matteo and Ivan have become quite close friends since Jade gave birth to the twins. They probably spend the most time with her, aside from Dmitri.

Matteo shrugs. “He would if we asked. Especially if Jade asked.”

I turn to him. “And why would Jade ask?”

“She wants to befriend Rayna,” he replies with a roll of his eyes. “Her and Ana both. They want to go over to the apartment to meet her, but they don’t want to force their friendship on her either. Jade’s afraid Rayna would only placate her out of fear that she’d be punished if she didn’t.”

I pause at his explanation.