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They had stopped for breakfast, now they were on their way to school and the mustang was driving unusually fast as Duke turned another corner with a turn so sharp that Jackie had to lean sideways. “Slow your butt down, Duke. Why do you always have to fly? We’ll get there when we get there.” She sat back upright. “Dang.”

Duke smiled. He liked getting a rise out of her. “Sorry.”

She rolled her eyes rather than accept his fake apology and got back on her phone. She was on social media, strolling messages, but all she could think about was the end of the school year. “Our last day can’t get here fast enough,” she said.

Duke glanced over at her. “So you’re in a rush now? You’re the one can’t wait to go to college. Won’t even take a gap year. College is still school.”

“It’s not the same at all,” said Jackie. “Besides, Ma won’t let us take any gap years. She already said so.”

“When you’re grown your parents can’t tell you what to do,” Duke said as he glanced out of his rearview mirror to see if their security detail in the car behind them was keeping up.

“They can if they’re paying for it.”

“They can’t make us have security either.”

“Sure buddy. And what you’re gonna say if Daddy says you have to have security for the rest of your life?”

An annoyed look came across Duke’s handsome face. “Don’t even mention that man’s name to me.”

Jackie looked at him. “Didn’t Ma tell you Daddy didn’t start that fight last night?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t try to stop it either. What father beats on his own son like that?”

“Daddy,” Jackie said without hesitation. “He’ll knock us through a wall if we disobey him. He’s already knocked you through a few walls.”

“Yeah but I was mouthing off and acting stupid. But Teddy works his butt off for Daddy. He and Nikki both. And what do they get in return? Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing? They’re running the most powerful organization in the underworld.”

“Which you aren’t supposed to ever mention,” Duke said, correcting her. “So cut it out, J.”

“I’m just saying we know what time it is. They’re getting something out of working for Daddy. They’re getting power out of it.”

“Teddy can get power anywhere he wants to get it. He doesn’t need Daddy for power.”

Jackie was staring at her brother.

Duke glanced at her once, and then again when he stopped at a red light. “What are you staring at me for?”

“You confuse me. You’re downing Daddy every chance you get, but yet in still you’re the one wanna be all up under him all the time.”

Duke frowned. “What be up under? That is such a lie.”

“Oh yeah? Then why won’t you apply for any schools outside of Philly? And why don’t you wanna stay in a dorm? Why would you prefer to stay home?”

“Because I do. So what?”

Jackie continued to stare at him. All the men in their family were just alike. Mick was just like Big Daddy. Teddy was just like Mick. Duke was just like Teddy. And they all never wanted to be too far from each other. It was a co-dependency unlike she’d ever seen. But you could never tell any of them that. But her cousin Tony Sinatra, who was a renowned psychologist, agreed with her. He saw it too.

Duke frowned. “What was that?” he asked as soon as they both heard what sounded like a big rock ricocheting off their windshield. But when they didn’t see a crack in their window, but began to hear the definite sound of gunfire, Duke quickly looked in his rearview.

And that was when he saw the car containing his security detail under fire. “Get down!” he yelled at his sister as he pushed her head down and hit on the gas pedal. He was taught by his father himself how to maneuver if they ever came under attack, and the main point was always the main point: get out of the area and get out of the area as fast as he could get out. And press the customized-by-his-father distress button.

He sped out of the area while he was pressing the distress button.

But the problem was that the attack wasn’t only on their security detail, but on them too, and a car began speeding behind them, firing at them as it drove.

Duke was speeding so fast, and turning corners so wildly that Jackie, down on the floor, just knew he was going to lose control and crash.

But Duke maintained control as he swerved side to side to avoid as much of the incoming fire as he possibly could. His Mustang was riddled with bullet holes. And no matter how fast he went or how sharply he turned every corner, that car was still on his tail.

But when the shooters in the car behind them shattered their back window with a volley of bullets that seemed never-ending, and when he saw that he was coming to a warehouse at the end of the street that would become a dead end, he had no choice but to turn offroad and fly through the woods.

His car was coughing up dirt and bouncing over heavy brush as he fought with all he had to control his car and avoid incoming bullets too. He sped and sped and sped so fast that no man could control that kind of speed.

He was going so fast, and bouncing over so much brush, that his car hit one big branch too many and lost all traction. Then it flipped and ended up on its roof, sliding through those woods, until it came to a stop with the wheels still spinning.

The chase car driver swerved, to avoid killing himself and his crew in what would have been a massive collision, but the driver swerved too recklessly and ended up slamming into a tree. The car hit so hard that it exploded on impact.

The sound of the crash sent shockwaves through the woods as birds flew away from trees with loud sounds of distress, dogs were barking furiously, and every manner of creature scurried for cover. But the sound of the explosion after the crash silenced the noise. Every wildlife in those woods had been screaming out all at once in a unified terror of sounds.

And then, as if they knew something horrific had just occurred, there were no sounds at all.