Page 9 of The Clash of the Damned (The Titan Syndicate Saga #2)

Sebastian

T he drive home is silent as the events from the warehouse haunt us.

When the gates to the Vance Estate automatically open, I’m rendered speechless at what’s waiting for us.

“Tell me, brother, is it normal to come home after a night like ours, to find the driveway full of company that neither of us invited while we were out?” My mind races as I determine what we’re walking into.

The Rogue’s aren’t exactly popular after the sit down, and like Amelia said, we’ve both been out.

Except…can this be? My parents are dead, and the last time the house looked like this… was during one of their parties.

The gravel crunches under the car wheels as the beams light our way as we near our home.

The trees lining the long driveway sway gently in the wind, like some kind of ghostly welcoming parade.

The closer we get to the estate, the more clear it becomes just how many cars have parked in front of our home.

“Back in the day, my parents used to have sex parties. Not only did it make them very popular amongst the community, but it was great for gathering blackmail material for our empire. ”

“Please don’t tell me she made you take part?”

Not an unreasonable thing to ask considering my late mother’s reputation. I think back to the night I had to break up with Jude and how close it came. “No, she kept me in line with the idea of it.”

Even in the darkness, I can see Amelia’s jaw clench with anger. “I’ve never been more glad that bitch is dead. I would kill her one hundred times if I could for what she did to you.”

When we get out of the car, we hear thumping music, which confirms my suspicions, and when we walk through the entrance of the Vance Estate, we’re greeted with the sight of several writhing and moaning, naked bodies.

Amelia’s head tilts to the side as she tries to work out what they’re doing.

“I’m impressed, really. That takes a lot of flexibility.

More than I have anyway.” Footsteps echo through the entrance, and Logan appears in her pink nightgown, completely out of place, her blond hair in a bun and cheeks red.

She has always hated the sex parties and stayed in her room for their duration.

Seeing our appearance, she launches into her reprimand as we ignore the party goers around us.

“What the hell happened? It was supposed to be a run of the mill clean up!” I was about to ask her the same thing, but she ignores me and clucks over Amelia.

“I’m obviously fine. Thanks for asking.” Logan swats me away. We both know she cares about me too, but the truth neither of us want to admit is we don’t know when Amelia last had someone that cared about whether she lived or died. There was Luca, sure, but after the sit down…we’re all she has.

Logan stops her fussing to return her attention to me.

“We can thank your brother for this evening’s festivities.

He called it a welcome home party. He has questions, naturally.

” While I was prepared for him to come back at some stage, this was the last night I needed him here.

“He’s in your mother’s study.” She turns back to Amelia and lifts her chin, inspecting her.

“For now, it’s best you stay out of sight while Sebastian deals with this.

Clark is agitated, and I would prefer you don’t get caught in the middle of a brotherly disagreement. ”

I withhold my snort. What Clark and I do is much more than disagree; the last fight we had demolished one of the estate rooms, but I get Logan’s point.

Amelia needs us to protect her now more than ever.

The rest of her family failed her, and we don’t need to do the same.

I don’t miss the subtle threat of him being in Mom’s study.

While Clark and I haven’t been close in a long time, there is a very real possibility that I may need to fight him for leadership of the Rogue empire tonight.

I peek my head through the main living room, where most of the festivities seem to be taking place.

I’m assaulted by the sweet fragrance of what I’ve come to know as a combination of lube and body oil.

A sex swing is set up using one of the bannisters, and one woman plows into another with her strap-on.

I’m pretty sure I see the police commissioner wearing a ball gag and choker as the crack of a woman’s whip echoes throughout the moans.

The newly elected DA finishes loudly inside of one woman before he moves to a man and starts sucking him off.

Both excellent blackmail opportunities if we need them.

There is no holding back. We’re all hiding a monster within, and here, our guests can let them out.

When I get to Mom’s study, I pause outside the door.

In the past, I would have waited for her permission to enter, but now I walk in like I own the place, because well, I do.

The dread I felt before no longer rears its head.

The bitch is dead, and she can never hurt me or anyone I love, ever again.

I enter to find Clark thumbing through some papers, brow furrowed in concentration.

The shadow on his jaw and under his eyes tells me he has come straight from an extended flight.

“The prodigal son returns,” I say, walking over to the mini bar to pour us both a drink.

Clark sets his papers down and glares at me. “You know how the empires work, brother, and how power is determined. Money. While we have a lot of it, we’re dangerously close to being the least powerful empire after that stunt you pulled at the sit down.”

I hand him his drink. “Who told you?”

“Tatiana called.”

The Draven Rogues have remained quiet after that disastrous attempt of marrying their daughter, Tatiana, to Clark.

While they were set to marry and cement the family lines, at the last moment, Mother decided that Tatiana was no longer good enough for our family and called the whole thing off.

It wasn’t long after that, Mom sent him away on a never-ending assignment.

“She told me about Kyla. I’m sorry to hear it.

She was an excellent Rogue, and an even better person.

Want me to send flowers to the Thayer Rogues?

” Pain clenches my heart as I hear Kyla’s name and think about how close we were to saving her.

I know it won’t help now, but the guilt continues to eat away at me.

“I’ve sent flowers already, but another bouquet wouldn’t hurt. What else did Tatiana have to say?”

“She demanded I come home immediately. It’s a good thing I was already on my way.”

Tatiana knew where he was this whole time, and that hurts more than I thought it would.

It doesn’t change that I hurt him too by not telling him about our family.

While we aren’t close, I can see I was wrong.

It doesn’t matter now, but when we were kids, the age gap between us made it even more difficult to grow close.

At one point, I was his shadow and wanted to be just like him.

Then I learned what a bad idea it would be to let Alyssa Vance know I love him, giving her something she could use against me.

From then on, I kept my distance. Now, he is the brother I want to know more about, but to me, he is a stranger. .

“It didn’t take me long to determine that business is the worst it’s ever been, which I find odd.

You know as well as I do, there are always people looking to settle their disagreements through hired murder.

So it’s time to drum up some publicity. It’s why I planned this sex party as my welcome home party. I can see I made the right call.”

While I have my reservations, I can try things the nice way first. “You’re right; I’m sorry. I should have told you. And I saw at least two influential people here that we could benefit from partnering with.”

“Four. But that’s not the point. Tell me, in the months I’ve been gone, our parents have died, and I learned about a secret sister. How did you explain our parents’ demise to the empire? That was the one thing I couldn’t figure out.”

“Extended trip across the world to scout for new opportunities to expand our empire. Figured it would buy us enough time to come up with a better story. After the Druids went with declaring Edie and Eric’s death, I knew it would call unnecessary attention to us if we did the same.”

Leaning back into my chair, I inspect Clark, trying to figure out how I want to deal with him.

Where I look like my mother with my dark hair, lean build, and ice blue eyes, Clark is stocky with chocolate hair.

He could be the all American boy next door if he tried.

“How was your assignment? I asked a few times where you were, but no one would tell me.” Clark does his own inspection of me, the both of us trying to figure out each of our ulterior motives–the strategy our mother had taught us.

“Some diplomat needed assassinating because he was getting in the way of an election that we needed to go our way. It’s annoying how resourceful he was at staying alive.

But no matter, I got my way. It just took longer than planned.

” The room is silent as I figure out if it’s fraught with tension, or if we’re anticipating a better future, one we could build together.

“You should burn the study now that she’s dead.

Get rid of any trace of her. I hated this place as much as you did; I could never tell you that.

” Clark’s face softens towards me as he adds, “Every time I wanted to be your brother, she would hold what happened to Saige over my head. I was so scared I would be next, and as an adult, I could see she was using my fear against me as a child, but well, now…I don’t want to be the head of the empire, Sebastian.

I know I'm the oldest, but you need to take it. I’ll help you fix our reputation and business, but I prefer a bit more freedom in my life.

Don’t let this family fall apart. Do better than she did. ”

A small seed of hope blooms in my chest, through the subtle threats thrown my way. In this family, we don’t do favors for each other out of kindness. We do it out of our want for something. But that’s a battle for another evening.

I explain to him how I found Amelia; how we came up with our plan when Mom started threatening Jude again; how I was tired of living under her rule.

When we found out that Lexie was murdered by her order, it set everything into motion, but we didn’t act quickly enough to save Kyla.

“We never wanted them all dead; it was only supposed to be Mom. But things got tense, and they wouldn’t be reasoned with.

We were tired of living in fear, and they couldn’t see that. ”

“So that’s why the reporter left so many messages,” Clark murmurs.

“The leadership of three of the four most powerful families in Chicago changed overnight, and they smell a scandalous story.” He looks up at me and adds, “We can prepare a press release and control the narrative so this disappears quickly. Maybe add a few donations to large charities too. Well, I can’t say I miss Mother.

She was a piece of work and always made me feel less than worthy of your Rogue superiority.

” I can almost see the gears in his head turn as he schemes like he has been here all this time.

“How are relations with the other families?” The look on my face is enough of an answer as his eyebrows raise into his hairline. “All of them!” he exclaims.

“We have work to do. From what I can see, the Rhodes still hold that top spot with their business model, so we need an edge to get back in the running for power. I actually think that’s what Mother was going for, but she got it all wrong.

No point looking to the past, let’s see what we can build together. ”

“Well, Dom’s still talking to me. He recently returned from the South of France with his new fiancé, Sloane, but we haven’t caught up yet.”

Clark’s phone chimes, interrupting us, and his face pales under the harsh study light before he exclaims, “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Waiting to hear about whatever this new crisis is, Clark’s steely gaze meets mine. “It’s time for me to meet our new sister and induct her into our family ways.”

“What could have possibly happened in the short time you’ve been home?”

“Were you at a warehouse tonight?” I nod, and he shows me his phone screen.

It’s a video of Amelia and I fighting the humans, clearly doing non-human things, which calls way too much attention to our family and the entire Supernatural community.

“It looks to me like you were led into a trap. This was leaked online. Someone is using this as evidence that we’re more than human. ”