Chapter 2

Grayson left and came back with a kit to take our blood. I was hesitant to let him near me with the needle but he said that their doctor taught him how to do it. That should’ve made me feel better except he had just learned it five minutes before he wanted to stick me. I was also terrified of what his touch felt like but when he came in contact it was warm and I relaxed. I didn’t understand how I could wake up and suddenly be able to feel someone else’s skin and not freak out. None of this made any sense.They didn't want to bring anyone else in the room in case I wasn't the right girl. They didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. So they told the man that they needed to do a DNA test but didnt tell them who’s blood it was. Now we were waiting on Grayson to come back with the test results. I was so fucking nervous. If I was the right Asena then everything I’ve ever known was a lie. My mom, my dad, who I was, it would all be fake. Although I wasn’t sure which was worse, being the Asena in the story or dying. The door opened and Grayson walked in with a folded sheet of paper. By the looks of it he hasn’t looked at it. He wasn’t excited or mad or sad. He was just as anxious as we were. My heart was racing as he handed it to Ace. He unfolded the sheet of paper that held my fate and his eyebrows creased in confusion before he looked up at me in shock.

“Tell me, am I her or am I dying?” He didn’t say anything so I snatched the paper from him and looked at the results. I scanned through the shit I didn't understand and found the sentence I was looking for.

“The two samples that were tested as shown, share 50% of the same DNA as one is a female and the other a male. In conclusion the two are siblings with the same mother and father.” I read the sentence over and over again not believing the words I was seeing.

“Am I really her, I’m your sister?” I met the eyes of the frozen men in front of me. Cassius cleared his throat and looked away from me, collecting himself.

“It seems so. You’re Asena Ember King.” That’s when it clicked and no one knew what to say as they stared at me. I took a hard look at Ace and knew right then that it was true. I’ve seen the color of his eyes only on one other person, the woman looking back at me while I stood in front of the mirror. I was speechless as well, my whole life was a lie, but there were two things that stuck out the most.

“You’re not going to kill me right?” Grayson burst out into laughter and it eased the tension in the room. I would be eternally grateful for that.

“I’m not going to kill you but there are some things you should know.” I threw my head back onto the headboard and sighed. There was no way that this was actually happening to me. I have the worst fucking luck.

“Well it can’t get any worse than this right?” Cassius chuckled while Grayson pursed his lips. Even Ace showed signs of amusement as he smirked.

“It actually can, Princess.” Ace shot Grayson a disapproving look. It was clear that Ace was the leader of their little group. I wasn’t sure how much worse it could get and I was not prepared for what came out of his mouth.

“The place that you are sitting in is the main compound of the American mafia. There are about 60 other people that live here, either in this house or the bunkers. Not only are we the mafia but we also have the largest group of assassins and some of them live here and train daily when they don’t have a job assigned.” Yeah that's not surprising if they were worried about the Russian mafia then it was pretty obvious that they were an organized crime group.

“I kinda guessed something like that was going on here. You weren’t exactly discrete about it.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“You were either going to die or end up being my sister. Either way you weren’t going to leave.” I looked at him like he was fucking crazy.

“And, why am I not allowed to leave.” I did not necessarily want to go and planned on staying but he wanted to say that he wouldn’t let me leave.

“Roman is still out there hunting you down, if you leave then you will die eventually. We can keep you safe here where you were meant to be. So don’t be a stubborn brat or I’ll kill you myself before someone uses our nonexistent sibling bond against me.” Wow so he’s still a dick even when he knows I’m his sister. Perfect, the only family I have left hates me.

“Where’s our parents?” Cue the glare from Ace. I’m actually afraid that he might kill me now, but why? All I did was ask a simple question.

“Dead, I killed our father after he killed our mother.” Well that’s just great.

“So all I have left is you? Fucking great, we just met and I already hate you.” We shot daggers at each other. I would kill him if I could, no family is better than this bullshit.

“Awe you too are adorable, sibling love at its finest.” Grayson gushed with a mischievous smile.

“Shut your fucking mouth.” Ace and I said together. That just made Grayson’s comments worse, talking about how we are alike and I was the girl version of him. I tuned him out as my attention locked on Cassius. We studied each other until he had enough of Grayson and Ace arguing.

“Both of you out, now.” He commanded and the authority in his voice shook me to my core. I thought Ace was the top dog around here but now I’m thinking otherwise.

“If you don’t recall, she almost died last night. If you two can’t behave then get the fuck out and I’ll keep an eye on her to make sure her heart doesn’t stop again.” So I really did die, good to know. I have a feeling that Cassius made them bring me back.

“You just want to fuck her.” Cassius stood and yanked Grayson up by the back of shirt and drugged him to the door, throwing him out.

“You two, out.” Ace wasn’t too happy about it but did as he said, which was more surprising than the sudden authoritative tone in Cassius’ voice. He slammed the door and locked it, he took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair when their footsteps retreated.

“Are you okay?” A dry laugh escaped him as he returned to my side but instead of sitting in the chair, he placed himself on the bed beside me.

“I should be asking you that.” He smiled and his voice was calm again. He was sweet and caring but there was a darker side to him.

“I’ll survive, thanks to you.” He scooted closer to me and placed his hand lightly on my bandage.

“May I?” I think I just creamed myself, I bit my lip and nodded. He helped me sit up and unwrapped the itchy material around my waist. I lied back down and watched him as he peeled the bandage from my stomach. There was a four inch incision in the center of my abdomen that was neatly stitched together.

“Why did you save me? Was it because you recognized me?” He grabbed a fresh gauge pad and taped it over the cut.

“I didn’t make the connection until after we got you here. We were walking through the woods as one of the guards called us when he heard the Russian yell. We decided to check it out ourselves. We’ve had a problem with the Russians when your parents were killed but they never came here. Imagine our surprise when we found you, Grayson shot the Russian and thought that you were already dead but for some reason I wanted to see if by any chance you were still breathing. Neither of us have ever cared about casualties that weren’t our own.” He left the bandage off, thankfully.

Cassius was a strange man; he was caring and compassionate as well as strong and fierce. He was like two people in one and I couldn’t help but to be interested, curious. He was easy to talk to and I really enjoyed his company. I’d be able to survive living here in his company. He told me that I did in fact have other family members but they were in Italy. My Grandfather was Giovanni Luciano and he doesn’t get along with anyone. He had a son, my uncle, but apparently he was a pussy and Giovanni hated him. Ace didn’t prefer being in his presence because they both tried to intimidate the other but it never worked. So the room would be insufferable until one got tired of the game. Giovanni also didn't have anyone to pass the business down to and blamed Ace for it. He wanted Ace to give this up to Cassius and Grayson to come be his successor. Cassius was curious about how I would react to being around him. So was I.

“I need clothes and other supplies, can you set that up for me.” I wasn’t trying to be demanding but if I was going to live here and not be able to leave then I was going to need a few things.

“Yeah I’ll just need a list of things you need and sizes.” He handed me a pen and paper and I started my list.

“Don’t dare get me any colorful clothes, I only wear three colors. Black, gray and red, nothing else or I’ll burn it.” He chuckled and nodded his head. He helped me make my list and when we were finished he took the sheet of paper out of the notebook and shoved it in his pocket.

“Can I come back in now?” Grayson knocked on the door and asked in a pitiful tone. Cassius looked my way and I nodded so he went and opened the door. Grayson was standing on his knees with his hands clasped together, looking up at the tall man pouting. Cassius left him there on his knees and went back to his chair. The big man child closed the door behind him and made his way to my bedside. He took Cassius’ spot on the bed and grabbed my chin.

“How are you feeling, Princess?” I shook my head with a smile invading my face involuntarily. He was a breath of fresh air. They make dealing with Ace worth it, at least I won’t be miserable.

“I’m alive, I think that’s good enough.” He climbed in the bed with me under the covers and laid my head under his chin. I went rigid, I just met this man and now we were cuddling.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I wasn’t one for physical contact, I hated hugs let alone cuddling.

“Comforting you, be a good girl and lay still. We don’t want you ripping your stitches.” I rolled my eyes, not that he could see anyways and relaxed in his embrace. They started talking business but using code words. It didn’t take a genius to guess what they were talking about and either they always did this or was only doing it because I was in the room. Grayson smelt amazing and I turned my head into his chest to breathe it in. His scent was divine and calming, I wondered what cologne he used. I was drifting off to sleep, who knew dying was exhausting.

“It’s hot.” I complained, Cassius removed the comforter and I settled against my new heater. He was surprisingly comfortable with the hardness of his chest. They continued their coded conversation and I tuned them out not really caring about it.

“I think she’s asleep.” Cassius whispered. I didn’t say anything as I didn’t have the strength to. I felt Grayson go to get up but tightened my grip on him and groaned annoyingly. He quit trying to lift me off of him and relaxed in bed. The door opened and someone walked in andI didn’t care enough to figure out who it was.

“What the fuck do you think your doing?” His voice boomed and I nesseled my head in Grayson’s shoulder. I had a better access to his smell so I placed my face flush against his neck. He smelt so fucking good that I wanted to stick my tongue out and taste his flesh. I didn’t since that would be weird and would alert them that I wasn’t sleeping. Although if I did it discreetly then only Grayson would know and I was sure that his cunning self wouldn’t say shit about it. A chorus of shush’s followed his loud mouth.

“She fell asleep and tightened her grip when I tried to get up. I didn’t want to wake her or hurt her so here we are.” Ace growled out and scolded Cassius for letting him climb in the bed with me. I took my chance while they were distracted to swipe my tongue over his jugular and nip it before slightly sucking on it. He tasted better than he smelt and it took everything in me to not make a sound. His grip on me tightened and his pulse picked up. I sucked harder before releasing it. Ace’s voice raised again and Grayson wicked them out. I giggled when the door shut as I found it comical how they kept kicking each other out.

“You little minx.” I raised my head and smirked at him.

“You can’t say that you didn’t enjoy it. I wanted to know if you tasted as good as you smelt and couldn't help myself.” I confessed. I wasn’t one to beat around the bush and was always blunt about my thoughts and feelings. I was an open book and didn’t give a fuck about what people thought.

“No, I enjoyed that a lot. You can do anything you want to me, I’ll happily be your test subject.” I tuck my face in his neck again as he lulls me to sleep.