Live For It

|45|

{ZHARA}

Softly, I knock on the door. 

No response. 

I press my ear against the wood as I knock again. 

I hear Zion's voice, but it's not directed toward me. He's on the phone. 

I twist the knob as quietly as I can and poke my head through the opening I made. 

He's sitting in a leather chair behind a large, organized desk. Many files are stacked in one corner, and a rifle is laid there across from them. His cell is pressed to his ear, and his free hand is twisting a small balisong knife around between his tattooed fingers. 

The room smells of burnt sage and whiskey, which is no surprise to me. What catches my eye is an 18 karat gold crucifix hanging on the wall to the left. 

My mind freezes.

"AJ! Where'd you go?" I shouted out as I hurried up the stairs. I giggled at the thought of him losing our game of hide and seek again. He always thought he was better at hiding than me. 

Just because he was already eleven doesn't mean anything, my hide and seek skills were better. 

"I'm gonna find you!" I call out, passing Mamá's window room. He always hid under the desk in my father's office. 

I always have to beg him to play with me now in days, he thinks he's too grown up for me now. 

My brothers rarely pay attention to me anyway, well, except Koven, but he's my twin. I feel like he only talks to me because of that reason. 

I finally made it across the long hallway, but something stopped me right in front of the office door. The sound of my father yelling. 

Oh no...Something must've gone wrong in his work again. 

Where's Ajax then? 

As I went to turn away, I heard another sound. My stomach dropped, and suddenly the sandwich I had for lunch felt like it was coming back up. 

Where was Mamá?

I yanked the office door open, and deep down, I knew what that thud was. I had experienced it too many times before and witnessed all of my family go through it as well. 

A strangled sob left my lips at the sight of my brother on the floor, holding his cheek. My father's eyes snapped to mine, and I knew what was coming next. 

"Papa..." I started to cry, he hated when we cried, "we were just playing a game." 

He grabbed me by my hair, forced me to the floor, and made me watch as he "taught AJ a lesson" like he always did. 

"I made him play with me! It's not his fault!" I sobbed and screamed, but nothing would stop him. Minutes had passed. 

"È ora di maturare, figliolo. Smetti di giocare!" my father shouted, shoving my brother towards me. 

[T: Time to mature, son. Stop playing!]

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." I pleaded for forgiveness into Ajax's shirt but was ripped away from him by Papa. I thrashed in his hold when he lifted me off the ground, pulling my face close to his. 

"Come on, figlia, gli hai fatto questo," he whispered, almost as if he was trying to comfort me. 

[T: Daughter, you did this to him]