Chapter 6 - The Concrete Kingdom
The Matriarch had taken one step backward.
Her silver-tipped cane was trembling slightly.
The pearls around her neck rattled as she breathed.
The two bodyguards behind her stepped forward, reaching inside their jackets.
Before their fingers could touch their holsters, the shadows in the room moved.
From the hallway.
From the kitchen double doors.
From the balconies.
A dozen men stepped into the light.
They wore dark suits.
Their hands were empty, but their posture was terrifying.
They formed a silent, unbreakable wall behind Sebastian.
The Matriarch’s bodyguards froze.
They slowly pulled their empty hands out of their jackets.
Sebastian stepped over the broken table.
His leather shoes crunched on shattered crystal.
He walked back to the velvet armchair.
He placed a heavy, bleeding hand gently on Leo’s shoulder.
The blood didn't touch the boy's shirt.
Only the warmth of the palm.
Leo looked up.
Sebastian’s face was smeared with ash, but his eyes were entirely calm.
He looked back at the Matriarch.
His voice was low.
It didn't echo.
It didn't need to.
"And today," Sebastian said.
The words sliced through the silence like a scalpel.
"I'll throw you all out onto the street."
The Matriarch’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
The gold lace suddenly looked incredibly cheap.
The pearls looked like plastic beads.
Leo watched the old woman tremble.
He looked at the broken glass on the floor.
He looked at the man bleeding on the broken wood.
Child logic clicked into place.
Dad didn't leave him to them.
Dad left them to Uncle Sebastian.
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Leo leaned his cheek against the heavy hand on his shoulder.
The chandelier above flickered, its light casting a long, dark shadow of the man and the boy across the ruined room.
