Cakes and Blades

“Why can’t I come with you, Emmy?” My brother towered over me at sixteen years old. I only reached up to his chest, so when I tugged on the end of his shirt, I looked like a kid. Well, twelve year olds are considered kids. “Papa said it’s dangerous, Claire.” Emerson sighed and ruffled my hair. “It’s also boring, Claire. Besides, mom wouldn’t want you to come to any of these meetings if she has anything to say about it.” Papa mentioned that he would have a meeting with his potential future partners at his office. He was bringing Emerson and specifically told me that I should stay at home. I huffed and crossed my arms at him. I was not taking a no for an answer. He groaned one last time before muttering “Fine,” he pointed his fingers at me and spoke so low, it was almost a whisper. “But you better be quiet. Do not make a sound.” Raising a finger to my lips and letting out a ‘shh’ and giggle at the end. Emerson just shook his head but gave up otherwise. He knew I was no quitter. Papa’s office wasn’t foreign to me. I’ve been here lots of times. It always had a great view of the city. The whole place was always bright, sometimes the sun served as the light, or they opened the hundreds of light bulbs that were sticking to the ceiling. They did not let any shadows enter the premises. “You stay out of trouble, C.” Emerson nagged at me like I was a kid and he was a responsible adult. I rolled my eyes at him and wanted to scream, we’re two years apart, genius. But I decided to bite back, the comment threatening to go pass my lips. He gave me another pointed look before he went inside, leaving me alone in the hallway. What was I supposed to do now? I thought I could listen to the meeting. Learn a thing or two. Get a gist of what has really been going on with the family business. So far, Papa only lets Emerson see a few portions of what we really do, but even Emerson does not tell me. He keeps telling me though that ‘it’s for the best’. Like that would ever make me stop. I placed my ear close to the door. I could hear deep voices talking. Papa’s voice was getting louder and a laugh after that. I pushed further to get a word of what they were saying when a big hand grasped my arm, lifting me off of my feet to face him. “Look what we have here. A little rat.” The man who stood six feet tall, with arms bulging beneath his coat, giving me a devious grin. His face shook me to the core. I wanted to scream, to run and hide and never be found. “L-l-let me go,” He chuckled at my stuttering, he could probably smell the fear that was oozing out of me. I tried to wriggle free but only his grip tightened on me. The next thing happened so fast. One second, I was staring at the scary man, and the next I heard a loud thud and the man holding me captive fell down to his knees. Once I was free, I scrambled away from him, rubbing my wrist where it was in a death grip a second ago. I was sure it was going to leave a nasty bruise. “You f*****g hurt children, Zahi?” my knight in a black suit of armor, held his head and spoke in his ear. He looked way younger than the scary man but it was amazing how he could bring him down in one blow. “Pick someone your own size.” with one more hit to the back and his body dropped. Lifeless. I gasped, my eyes widening at the sight before me. He killed him. “Relax sunshine. He’s just unconscious.” He walked towards me, his footsteps were light like he was just a feather, and offered his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. He must’ve noticed me staring at the lifeless body behind him, because he then moved in front of me to cover it up. His soft hand lifted my chin up so I was now looking at him. His strikingly gray eyes looked back at me, making me think that we had vanished into a different world where only the two of us existed. I didn’t know how long we stayed there. Clearing his throat, it broke the trance that we were in and he spoke with his husky voice“This is the part where you run away and never look back.” “Not in my story.” my hands made their way to his waist. I softly gripped his suit tighter. I could feel he was hot already, despite being at a young age. “In mine, you get to hold me closer, tighter and you will never let me go.” He chuckled, the sound vibrated through his chest, reaching through me down to my stomach. Did I just flirt? Holy cow. He lowered his head to mine, his lips gently touching my ear and said “I’m not that kind of person, sunshine.” With that he let me go and took a step back and another. Pulling the body and dragging it all over the floor like a sack of potatoes The door to Papa’s office suddenly opened and Emerson walked out looking worried at me. “What happened? I thought I heard something.” Emerson continued to scan the hallway, looking for any remnants of what happened with my knight, but he found none. “I told you to stay out of trouble. Come on. Papa’s meeting is about to end and I don’t want his partners to see you here.” He pulled me by my shoulders and led me to the elevator. “Nothing happened, Emmy.” Convincing him was like moving mountains. He snorted and crossed his arms. “Try again, make it more realistic this time.” I groaned and rolled my eyes. He didn’t ask further and I’m not pushing it anymore. Who knows what could happen if I told them? It could be chaotic. Once we entered the car. I couldn’t help myself. “Who did Papa have a meeting with?” Emerson sighed and leaned back. “It was an investor, Julius. He brought along his nephews with him. North and South but only North was there. South… I don’t know, he could’ve been anywhere, doing who knows what.” “Hold on. North and South? Are they-” “They call themselves the compass brothers. Their parents named it because there were four of them.” Emerson talked while he typed away on his phone. “Were?” He sighed sadly. “I don’t want to pass on the fake news to you, C. It’s better when I get the real story from the proper source.” I decided to put my curiosity on hold. Seeing Emerson in work mode makes it difficult to ask more questions. I stayed quiet and continued to look outside. I watched the cars pass by, but pictures of a pair of gray eyes keep flashing in my memory. It felt like I was staring at it in front of me. Giving up the fight, I continued to replay what happened in the hallway. So South was his name.