Learning the Game

Learning the Game
Iris POV

"Mom?" I whispered, staring at the woman pointing a gun at me.

She smiled, but it wasn't warm or loving. It was cold. Scary.

"Hello, Iris. You look just like I did at your age."

Ian stepped back, his own gun shaking in his hands. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Death is such a final word," Mom said, never taking her eyes off us. "I prefer to think of it as... a career change."

"Where have you been for twenty years?" I asked.

"Working. Building something beautiful. Something your father tried to destroy."

"What are you talking about?"

She walked closer, broken glass crunching under her feet. "I'm talking about the real reason everyone wants you, sweetheart. It's not just about some old deal between your father and the crime families."

"Then what?"

"It's about blood. About family. About power that runs deeper than money or fear."

Ian laughed bitterly. "Let me guess. You're here to save us?"

"Save you?" Mom tilted her head. "Oh, darling boy. I'm here to collect you."

Before either of us could move, she fired her gun.

The bullet hit the wall right between Ian's head and mine.

"That was a warning," she said calmly. "The next one won't be."

"What do you want?" I asked, my heart pounding so hard I could barely breathe.

"I want what's mine. My children. My legacy. My revenge."

"Revenge against who?"

"Against everyone who thought they could use my babies without permission."

She walked over to a dusty church pew and sat down, keeping her gun pointed at us.

"Twenty years ago, your father made a deal with the devil. But he didn't know the devil was married to me."

"You're married to a crime boss?"

"I am a crime boss, sweetheart. The Castellanos work for me. The Russians work for me. Half the families in Chicago work for me."

My legs felt weak. "That's impossible."

"Why? Because I'm a woman? Because I'm your mother?" She laughed. "Men see what they want to see. They thought I was just Robert Kane's pretty wife. They never suspected I was building an empire right under their noses."

Ian stared at her. "You're the one who trained me. You're the one who turned me into a killer."

"I gave you skills, boy. I made you strong."

"You made me a monster!"

"I made you useful." Her voice got colder. "And now you're going to be useful again."

"By doing what?"

"By helping me take control of everything. The FBI. The crime families. All of it."

I stepped forward. "I won't help you hurt people."

"You don't have a choice, darling. None of us do. This game started before we were born. We can only choose which side we play for."

"Then I choose Dad's side."

Mom's face went dark. "Your father is weak. He thinks he can win by following rules. But there are no rules in this world, Iris. There's only power."

"And you have power?"

"More than you can imagine." She pulled out her phone and showed us the screen. "One call from me, and every criminal in Chicago starts hunting your precious Alex. One call, and your father's FBI career ends in scandal. One call, and everyone you've ever cared about disappears."

The phone screen showed a list of names. Dad. Elena. Alex. Marcus. People I loved, all marked as targets.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because someone has to. Because your father thought he could hide you away and pretend our deal never happened. Because the world needs to learn that Victoria Kane is not to be crossed."

Victoria Kane. That was her name. My mother's name.

"The deal wasn't just about us kids," I said slowly, understanding. "It was about you."

She smiled proudly. "Very good, sweetheart. You're smarter than your brother."

"Hey!" Ian protested.

"It's true. You always were more muscle than brains." She looked back at me. "Yes, the deal was about me. I was supposed to marry into the Torrino family. Combine our power with theirs. Create the strongest crime empire in America."

"But you married Dad instead."

"I fell in love like a fool. Thought I could change everything through the system. Through law and order." She spat like the words tasted bad. "Twenty years of watching criminals walk free taught me better."

"So you became one of them."

"I became their queen."

Ian was staring at her with a mix of fear and hatred. "You let them torture me. Your own son."

"I let them make you strong. There's a difference."

"No, there isn't!"

"Isn't there? Look at yourself, Ian. Three years ago, you were a scared little boy. Now you're a weapon that even grown men fear."

"I didn't want to be a weapon!"

"What you wanted was never important. What matters is what you can do for the family."

Family. She kept using that word, but it didn't mean what it should mean.

"What do you want us to do?" I asked quietly.

"I want you to come home with me. Both of you. I want us to be a real family for the first time."

"And if we say no?"

Her smile disappeared. "You don't get to say no, darling. You're my children. You belong to me."

She stood up, gun still pointed at us.

"But first, we have some business to finish. Alex Torrino thinks he can protect you. Your father thinks he can hide you. Both of them are about to learn how wrong they are."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to teach them the same lesson I taught the Castellanos. The same lesson I taught everyone who thought they could cross Victoria Kane."

"Which is?"

"That taking something from me comes with a price. A very high price."

She walked toward the broken window where she'd entered.

"Where are you going?" Ian asked.

"To collect on some old debts. You two are going to wait here like good children."

"And if we run?"

She held up a small device that looked like a remote control. "Those pretty necklaces I had my men put on you while you were unconscious? They're not jewelry, darlings. They're tracking devices. With explosives."

I looked down and saw a thin silver chain around my neck that hadn't been there before. Ian had one too.

"You're going to blow us up?"

"Only if you disappoint me. Be good, and they're just tracking devices. Try to run, and they become something much less pleasant."

My blood turned to ice. She was willing to kill her own children to control us.

"You're insane."

"I'm practical." She climbed up onto the window ledge. "I'll be back in two hours. When I return, we're going to pay a visit to Alessandro Torrino. As a family."

"To do what?"

"To show him what happens to people who think they can steal from Victoria Kane."

She jumped through the window and was gone, leaving Ian and me alone in the dark church.

"We have to warn them," I said.

"Warn who?"

"Alex. Dad. Everyone. She's going to kill them."

Ian sat down heavily on a pew. "You don't understand, Iris. There's nowhere to run. No one to call. She owns half the city."

"Then we find the other half."

"The other half is too scared of her to help."

I touched the necklace around my throat. It felt cold and dead against my skin.

"There has to be something we can do."

"Like what?"

Before I could answer, my pocket started buzzing. I pulled out a phone I'd never seen before.

"Where did this come from?"

"She must have put it there when they knocked us out."

The phone kept ringing. Finally, I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Iris?" It was Alex's voice, but he sounded hurt and scared. "Iris, where are you?"

"I'm safe. But Alex, you need to get out of there. My mother is—"

"Your mother is standing right next to me," he said quietly. "And she wants to talk to you."

Mom's voice came through the phone, cold and clear.

"Hello again, sweetheart. I told you I had business to finish. Alessandro and I are having such an interesting conversation about his intentions toward my daughter."

"Don't hurt him!"

"Hurt him? Oh, darling, I'm not going to hurt him." Her voice got softer, more dangerous. "I'm going to let you choose what happens to him."

"What do you mean?"

"You have thirty minutes to get back to the Torrino mansion. If you're not here by then, I start sending pieces of Alessandro to your father. Starting with his fingers."

The line went dead.

Ian looked at me with hollow eyes. "She's not bluffing, you know. I've seen what she does to people who disappoint her."

I stared at the phone in my shaking hands.

Thirty minutes to save Alex's life.

But to do it, I'd have to walk straight into my mother's trap.

I ran for the church door, Ian close behind me.

We burst outside into the cold Chicago night, and that's when I saw them.

Twenty black cars surrounded the church, all with their engines running.

Mom stood beside the closest car, smiling that cold smile.

"Going somewhere, children?"