Luca's teasing expression dropped in an instant. His eyes widened.
"Wait… dead?" he asked, horrified.
Emil quickly cut in, waving his hands slightly.
"Léo's exaggerating," he said. "The guy didn't actually die… but—" he paused, looking serious now, "—the person she was with took it really offensive. They made an example out of him."
Emil continued, his tone now grim.
"And when I say severe, I mean it. They broke him down so bad, he couldn't even finish training. Last I heard, he was sent out—if not just dumped somewhere."
"Ash,I don't know what you had with that girl" Léo said, his tone flat but firm "but for your own good.... Stay away. Don't mingle in her mess."
Ash slowly ran his fingers through his hair and his lips curled – not quite a smile, not quite a laugh.
Then, almost inaudible, a whisper slipped from him—
"Too late…"
Ash let his body slide down until he was sitting on the floor, back leaning against the wall.
Trying to change the air around them, he spoke – his voice low, casual.
"So.. what about your bosses?"
Luca tilted his head. "Sir Nikolai and Dmitri?"
Sebastian let out a deep sigh, his eyes rolling subtly.
"Who else would he mean?" he mumbled, voice low and unimpressed.
Luca blinked and turned sharply toward him.
"Hey… what's wrong with you and me today?" he said, half-joking, half-serious.
The sharp energy between them was immediate—like a static charge snapping in the air.
Ash, watching from the floor couldn't help it. A small laugh escaped him. At first it was a chuckle, but then he started to genuinely laugh—shoulders shaking a bit.
Luca,Sebastian and the others turned their eyes to him in perfect sync.
"What's funny?" Luca asked, puzzled.
"You good?" Sebastian added, his brows drawn in suspicion.
Ash waved a lazy hand, trying to stop laughing but failing.
"Sorry," he said between breaths. "Just… you two act like a married couple with petty issues."
Luca's eyes widened.
"Excuse me?"
Ash didn't hear it—he was too busy wiping the corner of his eye.
Emil leaned forward slightly, brushing his hair of his eyes.
"Speaking of them," he said, "I heard there's supposed to be a meeting this month."
"So that means they will be coming?" Luca asked.
Matteo, who had been mostly silent, let out a dry laugh and shook his head.
"It's kinda funny, don't you think?" he said. "All this shit… this whole damn place, all of us getting pushed around—controlled by some twenty-year-old dudes."
The room fell silent for a beat.
Léo exhaled smoke slowly, his expression unreadable.
"They may be young, but they didn't get there by playing nice."
Emil leaned back on the bed.
"But their brother bond is crazy strong. I heard the older one can lose his mind if you hurt his little brother."
Matteo scoffed lightly, but his tone was serious.
"You heard of that mission were sir Dmitri got shot– just a graze on his arm?"
Everyone in the room leaned in slightly as Matteo continued, voice lowering.
"Sir Nikolia was there. He didn't even check on Dmitri at first. He just stared at the man who pulled the trigger. Walked right past everyone. Dead silence. Then he—" Matteo paused, his jaw tightening. "He made the guy eat his own trigger finger. Like... literally. Broke his jaw open and shoved it down his throat until the guy started choking on it."
Luca's face twisted. "What the actual—"
Matteo nodded slowly.
"And that wasn't even the end. He dragged the guy by the neck through broken glass, made him crawl all the way to Dmitri's feet while apologizing."
"That's sick" Ash said.
"But that's Nikolai," Léo muttered. "Hurting Dmitri is like lighting a fuse within him. There's no stopping it once it starts."
" Have you guys seen them?" Ash asked.
Emil spoke first "Dmitri can be seen from time to time but he rarely comes to the compound."
" Nikolai, though... that's a different level. Even when he comes for meetings, the number of bodyguards surrounding him is insane. It's nearly impossible to get close, let alone actually see him."
Luca titled his head with a curious look, eyebrows raised.
" why are you asking about them all of a sudden? You wanna meet them or something"
A sly smirk tugged at his lips
" I mean...I heard they 're pretty easy on the eyes–especially the older one. Cold, dangerous and pretty. Your type?"
"I'm not really interested in meeting any of them" he muttered, flat and final. With that , he stood up and made his way to his bed.
The soft creak of the mattress stired the other three on his bed. One by one, they began to sit up– yawning but the drawn to another topic.
Ash didn't join.
He slumped onto his side, eyes barely open– half- lidded and glazed. His back curled away from them, a feeble wall. Their voices smeared into stones through mud. Then, without ceremony, sleep yanked him down into the dark.