I'm Nothing (The Family Book 2)

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2016 Sam Crescent

 
ISBN: 978-1-77233-876-8

Cover
Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Karyn
White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING:
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.
 
No part of this book may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a
work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.

I’M NOTHING

The Family, 2

Sam Crescent

Copyright © 2016

Prologue

Tonio, fifteen
years old

“I don’t want to do it.” Tonio stared at the crying
boy, hating what his father was asking him to do in their basement. His mother
was already knocked out by the booze and drugs that she liked to take. It kept
her silent, so his father was more than happy for her to do it.

“You’ll do it.” His father tightened his grip on his
shoulder. “You filthy piece of shit. If you want to see your precious little
friends again, you’ll do it.”

The cameras were rolling, and Tonio’s stomach turned.
He couldn’t keep doing this, but he didn’t see a way out of the pain and mess.
Whenever he thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. His father’s depravity knew
no bounds, and it wasn’t just in this moment—it was in all moments.

“Leave my friends alone.”

The slap across the face stung, but he’d had worse.

“What do you think Donnie is going to think when they
know the truth about you? Do you think Jake is going to want to know you, scum
that he is? What about Luiz? He’s never going to want you around his sister
knowing what shit you do.”

“I do it because you tell me.”

His father’s fist slammed into his gut, making him
fall to his knees. He held in the tears as he’d learned long ago not to cry.
Crying never solved any problems, and if his father ever caught him crying,
there was always a stiff beating to follow.

Tonio hated the beatings more than anything as his
father knew where to hurt so the bruises were never seen. The last thing he
ever wanted to happen was for his friends to know how fucked up his life was.
The life of The Family was about being strong, but right then, Tonio didn’t
feel strong. He felt weak.

None of his friends showed any sign of the trauma The
Family caused him. He didn’t know if it was just him, or if his friends each
had to suffer. The only person he doubted ever had a problem was Jake.
 
His father was part of The Family, but he was
more a minion than an actual member.

Most of the time, their fathers didn’t want him,
Donnie, and Luiz around Jake, but they refused to be parted.

“This boy is scum. He means nothing. Now, a lot of
people are paying for the privilege of seeing his miserable existence end,
bloodily, violently, and my son is just the man to give him his death sentence.”

Tonio covered his mouth, trying to stop the flow of
vomit that was about to happen, but nothing could. Vomit spilling out of his
hands, Tonio moved to the corner, throwing up all over the floor everything
that he’d eaten.

“You filthy, no good, nothing, piece of shit,” his
father said, moving toward him. The blows started on his back, and Tonio didn’t
have a way of protecting himself.

He’d rather take a beating and black out before he
took another innocent’s life. Tonio had lost count of the number of boys and
girls he’d killed, not to mention the men and women. His father would bring
them all to him, and make him kill, fuck, and do whatever despicable thing was
on the menu.

The worst of it was the fact his father filmed it.
Everything was filmed so some sick fucks could get their rocks off on what they
saw.

His father grabbed the back of his neck, slapping his
face, and then smearing his face in the vomit, all the time telling him how
useless he was.

“I tell you what, you little shit,” his father said.
“How about I get Maria here, huh? Get her down here and use one of our soldiers
down here to test that virgin pussy. You know I can make it so her life is
fucking ruined, right?”

The mention of Maria was all it took. Finding strength
Tonio didn’t think he had, he lashed out at his father, slamming his fist
against the man’s nose and breaking it.

“Stay the fuck away from Maria.” He yelled every
single word, not caring how he gave away his feelings.

The Family didn’t care about their women, or their
children. The women were just pawns to be used or sold as they saw fit. Maria
was going to be marrying a guy who would help the family name. It was probably
going to be some old fucker who had dozens of mistresses, and who stank half
the time of stale sweat.

Tonio knew how it all worked. There was no room for
love in The Family, not for anyone.

Several of the soldiers who worked for his father
caught him, holding him down.

“I always knew you had a hard-on for that little slut.
You’re not going to get near her. She’s too good for you, and besides, her family
already has a man ready to take that little cherry. There’s no way out of this,
but I will hurt Maria if you don’t do as you’re told.”

“The Family are going to find out about this,” Tonio
said.

“They find out what we’re doing, and it’s the fucking
end.” His father knelt in front of him, wiping away the blood that had dripped
from his nose. “Before you go shouting your mouth off, maybe you should realize
that if I ever go down, you little shit, I’ll take you, and everyone that you
hold dear. I won’t die alone.”

All he saw was the death of his friends. Tonio believed
his father as he’d seen firsthand the kind of monstrous shit he could do.

Staring at the boy who was bound, Tonio didn’t have a
choice.

Wiping the vomit from his mouth, he took a step toward
the boy.

What had this boy done to earn the death that was
about to befall him? Tonio didn’t know, and he never asked questions.

He should have asked those questions long before
today, but there was no time. If his friends ever found out, they would cast
him aside.

Tonio was not clean. He wasn’t good. He was evil.

This boy wouldn’t be the first one he had killed, and
he wouldn’t be the last. The boys, the girls, their faces were all starting to
blend in together, and he couldn’t make sense of any of it.

Moving toward the boy, Tonio watched as he cowered.
This was the worst thing of all. There was no fight inside the stranger, the
boy that meant nothing to him, and he’d still have to fight him.

“Make it look good, Tonio,” his father said.

****

“What the hell are you saying, Tonio?” Maria asked.

“I can get us both away from here. We can be free,
Maria. It will be hard, but I’m a good worker. I can give you a good life.”

“A life away from all of this?” Maria asked, gesturing
around her room. They were both naked from making love. Maria had been on top,
riding him, and he loved it when she did that. Tonio didn’t like to be on top.
For the most part, he didn’t know what he was doing, and Maria always knew what
she was doing. Now, he was spent, and he wanted to go ahead with his plan.

He’d miss his friends, but he was willing to do
anything for the woman he loved. Tonio couldn’t handle anymore, not his father,
not the beatings, or the rapes, or the murders. None of it, he was dying
inside, and he needed Maria to run with him.

“What would we do for money?” Maria asked.

“We’d earn a living. Both of us could work, and we
could make this happen. Everyone else out there is living life the way they
want.”

“A lot of people struggle, Tonio.”

“You love me right?”

“Of course.”

He frowned as she sighed. Tonio had never heard her
say the words to him. It was always “me too”, or “sure, yeah”, or “of course”.
Maria never said the words.

“I don’t want this life, Maria. I love you, and I want
us to have a life together without fear.”

“What about luxury?” Maria asked.

“What?”

“Our life isn’t perfect, Tonio, but I like the
luxuries.”

“They’re going to marry you off to someone.”

“Yeah, so?”

“What?”

“So I marry some boring old dude. I like this life. I
like being able to buy what I like, Tonio. You’re asking me to give that up for
what?”

****

Tonio gasped awake. The two dreams melded together
from throwing the first punch to Maria choosing this life. Reaching over the
bed, he flicked on the lamp to make sure he was home, he was safe. He was as
safe as a man who’d just murdered his father could be. The Family, they weren’t
happy with the sudden turn of events, but he didn’t give a shit. He lived with
a gun beneath his pillow, and he always faced the fucking door. Each night before
he went to bed, he made sure he would know if someone broke into his apartment.
He’d been known to tie string around two chairs, just to make sure he heard
what shit went down.

“Fuck!” he said, rubbing a hand down his face.

He was bathed in sweat, but it didn’t rid the sick
feeling that was consuming him.

“It was all a dream.”

This time it was all a dream. The last time, he had to
live through it.

Taking a deep breath, he climbed out of bed and made
his way into the shower room. Getting beneath the nozzle, he didn’t care as the
freezing cold water hit his skin.

Tonio gasped out from the cold, relishing it as it
made him realize that he was alive.

 
“It’s not real.
It’s not real. It’s not real.” Tonio kept on repeating the words. All the time,
he knew it wasn’t true. The dream wasn’t real, but the memories were.

Climbing out of the shower, he wrapped a towel around
his hips while walking toward the laptop he’d left set up. He was trying to
locate all of his father’s old files, to find the traces of those ugly tapes.

There was no way he was ever going to let it go. His
father didn’t give him a choice growing up, but now, he was going to find them,
and destroy them. Opening up the emails, he started to go through his father’s
correspondence. He had everything from his father’s house, including the
apartments, stashed in boxes around him.

Tonio wasn’t going to stop until he found out the
truth. There was no point trying to be around Maria. The one woman he’d ever
loved didn’t want anything to do with him, and he wasn’t going to force her to
see him. Luiz didn’t know about what they’d done together. She was his first
and only love. His father had known, and set out to destroy what little
happiness he had.

Running a hand down his face, he tried to clear his thoughts.

Maria was not his problem. She was pregnant with
another man’s child, another man whom Luiz had also killed.

There had been a lot of killing in the last couple of
months, and it all started with their fathers. The Family had many enemies, but
they were all working together to create a better world.

The very thought was laughable.

The Family being better, it was stupid for them to
even try.

Donnie knew what he was doing. They all held their
places in this newfound leadership.

Tapping his fingers on the keyboard, Tonio kept going
through each mail in the search of the files, the hard copies of the videos
that showed the monster inside of him.

Still nothing.

His father had always promised him that if he went
down, he’d take Tonio with him.

“I guess I’m fucked then.”

Tonio jumped as his cell phone started ringing.

Blowing out a breath, he answered.

“Tonio here.”

“It’s Donnie.”

Glancing at the clock, he saw it was a little after
three. “Shouldn’t you be with Paige?”

“I am with Paige. We’re in the hospital.”

“What are you doing in the hospital?”

Paige was expecting their first baby. They were only
eighteen, like Tonio, but Donnie was absolutely devoted to her.

They were young, but they were all fucking monsters.
Each of them had been initiated into The Family at a young age. They were all
young in body, but in the mind, they were much, much older.

“Maria’s dead, Tonio.”

“What the fuck?” Tonio asked, unable to breathe. He
stood up, the chair clattering back onto the floor as he did so. Leaning forward,
he gripped the table.

Donnie was talking, and he couldn’t make out any
words. It wasn’t possible. No, Maria couldn’t be dead. They had saved her. She
was alive, and pregnant.

“Tonio?”

“What? How?”

“Didn’t you hear me? She killed herself. Luiz found
her by a bottle of pills and vodka. He drove her to the hospital, but she
didn’t make it.”

“The baby?”

“No, I’m sorry.”