Instead of taking Roman out to get me back to France, he manipulated my own fucking club to try and teach me a lesson, all the while keeping his hands clean so he could continue to use me. Satisfied that’s the totality of the truth of it, I make peace with it. It ends here. Tonight.
“Are you familiar with the game of chess?”
“Save me the theatrics, Tobias. I’m open for negotiations.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, but I think you’ll find this interesting.”
Sean smirks as Antoine glares between us both.
I produce the first chess piece out of my pocket and run it along his line of sight. “My grandfather’s first lesson to me was about the pawn.” When he drops his eyes to follow it, I backhand him. Head jerking back, he gawks at me as blood starts trickling from his lips. Satisfaction hums through my veins as I again wave the pawn in his face and let the monster out to play.
“You see the pawn…” The second his eyes focus, I slam my fist into his nose again and am rewarded with the crunch of cartilage as his eyes water and a curse leaves him before he spits out a mouthful of blood on the plastic.
“Are you paying attention, Antoine? I don’t want you to miss this.” The second he’s focused, I slam my fist into his face again, and he lets out a yelp of pain as blood gushes in a free fall and he mutters something unintelligible under his breath.
“What’s that?” I taunt.
“I’m listening,” he wheezes out.
I look to Sean. “Where was I?”
“The pawn.”
“That’s right. Like I said, the pawn can be one of the most powerful players once in motion. If played just right, it even has the ability to check the king.” I pinch the piece between my fingers. “The pawn is whatever it presents itself to be. I revealed my own weakness early by telling you exactly who I was in our first meeting. That was a rookie error on my part, not to be confused with the rook.” I bury my fist in his face and this time he screams, before choking on the blood clogging his throat.
Giving him a few seconds to regroup, I grip his hair and jerk him to face me.
“Still listening?”
“Yesss,” he hisses, his eyes filling with a rare fear.
“But you did the same thing the night we met. You showed me your weakness because you didn’t see me as a threat, then or in the future, and you gave me everything I needed within a few words. And it was clear to me then—we weren’t playing the same game.”
He furrows his brows.
“Illusion is a powerful thing, Antoine. It can hide a lot. But you never really checked to see what was in my hand, not once, because if you had, you’d have spared yourself this humiliation.”
I shake my head and sigh. “I guess I should give you some credit for reminding me of who I am, of my purpose, but my weakness is not something you should have ever tried to fuck with. You were always an afterthought for me and never part of the picture. If anything, you were my first mark, not a worthy fucking mentor. You never once had my respect, my ear, or my full attention. You want to fucking be me, but I’ve learned true leaders have to humble themselves to evolve. They have to recognize their weaknesses and use them to strengthen themselves.” I avert my eyes to Sean as the aftertaste of my medicine coats my tongue. “And they have to know when to ask for help.”
Gaze lingering on Sean, I come to terms with that truth. Maybe at one time we were all phoenixes, baptized by our individual fires before rising from the ashes of our mistakes. But after the transformation, we declared ourselves a different sort of bird and managed to find our way back to each other. The truth of that is more comforting than anything I’ve ever felt. I was never alone, not once, and it’s so evident now. When one of us falters, when our wings fail us and we lose direction, there’s always another to coast us in.