Everyone thinks the mafia is so glamorous. They make books and movies by the hundred and it's all suave guys in suits making deals in smoky backrooms over poker games.

Well, I'm the mafia prince of Oklahoma. There's no glitz or glamor here, and I hate every minute of it. But it's my birthright. Until war breaks out between my family and the Aryan Brotherhood, and I'm forced to go into hiding in a little Missouri town that's even more remote and redneck than my own.

The only upside is that I get to see the boy I used to share my home with, until his mother got sick of my dad and ran for the hills. I devoted my childhood to protecting him from my violent father, and it was the only thing that's every made me feel like a good person. Seeing him again makes me feel like maybe that good version of myself isn't as dead and buried as I thought. Maybe there's a chance to get him back, if I can scrape away all the numbness and callous around my heart that a lifetime of violence has built up.

Not to mention, he's...different. He was always a shy, scared little kid. Now he's still kind of little, but he's ten pounds of confidence in a five pound bag. And he has no problem telling the homophobic killers that I work with where to shove it if they don't like who he's become. I'm inspired, and I wish I could take a little bit of that confidence for myself.

I've spent my entire life rolling over and giving Dad whatever he wanted. Chipping away at my soul, one piece at a time. With Micah's help, maybe I can get it back. Even if his methods are the last thing I was expecting....