The Stories We Whisper at Night - Sky Corgan Page 0,3

I have always joked that he was born with half a brain. He sold the high-rise that my father gave him almost as soon as the keys were handed over and squandered the money on drugs and prostitutes. For a few years, he lived the fast life, partying hard like the money would never run out. It did run out, though. Now you can find him on one of the many street corners in Brooklyn panhandling for pocket change to support his alcohol addiction.

I definitely won't be like that guy. While I won't inherit the entire family business like my eldest brother Antonio, I still have big plans for myself. I want to invest in real estate. Own so many apartment complexes and rental homes that I'll never have to work a day in my life. Well, I'll still have to work, but not very hard. The goal is to amass a fortune, to branch out like my father did, but on a much larger scale and in legit ways.

Everyone knows that my father is a bad-ass. He didn't build his fortune the clean way. And he raised us all to be bad-asses too. I was a thug before anything else. I've bled for my father's business. Looked down the barrel of a loaded gun for my father's business. He always insisted on getting my siblings and me involved early on so that we wouldn't grow up to be pussies, but he never made us stay. Once we hit eighteen, we were free to pursue our own dreams, to get immersed in the underbelly of what he had built or take the straight and narrow path and make a way for ourselves. Except the way for ourselves was paved without financial assistance. If we wanted to go to college, we had to work for it. Pop has always been funny about what he will and won't fork out money for.

After spending my teenage years hustling people for what they owed my father, it was hard getting back on a clean track. Being an alpha was so deeply ingrained into me that I didn't take shit from anyone. It probably shouldn't be surprising that I got fired from almost every job I've ever had. I couldn't even cut it as a bouncer because I was too rough with the people who got out of hand. Always the one to throw the first punch. Didn't give many chances.

I had dreamed of going to college. My original plan when I had graduated from high school was to become a doctor. That quickly went down the drain when I could barely hold down a job long enough to keep myself fed. Thank God, Pop put me up in the high-rise or else I'd still be living at home.

My worries about finances are all over now though. In the span of a few hours, I've gone from being a poor little rich boy eating ramen for dinner almost every night to owning a building that produces nearly $100,000 a month in pure profits. I'll be living like a king from now on if I play my cards right. And I plan on playing my cards right.

“Oh, and I've got another surprise for you,” my father says as I walk him out of the building to his limo.

“Another surprise?” He's done way more for me than I could ever ask for. And I didn't ask for this. He just gave it to me because I'm his son.

“Yeah. You're really going to like this one.” He raises up his hand between us as if whispering a secret to me. “But don't tell your other brothers, because I didn't get them one.”

I smirk, certain that I know what it is. “You got me a new car, didn't you?”

He guffaws. “Lord no. You can go buy yourself a new car with the first month of checks. I got you something better.”

“What's better than a new car?” I stop next to his limo. Pop's driver opens the door, but he doesn't step in.

“I got you a Russian princess.” The grin on his face is infectious, but I still have no idea what he's talking about.

“A Russian princess?” I parrot.

“Yeah. She's got nice lush lips, big tits,” he holds his hands out in front of him to show me the size, “and legs that go on for miles. You'll love her.”

“You're kidding, right?” I put my hand on the open door and rest some of my weight on it.

“Nope. I'm going