Ethic

by Ashley Antoinette

He battled between his humanity and his ruthlessness, daily, trying his hardest to keep himself from reigning over the city with an iron fist. He had learned the art of humility, had developed an appreciation for the simple life, but he had never lost touch with the streets. He had been raised in them, rooted in them, and a man always knew how to tap into the roots of his soul. Ethic was a gangster, and not in the corny way that men claimed to be. He was effortlessly deadly, callously calculating, and unforgivingly deceptive. He played the good guy well because he desperately wanted to be a man of character, a man that his children could be proud of, and a man that a woman could love. But when he had too, he tapped into the darkest parts of him. Only when he must. Often, when he was pushed. Always, for the ones he loved. He was the king of the city; and because he had been on a soul-searching journey, his discreetness had been mistaken for weakness. He was about to light the entire fucking city up.