Chapter 58
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"So wait-" Augustus was the first to speak after the silence that fell following Lucien's confession. "You're trying to tell me that in the forty-something rooms up there, only five of them contain alive people? So like about thirty-five are dead? So like less than twenty percent are alive? What are you? A walking FN FAL?"
I screwed my face. "What's an FN FAL?"
"One of the most legit guns in the world. Five-hundred rounds per minute. Pretty cool-"
"No, you idiot-" Lucien rolled his eyes. "Seven-hundred."
Augustus turned to look at him and smirked. "French boy did his homework."
Lucien raised his index finger and pointed it at him. "Don't call me that."
"Whatever. Creep."
"Can we return to the issue at hand?" I muttered boredly, stealing a glance at Samantha who seemed to be observing us carefully. I looked away.
"All the rest are dead?" My father asked and Lucien grimaced.
"No. They're as good as dead."
"But they're alive?" Augustus said. "I don't see your point."
"Who brought that idiot here?" Lucien started and Augustus glared at him.
"Augustus," Father warned.
"Right. Fine. Sheesh-" My brother then sidled up next to me and said nothing.
With his eyes on Lucien, Father called one of his men and in an instant, he was in front of him.
"Yes, sir!"
"Take yourself along with ten others and check all the rooms on all the floors. You will find people. A majority will be in dire conditions. Be careful and return ASAP."
"Yes, sir!" he repeated.
Lucien snickered. "The rooms are locked."
"Knock down all the doors-" Father commanded authoritatively, ignoring Lucien's statement.
"Yes, sir. Anything else, sir?"
"No. Just that and come back."
With that, the man Father summoned turned and left along with some of the men who conjured Ledger, Augustus and I here. Lucien's jaws were clenched and his hold around the glass tightened. He was angry.
"Look at how weak you've become without your father and brother-" Father said with a smile.
"You've no idea what I'm capable of-" Lucien smirked and I raised my eyebrows at his cockiness.
"We can protect you-" Father said nevertheless as Lucien's left eye twitched.
"I don't need your protection."
"Really?" My father lowered his voice now. "The house is safe, Lucien. If you talk, they won't know."
"I don't need your protection," Lucien repeated with a faint smile.
"So you're trying to tell me that you lured me here by taking Julius as a hostage, to kill me, for example? To torment my son?" Father made a face. "I must say it's a brilliant plan. Very believable. I fell for it in the beginning. Even your sister fell for it."
My eyes widened at his words. So I was being played. So this whole kidnapping and 'hostage' thing weren't to torment me. Lucien was scared and really needed to lure in my father. My father, apparently knew how to 'protect' him from...those who hired him? And I, apparently, paid the price by being locked in that bloody basement.
What nonsense.
"I don't need your protection. I need revenge-"
"Lucien-" Father sighed. "You're just angry and confused right now. You didn't even like your brother."
"Stop it!" Lucien started and I heard Samantha gasp.
"You were jealous of him all that time-" Father was smirking, completely at ease. I was listening shocked, with Augustus' constant cursing as my music.
"That's not true-"
"Charming, with a great style. You wished you were the one people watched those videos for-" Father continued and Lucien shut his eyes and clenched his fists. "It was always Esteban."
"I do not care what people think-" He said between clenched teeth and Father chuckled.
"Of course you do!" He said. "Because if you were people's 'Esteban', you'd be living happily right now. You wouldn't have traumatized your younger sister by telling her to kill my son, just to lure me here. You knew I knew what was going on. You knew I was coming for help. Why are you afraid of admitting it now? All I need is your confession and we're done here."
And I remembered feeling so useless. So damn useless. All that time I wasted, what was it for? If my father had planned everything perfectly, what was my point in life? Did he have any idea how all that affected me? I felt so humiliated. So stupid. Because Father was right. He was my brain. He controlled everything after all.
But it wasn't the time to talk. It was the time to listen. And so I did.
"There's nothing to admit-" Lucien said, shaking his head. "I'll run away. I won't be leaving this place with you. I lured you here to take revenge."
Father smiled pitifully and was about to speak when cries and screams erupted from the staircase. Men came up the stairs holding so many people in gut-wrenching conditions. Girls no older than thirteen were naked with blood as their clothes. There were boys not older than five, stumbling out with broken fingers and crooked noses, crying in pain. On seeing this, Samantha shrieked and covered her head with her arms, sobbing her heart out.
Father, Augustus and I straightened up at their presence as Lucien leaned back against the window and smirked. And never in my life had I ever wished for a window to disappear. Because I'd love to see him stumble and fall to his death. I'd love to see him die.
"But I didn't come here for this, boy," my father broke the silence between us that aroused from the commotion that unfolded in front of us. His cool was wearing off. "I mean don't take my negotiable techniques for granted. They can change in a finger snap."
"I will not confess."
"You need to-"
"I know I'm being recorded!" Lucien then yelled, throwing the glass in his hand at the wall as Augustus flinched back. "You think I'm a fool?!"
"Don't be scared of them." My father said, shaking his head. "There's nothing to be scared of-"
"I will not be leaving with you-" Lucien said determinedly.
Father ignored him and signalled for one of his men.
"Sir."
"Take all them all outside-" Father commanded, referring to all the hostages. "Let the medical team check up on them and do the necessary."
Medical team? Didn't know we had one.
Instantly, the man turned and did what my father asked. The 'victims' then filed out of the reception, one by one, leaving the reception emptier with the nine men holding their guns at Lucien, Samantha, Augustus, Father and I.
I sighed and crossed my arms across my chest.
"Who are those 'they', you have been referring to?" Augustus then dared ask and I nodded at his question.
"Those who hired LEO," I muttered under my breath, trying to connect the dots myself.
So, it seemed that LEO was some dark web criminal group assigned by people of higher grades to satisfy them with 'videos'. Videos they got paid for. Videos Samantha told me about. And it appeared that Esteban, Lucien's dead brother, was the most important member of the trio. Apparently important enough for the videos to become unwatchable in his absence. And it seemed that Lucien was paying the price for both his dead father and brother.
And it all started to make sense. Lucien's fear. Why he was particularly irritated about his father's death, unlike Esteban who knew he'd always be on the safe side. Which made me wonder if Esteban's death was a mere coincidence. If it hadn't been planned by Father all along. I mean, it seemed that Father was very aware of the importance of Esteban. Maybe he wanted to break LEO apart.
But that didn't explain how was any of this related to Gorj. Why he wasn't as angry as I'd anticipated when he got to know that I had the documents? Did he know I did? And if this (breaking down LEO) was Father's motive in the beginning, why was he angered when I killed Ricardo? I mean, wouldn't that have been considered as help? Why did he punish me by killing pregnant Audrey? If he really did have an idea about everything going on from the beginning, why would he let me waste time on the wrong 'Sam'? Why, goddammit, leave me to brew in a filthy basement for weeks?
No. It didn't make sense at all.
My train of thoughts was wrecked by an 'Oh', escaping from Augustus' mouth.
"You will not lea-" Father mocked and Lucien smiled.
"You seem to particularly enjoy underestimating me-" Lucien tilted his head as his stone-grey eyes darkened. "Don't you think someone like me, with all that experience in doing nothing but evil, would have learnt a thing or two?"
"I'd hate it if you risked it-" My father said seriously. "Risk trying what you've learn-"
"In fact," Lucien claimed, turning to me out of nowhere and smiling. "-I fail to not remain astonished at how your son seems so very clueless about what his own father does. Poor thing. Twenty-something years old and still a pawn in his father's dirty games."
"Yes. Precisely. You figure-" I pressed a smile, ignoring his irrelevant comment (what he did here -changing the subject- was a sign that he lost. It didn't even deserve my acknowledgement), but Augustus interrupted me.
"And what have you done with your twenty-something years? Wait for your brother to decide your fate? Fucking loser-" My brother snapped and Lucien's face screwed up before he dragged him by the collar and throttled him.
"What did you sa-?"
And just seeing my brother in his filthy clutches was like spilling all my damned blood on the bloody floor and lighting every damned cell on fire. Just like that. I grasped Lucien's forearm that still held onto Augustus and growled.
"Let him go."
Lucien snapped his head to me and I was surprised that Augustus used this moment of distraction to punch Lucien in his stomach. Lucien groaned but didn't let go of a now terrified-looking Augustus. He turned and slammed my brother's back to the window as my heart got caught in my mouth. What if the glass shattered under my brother's weight and he fell to his death? I felt dizzy just by the mere thought of it.
So I immediately lunged at Lucien with all the force I could muster with my faulty back, pushing him off my brother, who coughed and gulped his way from the window to stare at us. I then pulled away and straightened up with a wince.
Lucien looked up, panted and licked his lower lip. "I see you've got some power left in you-" he said with a dark smile. "I should've deepened them. The sca-"
I was about to reply when Lucien was punched in the face. I looked beside me and was astonished when I saw Augustus shaking his hand in pain. I frowned at him because- how could he be so stupid to anger a psychotic shit and put himself in grave danger? I mean he just bit more than he could chew.
Lucien growled and was about to lunge at Augustus when I captured both of his arms behind his back, restraining him from my defenceless brother.
"I don't like the way you speak with my brother," Augustus hissed, pushing back his sleeves.
"Augustus. Enough," I heard my father warn from the background.
Lucien struggled in my grip as I smirked at Augustus.
"Doesn't that make you miss Esteban?" I managed to whisper teasingly and dodge his head that he apparently thought he could crash in my nose.
"Okay boys, enough!" My father thundered and Lucien stopped struggling to glance at him.
"We will never be allies," Lucien breathed. "My men are coming in a few minutes. And everything will go down tonight."
I frowned at his words and glanced at my father who for once didn't appear as cocky as he seemed.
"You will regre-"
"Goddammit, I've regretted everything in my goddamned life," he yelled and I wondered why I was still holding him back. I let go of his arms before he staggered toward my father and pointed an index finger at his chest. "I will not regret getting my freedom-"
"This isn't ho-"
"If I go with you-" Lucien yelled, red-faced, his whole frame shaking. "I get prisoned for all the felonies I've committed! I'd be escaping a prison only to run into another. Can't you see?" His teeth bared and his eyes watered.
"I will make sure they take into account your coopera-"
"What kind of cooperation will justify all that I've done?" He pressed, silent tears falling down his face and I wondered if he was acting all along. "I'm a terrible one here. And I will run away-"
"You cann-"
"Sure as hell, I can!" He said, grabbing a bunch of hair in both his hands. "Just wait for them to come."
"All the entrances are heavily guar-"
"Oh, no-" he then chuckled and waved an index finger. "They're not gonna come walking. They'll come from the sky-" Lucien then shrugged with a fake pout.
Father visibly tensed at his words as the sound of heavy footsteps filled my ears.
"We have helicopters-" Lucien smirked. "See? You haven't thought of that!"
I whipped my head to Augustus who stood staring at the staircase in anticipation before I glanced at Samantha who sat still on the armchair, staring at it as well. Inhaling sharply, I immediately reached for Samantha and yanked her out of the chair. She stared at me, lips parted, but this wasn't 'stare-and-fall-harder' time. I threw her in Augustus' clutches.
"Get her and yourself out of here. Now!" I instructed, staring hard into Augustus' glassy, blue eyes as he nodded at me, taken aback.
"But I'm coming back for you," he said seriously with a frown and I shook my head vigorously.
"No, you're not-" I stated vehemently. "You will get out. You will be safe. You w-"
"You're crazy if you think I wouldn't come back. Don't you remember what you told me? That you wanted to see whose side I'd stand on? Today I'm giving you the answer-" he said, smiling and my heart grew in my chest- but dammit, Gustus, this wasn't the time to be sentimental.
"Please, Gustus-" I clenched my jaws. "I don't know what might happen. I just don't. I can't have you here, okay? You'll distract me. Plea-"
"Distract yo-?" he was frowning, but I nodded, my eyes wide.
"Yes. I'll always have my-my eyes on you-" I admitted. "Cause if something happened to you, Gustus-" I stopped myself, my eyes already watering from such thoughts. "If something happened to you-"
"And what about you?"
"I can take care of myself!" I almost yelled at him. "You-You. Go. Now."
"Right-" Augustus pressed his lips, his face a few inches from mine. "You're fucking annoying, but dammit I -uh- love you," he frowned as he helped Samantha straighten up in his arms, against his chest. Samantha was in another dimension, staring at the blood that covered the floors from all the hostages and at her brother.
"Yeah, whatever." I love you too. So much.
"Wait!" Samantha then whispered, her head snapping up to me and I glanced at her with a pang in my chest. "I'll see you again, right?"
My lips floated in the air as I was caught off guard staring in her sky-blue eyes.
"Right?" she pressed, a hand on her chest, her face screwed up and her eyes swimming in an ocean of tears.
"Yes, of course," Augustus was the one to scoff. "Right, Julius? Remember? Our plan?"
Feeling my heart constrict in my chest, I nodded speechlessly. "Right. Now go, please."
And just like that they left and about twenty heavily armed guards stepped in.
"Julius!" I looked to my side to find my father tossing me a gun. My heart skipped a beat as I caught it and stared at it. It was identical to my gun, but when I examined the hilt, the initials weren't mine.
A.A.
I shrugged and immediately held it in front of me, waiting for any wrong move. But no one moved. Everyone stood with their gun in front of their chests, waiting for action, except for Lucien who stood in the middle, seemingly enjoying what was happening.
"We outnumber you, Lucien," my father announced. "This is diabolical. Stop them at once!"
"I will. Once I'm out-" he smiled as I tried calming my haphazard breathing.
But Father seemed to have run out of patience. So instead of saying a thing, he pointed his gun to the ceiling. He then yelled, "FIFTY, FIFTY-ONE, FIFTY-TWO! NOW!"
With that, he shot the chandelier's chain and it came crashing down at Lucien's feet. Lucien twisted his upper body away and had closed his eyes shut against all the glass shards that cascaded around him.
The room became significantly dimmer, alarming me.
Then, two seconds later, three of Lucien's guards that stood in front of the staircase fell to the ground. Just like that. My eyes widened, anticipating the worst as I clutched the gun harder.
What the hell was happening?
Then another three fell. Lucien's mouth was open as he stared at the lifeless bodies of his guards.
I dared look behind me to find three immaculate holes in the window pane.
Two more seconds and the windows shattered.
Then there was chaos.
Ledger was already elbowing someone in the face and shooting them, while Father seemed to have the time of his life knocking down one man after the other. I was so shocked to the extent that I didn't notice someone creep behind me until they cradled my head, hoping to break my neck.
Wrong move.
I backed into him with all my force, ignoring the excruciating pain from my back, until we hit a wall. I freed myself from his grasp and punched him right in the nose, disarming him. Then with one quick swing, I shot his left leg, took his gun and threw it out of the window. I quickly turned and wasn't surprised at the sight of fists flying, guns shooting and men crying blood. It was a war.
I even dodged a fist, before Ledger dragged that daring man away from me and I shot his leg. Ledger winked at me and I couldn't help but smirk. It had been a while ever since we'd worked together like that.
I watched Lucien get away with one guard and scowled. He wasn't going anywhere. I aimed at his guard's leg and shot. The guard fell in Lucien's arms who stumbled to the ground under his guard's weight.
I quickly made my way to him, dodging fists, shooting legs and cursing under my breath until I stood in front of their tangled mess. I pushed the guard off of him while pointing the gun at Lucien.
Lucien came on his forearms and glared at me.
"You aren't going anywhere, you shit."
But before I could shoot his legs, someone stumbled back on me and I tripped on Lucien's purposefully outstretched leg. I fell on my back, the gun flying out of my hand, groaning in agony as I forced myself not to shut my eyes against it. The pain. I had to see. I had to.
I was about to get to my feet when Lucien's foot found my chest and pressed hard. I banged my head on the floor from the pain.
"I bet this doesn't hurt as much as it did when you killed my father-" he said venomously as my arms tried to limply get his leg off of me.
"I bet it doesn't-"
"You think you're smart, huh?" He pressed harder and I clenched my teeth, my legs kicking the air as I tried restraining the pain.
"Why does he matter to you?" I finally said. "I thought Esteban was the one who mattered the most."
"Oh, sure he did-" he spat, pressing harder on my chest and I thought I heard the stitches rupture. "But I loved my dad. And I hated my brother. Killing my dad gave us one strike. Killing Esteban gave me, three damned strikes. And the game says, three strikes and game over."
"You're as good as dead Lucien-" I mocked, my eyes two oceans with the tears they held because of the pain.
"Oh?" He then reached for his back and retrieved a knife. "I think not."
My heart beat loudly in my chest as he kicked me in my stomach and I almost doubled over from the pain when he straddled me and held the knife in my face. I held back his forearms and pushed them as far away from my face as possible.
"You will die like the pathetic coward your father brought you up to be-" he spat in my face, forehead vein bulging and eyes glistening with darkness as I blinked rapidly, desperately even, a couple of times to stop the tears from obscuring my vision. "You will always be that monster people hate."
But at that point, the pain in my back seemed insignificant to the pain his words caused because every and each word he spoke stood in my trachea, swearing by the crying demons to not let me breathe. I was just spluttering as he applied more forced on the knife and as I kept resisting him with every exhausted atom in my being.
I felt like I was going to collapse from the sheer effort of it all. And you can't possibly imagine the number of frantic thoughts that ran over my brain at this moment. Augustus and his promise. Samantha and our parallel universe. They were all oppressing my breathing.
"I don't like the way you speak to my brother."
And then Lucien was kicked off me. I gasped in air but begged myself to not give in. It wasn't over yet. I had to fight and fight. I wheezed but quickly reached for my gun, stood up and swayed a bit before steadying myself.
The floor where I was lying was smudged with my blood and Lucien was still holding his head, his knife still in his hands. I staggered away from him, wiping my teary eyes with my sleeve before colliding into someone. I looked up and found none other than Augustus' teary, ocean eyes. And the amount of love I had for him at this moment was immense. More than any love in the world. It filled every inch of my being.
I nodded at him but he was on the move, punching people and knocking them down with his gun. I couldn't help but smile before I glanced back at an angry Lucien.
"Get up," I breathed heavily as I approached him and kicked him in his stomach. He dropped his knife. "Get up!" I kicked him again. And he did get up. Slowly, back supported on the wall with a cruel smirk on his face and a bloodied fist on his abdomen.
But before I could do anything, I was grabbed back by my shirt's collar by some goddamn idiot! I was so angered by this move, so angered to the extent that I turned and dislocated the person's jaws by a single smack from my gun. I kicked him away and glanced at Augustus who run a hand against his nose before spitting at the crippled body below him. And I remembered smiling at Augustus. Really smiling at him as I kicked someone. I wanted to tell him how proud I was to have him as a brother. How truly amazing he was. How much I loved him. How much I wanted to hug him, even if for hours.
But those thoughts were shattered to pieces by Father's voice that boomed across the reception and Augustus' grimace that caught my heart in my chest.
"JULIUS! LOOK OUT!"
I turned around to find Lucien with his knife and a wry smile. He was talking. Yes, I swear he was talking. His lips were moving but I couldn't quite comprehend what they were saying as something blurry passed in front of me. Then I heard two things.
"IN THE NAME OF ORVILLE!"
And well.
And a sharp swivel.
Then came the pain.
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"So wait-" Augustus was the first to speak after the silence that fell following Lucien's confession. "You're trying to tell me that in the forty-something rooms up there, only five of them contain alive people? So like about thirty-five are dead? So like less than twenty percent are alive? What are you? A walking FN FAL?"
I screwed my face. "What's an FN FAL?"
"One of the most legit guns in the world. Five-hundred rounds per minute. Pretty cool-"
"No, you idiot-" Lucien rolled his eyes. "Seven-hundred."
Augustus turned to look at him and smirked. "French boy did his homework."
Lucien raised his index finger and pointed it at him. "Don't call me that."
"Whatever. Creep."
"Can we return to the issue at hand?" I muttered boredly, stealing a glance at Samantha who seemed to be observing us carefully. I looked away.
"All the rest are dead?" My father asked and Lucien grimaced.
"No. They're as good as dead."
"But they're alive?" Augustus said. "I don't see your point."
"Who brought that idiot here?" Lucien started and Augustus glared at him.
"Augustus," Father warned.
"Right. Fine. Sheesh-" My brother then sidled up next to me and said nothing.
With his eyes on Lucien, Father called one of his men and in an instant, he was in front of him.
"Yes, sir!"
"Take yourself along with ten others and check all the rooms on all the floors. You will find people. A majority will be in dire conditions. Be careful and return ASAP."
"Yes, sir!" he repeated.
Lucien snickered. "The rooms are locked."
"Knock down all the doors-" Father commanded authoritatively, ignoring Lucien's statement.
"Yes, sir. Anything else, sir?"
"No. Just that and come back."
With that, the man Father summoned turned and left along with some of the men who conjured Ledger, Augustus and I here. Lucien's jaws were clenched and his hold around the glass tightened. He was angry.
"Look at how weak you've become without your father and brother-" Father said with a smile.
"You've no idea what I'm capable of-" Lucien smirked and I raised my eyebrows at his cockiness.
"We can protect you-" Father said nevertheless as Lucien's left eye twitched.
"I don't need your protection."
"Really?" My father lowered his voice now. "The house is safe, Lucien. If you talk, they won't know."
"I don't need your protection," Lucien repeated with a faint smile.
"So you're trying to tell me that you lured me here by taking Julius as a hostage, to kill me, for example? To torment my son?" Father made a face. "I must say it's a brilliant plan. Very believable. I fell for it in the beginning. Even your sister fell for it."
My eyes widened at his words. So I was being played. So this whole kidnapping and 'hostage' thing weren't to torment me. Lucien was scared and really needed to lure in my father. My father, apparently knew how to 'protect' him from...those who hired him? And I, apparently, paid the price by being locked in that bloody basement.
What nonsense.
"I don't need your protection. I need revenge-"
"Lucien-" Father sighed. "You're just angry and confused right now. You didn't even like your brother."
"Stop it!" Lucien started and I heard Samantha gasp.
"You were jealous of him all that time-" Father was smirking, completely at ease. I was listening shocked, with Augustus' constant cursing as my music.
"That's not true-"
"Charming, with a great style. You wished you were the one people watched those videos for-" Father continued and Lucien shut his eyes and clenched his fists. "It was always Esteban."
"I do not care what people think-" He said between clenched teeth and Father chuckled.
"Of course you do!" He said. "Because if you were people's 'Esteban', you'd be living happily right now. You wouldn't have traumatized your younger sister by telling her to kill my son, just to lure me here. You knew I knew what was going on. You knew I was coming for help. Why are you afraid of admitting it now? All I need is your confession and we're done here."
And I remembered feeling so useless. So damn useless. All that time I wasted, what was it for? If my father had planned everything perfectly, what was my point in life? Did he have any idea how all that affected me? I felt so humiliated. So stupid. Because Father was right. He was my brain. He controlled everything after all.
But it wasn't the time to talk. It was the time to listen. And so I did.
"There's nothing to admit-" Lucien said, shaking his head. "I'll run away. I won't be leaving this place with you. I lured you here to take revenge."
Father smiled pitifully and was about to speak when cries and screams erupted from the staircase. Men came up the stairs holding so many people in gut-wrenching conditions. Girls no older than thirteen were naked with blood as their clothes. There were boys not older than five, stumbling out with broken fingers and crooked noses, crying in pain. On seeing this, Samantha shrieked and covered her head with her arms, sobbing her heart out.
Father, Augustus and I straightened up at their presence as Lucien leaned back against the window and smirked. And never in my life had I ever wished for a window to disappear. Because I'd love to see him stumble and fall to his death. I'd love to see him die.
"But I didn't come here for this, boy," my father broke the silence between us that aroused from the commotion that unfolded in front of us. His cool was wearing off. "I mean don't take my negotiable techniques for granted. They can change in a finger snap."
"I will not confess."
"You need to-"
"I know I'm being recorded!" Lucien then yelled, throwing the glass in his hand at the wall as Augustus flinched back. "You think I'm a fool?!"
"Don't be scared of them." My father said, shaking his head. "There's nothing to be scared of-"
"I will not be leaving with you-" Lucien said determinedly.
Father ignored him and signalled for one of his men.
"Sir."
"Take all them all outside-" Father commanded, referring to all the hostages. "Let the medical team check up on them and do the necessary."
Medical team? Didn't know we had one.
Instantly, the man turned and did what my father asked. The 'victims' then filed out of the reception, one by one, leaving the reception emptier with the nine men holding their guns at Lucien, Samantha, Augustus, Father and I.
I sighed and crossed my arms across my chest.
"Who are those 'they', you have been referring to?" Augustus then dared ask and I nodded at his question.
"Those who hired LEO," I muttered under my breath, trying to connect the dots myself.
So, it seemed that LEO was some dark web criminal group assigned by people of higher grades to satisfy them with 'videos'. Videos they got paid for. Videos Samantha told me about. And it appeared that Esteban, Lucien's dead brother, was the most important member of the trio. Apparently important enough for the videos to become unwatchable in his absence. And it seemed that Lucien was paying the price for both his dead father and brother.
And it all started to make sense. Lucien's fear. Why he was particularly irritated about his father's death, unlike Esteban who knew he'd always be on the safe side. Which made me wonder if Esteban's death was a mere coincidence. If it hadn't been planned by Father all along. I mean, it seemed that Father was very aware of the importance of Esteban. Maybe he wanted to break LEO apart.
But that didn't explain how was any of this related to Gorj. Why he wasn't as angry as I'd anticipated when he got to know that I had the documents? Did he know I did? And if this (breaking down LEO) was Father's motive in the beginning, why was he angered when I killed Ricardo? I mean, wouldn't that have been considered as help? Why did he punish me by killing pregnant Audrey? If he really did have an idea about everything going on from the beginning, why would he let me waste time on the wrong 'Sam'? Why, goddammit, leave me to brew in a filthy basement for weeks?
No. It didn't make sense at all.
My train of thoughts was wrecked by an 'Oh', escaping from Augustus' mouth.
"You will not lea-" Father mocked and Lucien smiled.
"You seem to particularly enjoy underestimating me-" Lucien tilted his head as his stone-grey eyes darkened. "Don't you think someone like me, with all that experience in doing nothing but evil, would have learnt a thing or two?"
"I'd hate it if you risked it-" My father said seriously. "Risk trying what you've learn-"
"In fact," Lucien claimed, turning to me out of nowhere and smiling. "-I fail to not remain astonished at how your son seems so very clueless about what his own father does. Poor thing. Twenty-something years old and still a pawn in his father's dirty games."
"Yes. Precisely. You figure-" I pressed a smile, ignoring his irrelevant comment (what he did here -changing the subject- was a sign that he lost. It didn't even deserve my acknowledgement), but Augustus interrupted me.
"And what have you done with your twenty-something years? Wait for your brother to decide your fate? Fucking loser-" My brother snapped and Lucien's face screwed up before he dragged him by the collar and throttled him.
"What did you sa-?"
And just seeing my brother in his filthy clutches was like spilling all my damned blood on the bloody floor and lighting every damned cell on fire. Just like that. I grasped Lucien's forearm that still held onto Augustus and growled.
"Let him go."
Lucien snapped his head to me and I was surprised that Augustus used this moment of distraction to punch Lucien in his stomach. Lucien groaned but didn't let go of a now terrified-looking Augustus. He turned and slammed my brother's back to the window as my heart got caught in my mouth. What if the glass shattered under my brother's weight and he fell to his death? I felt dizzy just by the mere thought of it.
So I immediately lunged at Lucien with all the force I could muster with my faulty back, pushing him off my brother, who coughed and gulped his way from the window to stare at us. I then pulled away and straightened up with a wince.
Lucien looked up, panted and licked his lower lip. "I see you've got some power left in you-" he said with a dark smile. "I should've deepened them. The sca-"
I was about to reply when Lucien was punched in the face. I looked beside me and was astonished when I saw Augustus shaking his hand in pain. I frowned at him because- how could he be so stupid to anger a psychotic shit and put himself in grave danger? I mean he just bit more than he could chew.
Lucien growled and was about to lunge at Augustus when I captured both of his arms behind his back, restraining him from my defenceless brother.
"I don't like the way you speak with my brother," Augustus hissed, pushing back his sleeves.
"Augustus. Enough," I heard my father warn from the background.
Lucien struggled in my grip as I smirked at Augustus.
"Doesn't that make you miss Esteban?" I managed to whisper teasingly and dodge his head that he apparently thought he could crash in my nose.
"Okay boys, enough!" My father thundered and Lucien stopped struggling to glance at him.
"We will never be allies," Lucien breathed. "My men are coming in a few minutes. And everything will go down tonight."
I frowned at his words and glanced at my father who for once didn't appear as cocky as he seemed.
"You will regre-"
"Goddammit, I've regretted everything in my goddamned life," he yelled and I wondered why I was still holding him back. I let go of his arms before he staggered toward my father and pointed an index finger at his chest. "I will not regret getting my freedom-"
"This isn't ho-"
"If I go with you-" Lucien yelled, red-faced, his whole frame shaking. "I get prisoned for all the felonies I've committed! I'd be escaping a prison only to run into another. Can't you see?" His teeth bared and his eyes watered.
"I will make sure they take into account your coopera-"
"What kind of cooperation will justify all that I've done?" He pressed, silent tears falling down his face and I wondered if he was acting all along. "I'm a terrible one here. And I will run away-"
"You cann-"
"Sure as hell, I can!" He said, grabbing a bunch of hair in both his hands. "Just wait for them to come."
"All the entrances are heavily guar-"
"Oh, no-" he then chuckled and waved an index finger. "They're not gonna come walking. They'll come from the sky-" Lucien then shrugged with a fake pout.
Father visibly tensed at his words as the sound of heavy footsteps filled my ears.
"We have helicopters-" Lucien smirked. "See? You haven't thought of that!"
I whipped my head to Augustus who stood staring at the staircase in anticipation before I glanced at Samantha who sat still on the armchair, staring at it as well. Inhaling sharply, I immediately reached for Samantha and yanked her out of the chair. She stared at me, lips parted, but this wasn't 'stare-and-fall-harder' time. I threw her in Augustus' clutches.
"Get her and yourself out of here. Now!" I instructed, staring hard into Augustus' glassy, blue eyes as he nodded at me, taken aback.
"But I'm coming back for you," he said seriously with a frown and I shook my head vigorously.
"No, you're not-" I stated vehemently. "You will get out. You will be safe. You w-"
"You're crazy if you think I wouldn't come back. Don't you remember what you told me? That you wanted to see whose side I'd stand on? Today I'm giving you the answer-" he said, smiling and my heart grew in my chest- but dammit, Gustus, this wasn't the time to be sentimental.
"Please, Gustus-" I clenched my jaws. "I don't know what might happen. I just don't. I can't have you here, okay? You'll distract me. Plea-"
"Distract yo-?" he was frowning, but I nodded, my eyes wide.
"Yes. I'll always have my-my eyes on you-" I admitted. "Cause if something happened to you, Gustus-" I stopped myself, my eyes already watering from such thoughts. "If something happened to you-"
"And what about you?"
"I can take care of myself!" I almost yelled at him. "You-You. Go. Now."
"Right-" Augustus pressed his lips, his face a few inches from mine. "You're fucking annoying, but dammit I -uh- love you," he frowned as he helped Samantha straighten up in his arms, against his chest. Samantha was in another dimension, staring at the blood that covered the floors from all the hostages and at her brother.
"Yeah, whatever." I love you too. So much.
"Wait!" Samantha then whispered, her head snapping up to me and I glanced at her with a pang in my chest. "I'll see you again, right?"
My lips floated in the air as I was caught off guard staring in her sky-blue eyes.
"Right?" she pressed, a hand on her chest, her face screwed up and her eyes swimming in an ocean of tears.
"Yes, of course," Augustus was the one to scoff. "Right, Julius? Remember? Our plan?"
Feeling my heart constrict in my chest, I nodded speechlessly. "Right. Now go, please."
And just like that they left and about twenty heavily armed guards stepped in.
"Julius!" I looked to my side to find my father tossing me a gun. My heart skipped a beat as I caught it and stared at it. It was identical to my gun, but when I examined the hilt, the initials weren't mine.
A.A.
I shrugged and immediately held it in front of me, waiting for any wrong move. But no one moved. Everyone stood with their gun in front of their chests, waiting for action, except for Lucien who stood in the middle, seemingly enjoying what was happening.
"We outnumber you, Lucien," my father announced. "This is diabolical. Stop them at once!"
"I will. Once I'm out-" he smiled as I tried calming my haphazard breathing.
But Father seemed to have run out of patience. So instead of saying a thing, he pointed his gun to the ceiling. He then yelled, "FIFTY, FIFTY-ONE, FIFTY-TWO! NOW!"
With that, he shot the chandelier's chain and it came crashing down at Lucien's feet. Lucien twisted his upper body away and had closed his eyes shut against all the glass shards that cascaded around him.
The room became significantly dimmer, alarming me.
Then, two seconds later, three of Lucien's guards that stood in front of the staircase fell to the ground. Just like that. My eyes widened, anticipating the worst as I clutched the gun harder.
What the hell was happening?
Then another three fell. Lucien's mouth was open as he stared at the lifeless bodies of his guards.
I dared look behind me to find three immaculate holes in the window pane.
Two more seconds and the windows shattered.
Then there was chaos.
Ledger was already elbowing someone in the face and shooting them, while Father seemed to have the time of his life knocking down one man after the other. I was so shocked to the extent that I didn't notice someone creep behind me until they cradled my head, hoping to break my neck.
Wrong move.
I backed into him with all my force, ignoring the excruciating pain from my back, until we hit a wall. I freed myself from his grasp and punched him right in the nose, disarming him. Then with one quick swing, I shot his left leg, took his gun and threw it out of the window. I quickly turned and wasn't surprised at the sight of fists flying, guns shooting and men crying blood. It was a war.
I even dodged a fist, before Ledger dragged that daring man away from me and I shot his leg. Ledger winked at me and I couldn't help but smirk. It had been a while ever since we'd worked together like that.
I watched Lucien get away with one guard and scowled. He wasn't going anywhere. I aimed at his guard's leg and shot. The guard fell in Lucien's arms who stumbled to the ground under his guard's weight.
I quickly made my way to him, dodging fists, shooting legs and cursing under my breath until I stood in front of their tangled mess. I pushed the guard off of him while pointing the gun at Lucien.
Lucien came on his forearms and glared at me.
"You aren't going anywhere, you shit."
But before I could shoot his legs, someone stumbled back on me and I tripped on Lucien's purposefully outstretched leg. I fell on my back, the gun flying out of my hand, groaning in agony as I forced myself not to shut my eyes against it. The pain. I had to see. I had to.
I was about to get to my feet when Lucien's foot found my chest and pressed hard. I banged my head on the floor from the pain.
"I bet this doesn't hurt as much as it did when you killed my father-" he said venomously as my arms tried to limply get his leg off of me.
"I bet it doesn't-"
"You think you're smart, huh?" He pressed harder and I clenched my teeth, my legs kicking the air as I tried restraining the pain.
"Why does he matter to you?" I finally said. "I thought Esteban was the one who mattered the most."
"Oh, sure he did-" he spat, pressing harder on my chest and I thought I heard the stitches rupture. "But I loved my dad. And I hated my brother. Killing my dad gave us one strike. Killing Esteban gave me, three damned strikes. And the game says, three strikes and game over."
"You're as good as dead Lucien-" I mocked, my eyes two oceans with the tears they held because of the pain.
"Oh?" He then reached for his back and retrieved a knife. "I think not."
My heart beat loudly in my chest as he kicked me in my stomach and I almost doubled over from the pain when he straddled me and held the knife in my face. I held back his forearms and pushed them as far away from my face as possible.
"You will die like the pathetic coward your father brought you up to be-" he spat in my face, forehead vein bulging and eyes glistening with darkness as I blinked rapidly, desperately even, a couple of times to stop the tears from obscuring my vision. "You will always be that monster people hate."
But at that point, the pain in my back seemed insignificant to the pain his words caused because every and each word he spoke stood in my trachea, swearing by the crying demons to not let me breathe. I was just spluttering as he applied more forced on the knife and as I kept resisting him with every exhausted atom in my being.
I felt like I was going to collapse from the sheer effort of it all. And you can't possibly imagine the number of frantic thoughts that ran over my brain at this moment. Augustus and his promise. Samantha and our parallel universe. They were all oppressing my breathing.
"I don't like the way you speak to my brother."
And then Lucien was kicked off me. I gasped in air but begged myself to not give in. It wasn't over yet. I had to fight and fight. I wheezed but quickly reached for my gun, stood up and swayed a bit before steadying myself.
The floor where I was lying was smudged with my blood and Lucien was still holding his head, his knife still in his hands. I staggered away from him, wiping my teary eyes with my sleeve before colliding into someone. I looked up and found none other than Augustus' teary, ocean eyes. And the amount of love I had for him at this moment was immense. More than any love in the world. It filled every inch of my being.
I nodded at him but he was on the move, punching people and knocking them down with his gun. I couldn't help but smile before I glanced back at an angry Lucien.
"Get up," I breathed heavily as I approached him and kicked him in his stomach. He dropped his knife. "Get up!" I kicked him again. And he did get up. Slowly, back supported on the wall with a cruel smirk on his face and a bloodied fist on his abdomen.
But before I could do anything, I was grabbed back by my shirt's collar by some goddamn idiot! I was so angered by this move, so angered to the extent that I turned and dislocated the person's jaws by a single smack from my gun. I kicked him away and glanced at Augustus who run a hand against his nose before spitting at the crippled body below him. And I remembered smiling at Augustus. Really smiling at him as I kicked someone. I wanted to tell him how proud I was to have him as a brother. How truly amazing he was. How much I loved him. How much I wanted to hug him, even if for hours.
But those thoughts were shattered to pieces by Father's voice that boomed across the reception and Augustus' grimace that caught my heart in my chest.
"JULIUS! LOOK OUT!"
I turned around to find Lucien with his knife and a wry smile. He was talking. Yes, I swear he was talking. His lips were moving but I couldn't quite comprehend what they were saying as something blurry passed in front of me. Then I heard two things.
"IN THE NAME OF ORVILLE!"
And well.
And a sharp swivel.
Then came the pain.
"So wait-" Augustus was the first to speak after the silence that fell following Lucien's confession. "You're trying to tell me that in the forty-something rooms up there, only five of them contain alive people? So like about thirty-five are dead? So like less than twenty percent are alive? What are you? A walking FN FAL?"I screwed my face. "What's an FN FAL?""One of the most legit guns in the world. Five-hundred rounds per minute. Pretty cool-""No, you idiot-" Lucien rolled his eyes. "Seven-hundred."Augustus turned to look at him and smirked. "French boy did his homework."Lucien raised his index finger and pointed it at him. "Don't call me that.""Whatever. Creep.""Can we return to the issue at hand?" I muttered boredly, stealing a glance at Samantha who seemed to be observing us carefully. I looked away."All the rest are dead?" My father asked and Lucien grimaced."No. They're as good as dead.""But they're alive?" Augustus said. "I don't see your point.""Who brought that idiot here?" Lucien started and Augustus glared at him."Augustus," Father warned."Right. Fine. Sheesh-" My brother then sidled up next to me and said nothing.With his eyes on Lucien, Father called one of his men and in an instant, he was in front of him."Yes, sir!""Take yourself along with ten others and check all the rooms on all the floors. You will find people. A majority will be in dire conditions. Be careful and return ASAP.""Yes, sir!" he repeated.Lucien snickered. "The rooms are locked.""Knock down all the doors-" Father commanded authoritatively, ignoring Lucien's statement."Yes, sir. Anything else, sir?""No. Just that and come back."With that, the man Father summoned turned and left along with some of the men who conjured Ledger, Augustus and I here. Lucien's jaws were clenched and his hold around the glass tightened. He was angry."Look at how weak you've become without your father and brother-" Father said with a smile."You've no idea what I'm capable of-" Lucien smirked and I raised my eyebrows at his cockiness."We can protect you-" Father said nevertheless as Lucien's left eye twitched."I don't need your protection.""Really?" My father lowered his voice now. "The house is safe, Lucien. If you talk, they won't know.""I don't need your protection," Lucien repeated with a faint smile."So you're trying to tell me that you lured me here by taking Julius as a hostage, to kill me, for example? To torment my son?" Father made a face. "I must say it's a brilliant plan. Very believable. I fell for it in the beginning. Even your sister fell for it."My eyes widened at his words. So I was being played. So this whole kidnapping and 'hostage' thing weren't to torment me. Lucien was scared and really needed to lure in my father. My father, apparently knew how to 'protect' him from...those who hired him? And I, apparently, paid the price by being locked in that bloody basement.What nonsense."I don't need your protection. I need revenge-""Lucien-" Father sighed. "You're just angry and confused right now. You didn't even like your brother.""Stop it!" Lucien started and I heard Samantha gasp."You were jealous of him all that time-" Father was smirking, completely at ease. I was listening shocked, with Augustus' constant cursing as my music."That's not true-""Charming, with a great style. You wished you were the one people watched those videos for-" Father continued and Lucien shut his eyes and clenched his fists. "It was always Esteban.""I do not care what people think-" He said between clenched teeth and Father chuckled."Of course you do!" He said. "Because if you were people's 'Esteban', you'd be living happily right now. You wouldn't have traumatized your younger sister by telling her to kill my son, just to lure me here. You knew I knew what was going on. You knew I was coming for help. Why are you afraid of admitting it now? All I need is your confession and we're done here."And I remembered feeling so useless. So damn useless. All that time I wasted, what was it for? If my father had planned everything perfectly, what was my point in life? Did he have any idea how all that affected me? I felt so humiliated. So stupid. Because Father was right. He was my brain. He controlled everything after all.But it wasn't the time to talk. It was the time to listen. And so I did."There's nothing to admit-" Lucien said, shaking his head. "I'll run away. I won't be leaving this place with you. I lured you here to take revenge."Father smiled pitifully and was about to speak when cries and screams erupted from the staircase. Men came up the stairs holding so many people in gut-wrenching conditions. Girls no older than thirteen were naked with blood as their clothes. There were boys not older than five, stumbling out with broken fingers and crooked noses, crying in pain. On seeing this, Samantha shrieked and covered her head with her arms, sobbing her heart out.Father, Augustus and I straightened up at their presence as Lucien leaned back against the window and smirked. And never in my life had I ever wished for a window to disappear. Because I'd love to see him stumble and fall to his death. I'd love to see him die."But I didn't come here for this, boy," my father broke the silence between us that aroused from the commotion that unfolded in front of us. His cool was wearing off. "I mean don't take my negotiable techniques for granted. They can change in a finger snap.""I will not confess.""You need to-""I know I'm being recorded!" Lucien then yelled, throwing the glass in his hand at the wall as Augustus flinched back. "You think I'm a fool?!""Don't be scared of them." My father said, shaking his head. "There's nothing to be scared of-""I will not be leaving with you-" Lucien said determinedly.Father ignored him and signalled for one of his men."Sir.""Take all them all outside-" Father commanded, referring to all the hostages. "Let the medical team check up on them and do the necessary."Medical team? Didn't know we had one.Instantly, the man turned and did what my father asked. The 'victims' then filed out of the reception, one by one, leaving the reception emptier with the nine men holding their guns at Lucien, Samantha, Augustus, Father and I.I sighed and crossed my arms across my chest."Who are those 'they', you have been referring to?" Augustus then dared ask and I nodded at his question."Those who hired LEO," I muttered under my breath, trying to connect the dots myself.So, it seemed that LEO was some dark web criminal group assigned by people of higher grades to satisfy them with 'videos'. Videos they got paid for. Videos Samantha told me about. And it appeared that Esteban, Lucien's dead brother, was the most important member of the trio. Apparently important enough for the videos to become unwatchable in his absence. And it seemed that Lucien was paying the price for both his dead father and brother.And it all started to make sense. Lucien's fear. Why he was particularly irritated about his father's death, unlike Esteban who knew he'd always be on the safe side. Which made me wonder if Esteban's death was a mere coincidence. If it hadn't been planned by Father all along. I mean, it seemed that Father was very aware of the importance of Esteban. Maybe he wanted to break LEO apart.But that didn't explain how was any of this related to Gorj. Why he wasn't as angry as I'd anticipated when he got to know that I had the documents? Did he know I did? And if this breaking down LEO was Father's motive in the beginning, why was he angered when I killed Ricardo? I mean, wouldn't that have been considered as help? Why did he punish me by killing pregnant Audrey? If he really did have an idea about everything going on from the beginning, why would he let me waste time on the wrong 'Sam'? Why, goddammit, leave me to brew in a filthy basement for weeks?No. It didn't make sense at all.My train of thoughts was wrecked by an 'Oh', escaping from Augustus' mouth."You will not lea-" Father mocked and Lucien smiled."You seem to particularly enjoy underestimating me-" Lucien tilted his head as his stone-grey eyes darkened. "Don't you think someone like me, with all that experience in doing nothing but evil, would have learnt a thing or two?""I'd hate it if you risked it-" My father said seriously. "Risk trying what you've learn-""In fact," Lucien claimed, turning to me out of nowhere and smiling. "-I fail to not remain astonished at how your son seems so very clueless about what his own father does. Poor thing. Twenty-something years old and still a pawn in his father's dirty games.""Yes. Precisely. You figure-" I pressed a smile, ignoring his irrelevant comment what he did here -changing the subject- was a sign that he lost. It didn't even deserve my acknowledgement, but Augustus interrupted me."And what have you done with your twenty-something years? Wait for your brother to decide your fate? Fucking loser-" My brother snapped and Lucien's face screwed up before he dragged him by the collar and throttled him."What did you sa-?"And just seeing my brother in his filthy clutches was like spilling all my damned blood on the bloody floor and lighting every damned cell on fire. Just like that. I grasped Lucien's forearm that still held onto Augustus and growled."Let him go."Lucien snapped his head to me and I was surprised that Augustus used this moment of distraction to punch Lucien in his stomach. Lucien groaned but didn't let go of a now terrified-looking Augustus. He turned and slammed my brother's back to the window as my heart got caught in my mouth. What if the glass shattered under my brother's weight and he fell to his death? I felt dizzy just by the mere thought of it.So I immediately lunged at Lucien with all the force I could muster with my faulty back, pushing him off my brother, who coughed and gulped his way from the window to stare at us. I then pulled away and straightened up with a wince.Lucien looked up, panted and licked his lower lip. "I see you've got some power left in you-" he said with a dark smile. "I should've deepened them. The sca-"I was about to reply when Lucien was punched in the face. I looked beside me and was astonished when I saw Augustus shaking his hand in pain. I frowned at him because- how could he be so stupid to anger a psychotic shit and put himself in grave danger? I mean he just bit more than he could chew.Lucien growled and was about to lunge at Augustus when I captured both of his arms behind his back, restraining him from my defenceless brother."I don't like the way you speak with my brother," Augustus hissed, pushing back his sleeves."Augustus. Enough," I heard my father warn from the background.Lucien struggled in my grip as I smirked at Augustus."Doesn't that make you miss Esteban?" I managed to whisper teasingly and dodge his head that he apparently thought he could crash in my nose."Okay boys, enough!" My father thundered and Lucien stopped struggling to glance at him."We will never be allies," Lucien breathed. "My men are coming in a few minutes. And everything will go down tonight."I frowned at his words and glanced at my father who for once didn't appear as cocky as he seemed."You will regre-""Goddammit, I've regretted everything in my goddamned life," he yelled and I wondered why I was still holding him back. I let go of his arms before he staggered toward my father and pointed an index finger at his chest. "I will not regret getting my freedom-""This isn't ho-""If I go with you-" Lucien yelled, red-faced, his whole frame shaking. "I get prisoned for all the felonies I've committed! I'd be escaping a prison only to run into another. Can't you see?" His teeth bared and his eyes watered."I will make sure they take into account your coopera-""What kind of cooperation will justify all that I've done?" He pressed, silent tears falling down his face and I wondered if he was acting all along. "I'm a terrible one here. And I will run away-""You cann-""Sure as hell, I can!" He said, grabbing a bunch of hair in both his hands. "Just wait for them to come.""All the entrances are heavily guar-""Oh, no-" he then chuckled and waved an index finger. "They're not gonna come walking. They'll come from the sky-" Lucien then shrugged with a fake pout.Father visibly tensed at his words as the sound of heavy footsteps filled my ears."We have helicopters-" Lucien smirked. "See? You haven't thought of that!"I whipped my head to Augustus who stood staring at the staircase in anticipation before I glanced at Samantha who sat still on the armchair, staring at it as well. Inhaling sharply, I immediately reached for Samantha and yanked her out of the chair. She stared at me, lips parted, but this wasn't 'stare-and-fall-harder' time. I threw her in Augustus' clutches."Get her and yourself out of here. Now!" I instructed, staring hard into Augustus' glassy, blue eyes as he nodded at me, taken aback."But I'm coming back for you," he said seriously with a frown and I shook my head vigorously."No, you're not-" I stated vehemently. "You will get out. You will be safe. You w-""You're crazy if you think I wouldn't come back. Don't you remember what you told me? That you wanted to see whose side I'd stand on? Today I'm giving you the answer-" he said, smiling and my heart grew in my chest- but dammit, Gustus, this wasn't the time to be sentimental."Please, Gustus-" I clenched my jaws. "I don't know what might happen. I just don't. I can't have you here, okay? You'll distract me. Plea-""Distract yo-?" he was frowning, but I nodded, my eyes wide."Yes. I'll always have my-my eyes on you-" I admitted. "Cause if something happened to you, Gustus-" I stopped myself, my eyes already watering from such thoughts. "If something happened to you-""And what about you?""I can take care of myself!" I almost yelled at him. "You-You. Go. Now.""Right-" Augustus pressed his lips, his face a few inches from mine. "You're fucking annoying, but dammit I -uh- love you," he frowned as he helped Samantha straighten up in his arms, against his chest. Samantha was in another dimension, staring at the blood that covered the floors from all the hostages and at her brother."Yeah, whatever." I love you too. So much."Wait!" Samantha then whispered, her head snapping up to me and I glanced at her with a pang in my chest. "I'll see you again, right?"My lips floated in the air as I was caught off guard staring in her sky-blue eyes."Right?" she pressed, a hand on her chest, her face screwed up and her eyes swimming in an ocean of tears."Yes, of course," Augustus was the one to scoff. "Right, Julius? Remember? Our plan?"Feeling my heart constrict in my chest, I nodded speechlessly. "Right. Now go, please."And just like that they left and about twenty heavily armed guards stepped in."Julius!" I looked to my side to find my father tossing me a gun. My heart skipped a beat as I caught it and stared at it. It was identical to my gun, but when I examined the hilt, the initials weren't mine.A.A.I shrugged and immediately held it in front of me, waiting for any wrong move. But no one moved. Everyone stood with their gun in front of their chests, waiting for action, except for Lucien who stood in the middle, seemingly enjoying what was happening."We outnumber you, Lucien," my father announced. "This is diabolical. Stop them at once!""I will. Once I'm out-" he smiled as I tried calming my haphazard breathing.But Father seemed to have run out of patience. So instead of saying a thing, he pointed his gun to the ceiling. He then yelled, "FIFTY, FIFTY-ONE, FIFTY-TWO! NOW!"With that, he shot the chandelier's chain and it came crashing down at Lucien's feet. Lucien twisted his upper body away and had closed his eyes shut against all the glass shards that cascaded around him.The room became significantly dimmer, alarming me.Then, two seconds later, three of Lucien's guards that stood in front of the staircase fell to the ground. Just like that. My eyes widened, anticipating the worst as I clutched the gun harder.What the hell was happening?Then another three fell. Lucien's mouth was open as he stared at the lifeless bodies of his guards.I dared look behind me to find three immaculate holes in the window pane.Two more seconds and the windows shattered.Then there was chaos.Ledger was already elbowing someone in the face and shooting them, while Father seemed to have the time of his life knocking down one man after the other. I was so shocked to the extent that I didn't notice someone creep behind me until they cradled my head, hoping to break my neck.Wrong move.I backed into him with all my force, ignoring the excruciating pain from my back, until we hit a wall. I freed myself from his grasp and punched him right in the nose, disarming him. Then with one quick swing, I shot his left leg, took his gun and threw it out of the window. I quickly turned and wasn't surprised at the sight of fists flying, guns shooting and men crying blood. It was a war.I even dodged a fist, before Ledger dragged that daring man away from me and I shot his leg. Ledger winked at me and I couldn't help but smirk. It had been a while ever since we'd worked together like that.I watched Lucien get away with one guard and scowled. He wasn't going anywhere. I aimed at his guard's leg and shot. The guard fell in Lucien's arms who stumbled to the ground under his guard's weight.I quickly made my way to him, dodging fists, shooting legs and cursing under my breath until I stood in front of their tangled mess. I pushed the guard off of him while pointing the gun at Lucien.Lucien came on his forearms and glared at me."You aren't going anywhere, you shit."But before I could shoot his legs, someone stumbled back on me and I tripped on Lucien's purposefully outstretched leg. I fell on my back, the gun flying out of my hand, groaning in agony as I forced myself not to shut my eyes against it. The pain. I had to see. I had to.I was about to get to my feet when Lucien's foot found my chest and pressed hard. I banged my head on the floor from the pain."I bet this doesn't hurt as much as it did when you killed my father-" he said venomously as my arms tried to limply get his leg off of me."I bet it doesn't-""You think you're smart, huh?" He pressed harder and I clenched my teeth, my legs kicking the air as I tried restraining the pain."Why does he matter to you?" I finally said. "I thought Esteban was the one who mattered the most.""Oh, sure he did-" he spat, pressing harder on my chest and I thought I heard the stitches rupture. "But I loved my dad. And I hated my brother. Killing my dad gave us one strike. Killing Esteban gave me, three damned strikes. And the game says, three strikes and game over.""You're as good as dead Lucien-" I mocked, my eyes two oceans with the tears they held because of the pain."Oh?" He then reached for his back and retrieved a knife. "I think not."My heart beat loudly in my chest as he kicked me in my stomach and I almost doubled over from the pain when he straddled me and held the knife in my face. I held back his forearms and pushed them as far away from my face as possible."You will die like the pathetic coward your father brought you up to be-" he spat in my face, forehead vein bulging and eyes glistening with darkness as I blinked rapidly, desperately even, a couple of times to stop the tears from obscuring my vision. "You will always be that monster people hate."But at that point, the pain in my back seemed insignificant to the pain his words caused because every and each word he spoke stood in my trachea, swearing by the crying demons to not let me breathe. I was just spluttering as he applied more forced on the knife and as I kept resisting him with every exhausted atom in my being.I felt like I was going to collapse from the sheer effort of it all. And you can't possibly imagine the number of frantic thoughts that ran over my brain at this moment. Augustus and his promise. Samantha and our parallel universe. They were all oppressing my breathing."I don't like the way you speak to my brother."And then Lucien was kicked off me. I gasped in air but begged myself to not give in. It wasn't over yet. I had to fight and fight. I wheezed but quickly reached for my gun, stood up and swayed a bit before steadying myself.The floor where I was lying was smudged with my blood and Lucien was still holding his head, his knife still in his hands. I staggered away from him, wiping my teary eyes with my sleeve before colliding into someone. I looked up and found none other than Augustus' teary, ocean eyes. And the amount of love I had for him at this moment was immense. More than any love in the world. It filled every inch of my being.I nodded at him but he was on the move, punching people and knocking them down with his gun. I couldn't help but smile before I glanced back at an angry Lucien."Get up," I breathed heavily as I approached him and kicked him in his stomach. He dropped his knife. "Get up!" I kicked him again. And he did get up. Slowly, back supported on the wall with a cruel smirk on his face and a bloodied fist on his abdomen.But before I could do anything, I was grabbed back by my shirt's collar by some goddamn idiot! I was so angered by this move, so angered to the extent that I turned and dislocated the person's jaws by a single smack from my gun. I kicked him away and glanced at Augustus who run a hand against his nose before spitting at the crippled body below him. And I remembered smiling at Augustus. Really smiling at him as I kicked someone. I wanted to tell him how proud I was to have him as a brother. How truly amazing he was. How much I loved him. How much I wanted to hug him, even if for hours.But those thoughts were shattered to pieces by Father's voice that boomed across the reception and Augustus' grimace that caught my heart in my chest."JULIUS! LOOK OUT!"I turned around to find Lucien with his knife and a wry smile. He was talking. Yes, I swear he was talking. His lips were moving but I couldn't quite comprehend what they were saying as something blurry passed in front of me. Then I heard two things."IN THE NAME OF ORVILLE!"And well.And a sharp swivel.Then came the pain.
