“Love-sick fool,”he snaps back, charging his head into my torso to grab me and slam my body into the wall.
It’s another jolt of pain across my spine.
I grit my teeth with a hiss, bringing my elbow down into his back to break his grip.
“You fucking shot at me!” I yell.
“I wasn’t aiming for you, dumbass!”
Someone grabs Aster to pull him away, but before I can charge into him and get in another strike, Baal is pulling me back too.
I kick my feet out, but it’s too late. Tobias has also grabbed me and is pulling me back.
Everyone’s fucking with me today.
I smack them away dismissively as I huff, and they release me only when they’re sure I won’t charge at him again.
“I’ve always known you were a monster, Aster,” I let the words rot between us, “but because you’re my brother, I’ve never once pointed my gun at you!” The anger in my chest is like a fire beneath my skin, settling behind my skull.
“After today, you’re dead to me.”
Baal interjects, “Reuben, he was trying to protect you—”
“Bullshit,” I spit and the fire in me ignites further. “You have tofeelsomething to want to protect it. He doesn’t feel anything. He hasn’t felt a single thing since the day he was born.” I jab my finger in Aster’s direction, “I don’t know what performance you thought you’d play out here, but you and I both know the monster in the room isn’t Christian, it’syou.”
Aster’s eyes widen and his white energy ripples again as he stares at me, as if he might be feeling something for the first time, but I’m too far gone in anger to give a fuck.
“Who knows when to laugh, when to look sad, when to make jokes—”
“Reuben—” Baal cuts in but I barge through him mercilessly.
“When in truth there isn’t a singlefuckingthing in the world you love or hate. Not me. Notfamily.”
I say the words because they’ve been rotting in my throat foryears. Because I’ve had enough of the pretend.
“Still, I would’ve forgiven you for anything,” I step forward to grab his collar, face contorting with anger and pain, “Because we’re blood. Because you’re my brother.”
When I look into his eyes, I only see a monster. A monster trying to feel.
I shove him away from me.
“Except this.” My eyes glitter darkly.
“Fuck off, Aster.”
The words are a shot in the air. The residue from a smoking gun pointed directly into Aster’s ribs. The sound of a page ripping out of the book.
When I leave, I don’t care what I’m leaving behind.
When the elevator door closes me in, my eyes never leave his.
And I’ve stopped caring for bonds that never existed in the first place.
I can’t tell if the days after that are a blur or seconds, trapped in a time capsule.
The moment Christian disappeared everything went to shit. Gangs started attacking Father’s shipments, started poisoning Mother’s transplants. The rumour of Father’s insignia being stolen, flew across the state like wildfire, leaving our reputation in shambles.
We were suddenly fighting for our lives.
