My heart kicks up this wild beat in my chest as my eldest brother blinks up at me weakly, blood pooling beneath his body and trailing at the corners of his lips.
“Can always trust you to make an entrance, brother,” he says with a weak smile.
Something akin to terror sparks intensely in my chest as I reach for his hand. A torn shirt is wrapped tightly around his stomach but the blood only seepsthrough. Even I can tell he’s lost too much. His face is pale and I can tell from his eyes, he’s barely conscious.
I can tell he’s dying.
My panic is so intense that for a moment, I can’t breathe. I can’t move.
He squeezes my hand with a brave smile, “Rubenito—”
“Don’t,” I stop him before he can waste his breath, but it sounds strangled in my throat. “It’s okay. We can still get you out of here.” We have to. We will.
My eyes catch on a familiar figure and when I turn, Father is lying beside him. There’s a flare of rage inside me. An itch for violence that sparks only for a moment, until I see the rise and fall of his chest. On closer inspection, his blue suit is ruffled, and a purple bruise is forming at his temple… but he’s breathing.
“He’s alive.” I barely register Baal’s voice. “Aster… Aster protected him.That asshole.” Baal’s voice trembles with his anger, “He left Aster to bleed out in here. He could’ve killed us but he didn’t.”
To lure the rest of the family here.
August… I’ll kill you for this.
“You—you were right,” Aster mumbles and I shut my eyes tightly, bringing his hand to my forehead in a small prayer.
“I’m never right, Aster.” It feels like I’m being ripped apart. My throat feels so tight, it’s like I can’t get the words out. “You know that. Little brothers… are always wrong.”
Aster shakes his head, “If he was your person... I should have considered him... family. No matter what. That’s the rule—father taught me.” He squeezes my hand, but even that is weak and it’s… unlike him. It’s unlike the man I’ve been afraid of my entire life.
“I messed up.” His smile is bitter, and this time I don’t care that his emotions are white.
A raw ache swells in my throat and my vision blurs. I’d never considered myself a crier… but recently, all the men in my life have been testing me.
“I messed up,Asterito.” A tremor runs through my voice without my permission and I have to push the words through the tightness in my throat. “I was… afraid of you. But I was wrong all this time… I’msorry. If you’d just—” my voice breaks. I fight the tremor in my jaw. “If you'd just told me—"
“You've always... seen the world differently.” He smiles at me, “I knew you did. I… didn’t want you to think I was… different.”
I remember someone else saying those words too. A certain shapeshifter.
I thought you and Christian were completely different. Lightyears apart from each other.
But now I realize you’re both opposite sides of the same coin. All this time, carrying everyone’s burdens. Suffering silently. Hiding yourself away.
“Maybe you can’t see it,” Aster’s eyes are glassy—unfocused—and it breaks something in me, “but I love you, brother. I love... the family.”
“I know you do.” My tears escape because I can’t stop them, “I know. I’m sorry. You’re my brother. I’ve been afraid of you. But I’ve looked up to you the most. You and Father… are my heroes. Always.”
A tear breaks away across Aster’s cheek, and this time, I can tell they’re real. This time, I understand everything he feels without needing his energy. His expression hardens as if pulling himself together to be the Underboss once more.
“If he’s your person… don’t give him… to August.”
Those aren’t the words I expected. They create an ill sense of foreboding inside me, and Aster grabs my collar with all the strength he can.
“Don’t… give him to August.”
It is a warning bell going off in my head and I nod.
I don’t even get to hear his last breath, because men storm into the room, snapping my attention away.
And when I look back, my oldest brother is gone.
