“He heard Ani tell him he wasn’t interested in seeing you, yet he took him anyway.” Flix pointed the tip of the blade at Bowser’s hands, which were clasped in his lap. “Next, I’ll slit his wrists. He tied my Tiny Terror up and left marks all over him. That sort of thing won’t be tolerated.”
“Tiny Terror,” Russ chuckled again. “Been a long time since I heard that nickname. Why do you call him that anyway? I never knew.”
He’d never bothered trying to find out in the past, he meant, because back then, if it had to do with Aneski, Russ didn’t care. The only reason he kept his brother in the apartment with him was that both of their names had been added to the property title when Flix had purchased it for them a couple of years after their father’s death.
Even then, before he’d met Ani, Flix had known the type of person Russ was. He should have done something more, something sooner, to help protect his Onus, but at the time, Flix had genuinely believed he was doing him a favor by keeping his distance.
“He was always moving through your house like a ghost,” Flix informed him. “Mostly to avoid you.”
“Wow, Big Brother award of the year isn’t going to Russ, is it?” Madden snorted.
“Who’s that?” Russ still didn’t sound all that bent out of shape about things not having gone his way.
There was only so far not caring could go, though…There had to be something else up his sleeve. Russ might not give a shit about Aneski or Bowser, but he wasn’t the type to be calm after losing.
“Royal Madden Odell,” Madden replied. “I helped catch your boyfriend—sorry, fuck buddy.”
Bowser hung his head at that but didn’t bother correcting him.
Aneski crouched at his side and whispered, “Finally seeing what my brother is really like?”
“Shut up,” he said, with little conviction in his tone. “He’s just trying not to implicate me.”
“Don’t be a moron,” Ani scowled. “If he didn’t want to get you involved, he wouldn’t have in the first place. The whole reason you’re here is because of him. I know this is hard, it took me a while to admit that my brother is selfish too, but that’s the truth.”
Flix hated seeing Aneski put on such a strong front. No matter Russ’s reasoning, at the end of the day, he’d provided for Ani after their father's death—even if most of the resources had come from Flix’s money those last few years.
He wondered how much of this was his fault. Flix had set the precedent, had been the one to put the idea in Russ’s head that he could use him for coin whenever he’d pleased.
“I should have taken Ani from the start,” he said out loud. Sure, he’d been a kid and at the time hadn’t owned the house he currently lived in, but he’d had an apartment himself and more money than he could have hoped to spend even at that age. The second he realized he wanted Ani, he should have taken him. Saved them all the trouble.
“He’smylittle brother,” Russ stated, finally some of that irritation coming through.
“Don’t be such a sore loser.”
“I haven’t lost anything yet,” he disagreed. “The only way that happens is if you make off with what’s mine.”
“Bowser is listening,” Flix pointed out. “He heard everything you said about him just now. Ani already figured out that you’re trash. And I’m not giving you a cent. It’s over, Russ. Your best bet is turning tail and getting out of the country. I’ll let you crawl back to whatever hovel you’ve been living in,” he met Ani’s gaze, “foryourbrother’s sake.”
Aneski might not like Russ, but there was a difference between hating a person and wanting them dead. If it were up to Flix, he’d kill him just to ensure nothing like this would ever happen again, but Ani…Ani was softer-hearted than he was, even if he liked to pretend otherwise. He’d never be okay with Flix murdering his brother, not for something like this. A lie and an attempted kidnapping/ransom wouldn’t be enough to justify taking his life in Ani’s mind.
It irked him and went against all his better instincts, but Flix could let Russ walk to keep Aneski’s conscience clear.
Still, that didn’t mean he could let him go completely scot-free.
“Tell you what,” Flix said to Russ. “I’ll trade you. You were planning on ransoming my boyfriend, right? Tables have turned. I’ll give you Bowser back for…two hundred coin?” That was pennies, and he purposefully chose a low number, winking at Bowser when he gasped and stared up at him. “Surely even you can scrape together that much.”
“I’m not paying you shit,” Russ replied.
“No? Even if I promise to ditch the ear-cutting plan? I’ll give him to you unharmed. How about this, one hundred coin. Final offer.”
“I’m not paying you, Flix. You don’t need the money anyway.”
“He doesn’t have it,” Bowser finally spoke up.
“Not even a hundred coin?” Flix let out a whistle. “All right, if that’s true, then I’ll take pity on you. Trade yourself. You hand yourself over, and I’ll let Bowser go. Technically, this is your mess. You should be the one to pay for it, and if you don’t have money? I have other ways you can pay off your debts. If you don’t show yourself,” he brought the tip of the blade to Bowser’s ear, nicking the side of the lobe so he’d make a startled sound and help get the point across, “I’ll start cutting.”
It was almost sad to see the pathetic, hopeful look pass over Bowser’s face as they waited for a response. He wasn’t a bad guy, never had been. His only fault really was in getting involved with people like Haroon and Russ. They’d dragged him through the muck, and if Flix’s guess was correct, the latter was about to hang him out to dry.
