I’m so tired that I’ve started to hallucinate.Aiden closed his eyes. His stepmother used the study room the most. The books belonged to her.Then the photographs belong to her as well.He opened his eyes.
His brother was eating ice cream with a flirtatious smile. He leaned forward toward a woman in a wide brimmed hat and a breezy dress. Aiden grabbed the next photograph from the book, and again, it was his brother—now dressed up in a tight suit, meeting other business people in front of a restaurant. He shook a man’s hand, eyes already glinting of dollar signs. Another photograph of his brother serenading a different woman. The woman sat stiffly in a chair, her gloved hands clenched in her lap, a beauty mark below her lip, and her curled hair elegantly falling over one shoulder.
Yet she looked familiar.
No, that’s the same woman.Aiden compared the photograph with the first. The hair color, eye color, eyebrows, lips, and body language all differed, but he caught the smile on their faces.
An identical smile that reminded Aiden of a fox.
However, the question plaguing his mind distracted him from the strange woman who looked like different people. Why did his stepmother even have private photographs shot of his brother in the first place?
A horrifying theory sunk in, and he dropped the photos in a panic.Don’t be ridiculous,he scolded himself, stuffing them back into the book and shoving it onto the bookshelf. His stepmother’s paranoia only existed because of his brother’s death. Without his brother, the businesses remained in flux. With the businesses in flux, her income and livelihood for herself and her children hung over the ledge.She’d throw me away, but there’s no way she’d throw away her children’s futures like that.
He escaped from the room and reminded himself of the hallways to clean. As he vacuumed, mopped, and dried the floor, a fire sparked inside him.She’s such a hypocrite.He slammed the Swiffer against the wall and slammed it again for extra measure.She demeans me for keeping that picture when she’s hiding her own.
Javier and Christina’s words echoed in his head.
Aiden drained dirty water in the bathroom and dropped the bucket loudly on the ground. He heard his stepmother stir in her closed bedroom at the disturbance, and a sickening sense of satisfaction spread through his body.
Christina and Javier were right about his family.
Brendan was right about him.
As he scrubbed the night away, Aiden made a promise in the dark. If he wanted to do something, he wouldn’t let her stop him anymore. After Infinite’s potluck, he would demand his stepmother to tell him everything, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
• • •
Filed in the dimly lit office of Mr. Zhou’s home, Aiden kept his arms straight by his side and looked ahead. The other workers of the Zhou family lined up beside him. Their faces remained neutral, but Aiden noticed every twitch in their hands, eyes, and legs. Mr. Zhou berated the man in front of them.
“Do you understand how important this acquisition was for us?”
“Yes, Mr. Zhou.”
“Do you understand the extent of protection this would’ve brought for not just me, but also you? To all of us?”
“Yes, Mr. Zhou.”
Mr. Zhou’s voice boomed like cannons when he lost his temper, and he lost it often. Aiden could hear it echo even a few hallways down, and a few times, the sound of bullets had ensued. The man who failed his mission and bowed his head low was a longstanding employee of the Zhou family.
“In my defense, I suspect there was sabotage.”
“Sabotage?” Mr. Zhou snapped his head around.
“It appears the other family had already formed their own opinions of me, and by extension you, when I arrived.”
“Sabotage. All excuses!” Mr. Zhou smacked the man’s face with a folder of papers.
The walls around Aiden grew taller, and the men beside him faded in color. Confused, he looked around, watching them transform into transparent ghosts. He broke his standing position to grab the man beside him, but his hand went through a puff of smoke.
Mr. Zhou’s voice continued to echo angrily even though the man himself disappeared. Instead of the employee, Aiden saw that the poor man in trouble turned into a stone statue with vines squeezing around his neck. Mr. Zhou’s voice boomed over the intercom. “You cannot survive without Infinite, have you all forgotten that? None of us can survive without Infinite. I do not allow failures because that is the least I ask for, and yet you still fail me!”
Aiden clasped his hands around his ears, but the words rattled through his skin and shook his organs. He squeezed his eyes shut. An ice-cold hand pressed against his head.
“I’ll take care of it, Aiden.” He looked up to see his stepmother sneering.
A frosty breeze blew through the room. He fell to his knees. The gleam of ice crawled over his skin, cutting him.
“What do you want from me?” He managed to choke out against his shivers. “You act like you want the best for all of us, but you’ve been nothing but cruel.”
