Ares
Ares has envisioned this scene a thousand times over, in a thousand different ways. But nothing could have prepared him for the reality of it, for the moment he steps out of the DiDi and takes two steps down the street and stops. It’s a rich neighborhood, the illuminated villas sprawled out in a way that reminds him of the American suburbs he’s seen in movies. He’s never been here before, and barely has time to wonder why Long Ge would choose this place in particular when another car door slams shut in the distance, and the boy appears as if from a dream.
His brother.
Ares feels the ground wobble beneath him. He’d glimpsed Luke’s face in the vision, but the difference is more pronounced than ever in real life. He’s no longer a child. Most of the softness has dissolved from his face, his hair has been cropped short, and he must’ve grown six inches since they last saw each other. He’s almost as tall as Ares now, though it’s hard to judge exactly fromhere. Something’s changed about his eyes too. They’re darker, difficult to read; before, Ares would only need to take one glance at his brother to know what he was thinking.
Then he says, “Ge?”
Not Gegeanymore, just Ge. His voice is deeper, but it’s not a stranger’s voice either.
“Luke,” Ares says. He should’ve prepared a speech, there’s so much he wants to ask his brother, starting and ending withSorry, I’m so sorry, I fucked up,but he finds himself at a complete loss for words. “Luke—I—”
“Not so fast,” Long Ge calls out pleasantly, coming to stand beside Luke. His hand sets itself on Luke’s shoulder, and Luke flinches. There’s a lit cigarette dangling from his other fingers, and he blows out a puff of smoke, whitening the night air, before he says, “Give me the contract first.”
Ares retrieves the crumpled contract from his pocket. “I have it here.”
“Signed?” Long Ge presses.
Forged. But once Ares gives him the contract, he’ll take his brother and they’ll escape together.
“As promised,” Ares says, fighting to keep his voice calm. He’s so close now. He approaches Long Ge slowly, the way you’d approach a beast in a cage. He hands the contract over. Breathes in.
Then he grabs hold of his brother’s hand, and there’s one terrifying, heart-stopping second where he half expects his brother to shake him off, to turn his back on him, to blame him for what happened, those stupid, thoughtless words he’s regretted everynight since.Can you just leave me alone for once?A moment where he wonders if he’d been presumptuous to think his brother evenwantsto go back with him.
But then Luke squeezes his hand, and he wants to sink to the ground with relief.
“Let’s go,” he urges, and they’re sprinting down the street, and Long Ge yells something after them, and he makes the mistake of glancing back. Long Ge’s dropped the contract—must have figured out it was fake—and is chasing them, and he’s so much faster than Ares expected, and he realizes, with a crush of despair, that this won’t work. “Leave without me,” he tells his brother. “I’ll meet you back at our old house.”
Luke’s eyes are wide with fear, and all of a sudden he looks closer to his thirteen-year-old self, the boy who ran away. “No, Ge—”
“Listen to me,” Ares says. “Now. There’s no time.”
He hears his brother’s footsteps slapping against the concrete, fading away into the distance while Long Ge’s footsteps draw closer and closer. He holds his ground, remembers everything he learned during those fights in the ring, and turns.
He slams his fist into Long Ge’s face, and he’s never enjoyed violence before, but there’s something awfully satisfying about this. The darkness cloaks their movements as he shoves Long Ge down. He punches until his hands are numb, and he thinks he might be bleeding too, but that’s normal for him these days. He can feel Long Ge struggling underneath him, and it really is just like any fight. Hold on for long enough and his opponent will stay down. He imagines the crowd chanting around them.
Five... four...
Three...
Two...
Long Ge is shaking. No, laughing. A wild, unnerving noise that sends a chill through Ares, almost a wheezing, as if the man has lost his mind completely. Or maybe he has. When Ares stares down at him, Long Ge stares right back, a bruise already swelling on his temple, fresh blood glistening on his teeth.
“You think it’s that simple?” he asks, laughing louder, the sound reverberating through his body. “You can just trick me and run away with your brother?”
Ares feels suddenly very frightened, but of what, he doesn’t know. He’s still pinning the man in place, but it’s as if their positions are reversed, and he’s the one frozen, back pressed to the ground, unable to move or even breathe.
“I made my instructions very clear,” Long Ge goes on, his black eyes gleaming. Ares can make out his own reflection in them, distorted, and he’s struck by how young he looks, not that much older than Luke. “I wanted to play fair, be nice, give the boy a chance and so on. I have been extraordinarily generous, you know. Made it so, so easy for you. All you had to do was convince your little girlfriend to do this one thing, and you couldn’t even manage that. Useless, compared to your little brother.”
The words land like a slap.Useless, compared to your little brother.No doubt what his own father had thought, often, or maybe every time he looked at them together. His sweet, clever, beloved son, and—that other one. Useless. Something wrong with him. A mistake.
Ares’s fingers are going numb and cold, too cold, but he doesn’t release his grip on the man. “Well, it wouldn’t have worked anyway,” he says.
“What?”
“What did you imagine would happen?” Ares says, more to buy himself time than anything, assemble the thoughts in his head, which feels like an overheated computer, the fans whirring loudly but feebly. “If she had actually signed the contract? You believe she would have fallen in love with you? She works with you long days and nights, you rope her into your life, she’s impressed by this empire you built, and the two of you live happily ever after?”
