BRANDONEleven years agoI smelled burning wood; it dried my throat.
I was sure my eyes looked bloodshot. I might never see the blood, but I could feel it on my lids; the scent of the fresh wound was messing up my head. I felt fucking heavy-headed; the top of my skull was throbbing in inexpressible pain.
And it hurt... everything fucking hurt so much that my limbs stopped functioning. I couldn’t move my body. I squeezed my eyes in my attempt to gather my wits, but to no avail. The excruciating ache in my chest drained the remaining strength from my body.
What’s going on with me? Why can’t I move?Mom? Elga? Where are you?I cried inside, but as though I was paralyzed, even my voice was inaudible.
Mom! Elga! Still nothing.
Then there were blabbering voices that sounded unclear. I thought it was all in my head, but they got clearer as seconds passed. Men having conversations I could now hear plainly.
“What should we do with the boy?” The voice was throaty and unfamiliar.
“He is done for,” another voice said. “He probably has a few hours left. He lost too much blood.”
“Heard he’s big fish. What a waste!”
“Ssh! Don’t say fucking things you’ll regret later!” another man reprimanded.
I counted the men as I heard their murmurs, talking about me as if I were barely alive, not listening.
I made the extra effort to move at least a finger, but nothing was functioning.
Why can’t I fucking move? Please, please! What’s going on with me?“I didn’t sign up for this shit, dude,” said the first man I’d heard. I named him Man A. “I was given the order to burn the house, but torturing teenagers isn’t my thing.”
Burn the house...My head was stinging so bad, I almost couldn’t bear the pain.
What did they mean with that burn—what?Burning house. Fire. Mom... Elga! I remembered it now! Mom’s lifeless body in our living room. Elga screaming for help... crawling helplessly to Mom... screaming my name... but I was stuck in the fire.
Grief, regret, guilt, and fear ran through me at the same time.
No, hell, no! Fuck no! Get me out of here! Get me the fuck out of here!In my head, I was kicking my legs, throwing out my fist, screaming my lungs out, but it was pointless. Nothing I did allowed me to move. My wrist and ankles felt tight as I realized they were bound.
The fourth voice, Man D, laughed derisively, and the sound he made sent chills deep into my bones. “You set the house on fire with the sister and the mother inside, you coward ass!”
I cringed. Every pain inside me was being replaced with anger and agony. These men... they’re the murderers. They killed Mom and Elga!“I have a boy too. Burning the house is easy,” Man A answered.
The other men laughed soullessly at him.
“Isn’t that the same thing?” Man C inserted.
“But you still fucked up. You were supposed to get rid of everyone,” Man D told Man A.
Me. They are talking about me. I am supposed to be dead too. Or probably I will be dead soon enough, with all the pain I feel and the revelations I am hearing. What good is living anyway? My family is gone.“It’s not my fucking fault! Annette said I was ready to go. I didn’t know the boy wasn’t inside!” Man A said.
Wait, wait, wait. What? Annette? She had something to do with it?Annette. She was the bitch who used to cook for us and the one who took Dad away! But she disappeared four years ago... Or did she come back just to get rid of us? But why? Didn’t she get what she already wanted?
Man B snorted. “Lucky for you, the boss let this slide.”
“Marcus Katrakis. That greedy piece of shit,” Man C remarked spitefully. “They were part of his family.”
“Tsk. For people like them, money is above everything,” Man A stated.
What the fuck?I felt the blood pumping in my ears, and my heart rate spiked against my throbbing chest. I didn’t care to know more about my family because Mom had raised me and Elga outside their circle and rules, but it didn’t mean I wasn’t aware of how cruel they could be. Not only did they exile my mother, but they also had them killed?
And what? Marcus Katrakis?That was a name I’d never heard. I’d memorized all the names of my cousins and Mom’s, and there was never a Marcus in the Katrakis family. Though I was sure now that he was the mastermind, and these men were his pawns.
And then there was Annette too... What the fuck did she have to do with all this?
I could still feel the rage flooding through my veins. I was never raised in this kind of family feud; my parents tried their best to keep Elga and me away from their rules. Why was this happening to us?
“Pst! Boss is coming!” a new voice said in a rush.
“Shit, shit, shit!”
Falling objects, rustling, and footsteps scraped at my nerves. It seemed these men feared this bossThis Marcus Katrakis, whoever the hell he was, and Annette had had my family killed.
A loud, sharp pop sounded in the place.
“He’s still fucking alive?” someone barked angrily; his voice was angry and grim.
Another crack.
“We did as you told us. We will dispatch him tonight.”
“Nah!” The angry man clicked his tongue. “I want this done right now.”
“Did you really have to do that? Brandon is just a boy!” This time, it was a woman who joined in. A very familiar woman. How could I forget the voice I’d heard almost every day of my life while growing up?
Annette. The bitch my father chose over his own family.
“He’s extra baggage. I have to do this, then it’s over. Do you understand that? Dog! “What are you doing? Let’s just go and leave them to it!” Annette protested. I wondered why she even bothered. One of the men earlier was right, after all. I was done for.“But it’s payback time...”
“Marcus!”
The last thing I felt was the sudden swelling pain on my face, the pungent odor of the formaldehyde, and a man’s presence next to me. It was probably the only time I finally managed to react. I cried in intense pain.
“That was for what your familymine.. ALAYNASilence falls over the house when Jason and Brandon’s cousins leave. Brandon is extremely affectionate, even more so than usual, but quiet. He is spooning me from behind on his bed, but neither of us can fall asleep.
I love how he keeps caressing my cheek and my hair.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I finally speak because the stillness is deafening.
“Were you okay back there?” he asks me instead.
“Yes, especially after what I found out.”
“I’m sorry if we had to force you to share. We didn’t want to place you in a compromising situation, but you had the missing piece. We kind of didn’t have much choice.”
“But it’s a good thing you did. I wouldn’t have known he’s a murderer. Honestly, I felt disgusted that I even tried to protect their identity just because of the short time I’d known them.” I just wasn’t sure about Evan, her son. He seemed like a good guy, but I don’t know anymore. “But was my statement helpful?”
“Very much,” he whispers. “I suppose I answered one of your million questions now?”
I smile. I can be useful with other things too. I can be helpful like Pauline. And now I’m the one who’s beside him.
“I don’t think you did. That’s common knowledge I’ve gotten from your cousins,” I tell him.
He chuckles. “Still so eager to know everything.”
“Because it’s nonsense to keep this from me.” I turn around so I can see his face. “What else aren’t you telling me? I want to know what you’re thinking, what you are planning. Arianna and Jason are involved now too. Don’t you think I deserve to know more?”
He holds my face, and his thumb softly strokes my cheek. “Of course you do. I just don’t want you to worry or to hurt you in any way.”
“Don’t you think withholding information worries me more? It’s hard to guess about the things you guys are going to do next. You wanted so much not to involve me that it feels like you guys are blindfolding me.”
“Then let me share a bit more of me,” he opens, and his statement diverts my eagerness to know more about their unresolved case.
“You will?”
“Yes.” He pulls me against him more and squeezes me tightly with his arms. “I was just a simple nerd who loved technology. I had funny, big dreams, like becoming the president of a country or a pilot because my father’s first-ever gift was a remote-control toy plane. It was really cool.” He chuckles, and I do too. “Growing up, my family wasn’t privileged, but Dad’s job was enough to spoil us.
“Dad would always carry me on his shoulders as a kid. I followed him everywhere in the house. He loved Mom, as far as I can remember. We weren’t perfect, but we were happy. We all were. He would always take Mom on a date and bring her gifts and flowers each day. However, one day, I suddenly found out that beautiful things don’t last forever. He left us when I was fourteen for Annette. I didn’t even know that something was going on between her and Dad.
His forehead furrows. “I guess I haven’t told you this yet. Annette cooked for us for a short time. Dad hired her—didn’t explain how they met. That was the time Mom got very sick. She had an acute shoulder illness, so she couldn’t take care of the house chores and Elga. I could take care of myself, but I used to play around and I didn’t pay attention to what was going on. Anyway, I liked that Annette was looking after Mom too... But God, if only I knew...”
“You were just a boy, Brandon.” I gently rub his arm. “You didn’t know.”
He grits his teeth. “Exactly. I didn’t know. I didn’t know my father was already fucking her. I don’t care who seduced who because she obviously came to us on purpose. She wanted to break us apart. She knew who we were. It was planned, and my father fucking believed her and left us. But right now, after knowing that she’s Marcus’s wife, I can’t stop thinking where the hell my father was. Where the hell was he when his family was dying? Why did he leave us? Is he still with her?”
“Hey, hey...” I look up at his swollen eyes and cup his breathtaking face. “What’s important now is that you are close to the truth you’ve been searching for your whole life. That your father, even after all his mistakes, was a victim too. Annette seduced him.”
“Do you still think Annette is a good person?” Brandon asks out of the blue. “Do you still doubt that she’s also behind all of this? I get a feeling that you’re having second thoughts about her.”
“I was at first,” I confess. “But I’m convinced now that she’s not. She’s not the person I thought she was.”
She’s not Lucia Moretti, who was my mentor. She’s not the Katrakis I thought she was either, but the wife of the man who tried to kill Brandon and murdered his family.
“But wait.” I frown. “If that Marcus guy is a Katrakis, it means Annette isn’t, contrary to your current info.”
Brandon’s answer comes late. “Yes. We all thought she was Helen’s bastard. Helen was my grandfather’s sister, who was allegedly murdered by her own son Alfio—though there is still not enough evidence for this. The twins are investigating to support the allegation and his connection to all this. Still, we’re looking for another method to incriminate him properly, as well as his sons Silvanus and Charlie. Right now, I have a feeling about who’s Helen’s real“Marcus.”
He nods. “Yes. No wonder he was unknown to us.”
“But he’s your relative. What a despicable family blood,” I murmur without thinking. “I’m sorry, not you, of course.”
“Don’t worry. I thought of the same thing.” He grimaces. “I’m sorry if you have to be involved in all of this. You see, I no longer want to be tied to that kind of family.”
I reach for his face and kiss his cheek. “This is your family now, Brandon. Me, Ollie, Cassius, Casey, and Ms. Lennie. Not them, okay? People who hurt their own families are not real families. Only those who care.”
He nods and takes me in his arms, my head pressing against his chest. It’s a perfect fit, and I’d love to stay like this with him every day, whenever possible.