It's dawn already and several hours have passed since the two brothers passed out, Ciara had no much time on her side and was less patient to wait for them to wake up. She asked Gerald for a pail of water as usual, but this time, she preferred it to be mixed with ice.
Ferdinand and Brandon's morning started with a startled and shrill, both whimpering under their breathe and shivering due to the impact of the cold iced water on them. The two brothers were both angry for being treated as slaves and outcasts but they dare not complain since they were both under her mercy.
"Haven't you had enough of what you want from us, Ciara?" Brandon managed to breathe out, of course, he was sure to avoid her gaze; having no much courage to meet with it. "You wanted the truth from us which we have given to you, can't you give us what we want in return?"
"Which is...？" She asked him in reply to his question, her left brow raised in demand.
"You let us go, Ciara!" He uttered almost immediately, his voice could have been sharp and hard, but he managed to control it. "You can't keep doing this to us, we are your uncles to start with."
Ciara paid deaf ear to his protest, deciding to change the topic instead. "I'm bored this morning and I still need to go to work today." She uttered, drawling her words. "Butfirst, who is hungry?"
The two brothers exchanged a puzzled look but said nothing in response.
"You don't need to keep it amongst yourselves, not when you are both famished as hell." She told them, not minding that they did not reply to her. "Since I'm trying to be good to you guys, I'll please you as much as I can; that is, if you are being cooperative with me."
The two brothers find her words as an amusing statement but still, on the other hand, they are glad that she's being considerate. They decided inside themselves that she's trying to have pity on them.
Ciara turned to Gerald slowly, with a dark smile on her face. "Untie them, they must be feeling uncomfortable being in such a position for long." She lilted, pretending to be feeling remorseful of her act. "You do what is required afterward!"
Gerald only nodded and strode before them, untying the brothers as requested and due to how weak they were, they couldn't stand on their own; they sprawled to the cold floor. Gerald ignored their position and went out of the room, returning after a couple of minutes with wipes in his both hands.
"Each of you will have one of these. You will have to stand up and wipe each other hard, ma'am only needs one winner from you both." Gerald told them, replying to the puzzled expression they offered him, but they ignored him, not moving an inch or made any impact to take the wipes from him.
"The ball is now in your court, whether you need to quench your hunger, now depends on you." Ciara added, seeing they are making no impact to do as told. "I can't let you eat from my sweats and hard work without you working hard for it too."
Ciara was only trying to be considerate on her part. She badly wants to punish them hard but due to their state and considering the relationship between them, she realized they do it themselves -they should punish themselves for their deeds.
Hearing Ciara's statement, they both snatched the wipes from Gerald since they were both famished and needed to fill their growling stomachs, who quickly withdraw himself from their presence.
"I'm sorry, Ferdinand, but I have to do this." The pitiful look that was supposed to be on his face wasn't there, it was the opposite of it -Ferdinand, on the other hand, was giving the same look as Brandon too. "After all, you are the loose mouth and the incompetent who got us in this mess in the first place!"
"Don't make me laugh, Brandon!" Ferdinand hissed in irritation. "You caused all this since you are the snitch who is always blabbing out a secret at the slightest opportunity -who knows if you've blabbed before, Sheila too."
Gerald and Ciara heard Ferdinand's last words but pretended not to, though, they were both clouded in surprise but managed to conceal it -Ciara realized this was a good way to put the brothers against each other.
"Ah! If you had made sure Ciara ate the cupcake then, there's no way we will be here." Brandon countered, slowly letting his rage take over him. "Either which way, you are the incompetent here who deserves no trust from us, you son of a bitch!"
Ferdinand was angered at how he was being addressed by Brandon and took the first step by hitting him first. In as much as Brandon was enraged by his brother, he was trying to hold himself from hitting him, but Ferdinand crossed the line already, leaving him with no choice than to let the game begin.
Ciara watched the struggling between her two uncles, she was enjoying the sight before her -they had much price to pay for murdering her parents without thinking twice about it; without considering the fact that he was their brother.
This kept her on her toes and leave her wondering if they've done something related to someone -no, people outside the family and maybe in their place of work too. She wondered how they were able to trust each other, and did not realize each of them could pay themselves with the same coins or more too.
Several minutes passed, and finally, after Ciara's long wait since her drifted mind made the sight turn sore for her, Brandon managed to hit Ferdinand the most and leave him sprawling on the floor again.
"Take the loser away ..." Ciara commanded Gerald, who did as told without wasting another second. Ciara, find it as a good thing that Brandon won instead, because she has something else in store for him...