Chapter Eighteen #2
“If I were to guess, she’d try to escape the way we came in. Easier to get in means easier to get out,” Diane said aloud once Aiden caught up. She climbed down the stairs to the first floor.
Brendan’s hand curled around his. He stared straight ahead, grasping back. “I hope Diane’s wrong.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “It’s hard. For Zhu Zhu and He Bao.” He glanced at his two stepsiblings trailing behind them. “I don’t want them hurt the way I’ve been.”
Brendan’s hand tightened. “You’re a better person than me.”
How is that possible? Brendan, who dived headfirst into dangerous territory. Brendan, who helped everyone feel heard and important. Brendan, who was so unafraid to say what his heart felt, no matter the circumstance.
A sly grin spread on Aiden’s face. He peered at Brendan. “What you said earlier…”
“Hmm?” Brendan kept his face straight, and Aiden almost laughed out loud at how transparently his embarrassment revealed itself in the obviously tightened skin.
“I’m not letting you take it back.”
The fluttering panic washed away from Brendan’s face. “Okay.”
“Will you two boys get your heads out of the clouds? We’re trying to catch a slippery fish!” Diane called from the bottom of the stairs.
Brendan jumped, dashing down the stairs without him. With laughter tumbling in his stomach, Aiden followed. They headed directly to the playroom. His heart soared. We probably won’t find her in the playroom. His breaths quickened. I bet she’s upstairs, looking for her children.
However, whatever hope existed vanished once he caught sight of his stepmother furiously working at the locked door.
Shoving it in and out, shaking the doorknob left and right, she swiveled her head around and kicked hopelessly at the door.
She noticed the electronic lock, and her fingers grappled with it stuck to the side.
Cursing, she looked around again and saw the group staring at her.
“Ma?” He Bao asked with quivering lips. He pushed past all of them and stood before her. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, He Bao! Thank goodness you are ok!” She tried to fling herself at her son, but He Bao took a step back.
She stopped in momentary surprise, but her wide eyes and open mouth were replaced with a shining smile.
“I didn’t know if you were okay! I was worried about you and Zhu Zhu, but I can’t help you first if I don’t find us a way out.
That’s why I was trying to get out of here. ”
He Bao continued staring, but she gazed upon him with open arms.
The invisible chains Aiden watched He Bao loosen clamped back around his stepbrother’s limbs.
He Bao broke into a relieved grin, his shoulders slumping with a sigh. “I knew you weren’t trying to abandon us!”
“Of course not! Why would I?” Her voice turned stern. “Are these people trying to ruin the relationship between us?” She pointed at Aiden. “You are the enemy. I expected personal attacks, but I cannot believe you would go so low and make my son believe that I would ever abandon my own children.”
“Zhu Zhu, look, it’s ok. Ma was still thinking of us.” He Bao reached for her, but she hid behind Diane. “Zhu Zhu, what are you doing? You can’t believe them still, can you?”
“Zhu Zhu, do not let them take advantage of you,” Yin Mei coaxed.
She lowered herself to the floor with her arms open, bowing her head low.
Diane openly groaned, rolling her eyes, but Aiden remained silent, watching her theatrics.
How far can she go? he wondered, though he knew the answer since she murdered his brother.
Hui Ye’s own lessons reflected like a mirror in his stepmother.
“I know I have been harsh on you, and that we will often fight, but you cannot think to take their words over mine, do you? I am your mother.”
“Did you kill Hui Ye?” Zhu Zhu asked, still clutching onto Diane.
Aiden's stepmother’s eyes widened, and equally surprised, Aiden turned his head toward his stepsister. Zhu Zhu continued clinging to Diane, but she poked her head out with a face left streaked by tears and her lips cracked. Her eyes remained leveled on Yin Mei, not even blinking.
Chest swelling, Aiden turned back toward his stepmother.
A laughing smile smeared across his stepmother’s face, but her eyes remained large and unblinking.
Her voice threw barbs. “What is the meaning of that ridiculous question?” She turned toward Aiden.
“Hui Lang—you still believe that? Do you really think I’d put such terrible risks on my own children?
Because of Hui Ye’s death, our lives have been unstable and dangerous since. ”
She inched closer to him. With every bit of distance she closed, Aiden’s heart jumped to his throat. Memories of her condescending eyes, her disappointed voice, and her forceful hands that shoved him down a basement arose, and he instinctively backed away with his mind screaming to appease her.
He bumped into Brendan, whose hands held his shoulders steady.
He glanced back, gaping at Brendan’s glare, his blue eyes a swirling depth of malice wishing to drown his stepmother.
His hands tightened, shaking of fury, and Aiden could see the thoughts threatening to rush out of his mouth.
You need to shut up. You treated him like trash, and everyone who knew Aiden knows that.
His friends know that. Your own children know that.
It was his first time seeing Brendan angry.
The shivering fear faded to nothingness. Aiden removed Brendan’s hands from his shoulders and smiled. He stepped forward, and when he did, his stepmother stopped moving.
Her eyes were the only indication of her surprise.
Still, she reached her hands forward and grabbed his with her death grip.
“I know I’ve been hard on you. Harder on you than Zhu Zhu, but I am just human after all.
You should understand even if you are more integrated with American culture.
Nothing is more important than family. I am willing to forgive you if you are willing to devote yourself completely to us all like it is your duty to do. ”
“Pfft.” Diane hid her face behind her hand, but her shoulders shook.
The trembling of her shoulders soon transferred to her entire body, and finally, she dropped her hand and clutched her stomach instead.
Tears sprung to her eyes, and Diane howled with laughter.
She laughed so hard that she started coughing.
Her gleaming eyes stared down at Aiden's stepmother.
“Ah, I missed this so much. You are a perfect example of the worst of humanity. Using emotions like love, and you excuse yourself with traditions and culture without any context to get what you want, no matter how many people you need to hurt to get there. Bravo, my lady. Bravo.”
“Hui Lang!” His stepmother grabbed Aiden’s shoulders and shook him so hard his teeth rattled. “Hui Lang, that woman is responsible for killing your brother. She is the one you should be trying to take down. Do not just stand there. He Bao! Find a gun! Find a gun, so that we can kill her!”
“Don’t bother. Here—take mine.” With a lackadaisical flourish, Diane tossed her own gun over to He Bao.
He Bao caught it with a bewildered look in his eyes, but before he could make heads or tails of the weapon, his mother snatched the gun from his hand and leveled it at Diane.
“Say your last words now for I will ensure that you die tonight for what you have done to my family!”
“Yin Mei.”
The gentleness in Aiden’s voice shocked himself, much less his stepmother.
His heart not even pounding, he glanced up.
“Yin Mei, I just would like to ask one thing from you. Just admit what you did. Infinite is finished tonight. You saw it with your own eyes. If you tell the truth, I can help your bad position. Won’t you do it for Zhu Zhu and He Bao? ”
He waited. Seconds ticked by, his stepmother stayed frozen, and Aiden waited. You don’t need Infinite. Slowly, she relaxed, and Aiden smiled a little brighter. Just tell us the truth. We all deserve it.
She turned the gun toward him.
A body slammed into Aiden, and the pop of the gun rang in the air.
He cried out, looking for blood on his body, but the only pain he felt was the floor slamming against his back.
Brendan’s blond hair brushed against his cheek.
“Brendan…?” The heaviness of the body against him sent flashes of red across his vision.
His mother’s cold, dead hand gripping his without any intention of letting go.
Her laboring breath disappeared.
Her body against his small frame.
“Brendan!” he screamed, grasping at Brendan’s back.
“Oh fuck, that hurts.” Brendan moved off, grabbing his arm. Blood seeped through his sleeve.
Tears spilled from Aiden’s eyes as Diane ran to Brendan’s side. All the while, Brendan continued to curse nonstop. “Punched first for Aiden, and now almost took a bullet for him.” She inspected his wound with an amused grin. “You did your job tonight, if nothing else.”
“God, what is this?” Brendan grimaced when Diane pulled apart a piece of cloth to smartly wrap it around his wounded arm. “Have you ever gotten shot before?”
“Yes.”
“I hope you were screaming, because I can’t imagine not screaming at this.”
“What were you thinking?” Aiden roared, climbing to his feet. His hands clenched by his side, and visions flashed of him pounding down against Brendan, but the bleeding wound kept his control in check. “What did you think you were doing the first time and this time? What if you were killed?”
“Then you would’ve gotten killed. If I see it coming, I’m not going to let it happen,” Brendan shot back, but winced when Diane mercilessly pulled the cloth tighter. “Yes, I let you do all the other stuff because I know it’s not my place to intercede, but this is your life!”
“My life? Did it ever occur to you how dreadful my life would be without you now that you’ve told me you love me?”