24. Chapter 24 #2
“That’s funny,” I push out. “Because Sebastian mentioned that bullshit last night and you didn’t seem like you wanted to cancel it.
Also, I’m not digging into anything. Both of you are tangled up in stuff I don’t understand but even if I stopped doing whatever you thought I was, the facts are already out there.
At least some of them.” I steel my voice, trying not to show my discomfort with them in my space.
“I’m only in this room rather than my own because you two can’t be trusted to leave me the fuck alone.
And now, you’re here again, for what? To threaten me?
Silence me? Are one of you going to call Sebastian or Declan and say that you have me or some bullshit? Why do I mean that much to you?”
I have a mind to bring up the fact that we’re not siblings, that I’ve seen the birth certificate Kurt shredded but with the tension already so thick, I think that might make things worse.
Kurt chuckles, revealing that he already knows. “Because we’re not related, Noah. Oh, yeah , I got home and saw that little office wide open, your papers pieced together like a goddamn puzzle.” He leans forward, a tight grin on his face. “You have no idea what you stumbled on, do you?” he says.
“Why does it matter if we’re cousins rather than brothers?
We’re still blood. I don’t know why you’re doing this to me,” I say.
I shift farther away from Heath when he tries to reach for me again.
“Don’t fucking touch me. Just tell me why you’re here.
Why couldn’t have this been a fucking phone call?
” I reach for my phone, about to panic dial or text my men when the device is ripped from my hands and chucked against the wall behind me.
The lingering terror coursing through me becomes more than just a dull throb, taking over my rational mind.
My eyes widen as I realize the very real threat that these men pose to me.
“Look, Noah, I’m sorry.” Kurt’s standing over me, his chest heaving before he sits back down on the guest bed.
I hadn’t even seen him move, his speed just a little terrifying.
“There are things you don’t understand and we knew you wouldn’t answer a call. We’re hoping it’ll help.”
Heath steals my attention next. “Do you know anything about Kurt’s parents?”
“Mom used to talk about them a little, said they were nice but she rarely brought them up.” I have a feeling that the lack of information I have on my own family means there was a much darker secret lurking in the background.
Kurt, though, has yet to prove why this couldn’t have been a phone call, text, or even a fucking voicemail.
Kurt bursts out laughing. “They were absolutely nice. Wonderful. Until they were fucking convicted of war crimes. We’ve all been through the military, Noah but only my parents were the ones convicted.
I’ve had to live with my aunt’s family because of what my parents did,” he mentions.
He pulls out his phone and scrolls a little before chucking the device at me.
I read silently through the article frowning at both the date and the content. It’s dated nearly twenty years ago, detailing crimes that are too horrific to read aloud. The worst part is the way they condemn a mere child. “Kurt, what is-”
“I’ve never been your brother, you little shit.
My parents were supposedly just out ruining the goddamn world and I was thrown at my aunt’s family–your parents–to take care of me while they did it.
But when they were condemned to an eternity of ridicule and prison time, everyone thought I’d follow right in their footsteps. ”
None of this makes any sense, especially when I look over at Heath to figure out how he fits into this. “But this is twenty years ago. I feel like I would know if they were still alive and that you weren’t actually my brother. Heath, what-”
Kurt throws me a deviant grin, shaking his head.
“Noah, Noah, Noah. Your parents told so many goddamn lies to protect your innocent little ears. That car accident they died in? Didn’t happen.
They both died in prison, rotting away while no one cared about them.
They were convicted years earlier than that article but only charged when you were about 10 or 11.
They told you that it happened when you were a kid but hell, they were still alive and well, stuck in a cage of the military’s making. ”
Heath smirks, leaning back and placing his hands behind his head.
Neither one of these men are ones that I know anymore.
Their haughty expressions, the power they seem to wield, and the secrets lurking in their eyes.
“And now, Kurt wants to get back at the system that ruined his parents and I have the access to do so. It isn’t hard and I got you in the meantime,” he says.
“You mean I was just part of a transaction? Did you even ever love me?” I ask.
Heath barks out a laugh. “Did you?”
My breath catches in my throat as I crawl backward onto the bed, putting more distance between us.
“What did you guys do? I still don’t understand how any of this connects.
Your parents break the law and they are jailed to pay their penance.
Then they died. Why does that have anything to do with me or your buddies?
Why are you going up against a system that only did what they were supposed to do? ”
I wrack my brain for answers because while I heard about this case, I never did more than skim the surface. My memories are shot. I only remember Kurt as my brother. He was always at the house and while mom and dad were a little harsh with him at times, he was the golden child.
Or maybe that’s just the way I saw him.
Fuck.
Kurt stands and moves toward me again. “See, my parents were innocent but they crucified them for some PR so I decided it’s my turn to play god. Show them that it isn’t as fun when they aren’t in control,” he says.
I swallow, unable to believe what’s coming out of his mouth. He believes that his parents didn’t actually do all that stuff. And while I understand he is hurting, there is no fucking way that our superiors fucked up that much.
“And it has everything to do with you, Noah. You’ve been a goddamn thorn in my side since it all went down. You were the focus. You were to get everything, the love, the house, the assets because I couldn’t be trusted,” he says.
That doesn’t make sense either. “We weren’t even teenagers,” I push out.
“And yet, your parents were still making plans. I would be left with nothing. So, sure, I let things go a little haywire. I gave Heath access to you. Needed to bring you down a peg or two but when you didn’t fucking fall apart after you came back?
Like sure, a few loud noises-” A maniacal grin spreads across his lips as he swipes the lamp from the nightstand and chucks it against the far wall.
I cringe, smacking my hands over my ears, eyes wide.
They said they didn’t come over to threaten me and while that might be right, they are here to terrify me into submission.
Kurt approaches, his fingers tangling in my shirt as he drags me across the bed.
I am on my knees, clawing at his arm to let me go, terror running through my veins.
Tears start down my cheeks as his grin grows, Kurt slipping a pistol from the back of his pants. It’s longer than it should be, horror settling in my gut as I catch the silencer attached to it. He’s prepared for whatever he’s about to do and he wants to make sure no one is going to hear it.
“What are you going to do with that?” I cry. He can’t kill me. I didn’t do anything and yet I couldn’t stop him if I tried. The only reason I didn’t run was because I didn’t think Kurt was capable of this kind of violence toward me. I can survive a beating but I’m not stronger than a bullet.
Heath pops out of his seat. “Hey, this isn’t what we agreed on. You said you just wanted to talk to him.” Heath’s bit of concern doesn’t make me feel better.
“And yet, I don’t really care what we agreed on.
You couldn’t keep Noah under control when you were married.
You also couldn’t get him to back off when you met him at the funeral.
So, it’s my turn, and by god, I’m going to make sure it works.
Don’t worry, little brother, they’ll reject your deployment after what I’m about to do,” Kurt muses, his grin widening across his face.
I cry out again as he places the gun near my head and pulls the trigger.
Sound blasts by my ear as it fires a blank, the shock of sound throwing me into a spiral.
My fingers dig into Kurt’s arm as he sets it up again and pulls the trigger a second time.
He’s not close enough to damage my hearing completely but enough that there’s ringing in my left ear, a splitting headache throbbing against my skull.
My body shuts down as I try to block out the sound, Kurt cackling at my pitiful reaction. When he releases me, I crumble onto the mattress, shaking and whispering for help. I try to curl into a ball to escape my reality as something else crashes against the wall, liquid splashing onto my side.
Shards of glass join me on the bed as Kurt bends down to ruffle through his bag. “Hold him down, Heath. No, don’t fight me on this. After today, Noah isn’t going to be a problem.”
“He wasn’t really a problem before,” Heath groans, obviously not on board with whatever my brother is doing.
“Says the man who set up his deployment so he’d be out of the country,” Kurt shoots back.
“And we wouldn’t have to worry about him in two days. But this? I didn’t sign up for this.”
Kurt hesitates as he reveals a bottle of the devil’s poison from his bag and then another one.
“See, you’re in as deep as I am. Maybe more.
I have access already to most of the shit we’ve been doing, messing with deployments and shit.
But you? You hack your way in,” he says.
He holds up one of the glass bottles and nods. “This should do.”
“What, what-”
“Stop talking, Noah. It won’t save you. Just open up.”
I freeze. He is using my addiction against me. Sure, they’d cancel my deployment but they would also fire me from the clinic. I might even lose my license if they think I relapsed into my old ways. It’d be explainable, what with Ronny’s death, but that doesn’t mean they’d give me a second chance.
I dart off the bed, just to have a firm hand around my throat slamming backward onto the mattress.
My ear is still ringing, head a chaotic mess.
There’s no reason for all this, no reason other than to show that they’re in control.
But I’m not giving in so easily, not even as Heath straddles my waist and pins my arms to the bed.
I kick and struggle beneath him but keep my lips clamped shut, even as Kurt grips my jaw, trying to force my mouth open.
If this is the last thing I can do, I will.
Kurt growls at me to just ‘give in’ and ‘open up’ but fuck that bullshit.
I’ve been fighting for years and I’m not about to let all that go to waste.
Being held down is only adding to my fear and the chaos, amber liquid splashing across my face, spilling down my chin and soaking into my shirt and the mattress beneath me.
My mouth is still closed, my eyes scrunched shut as the alcohol fills my nose and splashes down to my ears.
If they don’t stop soon, I’ll have to take a breath, unable to breathe any other way than through my mouth.
Kurt’s assault doesn’t stop a moment too soon, the man setting the lingering bit on the nightstand.
“You’ll want some when you’re awake, little brother.
Or should I say cousin?” He cackles. “Heath told me all about what you went through trying to avoid him. I’m not sure why you didn’t just let Heath leave you. ”
Tears gather in my eyes as Heath slowly climbs off of me, the ache of having been held down just adding to everything else. Dots pepper my vision, unconsciousness trying to steal me away as I struggle to roll over to my side.
Wordlessly, I meet my brother’s eyes, asking ‘why’.
Kurt just laughs. “To be honest, besides seeing how you get all the attention? I just don’t like you.
You steal my friends, my squad, my livelihood.
You could have stayed in your own little corner but you just had to have mine.
So, hey, this is a warning. Stay away and I’ll even let you keep my friends. They’re dead to me anyway.”
Heath says nothing, almost looking guilty but his emotions are hardly my problem.
They stalk out of the room, Kurt laughing about something as Heath grunts in agreement, leaving me in tortured silence.
I manage to find enough strength to bury my face in one of the pillows to dry my face, the sting of alcohol burning into my cheeks, mixing with my tears.
It takes me entirely too long as I fight the darkness to find my phone, the screen cracked and even longer to dial a number. It brings up Declan, a broken cry falling from my lips as he answers.
“How is lunch, Noah?” Declan asks.
I clutch the device against my ear as I sag against the bed, my strength waning. “I need you,” I manage.
“Be right there. Fuck, are you okay? What happened?” There’s something rustling in the background, the start of a car, and other noises I can’t quite pick out.
Just before the darkness takes over, I mumble two words that I am sure will only make this scene look worse. “I’m sorry.”