CREIGHTON
There was a plan all along.
The universe’s.
My parents’.
Landon’s.
Everyone had a course of life and a path to follow from the beginning.
The universe decided my biological parents didn’t deserve to live and destroyed my life in retrospect.
Mum and Dad thought any information about my past was unnecessary so they went to immaculate lengths to hide it from me.
Landon needed me as his instigator of chaos, the variable that he used to have the Heathens and Serpents clash without getting the Elites involved, so he withheld information.
But he had my revenge in mind.
That’s what he called it earlier, after he casually mentioned that he kidnapped Nikolai because we can use him to draw out Jeremy.
“Once the Heathens’ leader is here, you can punch him, kill him. Get your long-awaited revenge. What’s better than punishing the parents’ sin by taking away their only heir?”
Eli thinks Landon said that so I would let him go, but his words aren’t far from the truth.
I’ve stayed locked up in my room since, sitting in the dark for hours, a whole day even, staring at my bloodied hands.
It’s not enough.
This amount of blood is simply not enough.
There needs to be payback. Eye for an eye. Life for a life.
And since the parents are untouchable, the children will pay on their behalf.
Just like I did over seventeen years ago.
That would hurt them much more anyway, considering they poured all their lives into raising them to be the future leaders of the Volkovs.
A tinge of pain explodes behind my rib cage, achy at first but soon becoming absolutely unbearable.
The thought of her slashes through my bruised chest and brutally confiscates my air.
I always considered myself a little bit heartless, but it was Annika who proved that I actually do have a heart.
Only, it’s reserved for a select few, an exclusive list that she somehow found her way onto.
A closed door that she barged right through.
A tall wall that she crumbled to the ground.
But for what purpose?
We’ve come to this point where I won’t only break her heart, but I’ll also ruin her until there’s nothing left to pick up.
Annika has always looked at me as a god. Little did she know that the altar she worshiped at belongs to a tyrant god.
In the darkness of my room, I can barely see my hands. I barely exist.
It’s like I’m floating out of my body in a parallel world.
Tiger mewls from his position by my foot. He hasn’t left my side since I locked myself up in here. He’s just rubbed himself all over me.
I pat his head and then I grab him and place him outside my door so that he can find Bran or Remi.
After locking myself in my room again, I fish out my phone to read and re-read the last text she sent.
Particularly the last part.
I miss you. I want to kiss you.
My fingers tighten around the phone, then I throw it against the wall with enough force that it shatters and clatters on the ground.
The room becomes suffocating with my heavy breathing and her fucking violet scent. It’s all over my sheets, my bathroom, my wardrobe.
I might have been the one who dominated her, but she’s the one who’s left her mark everywhere.
In my air, on my skin, and down to the marrow of my fucking bones.
Standing up, I pull on the sheet covering the mattress and throw it to the ground. I smash a lamp and then use it to wreak havoc on everything in the bathroom.
Her shampoo, her perfume, her toothbrush, her fluffy towels. I accidentally cut my hand and smear them with blood.
By the time I’m done, I’m breathing heavily and everything is as broken as I am.
But it’s still not fucking enough.
Rage bubbles in my veins, flowing with blood and demanding more.
Time to take this to the next level.
Landon already said he’d bring Jeremy to my door by threatening Nikolai’s life.
It’s been long enough for him to fulfill that promise.
I leave my room and head to the basement. Eli said he’d keep an eye on surveillance—and Lan as he nurses his wounds.
Remi passed out soon after Bran took him back to his room, too drunk to care about anything.
I expect to find Nikolai still drugged up. He woke up early this morning and nearly broke his arm trying to escape his bindings, so Landon had to drug ‘the crazy bloody bastard’ again.
My feet come to a halt near the basement when the automatic light doesn’t come on.
There’s no shortage of power to cause this, so the only explanation is that someone purposefully cut it off.
Sure enough, I make out a shadow moving swiftly along the hall.
Strategically.
I track their movements until they reach their destination.
The basement door.
When they insert the key and unlock it, I catch a glimpse of none other than my cousin.
Surprisingly, it’s not Landon, though.
Bran slips inside with swift agility that I’m witnessing for the first time.
I wait a few moments before I follow behind.
Through the ajar door, I can make out Nikolai’s huge body slumped over in the chair he’s bound to. His head has fallen to his chest and his long hair is loose, forming a curtain over his face.
Brandon remains a safe distance away, watching him with a blank expression.
He’s always been the most even-tempered out of the four of us. He’s never indulged in hunting, manipulations, pranks, fighting, or anything monstrous.
Brandon King is the only good boy among us.
Where his twin brother is a volcano, Bran is the earth—silent, deep, and actually has a core.
Morals.
Which is why I have no doubt he’ll let Nikolai go. He’s just not the type who’ll sit by while someone else gets hurt.
A trait that will probably get him killed one day.
I’m about to barge inside and abort his plan, but I stop when Bran reaches a hesitant hand to Nikolai’s…hair.
He slowly, gently slides it back, revealing his unconscious face. A groan spills out of Nikolai’s lips and Brandon jerkily releases him. His hand finds the back of his neck and he pulls on the short hairs there.
Nikolai’s eyes blink open, his pupils dilated, and he appears to be as high as a kite.
“Lotus flower…? What are you doing here?” His voice is craggy, a bit slurred, barely understandable.
Bran reluctantly releases his hair. Then he pulls out a knife from his waistband and starts cutting at Nikolai’s bindings. “You’re the one who came into my house. You just couldn’t stay away?”
A lopsided grin lifts Nikolai’s lips. “How else would I see you so adorably worried about me?”
“I am not worried about you and don’t fucking call me adorable again.”
“Wow. The posh boy can curse.”
“Shut it or I’ll leave you to my brother’s and cousins’ nonexistent mercy.”
“If I’d known I’d see this side of you, I would’ve gotten myself kidnapped long ago.”
“Are you insane?”
Nikolai lifts a shoulder. “Probably.”
Brandon shakes his head and releases a long sigh. “I’ll release you and leave the back door open, and you’ll have to find your own way out.”