CHAPTER 071

CHAPTER 071
«JARVIS POINT OF VIEW»

My gaze flickered between the laptop screen and his face, also taking some time to admire the way his fingers moved swiftly over the keys without missing any alphabet or number, his eyes fixed on the screen with sharp focus. With a frustrated sigh, I slammed the laptop shut on his fingers, and he groaned out in pain, shutting his eyes. Served him right!

"Don't you have better things to do, like find a job?" he snapped at me, his brown orbs boring into my face, irritation clear.

I pouted and crossed my hands over my chest, leaning back slightly. "I want to move in with you."

"No!" He instantly declined, and my lips parted in a tremor.

"Do you mean that?!"

"Yes, I do," Levi sighed, rubbing his forehead for a second, exhaustion slipping into his voice. "Look, Jarvis, just because we were caught by mom and dad doesn't mean we can be together. I am still your brother."

"I don't have a brother, and I can't believe those words came out of you!" I glared at him, my chest tightening with something I couldn't fully name, and I couldn't believe we were going over this again.  

“Look, you are still fresh; you just got out of college. Why don’t you find your dream job or get Dad to retire so you can take over the company and, while at it, get tangled with more people? You will perhaps fall in love with a woman or a man who isn’t your brother.”

By the time he finished, my mouth was already dropping to the bed in disbelief. I felt my knuckles ball into a tight fist, the urge to punch the shit out of him sitting right in my bones.

“You are such a bloody bastard, Levi,” I gritted through my teeth, my fist tightening even more as anger burned behind my eyes. “We’ve gone through a lot, and now that fate seems to be on our side, you choose to say shit to my face. How dare you, Levi?” I watched as he tried to speak, but I raised my palm at his face, stopping him mid-word, and got off the bed, landing firmly on my feet. “You know what, Levi? I think you’re right. I will go look elsewhere. They would probably value my time more than you ever did. Goodbye!”

Giving him one last hateful glare, I stormed out of his apartment into a chill, cool night. I shivered as the cold breeze brushed against my cheeks, sharp and unwelcome. I immediately tucked my hands into my pockets and walked along the lonely streets, my steps heavy but fast.

Where was I going? I didn’t give a fuck as long as it was far away from that bastard. Who did he think he was? He could go fuck himself. I could always find someone way better. He was nothing but a complete waste of my time.

I didn’t care anymore. He had wasted too much of my time already, and I deserved better than that.

“Bloody idiot!” I shouted into the cold night. “Why am I wasting my time with you? You are so ungrateful!” I continued, my voice echoing down the empty street, failing to notice the presence in front of me until they cleared their throat.

My eyes snapped up instantly and landed on a woman standing right in front of me.

She wore hospital pants and a loose shirt, both hanging off her thin frame. Her feet were bare against the freezing ground, yet she didn’t seem to feel the cold that crept through the pavement and into the air. Her hair was a messy black, pointing in every direction as she had just torn herself out of somewhere. Her eyes were the reddest shade of blue I had ever seen.

And what made my breath hitch was the gun hanging low in her grip. I took a step back immediately.

“I thought you would never return,” she said slowly, then let out a dark laugh that didn’t belong in the night air. “You made me wait for months. I guess I won’t wait anymore.” Her head tilted slightly, studying me. “How’s your head?”

My eyes widened at the question, and she laughed again, sharper this time.

“I guess I should have just killed you there,” she continued, almost conversationally, “but then you looked so innocent. So I decided to call your brother instead… and then I remembered again.” Her grip on the gun tightened slightly. “And I want to take your life again.” Her eyes darkened. “You just remind me too much of him… and I hate that. Why should he be happy when he took mine away from me?”

Her words kept spilling, tangled and frantic, each sentence more confusing than the last. I couldn’t make sense of her, only the danger standing in front of me. My throat tightened. “What do you want from me?”

I could swear I had met her before. 

Wait. Why was I even asking that when I should be running for my life? She looked like some deranged woman with a gun in her hand. But… she was the one who attacked me before. Why?

I watched as her lips curved into an evil smirk, her eyes glinting unnaturally in the dark like something unhinged had finally settled in them.

“Your life,” she said softly. “He killed my son. Why should I leave him to be happy?”

Her grip on the gun steadied as she lifted it slowly, pointing it directly at me. I flinched instantly. My body froze before my mind could even catch up. What was going on?

“God will explain when you open your eyes again.”

Bang!

An intense pain ripped through me instantly, sharp and blinding, and I dropped to my knees with a strangled gasp. My vision blurred as I looked up at her, my breath coming out uneven.

She walked closer, unhurried, the gun still raised like she was certain of what came next. “Say hi to your stepbrother for me, kid. Tell him I’ll meet him soon.”

Bang!

Everything stopped and faded into black.