64

64
Adriano
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, my voice deadly calm as I stared into the eyes of my greatest enemy.
The person standing in my doorway had the audacity to smile at me, which only made my blood boil hotter.
Without thinking, my hand moved toward the drawer where I kept my loaded gun. Some people never learned their lesson the easy way.
“You have exactly ten seconds to get out of my building before I call security,” I hissed. “Or better yet, before I handle this problem myself.”
“Hello, brother,” came the voice that made my skin crawl.
Alexander. My so-called half-brother, the spawn of the woman who destroyed my family. Just hearing him call me brother made me want to put a bullet through his skull.
“Don’t you dare call me that,” I snarled, pulling the gun from the drawer and snapping back the slide with a deadly click. “Get out now… before I stop pretending to be civilized.”
My vision went red with rage. Instead of running like any smart person would do, this idiot actually took a step closer to me. Either he was incredibly stupid, or he had a death wish.
“You can’t kill me, brother,” Alexander whispered with that same smug smile. “Deep down, you could never hurt your only brother.”
A cold, horrible laugh escaped my throat. “What makes you think I can’t kill you? And stop calling yourself my brother when I’ve never acknowledged you as anything more than a mistake.”
I raised the gun and aimed it directly at his heart. My finger was on the trigger, ready to end this once and for all, when another unwelcome voice filled my office.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
My father, or rather, the man who contributed his DNA to my existence, walked into my office like he owned the place.
“Perfect,” I said with a bitter smirk. “Not only did this pest invade my space, but he brought his daddy with him. How touching.”
“Are you really going to shoot your own brother?” my father demanded. “I thought your violence was reserved for your enemies, not your family.”
The word ‘family’ made me laugh even harder. “Family? You want to talk about family?”
“Your mother would be ashamed of what you’ve become,” he continued, trying to wound me with her memory.
“And who made me this way?” I fired back, my gun never wavering from Alexander’s chest.
“You did this to yourself,” came a third voice that made my trigger finger itch.
Beauty—Alexander’s mother, the gold-digging whore who had destroyed everything good in my life, walked into my office like she belonged here.
She was the reason my mother died heartbroken and alone. She was the reason my father abandoned us for a newer, younger model.
“You chose to become a monster,” she stated with fake sympathy. “I’m sure your poor mother is rolling over in her grave, disappointed in the son she raised.”
She had the nerve to smirk as she delivered that final blow. “She probably wants to crawl out of her coffin just to slap some sense into you.”
My entire body began shaking with rage. These three walking corpses had dared to invade my sanctuary, first my home, now my office. The empire I had built with my own blood, sweat, and tears.
“I guess you didn’t learn your lesson yesterday,” I snarled. “Walking in here like you own the place.”
“You’re my stepson,” Beauty responded, settling onto my expensive leather sofa like she belonged there.
She crossed her legs and tried to project some kind of queenly authority, when everyone knew she was nothing but a cheap gold digger who got lucky. “I’ve already forgiven you for how rudely you treated me yesterday. But pointing that gun at my son is something I cannot overlook.”
“Why are you here?”
My father cleared his throat and sat down beside his wife, making himself comfortable in my space. “I want Alexander to work alongside you. I want him to learn the business from you so he can eventually take over.”
The audacity was breathtaking. A hollow, humorless laugh echoed from my throat.
“Take over what, exactly? My company or yours?”
“How dare you speak to me like that!” he snapped. “I am still your father!”
“So?” I asked, bringing the gun to my lips and kissing the barrel mockingly. “You think that meaningless title gives you the right to walk into my company and make demands?”
“He’s your brother,” my father insisted, as if repeating it would make me care.
“Did I ever acknowledge him as such?” I asked, turning my attention to Alexander, who was still smiling like this was all some amusing game. He could fool his father with that innocent act, but I saw right through him.
I knew exactly what kind of snake he was. “As far as I’m concerned, I have no father, no stepmother, and definitely no brother.”
“You ungrateful—” my father started to say, pointing his finger at me accusingly.
“Brother,” Alexander interrupted, finally speaking up. “No matter how much you deny it, the truth is that we share the same blood. We’re family whether you like it or not.”
“Really?” I said, pointing my gun directly at his smug face. “Then let me send you to hell where you belong.”
I pulled the trigger.
The gunshot was deafeningly loud in the enclosed space. Alexander screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder as blood poured between his fingers.
The bullet had torn through muscle and possibly bone, but he would live. For now.
The sudden silence that followed was broken only by Beauty’s piercing scream.
“ALEXANDER!” she shrieked, running to her wounded son. “Oh God, Alex, please talk to me!”
I leaned casually against my desk, watching the chaos with complete indifference. The smell of gunpowder and blood filled the air, and I found it oddly satisfying.
“What have you done?” my father yelled, his face white with shock. “You’ve killed your own brother!”
“He’s not dead yet,” I replied with a cold smile. “I was just having a little fun. It would be a shame to kill him so quickly when I haven’t gotten to play with him properly.”