Forty-six

*A YEAR AGO*

Zach came down from his car as he walked towards the building which Jeffery said that they should meet. He didn't understand why his stepbrother wanted them to meet here, after all, they could have met in other private places.

He did know that Jeffery had bad timing though. Why couldn't they all wait until after he had broken up with Vivi then he could have used the call as an excuse to escape Vivi's waterworks which she always used to get her way. It worked on him during the early stage of their relationship, but it stopped working when he realized that Vivi was using it to mold him as she wanted.

He didn't even want to be in a relationship with Vivi, she was just like the other girls he had a good time with but he somehow, found himself in an open relationship with her then they were exclusive and before he knew it, people were expecting him to propose to her. How all that happened without his knowledge, he had absolutely no idea.

Zach breathed deeply as he locked the door of his car, he needed to remove Vivi from his life soon because that girl is nothing but toxic to him and he refused to have additional headaches in the name of being in a relationship. If he were open to the idea of wanting to have the troubles of a woman, he would have been married a long time ago. Zach walked to the building where his brother was waiting for him. Lately, he had the feeling like he should no longer hold Jeffery as close as he usually does which is just insane.

He had concluded that Vivi was the reason why his intuition is out of sorts, he knew he could trust Jeffery. They have known each other since forever and although he was not happy with his stepmother, he likes the fact that Jeffery was his brother. They had been good friends and keepers of each other since their high school days although they had a different group of friends then.

Jeffery was not the type of person to betray him like that. And that only left one option left. His intuition was haywire when it concerns his stepbrother because it is spot-on in other aspects of his life.

“Hello brother," Jeffery said ahead of Zach, he had been watching Zach made his way since. Could this guy not move any faster? He was strolling and walking like he owns the whole world. God! How much he hated Zachary. The boy always had everything easily, his life was perfect. It was very written in the stars since he was born. Jeffery's case was different, he had to fight and work for what he wants, what he deserves. The things that come to Zach naturally and the bastard takes them for granted.

Zach made the biggest mistake of his life when he made Jeffery his next of kin to inherit everything he owned. Although that was a while ago, Jeffery knew he couldn't kill Zach then. Not when Zach could make more and so he bided his time and now the hour has come for him to cash in.

Zach jumps a footing the air out of surprise. “Don't ever sneak up on me again. It is not funny; I might expire from shock.” Zach said as he tried to calm his heart which was beating erratically and also his intuition which was screaming at him to get away from the place as fast as he could.

“Don't worry it would not happen again.” Jeffery said as he walked towards Zach with laughter evident in his tone. In his heart he finished his reply to Zach, it won't happen again because you will already be dead.

Zach narrowed his eyes at Jeffery's advancing figure. He didn't need to see Jeffery's face to know that his brother was fighting a laugh. “Stop laughing at me.”

“I am doing no such thing.” Jeffery said even though he knew that he was lying.

“Laugh all you want" Zach grumbled and then continued on a more serious note. “You have the most horrible timing ever. I was with Vivi about to...”

Jeffery cuts him short. “I don't want to hear what you were about to do with her " He was not in the mood to listen to Zach talking about one of the perfects in his life. His perfect girlfriend who so many other men wanted on their arms, but she chose to be with Zach and if rumors were right, she would soon turn into the perfect wife and that means that Zach was going to propose tonight.

Although he is still inclined to believe what the gossips rags were saying since he knew that Zach always let him know before he made a big decision and to a man like Zach, marriage was one of the biggest decisions he has to make.

Zach glared at him. “Get your mind out of the gutter. I wasn't referring to what you were thinking.”

“And how do you know what I was thinking.” Jeffery asks.

“Because I know you...” Zach said as Jeffery leads him back outside while Zach was going on talking about how Jeffery hid his dirty mind behind the good boy facade he got going on.

Jeffery put Zach in direct line of the car as he stepped back a little to remove himself from the line of danger and not too far so that Zach will not move to follow him then he signaled for the car to start moving.

“You are right.” Jeffery said cutting Zach in the middle of his tirade.

Zach looked at Jeffery disgruntled. “Of course, I'm right, I am always right.” Before Jeffery could open his mouth to refute him, Zach continued bringing them back to the reason for the meeting. “What was the reason you called me here?”

“Oh that.” Jeffery said as the car started moving. “I just wanted you to know that I am not sorry for what I am about to do. You need to die.”

Before Zach could comprehend what Jeffery was saying, he felt himself being hit with the force of a sledgehammer as he somersaulted on the car and broke the windscreen only for him to fall on the ground after the car had passed.

Zach felt like he was choking on his blood and he knew that he had difficulty breathing. He looked up trying hard to concentrate on his brother's face and he saw an expression he had never seen on Jeffery's face before. A sinister, dark look that proved that he had been deceived the whole time, that his intuition was right.

That he was stupid to trust the person who wanted him dead.

****

Zach opened his eyes to see white blinking lights before a head appeared directly between him and the lights. He looked into the worried face of his girlfriend, the one person he knew that he could trust in the world.

As he looked into her worried eyes, he knew that there was no pretense to this girl. He croaked out a phrase that he hopes that she would understand. “I remember now.”