Chapter 31

**| VIKTOR |**

“Thanks. I will text you the details.” The moment I got off the phone with Marco and turned around, there was Dominic. He made no effort to hide his frown, and his whining was the last thing I wanted to hear. So I just walked past him, but the asshole couldn’t take a hint.

Dominic quickly stepped up, blocking my path. “I could have met Giovanni on my own.”

“Marco will take care of it.”

“I could have taken care of it,” he almost growled.

Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Dom, you need to stay here. You are of no good if you can’t stand beside your family during tough times.”

He wasn’t done pushing my limits for the day. “You weren’t the only one who heard these lectures growing up. I was there too,” he sneered. “As for the tough times, it will never tide over for us.”

I grabbed his shirt and pushed him against the wall before he could raise his defence.

“Then why the fuck do I have to spell it to you every fucking time?” I gritted through my teeth. “I have two brothers, Dominic. One of them managed to string himself on coke and hell-bent on killing himself, and another one is pissing me off to no end as to why I didn’t pick him over someone else. And while I don’t owe any explanation to you, but I am still going to give one because you are my brother. I trust you with my life. Your blood is my blood, which means we have the same beating heart under the armor we have to wear every fucking day. Stef affects you the same way he affect me. But we can’t complain, cry or whine because life isn’t fair. But as much as I want to stay strong, I can’t at the sight of Stefan frothing from his mouth and bleeding from his nose. So do me a fucking favor and. Stay. Here.”

By the time I had finished my unintended rant, I realised that he was as shell-shocked as I was. And for some strange reason, I felt a weight lifted off my chest. The fact that I needed help, that I was capable of emotions to some extent, was unknown to me.

Releasing his shirt, I stepped back. But Dominic’s eyes were still transfixed on me. “What?”

He shook his head. “I will try not to piss you off.”

“I highly doubt that,” I said, walking away from him.

—-

There were two men installed outside of Stefan’s room in case he wakes up and tries to run away once again. We even shifted him to a room without any windows because we wouldn’t take any more unwarranted risks.

As I neared, the men opened the door for me. Walking in, I saw Sammy was curled up on the couch with a book on her lap while Stefan was fast asleep on sedatives. He looked absolutely…peaceful.

Not wanting to wake him up, I slowly caressed his forehead and sighed.

But every time I closed my eyes, I saw the flashes of my brother howling in pain and going through terrible withdrawals. He was uncontrollable to the point of hurting himself, so I had to chain him down like a fucking animal. And it tore a chunk of me every goddamn day. I hated it more than anything else I have done in my life, and I had done things that no man should be proud of.

Shaking off the thought, I quietly joined Sammy on the couch. “What are you looking at?”

A smile adorned curved-up lips, but the light didn’t touch her eyes. Unlike us—Dominic and I—Sammy has the privilege of expressing her grief. To cry and yell and say that she was hurting.

“Photo albums,” she whispered as her fingers grazed the corner of an old picture. “I found it stacked in Stef’s cupboard. There’s me, Mom and Dad—the Disneyland trip. There’s you and Dominic…trying to chase me.”

I slowly nodded with a smile. “You had barely started to walk then and just wouldn’t sit down in one place. So, naturally, we had to run after you all day.”

Sammy turned pages after pages as if she was looking for something. “There’s so many pictures of Mom and Dad I barely recognize now. I don’t even remember them, Viktor.” Her glassy blue eyes met mine. “I don’t miss them either. Does that make me a horrible person? That I don’t remember my own parents?”

“No. No, it doesn’t.” My arm reached out for her as she scooted closer to me. “You were a kid, Sammy. How do you expect to remember them when you were so little?”

My uncle and aunt passed away when Sammy was barely five. Every day since then, Mom and Dad made sure to fill her life with so many happy memories that Sammy wouldn’t miss her biological parents. She was one of us—she was family. Every night Mom would put her to sleep, and Dad would kiss her goodnight. And if Dominic and I were ever to made her cry, Dad would have skinned us alive. Men in his position barely had time for family, for emotions, but somehow Dad always managed to balance his life.

“I remember all about you and Dominic,” she reminisced. “I remember how you got me that rabbit after Dominic pulled the ears off my favorite bunny toy. I remember how Stef and I would sneak into your room and go through your stuff just because your room was off-limits.”

“Yeah,” I scowled. “And I always thought it was Dominic who was looking for my stash of cigarettes.”

“You were the one who stole it from Paps and hid them in your room—and that too under the bed.” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “How ingenious!”

“And how smart were you when you were fifteen?” I quipped, raising a brow.

“Hey, I was a straight-A student and never missed the curfew, okay? I was never grounded or punished. So, I was always the epitome of a good girl.”

I scoffed. “Bullshit. You get away because you are Dad’s favorite. He would rather chop off his arm than raise a hand on you. And Mom wouldn’t just let you out of her sight.”

Sammy sighed, shutting close the photo album and rested her head on my shoulder. “I know.” A heavy exhale fell from her lips. “This family is all I know and all I remember.”

I nodded in silence, knowing I have to protect them all with my life.

“You have been awake for more than eighteen hours now, Sammy,” I spoke. “Go and take some rest. I am here for the night.”

Nodding, Sammy pushed aside the blanket and walked up to Stefan’s sleeping form. She bent down to whisper something in his ears, something they have been doing since they were kids, and smiled discreetly and kissed his cheek.

She slowly made her way towards the door but paused and turned around to face me. “I know you won’t let anything happen to him. He is going to be alright, Viktor.”

I could simply affirm with a nod.

To be honest, I needed someone to tell me that my brother is going to be okay. That this is just a bad phase, a bad dream…and tomorrow morning it’s going to be alright.

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