Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
He shrugs slightly, almost too casually. “You overthink shit.”
“I found out something from Aunt Sona—” from my mother, “—that changed the way I’ve been looking at our childhood and my role in all this. I had to step away for a few days and process. I had to figure out what it all means.”
“You’re losing me.”
“I know.” I nudge at my coffee cup. I don’t want to say it, but it’s what I came here to do. “Our dad isn’t my actual biological father. Our mom never gave birth to me either.”
His eyebrows raise. “What the fuck?”
“Aunt Sona’s my mother.” I tell him the whole story. He sits back in shock and listens. It’s painful, saying it all out loud, but not as painful as I had expected.
He doesn’t get pissed like I was afraid he might. Everything he’s done for me, all the sacrifices he’s made, all the scraps we’ve gotten through, all that shit was done under the belief that we’re brothers.
“That means we’re cousins,” I say at the end of it all. I sit back and drink my coffee. It tastes good. Hot and bold with just a splash of milk. The way I always take it.
Tigran’s frown deepens. “No, we’re not.”
“Aunt Sona’s my mother. Boris Zeitsev’s my father. I mean, at best—”
“Shut the fuck up, you idiot.”
My grip on the coffee mug tightens. “I know it’s hard—”
“You dumb asshole.” Tigran shoves back and gets to his feet. “God, you’re such a myopic piece of shit.”
“Okay, I knew you’d be angry, but you’re being an asshole.”
He throws up his hands. “We’re not cousins. Who gives a fuck which cunt you got squeezed out from?”
I grimace. “That’s an ugly image.”
“I don’t care which cock blasted you into life. We grew up together. We fought, bled, and killed together.” He comes around the table and leans down, wrapping one hand around the back of my head, and slams his forehead into mine. It fucking hurts. And it feels good. “You’re my brother.”
“Tigran, you don’t have to say that.”
His grip tightens. He shoves his forehead painfully hard into mine. “You’re my brother,” he snarls. “Do you hear me?”
I finally crack. Relief slithers down my spine. I nod against my brother’s forehead and lightly slap his cheek. “Let go now, you asshole,” I say and he releases me, grinning like a maniac. I rub my face. “I needed to hear that.”
“You’re such a prick. Seriously, Arsen. You overthink everything.”
“You really think nothing’s changed?”
“Not a goddamn thing. Except maybe now you can stop agonizing all the goddamn time and start taking care of business. I’ve been holding the Brotherhood together these past few days and people are starting to ask questions.”
“It’s okay. I’m back now.”
“Better fucking be,” he mutters and sits down in his chair again with a sigh. He’s quiet for a second as he lifts his mug and puts it back down again. “Aunt Sona, huh? I guess that explains why she always favored you.”
“Favored me?”
“Hell, yeah. Bro, she gave you the best presents for your birthday. One year, you got that fucking brand new gaming computer, remember that thing?”
“That was pretty cool,” I say, remembering the way she’d tried to help me set it up in my bedroom, but she didn’t know what she was doing.
“I never got more than a card and a twenty-dollar bill. But that makes total sense. I was her nephew, and you—”
“I’m not her son,” I say firmly, cutting him off. “She made that clear.”
He nods and looks away. “Something changed. I always wondered why she got so resentful of you. Maybe it’s guilt?”
“I don’t care.” I finish my coffee and get up from the table. “Sona’s nothing to me.”
“What’re you going to do about her?”
“I’m going to tell the Brotherhood the truth about me. She’ll have to live with the truth.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
I look back at him as I go refill my mug. “Why not?”
“You’re half Russian. You ever hear of a half-Russian patron before? Things are tenuous with the Brotherhood already. If they find out you’re not full-blood Armenian—”
He lets that hang in the air. I’m sure he wants me to picture all manner of terrible outcomes, but I’ve been through it all. That was part of what I was doing in the goddamn walls of my own house, imagining every terrible worst-case scenario.
“The Brotherhood is going to change,” I tell him. “Whether they want to or not.”
“The war just ended. You’re going to kick it off again.”
“No, I’m not. Everyone’s ready for the fighting to be over. Now it’s time for me to reshape the Brotherhood while we rebuild toward the future. This is my family, Tigran. I need to know you’re with me.”
“After all this time, you think I wouldn’t be?”
“I’m giving you the option.”
“Fucking prick.” He waves a hand at me dismissively. “I’m on your side. Always and forever.”