Ruin Me (#2 in the Brotherhood series)

Chapter 25

Rayna

Some people believe in fairytales and magical things. I am not one of those people. No matter how amazing these last few weeks have been with Zade, I am no fool. It's like I can feel the ground begin to shake.

Everything and everyone is far too quiet for me to believe that everything is fine. For now Pablo might've bought Zade's death, but I know he has a feeling it's all a lie.

Our friends and allies are lying by saying I'm in a state of mourning. I almost laugh at the irony. Our enemies believe I'm shattered and in pain when in reality I've been having the best time of my life. Was... today my mind has decided to snap out of it and enter back into reality.

I sip the scotch in my glass, allowing the burning sensation to seep into my stomach. I need to be able to think clearly and I can't do that well when I feel fearful.

My fear is not something I've ever been good at hiding, but the thing is this time I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be afraid of.

I can deal with pain and chaos and peace; right now we're in a stand still. Right between everything. At any moment I could hear gunshots begin to fire, or some other bad thing could take place.

Perhaps my worst nightmare will come to pass and Santiago will appear at the door.

I take another sip in orders to push that thought away. Still my doubts are justified because there was no body when our people cleared out the warehouse. I know that Pablo would want to bury his son, but the again there's been no rumor of a funeral either.

The sound of footsteps behind me pull me out of my daze.

"You've been staring at the view of the night horizon for far too long."

I roll my eyes. I've barely spoken to Luco since we've been here. Zade keeps him far away from me for good reason, but despite everyone's thoughts I don't think Luco is as bad as they make him out to be.

He takes a seat next to me on the balcony.

"What do you want?" I grumble

He smirks, "don't tell me you hate me too?"

Truth is I don't hate him, because he is not at fault for Zade just finding out about him being his brother. I blame Milo and Esmeralda, they are the ones that kept this secret from everyone. Still deep down inside I know they kept him a secret for a reason.

"I don't hate you."

"You know.... Drinking won't take away your problems or what seems to be bothering you."

Finally I acknowledge his presence by turning my head in his direction. His hazel eyes are the exact replica of Zade's except they're a bit darker. I almost laugh, Zade should've been paying attention but he was blinded by hate. If he had been paying attention he would've noticed that him and Luco looked too much alike just to be cousins.

"I know...." I sigh, "I just keep thinking about Santiago. He came into my life like a tornado, and I thought putting him in jail would've saved me."

I scoff and take another sip of the scotch, "my grandmother told me he was no good the first time she met him. She said she could see it in his eyes. I didn't believe her, and when she died we weren't on the best of terms." I tear runs down my cheek, "many nights I dream about making Santiago pay for everything he did to me."

"He's dead Rayna..."

I give him a bored look, "I heard they never found a body and there's been no rumor of a funeral. You can tell yourself whatever you need to in order to remain sane, but I'm not stupid. We've been here for two months in order to allow Zade to heal and for us to be united and figure out what's Pablo's next plan. Instead, all of you hate each other despite the fact the we live in the same house, but we have to stop. I have a feeling Pablo is getting ready to make his move and we need to be ready for that."

He swallows hard and nods. "I don't disagree with you, but no one trusts me enough and everyone hates my parents right now."

I sigh and put down the scotch on the ground and stand. "We're going to end this now."

His eyes grow wide as I enter by bedroom and head to the hallway.

"Let's think about this first. We don't need any murders taking place in this house because honestly I'm not in the mood to see anyone die."

I roll my eyes and continue walking down the stairs. I head to the living room and stand in the center, I send a text message to everyone in the house and wait.

Within a few minutes everyone enters the living room and takes a seat in the couch.

Zade walks up to me and kisses me, "what's wrong?"

I back away from him, "you'll know when you have a seat."

My voice is stern, but necessary. There's a flash of hurt on his face, but it's immediately replaced with worry.

As instructed Zade sits far away from everyone else. I almost laugh at how everyone is sitting. Of course Essy and Milo sit next to each other, and then on the opposite side of the same couch is Jace who seems like he wants to scoot more into the couch just to be as far away from them as possible. In another couch Josiah, Mariah, and Sarah are equally spaced out. It reminds me of people who are trying to social distance themselves.

On the other couch Zade sits by himself leaving Luco to sit on the floor next to me.

"You all are being ludicrous. We are grown adults and all of you are acting like children! We are in the middle of a war and yet I can't get any of you to talk to each other. It's pathetic!"

"Watch it Rayna!" Zade scolds me.

I throw him a warning glare. Immediately he shuts his mouth.

"Esmerelda stand!" Her eyes go wide but she does as I demand.

"You're going to explain yourself as to why you hid the fact that Luco is their sibling. Then Luco is going to stand and explain his side! And if any of you... and I mean mean any of you think you're going to yell at her or him I will personally kill you! Am I understood?"

Everyone stares at me with shock, and reluctantly nods.

"Great! Now let's begin shall we?"