salute ➳ 〚h.s.〛 〚a.u.〛

chapter 35 - coerced coding & selfless sacrifices

"I should have known it was you behind all this."

He didn't turn around but at the sound of her voice, his shoulders perked up. "I've been waiting for you to show up, Stoner."

Piper tensed up at the nickname, so tempted to just shoot Samson in the back right then and there. She'd put up with his shit for long enough. But there were two large men flanking either side of Samson, both of them with guns trained on her and Clive. She wasn't taking any chances.

"You know, you're a real prick Samson."

He turned around slowly, a haughty expression on his face. It looked like he had something on his mind but whatever he'd been about to say was lost when Samson caught sight of Clive standing by her side in the doorway. His eyes widened as his whole body stiffened, his hands wrapping up into tight fists at his side. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he barked at Clive, his eyes narrowing viciously.

"Decided I didn't like working with you," Clive told him with a casual shrug, waving his gun casually before training it back on Samson. "I've had about enough of your bullshit if I'm totally honest."

"Bloody typical," Samson scoffed as he threw his arms up in exasperation. "Does family loyalty mean nothing to you?"

"Family loyalty?" Piper repeated incredulously, shifting her gaze to Clive momentarily, long enough to see a sarcastic smile slip onto his features.

"You're not the only one with a brother you don't get on with, Piper."

"Wait, what?" Piper looked between Clive and Samson, her jaw dropping open when neither of them denied what had just been said. "Samson? He's your brother?"

"Half-brother," Samson snapped. "There's a difference."

Of all the things about this whole situation, the family tie between Clive and Samson was something she could never have guessed and was therefore something she was struggling to comprehend. Earlier she would have said there wasn't a thing in common between the two of them except for their black souls and their bad attitudes. Looking closer though, she could see the same bone structure in their faces, the same angular jaws and square chins. The two of them had the same dark brown eyes and, while Samson was a good deal larger, they had a similar build as well.

It was the way they looked at each other that convinced her that they were telling the truth. It was the thinly veiled contempt as they stared at each other, the same sort of contempt that graced Andrew's features, and her own as well, whenever the two of them fought. It was the kind of look that only two siblings could share.

"Holy shit."

"Are you really that surprised Stoner?"

"Actually, no," she said as she shook her head, feeling completely disoriented by the news but slowly starting to fit together those last few pieces that hadn't fit in this big puzzle. "You're both complete shitheads. Never thought that Clive would be the better brother though."

"That's still up for debate," Samson sneered as he turned his cold stare back to his brother. "From where I'm standing, he's just about the worst brother in the world. You'd think after all I did for him, he'd be able to scrape up a bit of loyalty. Or at least obligation."

"After what you did for me?" Clive snapped back incredulously, rolling his eyes. "Please, enlighten me as to what you did for me. Because from where I'm standing, all you've done is bring a whole lot of shit down on my head and then made me babysit your bloody dog while you were off gallivanting around Vauxhall, fucking everything up."

"Hold on," Piper interrupted. "Bertie was your dog?"

Suddenly Clive's annoyance with her nickname made sense. While Bertie had seemed the natural nickname to give to a dog named Albert, it was also an apt nickname for someone named Bertrand. Like the man standing before them. A man that Clive obviously wasn't a fan of. She couldn't believe she hadn't made that connection earlier.