𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐲

Chapter 51

My knight at f6 took Jayden's pawn at e4. But it was Jayden who was taking the offensive so far, which was unlike his usual playstyle. I rested his captured pawn beside its predecessor on the glass table.

Jayden moved his knight to c3. I took it with my pawn at d4.

There was a displeased frown on his lips, but not at himself. "You don't stop to think through your actions. Like just then, for instance. You've always been stubborn in that regard."

He picked up his white-marble bishop at c4 and removed the first of my chess pieces off the board, replacing one of my pawns at f7. I thought for sure he was messing with me, choosing to leave his bishop so open to an attack. But whatever his reasoning, I took it upon myself to erase his bishop from the board, taking it with my king.

Chess had always been a game that my brother and I had used to bond over.

I was the black sheep of the family—the illegitimate child. My mother had conceived me with another man during her marriage to my adoptive father, who hated me from the first moment he held me in his arms as a newborn. I grew up as the forgotten child, with a mother who couldn't bare to acknowledge my existence and a father who was... explosive. There was a point where he and I argued so often that people couldn't stomach entering a room if we were both in it.

Anger was something that had been fed to me on a silver spoon. Growing up, any attention from my family stemmed from a source of fury or disgust, so anger always had its tendency to unravel me from the inside out. But Jayden was always there. He took me into a separate room, sat me down on the floor over a chess set, and used the game to calm my anger. He taught me self-control... management of my temper. And it worked, for the most part. Chess was his pride—he always said that you could make the best judgment of someone's character by observing the way they played the game.

"If I wanted a psych evaluation, I would have gone to a therapist," I told him, glancing briefly at his three white pieces that were sitting uselessly at the side of the game. "And considering our shitshow of a family, that might even be on the cards."

Jayden paused, paying careful attention to the setup of the board. Tilting his head slightly, I watched him lick his lower lip, a noticeable breath leaving his nostrils.

"He knows, James," he uttered, picking up his queen. "Our father knows that you're back in Boston."

My mood soured at the mention of him.

I rolled my eyes, bringing a shot glass to my lips. "Great. Did he want me to send a gift basket?"

Jayden moved his queen to d5. "Check," he said briefly, continuing with the topic at hand. "He thinks you being here is an opportunity. You've heard that he's running for mayor, haven't you?"

I was forced to move my king back to e8.

"I have," I admitted, though I lacked any interest in the concept. "I'll stay out of his way if he stays out of mine. Tanjiro's campaign isn't the reason I'm back."

A clever gleam shone in his eyes. "But you're not just here for my wedding, either."

That's right, I thought. I'm here for Elliot.

Jayden placed his rook at e1, a clear line of attack to my knight in the middle of the board. He poured himself more saké. I bit my lower lip at moved my bishop to e7, deciding to sacrifice the knight to my brother. His rook took the knight as expected.