The Submissive Assassin (BxB)

Chapter 155 - "They're not my real brothers."

"That's my trick," Cesar beamed from behind Draco, twirling in a circle and lifting his arms in the air. The giddiness in his tone made it sound as if he was singing, and he leaned backwards and extended his hands towards Draco, as if he was presenting an ancient piece in a museum. His eyes were gleaming as he cheered, "My human shield! The wall to all barriers! A standing ovation, everyone!"

This was not good, this was really not good.

Bronsted pushed himself to his feet, stumbling for a second as he felt his back start to ache. If he had to fight his father first, he would never make it out of here alive, and by the way his father stood tall and folded his arms, he believed that was going to be the case.

"You thought the man that loves me would allow me to be killed?" Cesar giggled, placing a palm over his mouth since he cackled too hard. Then, he shrugged his shoulders and twirled towards the bed, landing with his arms outstretched onto his stomach, his face snuggling the pillows and Draco couldn't help but glance towards his long silvery hair. "Hurry baby, we need to have our last dance before we both leave and maybe kill one another."

Bronsted thought that maybe, just maybe, one way to reason with Draco would be to use his own lessons against him. Hence, Bronsted cleared his throat and shouted, "Dad! He's the enemy and you're defending him from your own son." Draco's face maintained its smirk. "You told us not to fall to emotions but you're doing just that!"

"Bronsted, you've always been the slowest and the dumbest of all of them, I should have killed you years ago." The venom that snaked around his voice struck Bronsted deeply through the heart, and he inhaled a sharp breath, trying his hardest not to let his own sentiments get the best of him. At this moment, he needed to do anything in his power to survive. "Have you ever wondered why I despise you the most?"

That caused Bronsted's mind to completely blank. It had been true, anytime there was sparring or training, Bronsted always had the long end of the stick, never praised for anything done correctly, always bashed as the weakest. And as Reno had used as an insult, it was true that his birth had always been a mistake.

"You're the weakest because you're not made of my blood."

The knife fell from Bronsted's palm. He stopped breathing for a second, his eyes widening in horror as Draco shook his head, as if it was taking everything in him not to merely kill Bronsted and proceed with the rest of his time with Cesar. As for Cesar, the rising tension made him kick his feet in the air in excitement.

"Your grandfather, King, had hundreds of sons and daughters, but I was the only one that had his identical physical shape—I inherited his tyrant genes." Draco tilted his head to the side, the realization starting to hit Bronsted the more his father spoke. "But he kept another one of my brothers in our base, only because he was like Lucius—strong, cold, vile, harsh. His name was Kimley, and our father adored him so much that he gave his weapon, the double-edge battle axe, to him, even though he was as short as a regular peasant of a human."

"Boring," they heard from the bed, Cesar now having turned onto his back. "Kill him already, and do it with the most blood."

Bronsted felt his eyes begin to sting. The only person that could truly hurt his feelings was Reno because they were practically attached to the hip. However, hearing that he didn't share the same blood as Reno, was making his heart squeeze in ways he never thought possible. A lump formed in his throat as he heaved, and Draco began to cackle when he saw the tears threatening to leak in Bronsted's glossy eyes.

"Kimley decided to sleep with the same woman that I was sleeping with, Adeline, the mother of Lucius, Dante, Moreno, and Tessa. And no surprise that she got pregnant, but when we constructed the timeline years later, Bronsted couldn't have been mine since I was away on a mission. So," he pointed the pistol in Bronsted's direction, "Kimley revealed that he slept with her the same time I had and I fought him. And guess what I did?"

Bronsted felt his throat clamp on itself. This was not how he expected for all of this to happen. Through a shaky breath, he guessed, "You killed him..."

"Ding, ding, ding!" Cesar sat upwards from the bed, throwing his arms in the air as he grinned, "We have a winner!"

"Not only did I kill him, I obliterated him. I made him regret ever crossing me that way." Draco could again feel the physical sentiment of being victorious, standing over Kimley's dead body with his eyes wide open, his battle axe meters away. He remembered leaning over his face with a curl lip, disgusted that his blood had gotten onto his own clothes. The worst part was that it had been a close battle, both of them getting harsh hits against one another, Draco almost losing his arm from a slash from the battle axe that he dodged at the last second.

But ultimately, he had been victorious. The sensation that spread across his chest to the ends of his limbs, the tiny tickles across his flesh, the roaring shout of beating his brother—the best memories to remember.

When his focus returned to Bronsted, he felt it all over again.

"Yes, I admit that I am falling to emotions in this moment, but it's not love for Cesar. It's hatred for your father, which correlates to hatred for you. It's a shame though, how weak you are compared to him."

"Shoot him! Shoot him! Shoot him!" Cesar jumped to his feet giddily.

"Then they're not my real brothers." Bronsted felt as if his entire world collapsed, as if time had stopped. Even though he was staring at the muzzle of a pistol, it was as if his vision had blanked. All he was seeing were memories of his time spent with his brothers; he had always felt different, as if he never fit in. He wasn't as strong, nor was he as tall as them. Dante and Lucius never respected him, Tessa rarely spoke to him and Molly was nice to everyone.

The only one who included him in anything and everything was Reno.

"No, they're your half-brothers. Anyhow, I have to get to the base before they return; any last words before I blast your skull open and finally get rid of you?" Draco seemed nonchalant about this entire ordeal, his smile as wide as it's ever been.

It was odd how his sense of fight suddenly vanished. At first, he was determined to at least attempt to escape, but the moment he found out that Draco was not his father, it was as if nothing mattered anymore. All these years, he had attempted to go above and beyond to be accepted by him, at least minutely praised for something good, an achievement. However, he now realized that it was never going to happen, because Draco never viewed him as having any potential compared to his own progenies. These efforts meant nothing, the days spent crying into Reno's arms meant nothing, the trainings had all been pointless—he never mattered.

"If you jump, I will fucking jump with you and we will die together, so you better not jump Bronny. I need you, I've always needed you, and if you're not good enough for anyone else, it shouldn't fucking matter because you're good enough for me."

Why was a memory of Reno vividly crossing his mind in his last moments on this earth? It wasn't the only one though; it was as if a rerun began playing in his brain—Reno's first time trying alcohol with him, both running away as they were chased by Lucius after playing a prank on him, Reno leaping in front of Draco's hit to protect Bronsted, missions where Bronsted broke down as he finally had his first kill and Reno carried him on his back all the way back to the base.

Reno and Bronsted both tackling Dante and then running away when Dante pointed his gun at them, both trying to run away from the base only to be found later by Draco who beat them senseless that Sarah spent a month practically rejuvenating them back to life, Reno admitting to liking Jules for the first time, Reno crying in his arms after he found out Jules had chosen Tessa over him, Reno in the hospital after almost being killed by Jules—memories after memories infiltrated his mind that he started having a headache.

But it made sense since his entire life, the only reason he tried terribly hard was because he had Reno by his side.

The tension through Bronsted's muscles loosened, and the peace that spread across his face made Draco's smirk grow longer. Draco had witnessed that expression thousands of times throughout his life—it was only revealed when the victim had accepted their fate, accepted their doomsday.

"I do have last words." It was a surprise to both of them when Bronsted extended his arms at either sides of him, a beaming smile growing on his lips as he closed his eyes. "Tell Reno that I'll beat the fuck out of him when he joins me."

"Will do."

And with that, a gunshot resounded across the room and the bullet pierced Bronsted.