HIS BROTHER: Ambushed

“...I’m his brother.”

Jerson just looked at Vishnu and Noah. He found it very strange. He was sure that Noah set things up but he wasn’t sure why Noah would resort to this. What would he be gaining from this?

Nothing. Noah could gain nothing from it. He was just wasting time playing this futile game.

Jerson closed his eyes and groaned.

“It would be a shame if you ignore my hand.”

Jerson maintained a steady gaze at Vishnu as the prosecutor extended his hand. Pressing his lips, Jerson contemplated Vishnu's unusual behavior. The question lingered in his mind: What's up with Vishnu, and what's the connection between these seemingly indifferent siblings?

Despite the potential lack of harm, Jerson hesitated to accept Vishnu's extended hand. Uncomfortable merely in the presence of Vishnu, the prospect of clasping hands with the prosecutor intensified his restlessness.

But wouldn't it be more disrespectful to ignore him? Vshnu was just being polite.

Jerson gulped, reluctantly extending his hand. As their hands clasped, he caught a glimpse of Noah's smile in his peripheral vision. Biting his tongue, Jerson couldn't shake the feeling of appeasing Noah's desires, a fact he deeply resented.

Jerson clenched his jaw and shut his eyes, memories flooding back. The constant reminders from Noah about his younger brother echoed in his mind, and the recollection of how Noah described Vishnu stirred intense irritation within him.

All of it was Noah’s fault! He shouldn’t have said those things right on his face!

“Jerson Luiselli,” he said. He jolted when he felt a spark and immediately pulled back his hand. What was that?

An innocent way of holding hands was making his heart skip a beat?

Embarrassed, Jerson turned his back. He ignored the two and kept himself busy. He looked at his IPad. He grunted when he spotted some of Avialanchê’s men. He brushed his hair before looking at the two siblings standing in front of him.

The two were discussing something so he left them alone for a moment.

Observing the people in the area, Jerson keenly noted the normalcy of most, but there were always individuals who stood out from the crowd. His discerning eyes didn't let any subtle details escape his notice.

He licked his lips. “Let’s head back first. Some motherfuckers are tagging around and following this so-called decent Prosecutor,” he said mockingly.

Why would a decent person get followed around? Not unless he’s rotten down to his core.

Noah laughed. Jerson got even more exasperated.

“These two are too troublesome for me to handle. I deserve a fucking break,” Jerson whispered but was still loud enough to be heard.

Vishnu groaned, catching Jerson's remarks. He comprehended Jerson's difficulty in handling Noah due to his brother's challenging temperament. However, the notion of himself being troublesome was entirely unprecedented and irked him. Vishnu had always been the one to shoulder and solve problems, not create them. He found Jerson's comments gibberish, especially considering their brief acquaintance.

However, contrary to Vishnu’s reaction, Noah started laughing at his younger brother’s annoyed expression and couldn’t stop. His brother could hardly gave emotions once in a blue moon. He was happy that he could see that irritated face without putting in too much effort on it.

But Vishnu wasn’t pleased about it.

While Noah and Vishnu drive using a car, Noah comes up with an idea again.

Noah had been anticipating this moment—the meeting of the two significant people in his life. Eager to witness their bonding, he recognized that, despite the passage of years, they still held the heart to face each other. The weight of the setup had become unbearable for him, and he yearned for a resolution.

He moved on already. He already forgave Jerson. Things in the past should be forgotten as they won’t help them grow.

“I could hear your thoughts from here, Noah.”

Noah smiled. “He’s handsome, isn’t he? Just like your type.”

Vishnu couldn’t give him a precise answer. Handsome is such an understatement. Jerson is an outstanding man. If only not for his arrogant attitude, he could be perfect.

In a sudden moment, Vishnu's mind conjured an image of Jerson's proud face and indifferent expression, sparking irritation within him. Silently wishing to never cross paths with the man again, he found it increasingly challenging to tolerate Jerson's presence.

“I’ve been telling you, dude. You two were a match made by heaven. You even promised to marry—”

“And there you are again, Noah,” Vishnu cutted him off. “I’m asking you for an indication to prove yourself that you’ve been telling me the truth, but you just can’t because it isn’t true, right?” He sighed. “I’ve been straight all my life, Noah. How could I fall for a guy who’s as rude as him?” he added.

“It’s up to you, bro.” Noah crossed his arms. “But don’t you ever ask me for any advice if you find yourself falling for the same guy. Don’t even ask for help if things turned out difficult for you,” Degree sulkily said.

Vishnu snorted. “Yeah… yeah,” he said. “Anyway, do you want me to make a schedule for your check-up? I guess there’s a bug in your brain or something?”

“Shut up.”

Noah gave him a middle finger. Vishnu just chortled and continued driving.

Jerson examined every corner of the street they were passing through. He wasn’t sure if the information he collected through scanning the CCTV was accurate enough to save him from all the trouble. He couldn’t afford to get injured before quitting.

Hospital bills will only add a significant sum of money to his debt. Hospital bills nowadays cost a sum of high capital. He couldn’t afford that big money.

This day was supposedly the day he’ll resign from his job and start looking for an ordinary part-time job. He has to lay low for the time-being. He might get killed even before he found out the reason behind the accident years ago.

Jerson tilted his head.

His case of attempted murder where he was the victim happened on the exact date but in a different year from his parents’ disappearance. There’s a possibility that the two incidents might be connected. It made Jerson uneasy. Although he didn’t dare to investigate the incident years ago that made him lose some of his memory, he had his hunch that it was connected to his parents’ disappearance. It might also be connected to the thing that happened in his senior years that left a scar on his wrist.

He sighed. He wanted to blame Noah. He was trapped in this situation because he forced him to do it, but he knows he shouldn’t. It was his fault in the first place for falling for that ridiculous stunt.

[You two go ahead first. I have something to check out.]

After texting, he slid his IPad into his briefcase. He could see a suspicious man standing near the steel safety bollard through the door quarter of the car beside him. The man appeared to be normal to someone’s eyes.

Jerson acted cluelessly as he strolled past the concrete sidewalk.

The man who was looking at him caressed something in his ear and muffled some words before walking at the dark corner.

Jerson shook his head. He pressed his lip. Should he satisfy the prognosis of the fools or just end the game they set up to avoid wasting so much time?

Ambush, Jerson grinned. They’re planning for an ambush, and he already foresaw this.

Jerson could tell that they had come up with this kind of resort to deal with him. They had planned to corner him alone; outnumber him so they’d be able to kill the motherfucker who gave them so much trouble and gain the money in exchange for his head.

It’s like hitting two birds with one stone.

What a bunch of dupes.

Jerson couldn't help but smirk at the other party's seemingly foolish prosecutions. The unfortunate situation exposed significant loopholes in their operations. Jerson is adept at spotting such weaknesses and utilizing them to his advantage. It was precisely this skill set that made Noah reluctant to let him go—recognizing that Jerson's exceptional talent shouldn't be taken for granted.

Jerson halted and deliberately groped his jacket, looking for something. He knows he couldn’t fight such men who have large-caliber weapons in their hands.

How could they play games like this? Such cowardly men actually have the guts to stand before him who had faced death multiple times.

Jerson picked the black button in his pocket. It looked like a simple U.S.B., but that isn’t just as simple as it appeared. His technology-genius friend, Alec, made this black button. The simple button could regulate anything connected to electricity. The chips inside were made to ignite electricity from naturally existing fluxes such as wind and heat near the fuel sources. It only made it easier given the fact that machines and cars already had stored energy.

Jerson could hear those silent footsteps that were subsiding within the gloomy air. He continued walking. He only stopped when he was already in the middle. He could feel the presence of the men who were after him. He closed his eyes before pressing the button.

The alarms from different kinds of engines disturbed the stillness of the parking lot. The disturbance caught the men off-guard. While their guard was down, Jerson got the smoke bomb stored in his briefcase and threw it at them. He then hastily walked towards the guy who had been tailing him and dragged him out of the chaos.

When they were far enough, Jerson banged the man at the concrete wall making the man moan in pain.

Jerson snorted. “How could your boss trust the likes of you who were too lenient to execute such flawed plans?” he asked while groping the man’s suit. When he found what he was looking for, he slid it into his briefcase.

It was just a simple symbol of some sort for some, but Jerson believed that it could lead him to his parents. He’d been obtaining it for decades and got various collections, however none of those were the same as the tattoo he got.

“I’ll let you go for now. If I caught you the second time around, I’d pull the trigger of my pistol with the muzzle pointing at your skull.”

Jerson fixed himself before looking at the time. It’d been 20 minutes. It took a lot longer than expected.

“Tell your boss about my regards, yeah? Tell him I can’t wait to see his shortness stand in front of me without quivering in fear."