BLAIR'S POV We stared at each other for a few seconds, and he headed to get the door. “My. Bro,” his tone immediately got excited, “that was fast,”Stephen walked in, and himself and Brian were locked in a tight embrace for a while. I thought their relationship was one of the most beautiful things to behold. I got jealous of Steven every time. Brian trusted him with his life and he knew Brian more than anyone else in the world did. My relationship with Brian had definitely gotten better, but a part of me couldn't help envy what he had with Steven, and although I understood the strength of blood ties and wished that Brian would start looking at me as family too. I saw him as my world. The excitement to see each other was evident in their broad smiles and the lightness of their voice. “Hy, Blair,” Steven said, walking into the house properly, with Brian shutting the door behind him. “Hello, Steven,” I waved at him with a broad smile. “I see Brian helped you recover from the sh
BLAIR’S POV CONTINUES“This is an age long business rivalry Blair, and it's war.” Brian threw it to my face.“I lost my father to this, and my twin Bruce,” Brian spoke from a depth of pain. “So, yes! It's very much personal,” Steven bent his head, supporting it in his palms. “Winchester is a very competitive business world, Blair, and all is not in black and white,” Brian said. His tone revealed peak emotions, and seeing him resulting in an outburst filled me with fear. “If not for whoever these monsters are, my father would still be alive, and so would Bruce,” he said, pointing out the door, “heck, I would have been dead, If not for Steven here,” he said. “And I am getting no rest, until every last one of them, everyone is resting six feet in the belly of mother earth,” he said, finishing with heavy breaths. He stared at me, breathing heavily with bloodshot eyes, like a monster that was about to devour me. I was trembling in fear, and couldn't also deal with his outbursts. “T
BLAIR'S POV CONTINUESIt took two days to get a stable location for Master X. For the next two days, we watched the red, blinking dot on the digital map move from country to country. Master X didn't find any rest in forty-eight hours, and we grew weary of following beelines. Brian barely spoke to me or Steven during those two days, seeming absent-minded and intensely focused on the map, taking sips from his wine glass. His behavior in the last forty-eight hours was worrying, and Steven insisted we didn't engage him beyond what he was willing to share. He had developed a strong drinking habit; his wine glass never left his hand, nor was it ever empty. Anytime I tried to speak, Steven would immediately signal me to let him be. We were both worried about Brian, and I feared he might hurt himself, but Steven didn't think of that.It was day three of watching an unstable criminal across the globe, but this time, it didn't take more than three hours for the tracking dot to come to a st
BRIAN'S POV I watched Blair, her head on my shoulder, and felt a pang of guilt. I wasn't about to get her involved in my problems, especially not this one. Excluding Steven, I felt a strong need to deal with this on my own. I wanted to uncover Mr. X's identity before sending him to hell, where he belonged."Brian, come on," Steven called from behind as we arrived at our destination. I picked her up, slung her over my shoulder, and followed him. "Brian?" Steven called inquisitively, his voice laced with fear and curiosity, as he saw me carrying her. "What did you do?""No time for questions," I replied, placing her in the back seat of the waiting vehicle. Steven watched, frozen, as I did so. "Come on," I called, hanging by the driver's seat door. He took slow, heavy steps to the car, and I sped off as soon as he got in.It was about an hour's drive to the booked apartment, and Steven wouldn't stop glancing back at Blair. "Come on, she's alive," I said. He stared at me like a
BRIAN'S POV CONTINUES We arrived at a small wooden cabin, with two rooms and basic furnishings at Singapore in the city of Yishun. The living room only had two couches directly opposite each other at the left end and the living room was about five square meters, with a four person dining table to the right. Opposite the dining room was the entrance to two bedrooms, whose doors were directly opposite each other, separated by a little lobby. I took Blair to the bedroom on the right, which had a one hundred and twenty centimeter size bed, covered in white beddings. Steven occupied the other room, and I quickly freshened up, meeting him in the living room twenty minutes later. He was sipping a cup of hot beverage, and he immediately handed me a cup, as soon as I got out. I took a seat opposite him at the dining table and took the beverage, feeling very refreshed. It was a small, square, glass table, having one chair on each side, leaving the occupants of each side not very far apa
BRIAN'S POV CONTINUES I slowly opened my eyes and found myself bound hands and legs in the penthouse, with Steven beside me. We were seated, with our legs folded to cause our heels to touch our buttocks, and our knees to our faces. We were in the luxurious room, tied opposite the giant bed, with a study desk and chair at the other side of the bed, facing the window, which had a beautiful view of the luxurious swimming facility. I stretched my hands to touch Steven, who was still fast asleep, until he got up. “Huh,” he regained consciousness in the most confused state. “We're here as captives man,” as soon as he regained consciousness. “What is happening?” Steven asked the obvious question. I still couldn't understand it. “I'll tell you what is going on,” we heard the animated voice in the room. The chair at the study desk turned around, revealing Master X, the man with the mask. “Brian, Brian, Brian,” he called with emphasis, getting out of the chair and walking towards us.
BRIAN'S POV CONTINUES We were barely a minute drive away from the penthouse, when it went up in flames. I was shaken to my bones in shock and Steven manned the wheels. “What just happened?” I kept looking back at the burning penthouse. It was far away from town and no house could be found within a thirty mile radius. Steven was so calm and collected, and I couldn't begin to wrap my head around how he wasn't awed by the incident. ‘Why was Stacy there? Why did she let us go, after being the very reason we were trapped?’ These questions worried my heart as we drove back. The entire reason for John Dowey hunting me was still the most crazy thing I had heard in a long while, and I wasn't quite delighted that he was burning in the explosion. I needed him in custody, I had lots of questions for him and also needed more information from him about the family background. We never really grew up with any family in sight so I couldn't trace my father's background and I needed to validate
BRIAN’S POV CONTINUES There was no stopping Stacy, and just like that, we were on a trip back to Winchester with her. I fought the urge to ask questions like, ‘How did you make it out of the penthouse? Where's John Dowey? Why were you ever in the penthouse?’ It just seemed like an insensitive thing to do, considering that she let us go, putting her life at risk. Steven and I sitting side by side with each other kept taking glances at each other, and then staring at her through the rearview mirror. It was an awfully quiet drive and we finally arrived at the pickup location at 6am. We boarded the private airplane to Winchester, and I was shivering in my seat, knowing that Blair could wake up any moment, and finding Stacy here would be something I didn't want to explain, something I had no explanation for. Steven and I sat a distance away from Stacy, finally allowing us some space to talk. “What is going on, Brian?” Steven queried. “I don't know, you tell me!” I replied. We kep