Pay the Price

Chapter 19- Truth Told or Untold

"Five days."

Andreas Zandailias and Christopher Aetos made an agreement to one another. Five days from that moment, Marcus and Maria would be dead, Marianne and Marisa would be in an orphanage, and Andreas would flee the town.

Before any words could be spoken further, a lock was broken, and a door was slammed open. Everyone looked up the stairs, finding Marcus Zandailias had broken through the door he was locked behind, and was going after Christopher. His captee. He was too fast for anyone to stop him. Anyone but Christopher.

Swiftly, nails expanded from his hands, and Christopher slashed at Marcus' face, then smashed a lamp over the man's head. The nails disappeared. Marcus was on the ground, unconscious and bleeding. Myrah was surprised, Connor was impressed, Delilah was proud, Bryson had to contain his laughter, and Larisa was horrified.

Not at Christopher's actions, but that Marcus would try attacking him in plain sight. Where anyone could stop him. She was even more horrified at the blood dripping from Christopher's hand at the glass from the lamp pierced his skin open.

"Ow." Christopher murmured, looking at his hand. "Connor, I'm bleeding." He said, pulling out shards of glass from his palm and knuckles. Connor walked over, going to check to see if the injuries needed stitches.

"I can see that, Chris." Connor said, taking Christopher to the kitchen. Whilst Connor cleaned and wrapped Christopher's hand, Marcus and Maria were restrained to chairs in the lounge room for interrogation.

Soon, the pair returned to the lounge room, Connor feeding bits of food to Christopher because he felt bad. Myrah laughed at Connor, going over to tape the wrappings on Christopher's hand down.

Eventually, Marcus woke up, his head still bleeding. He looked around with a bit of confusion, unsure of how he got there. More so how he was bleeding. He didn't remember targeting Christopher twenty minutes earlier. But Maria snarled at everyone, her eyes falling on Christopher.

"Well, well, if it isn't... you." She said to him, looking him up and down. "Still ugly, still pathetic, and still weak. Still a bitch." She smirked at first, but it faded when she saw he didn't react. Didn't cry, didn't cower, nothing. He just stood there. "Say something, bitch."

"Do not call my grandson a bitch." Elizabeth snapped, pulling Christopher to sit next to her. "He's far from such. If you are going to talk to him, you are going to address him as 'your Grace' and honour his title." She continued.

"I'm older than him, so I will not degrade myself to 'respect' a thing that doesn't deserve it." Maria stated bluntly, so Larisa stepped over and struck Maria in the face. Christopher didn't react, just stared blankly at Maria.

"Call my son a thing again, I fucking dare you." Larisa snapped, which finally brought something out of Christopher. He was very surprised that his aunty called him her son. He felt almost elated that someone considered him a son. "Do not insult him again. Why did you take him?"

"There are too many kids in this family. And Hernando was completely fine with me him in. He never wanted the brat." Maria said back with a smirk. "So, why would I not help him out?"

"My son isn't a brat." Larisa said calmly. "He's better behaved than every single person in this room and is more respectful than your children by landslides. And as for too many kids, it wasn't Malena's fault she had triplets, it's uncontrollable. You knew we'd notice a child was missing, especially the one everyone has adored since he came into this world."

"He has a knack for making people fall in love with him. Never worked on us though, which didn't work in his favour." Maria continued. "Your 'perfect' child was always unusual, and I think there is something unusual about him." She looked to Christopher. "What do you think? Must be something... magical." Christopher inhaled sharply, shoulders tensing.

Connor and Myrah also tensed, knowing exactly what the woman was talking about. The triplets looked to each other, something Delilah caught onto almost immediately. She stared at them for a few seconds before looking back to the Zandailias'.

"Shut your mouth." Christopher whispered, digging his nails into his hands. "I don't want to hear your filthy voice any longer."

"Don't speak to me like that, little bitch!" Maria yelled, so Christopher threw a heavy cushion at her head, which shut her up very fast. Some of the Aetos family had to supress laughter as their family member silenced someone by throwing a cushion.

"Andreas and I have agreed that in five days, I am going to give the same fate to you that was given to Mason." He spoke, still calm where he was sitting. "Poisoning. Obviously, because of the blood oath made between us, I can be the only one to do it, and I am not allowed any assistance. So, I have to kill you both one at a time. By the end of the five days, I expect you two to have come up with a decision. Who is going to die first? If a decision isn't made, I will decide." He continued, speaking confidently and formally. "Understand?"

Before Maria could start arguing, screaming, or anything, Marcus finally managed to speak. His head pounded as he did, blood still trickling down his face like rain on a window.

"We understand, your Grace." He nodded. "May I ask why in five days? Why not today?" He decided to ask.

"I'd like for you to be able to spend more time with your daughters." Christopher responded. "I'd like for you to be able to have a proper chance to say goodbye, and to decide where they go. Whether it be the foster care system, an extended relative, or a godparent. I'm not cruel enough to take all decisions away from you. Like you did to me. Uncle B, can his temple be treated?"

"Of course I can treat the wound."

Not wanting to deal with them any longer, Christopher stood up, grabbed his crutches, and left the room. Connor followed his brother, not trusting Andreas around him. When the brothers left, the Zandailias parents were taken to a room downstairs, and the door was locked.

Connor put his hand to Christopher's back, taking him up the stairs.

"We need to have a chat." Connor stated. "About two things. One, what Maria has done. Two, about you trying to kill yourself." Christopher sighed, lowering his head.

"I don't want to get into the first one, it's painful. Two days after I returned, I tried taking too much of the sleeping medication, but Uncle Bryson was quick to snatch it away from me. He grabbed all of my prescribed medication and locked them away until I had to take the next dose." Christopher responded, very ashamed of himself. "I just really hate my life."

"You have had an extremely hard life. But I'd like for you to let us make it easier. If we take things off of your shoulders, like cleaning your room for example, would that give you more time to be able to come to terms with everything? Or even just one thing, like being able to eat whatever you want?" Connor offered his brother a hug, which Christopher gladly accepted.

"Maybe. I don't know. But I'd like to be able to feel a bit better." He shrugged.

"Then I am going to do the chores that would be assigned to you. I'm going to clean your room, do your laundry, just do anything that might save you more time in the day. In return, you are going to find fun hobbies you like, and you're going to do them, and have fun. Then, at the end of the day, you and I will sit down and have a talk, where you are going to tell me about your day. Deal?"

"Deal."