Business No More

Chapter 22 - Sam's Point of View

*Sam's Point of View*

I breath. My heading spinning. I touch the cold concrete with my hands to steady myself. She said Max. She wouldn't have said it for no reason. I saw him die with my own eyes. I saw his lifeless body.

My body gets consumed by a shake so uncontrollable that I've never felt so weak before. Part of me is hoping Max is alive. I miss him more than I've missed anything but then I remember the last few days and the way he acted and that's when I see it.

Were we all fooled? Fooled to the point that I couldn't recognise my brother?

His tattoo. "Brothers united," I say out loud. The small tattoo he got one day in high school. The one where mum was super pissed. Told him he was stupid. That was when dad told Max to go in his room as dad attempted to cool mum down. Max said it was because we were united and nothing could separate us. The Max we knew wouldn't do such a thing to us. Who did we bury?

That day when Violet and I were in the office and I got informed about him, we rushed to the hospital. I saw that tattoo then, on the side of his body where his rib cage was, under his arm.

My mind freezes. The second attack where he went in a coma, he still had that tattoo. I remember seeing it. I remember saying it out loud and I remember whispering to his helpless body that we would be united but that's when it all freezes.

I try to think back. That tattoo, it seems like such an insignificant thing. After everything thats happened, I have bigger worries but I can't shake the idea out of my head. Who was that person in my house pretending to be my brother? Because a tattoo doesn't just disappear and his did.

When I got told he lost his memory, Daniel and I bought him home. It was at the time I had taken Violet away so she could heal. I don't remember seeing the tattoo. In fact I remember Daniel and I dragging his limp body under the water as we attempted to wash the blood off his hair. There was no tattoo. Where did Max's tattoo go?

I push myself up from the concrete. I grab my phone from my pocket and dial Daniel. Within five minutes, I inform him about everything. I just don't tell him about the tattoo. I can hear the nervousness over the phone and at that point I know that Daniel somehow hopes that Max is alive too.

If my brother never died then where is he? If my brother never died then who really died?

I hold my breath as I dial for my guards asking them to meet me off the side of the road near the hospital. I get one to track the number plate 'CMD-759.'

I tread over to the carpark over at the hospital where Violet is. I can't see inside the car but I assume the two guards are in there with her. By the door, there is another two guards. They nod when they see me.

I get in the car with Vi and instruct the driver to take us home.

Her face drops. "Bianca?"

I shake my head. "I saw her," I say, as I watch devastation fill Violet's face. "I just couldn't save her."

"Save her?" She asks lightly as if that would make a difference. "She isn't dead, is she?"

I shake my head. "No. She's okay for now."

I can see her letting go of the breath she held when she heard that but the paleness from her face stays.

When we get home, i instruct Violet to sit on the couch with six guards by her side and the rest guarding the house and driveway.

The screeching of tyres outside informs me that Daniel is here.

I don't know exactly what Bianca meant by saying Max but a bunch of thoughts go through my mind including his tattoo which makes me think back to why I never remembered it then.

I rush upstairs into our bedroom and pull out my family photo album. I scan the pages and there's countless photos of Max with the tattoo clearly visible. What's going on?

That's it. When we brought him back home after we were told he had lost his memory, he refused to talk to any of us or even acknowledge us but with Violet it was different.  He would talk to her and laugh with her.

The day that he died comes to mind. Was it all a trick to know Violet better? To ambush her that day and kill her?

My mind spins as I pull out another photo album. Why didn't we take photos when he came back. I slam the album on the ground.

I can hear footsteps outside the door. Daniel.

I open the door and he immediately pulls me into a hug when he sees how distressed I am. "It's all good, bro."

I pull back as he pats me on the back. "Remember the hospital footage. Do you still have it?"

He nods. "Yea it's at home."

"Get it," I say sharply.

Daniel calls for someone to deliver it to us. "We'll find Bianca and we'll get to the bottom of the Max situation."

"I think someone else died," I say matter-of-factly.

He looks at me in a questioning way. "What are you talking about bro?"

"I don't think we killed Max. It was someone else."

"Bro, it happened in front of our eyes."

I shake my head. "Our brother would never do that."

Daniel looks down at the floor. "That's not evidence enough."

"It should be. We shouldn't have ever doubted him."

Daniel places a hand on my shoulder. "Look Sam, part of me can't believe it either. I mean Max could never do such a thing but we saw him there and we saw him point a gun at Violet and you."

That's when Daniel's focus goes to the albums lying on the floor. "Everything okay?" He asks as he picks them up.

"Why would Bianca shout out 'Max'?" I ask.

"I don't know, bro. I just don't know."

One of Daniel's men brings us the DVD with the footage the day we took him home after we were told he couldn't remember a thing. We had cameras set in his room to ensure we could capture everything including if anyone decided to attack him again.

I place it in the DVD player and click play. I fast forward to the bit where Daniel pulls a shirt over Max's head.

That's where I fall to my knees. Holding my head with my hands. Who the hell is playing with us? We don't deserve this.

Daniel watches me. "Dude, are you okay?"

I rewind. "Watch carefully."

He does and the footage goes by. "I see nothing. What is it? I'm just putting a shirt on Max."

"His tattoo," is all I have to say for Daniel to figure out at what I'm hinting at.

He snatches the remote off my hand and rewinds before clicking play again. His eyes glued to the TV. The pain and shock all over his face.

Daniel was the strong one. The one who had everything in control. The one who picked us up when we fell. It was always him. Always the strong one and suddenly he looks so fragile and so weak that it hurts to see him like this.

He turns the DVD off. "He doesn't have the tattoo," he says before tears run down his eyes.