Invictus

Chapter 32: Pain

"An explanation would probably be best, given the accusation." Adam said politely. He didn't seem unnerved by the revelation that Trenton had killed people in cold blood.

"It's not an accusation. It's true." I said to him.

Trenton and I took a long, hard look at each other. He then crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. "Before I ran into Joe I wasn't what you would call a great person. My brother Damian and I were adopted by a wealthy software guru from Silicon Valley and a mother completely invested in her own fashion line. Needless to say, we rarely saw our adopted father and mother. So we did what all children without parents did, we made our own morally gray set rules."

Trenton paused to stare into the fire.

"It started with us manipulating the kids at school. We'd see into their futures and tell them how to avoid the school bullies, whether they should ask out their school crushes, or even how they could keep their parents from getting divorced. In turn they worshipped us; they became our family. Those were the good old days, when life was simpler —"

"Get to the stuff about the —"

"Getting there Z, be patient. Anyhow, that all changed when we turned eighteen. Damian was the one who suggested it, that we start playing the lottery since we were of legal age. We won a few massive jackpots and had our names on every news station in the country. We became celebrities, got publishing deals, did interviews on all the big shows. It was —" Trenton sighed, "extravagant."

"The lucky Kuo brothers, is what they called us... then one night while I was sitting alone in our Beverly Hills home, a group of men stormed in and took me hostage. They didn't demand money, instead they wanted to know how I had done it. They wanted to know how my brother and I had won. Someone had figured us out. If it wasn't for Damian having seen them coming we'd have never escaped."

"So how did you?" Kya asked.

"Damian hired his own personal army that night to protect us... it was a bloodbath."

"Damien's men killed Manuel's thugs." Santiago chimed in.

"How do you know it was Manuel's boys?" Adam asked.

"Because Manuel had me looking into the Kuo brothers for months. I helped coordinate their kidnapping. How else you think twenty armed guys get into Beverly Hills without being picked up by the cops?" Santiago crossed his arms and gave a sly grin. "Manuel's reach goes far. He's been obsessed about finding other Freaks ever since he got his hands on me." Santiago's face had a pained expression on it as he spoke.

Adam gave a skeptical look in Trenton's direction. "Funny coincidence there. All of us being connected to Manuel in some way."

"I don't believe in coincidences." Trenton said.

Adam seemed confused by this statement.

"Do you want me to continue?" Trenton asked Adam.

"Please do." Adam said gesturing towards Trenton.

"That same night Damian poisoned all the men he'd paid to protect us... that was the start of his fall."

Trenton looked over to me, anticipating my question before I even asked it.