Adrenaline

Chapter 4

"Alec and Athena. Come to the sand."

It was unpredictable. Nonsensical. Why pair the twins against each other? It was almost hysterical, so utterly ridiculous that it could only be a joke.

Feeling Alec's hand grip at my shoulder, I hear his silent question. What kind of nightmare is this?

Willing myself to think rationally, I catch the expression of Carson's son. Instead of his usual impassive mask, there appears to be some kind of emotion corrupting his features, eyebrows drawn together slightly, tan knuckles turning white. He thinks it's bullshit too.

Respect is everything in this business; without respect, without honour, an assassin has nothing. I respect Carson Silver, but the man seemed to forget that the privilege must go both ways. His audacity is misplaced. No level of respect will ever out weigh the loyalty I have to Alec, and he was wildly mistaken if he believed I would lay a hand on my brother to provide his sadistic entertainment.

"That isn't happening."

"No."

Speaking in union, I try considerably harder than Alec to keep my voice flat. Against my better judgement, I flit my attention between the Silver family, curious to find the son looking back as though I was nothing but an equation he had yet to solve.

Eventually he would realise that there is no solution to me. I just am.

"Excuse me?"

Encapsulating the calm before the storm, Carson's tone speaks volumes, a chilling numbness to his expression which sends a frisson of alarm down my spine.

This is not going well.

"I won't fight my brother, Sir." The murmurs resume, cracking through the silence like footsteps on fragile ice, their eyes searching mine for clues.

They won't find anything, the life left my eyes over a decade ago. I can't even cry; not since the night I lost everything.

"Are you refusing to contribute too, Mr. Rose?"

A viscous smirk contorts Carson's face with psychotic victory and I feel my temper stir, stretching like a panther waking from a nap, ready and hungry for a feast.

Alec's hand falls from my shoulder as he inches forward, seconds away from exposing our biggest weakness. We had evolved to feel very little, yet when something slipped through the cracks, we felt everything. Our past collides with the present and everything shifts beneath our feet. We become blinded, absorbed into this all-consuming darkness.

The scariest part is that it feels like home.

Our temperament has gotten the best of us before, something I'm sure Carson Silver has an in-depth knowledge of, probably down to the humidity of the day we flipped.

This is a test, his test and we're failing. Spectacularly.

"Alec isn't refusing anything, Sir. Frankly, neither am I. Give me any other name and I'll do whatever you ask, but under no circumstance will I ever hurt my brother." I release a slow breath as Alec's hand returns to my shoulder, his telltale sign that he was still...Alec. Both Silvers examine us, one has regained his usual cold expression, watching the scene with the exact same detachment as before, and the other nodded, the smirk transforming into one which could be mistaken for pride.

I officially don't have a single motherfucking clue.

"I respect that, Miss. Rose. Your attitude could do with a large overhaul but loyalty happens to be my most favoured trait. Now, you stated I could give you any other name, correct?" Silvers raises an eyebrow at me and the twist in my stomach tells me that this is going to be one of those times where I shouldn't have ever opened my mouth.