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I reach for my mobile because I can hear Charlie yelling something, but then I see Maksim pointing a shiny silver gun at me.
I go cold in place, lifting my hands in defense, my mobile in one.
“Put the phone down, Blaire, and I mean it.” He clicks back the hammer, gripping the weapon in both hands.
“You wouldn't dare,” I say, holding his golden iron stare.
“No?” He laughs at me, the skin around his eyes crinkling.
“No.” I gain strength on my feet, and while my back is killing me, I lift my chin with nerve. “You won't do it,” I say, almost sure. “You need me more than I need you.”
“Oh, Blaire, if you are lost to me, then what use are you to me?” there's something like sadness in his voice. “I'd rather you were dead than leave me for that Latin fuck!”
“Drop the gun, Maksim,” someone says from the open front door. “You shoot her and I'll blow a fucking hole in you.”
I whip my head in that direction, as does Maksim. It's James! He's stalking in across the kitchen space holding a long gun in both his hands.
“No...” Maksim growls like a dog, his golden eyes blazing. “How dare you even think about pulling a gun on me!?!”
James isn't fazed by Maksim's disappointment and anger toward him, but I'm suddenly so terrified for my friend that I don't know what to do. When it boils down to it, James won't shoot. He can't. We're not wired that way.
“Ten years I've spent on you both and look at yourselves.” Maksim screws up his nose, shaking his head. “Blaire is a lovesick puppy for my enemy and you're pointing a gun at me? You should be ashamed!”
James walks up behind Maksim and points the gun at the back of his head. “You steal us from our childhood beds and we should be ashamed?”
“You too?” I say, my stomach flipping. “You know what happened to us?”
“Oh yeah,” James nods at me, “I know everything, especially the fact that you're my little sister.” He jabs Maksim with the gun, knocking him forward a step.
My face drops, and I stare in mute shock.
James is my brother...
I grab my mouth, barely believing what I'm hearing.
I had a whole family!
“How do you know?” I say.
“You were gone for months, Blaire, I had to find you, so I broke into his office and found the files he has on us. Have you told her why she can't remember anything before you?” James prods Maksim with the gun again. “He used a Chinese experimental drug on us called Wángjí. It literally means 'forget' in traditional Chinese.”
I'm not surprised by that. I have often wondered why I can't remember a thing past Maksim.
Our master isn't saying a thing, just standing there at gunpoint, shaking from head to toe with pure wrath.
“Ten years you've stolen from us,” James says, tormenting him by poking him with the gun. “Ten years we could have been with our parents and now they're dead!”
The way Maksim glares up at me... I really, really fear for James now. I've no idea why—he's the one with all the power at the moment. But Maksim's face... If looks could kill...
“You have to leave,” I say to James. “I-I don't want anything happening to you too.”
James slowly shakes his head at me. “I won't let him hurt you anymore. I've done my best to prevent him from sexually abusing you but not enough to stop him from hurting you. I won't let him hurt you anymore,” he repeats, as if it's all he cares about in the world. “I won't!”
*BANG*
A flash of spitting yellow, and then a sharp pain jolts through me, making my entire body quake.
“No...!” James yells.
