Yves bred us to be killers, but not in cold blood.
We never hurt innocent lives.
We protected them.
It was the first time I’d glimpsed a touch of Ben’s volatility.
His face had flushed beetroot with humiliation after I ripped him a new one and snitched to Yves about his little slip. We categorized his behaviour as young and immature.
However, it occurred to me now that we screwed up by not being stricter with Benjamin. By not ridding him of his self-entitlement and teaching him the proper morals a man of his stature should possess.
Or perhaps we had, but it was just Benjamin’s stubborn and impulsive streak that forced him to act however the fuck he pleased, consequences and family reputation be damned.
“I think back to that moment quite often,” Benjamin said. “It’s a shame my bullet didn’t pierce your chest. I had the chance to alter history forever and I fucked it up. I will always regret it.”
My footsteps halted as I neared him. Feigning calm, I leaned against a wooden post and crossed my arms over my chest, giving him the floor for a few moments before I killed him.
Benjamin turned around, his silhouette illuminated by a firelit lantern sitting on the ground. “I despise you, Zeno,” he spat with venom.
Our eyes collided like two opponents finally reaching a crux.
“And why do you hate me, Benjamin?”
Benjamin’s mouth twisted in a slow, scornful smirk. “Because you took away my birthright.”
The seigneur’s throne.
The entirety of the De la Croix empire.
And all the glory that came with being the leader of one of the oldest criminal organizations in the world.
Quietly, I assessed him the way you would a zoo animal—with pity and a sense of caution. It baffled me that I never saw this coming. Even if Antoine Toussaint wasn’t the culprit, I never would have suspected my own sibling.
I glanced pointedly at the amber ring on my finger and then back up at him with a sly smile, trying my best to mask my boiling blood. “It was never meant to be yours. I am the chosen one.”
Ben’s cool façade cracked and that hint of volatility finally seeped through when he yelled, “You came into our lives and took everything from me!Iwas supposed to be the heir! Not you, Zeno!”
Yves picked me for a reason.
He knew that his youngest did not match me when it came to courage, strength, and plain intelligence. Benjamin was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, whereas I was soldiered by life’s hardships from childhood.
Benjamin De la Croix did not harbour the ability to be Yves’s punisher or Seigneur desDe la Croixes. It was a hard pill he refused to swallow.
Tired of the cat and mouse game, I was ready for Ben to give me some answers before I left the stables with him. In a body bag. “How did you know I was going to murder Armel before it happened?”
I told Céline and Benjamin formally at my birthday dinner and that was a day after I killed Armel Lancaster. Bazoli said the anonymous tip came in a few short hours after I completed the hit.
Ben raked his fingers through his mussed blond hair. “You know what your problem is, Zeno?” he tsked. “You and the entire family underestimate me. Poor little Benjamin who can’t take life seriously, who’s too busy snorting coke off supermodels’ tits, who’s too busy taking impromptu vacations overseas. All while I was plotting your very fall. My biggest strength has always been the fact that everyone takes me for a stupid, good-for-nothing playboy.”
My jaw clenched.
He wasn’t wrong because that’s exactly how we all saw him. We thought he was clumsy, care-free, overly indulging, but perhaps with good intentions.
And Benjamin played the fuck out of that role in a plot twist none of us saw coming.
He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with a flick of his zippo. “This is all your fault. You and Yves would never include me in important business meetings unless you needed an extra pair of hands to tie loose ends. When I was young, I didn’t care. I just longed to be in your presences and show my loyalty in any way possible…But I grew resentful with age when I realized both of you treated me as an afterthought. I was good enough to tag along on your killing sprees, but not good enough to trade secrets with. Therefore, I forced myself to eavesdrop on every single conversation you and Yves had behind closed doors.”
“Let me guess. You hid in the passageways behind the bookshelves in Yves’s study.”