ROMEO

We are all born for love, so how does one become a person so devoid of compassion and empathy that torture becomes even a possibility. The money-nexus world is an atomising world because it forces competition for survival.

I barged inside the cell where we kept the prisoner tied up. My guards had already tried getting information out of him, but he didn't budge. Well, we'll see about that.

I went over to the table in the corner of the room and picked up a sharp knife. The butterfly knife. Small, sharp and painfully perfect.

I stalked towards the single person in the room. I smirked, glancing at him. This wouldn't be too hard.

"Ah! Finally, I had gotten quite tired of your little minions there." Blood dripped down his jaw and he grinned.

I circled around his chair. Pressing the knife to his leg, I dragged the blade down, causing him to cry out in pain. We hadn't even started yet and he was already giving me responses to the pain.

I grabbed acid from the table and held it above his leg. The acid would dissolve his leg within seconds; painfully stinging as he was burnt.

"You want to talk now?" I asked him, teasingly dangling the acid bottle. Left, right, left, right.

"No." He spat out, spewing blood and saliva all over the ground. Fucking idiot.

"Okay then." I grabbed a couple other knives and threw them straight at him, barely pausing to aim. Watching him wither and curl in pain, I smirked.

"Fine." He gritted out.

Already? I was just starting. Oh well, at least I would get the information.

"I don't work for them, I was hired. All I know is that I had to go get the red pen drive from your office. I don't even know who hired me, he had a fucking face mask."

I laughed. The maniac-meets-psychopath kind of laughter. The laughter of every Disney villain ever. The laughter of every child's nightmares.

"You? You're a fucking hired assassin?" I shot his legs a couple times. Just for Fun.

"Tell me Ivan. How long have you been in the business? Or is that even your real name?" I tipped the bottle, a drop of acid fell. It made skin contact and dissolved most of the skin in that spot. So fucking satisfying.

His screams were like music to my ears. My heart worked faster, blood rushed to all parts of my body. It was thrilling as it was great.

"A year! I've been in a business a fucking year." He shouted over his own screams. Ameture. I scoffed, shot his head and left that place.

I signaled a guard in the hallway to take his body out. I walked towards the hallway before stopping. A mirror. A floor length mirror was on the wall. I stopped and looked at myself.

Blood stained my clothes. A mark reminding me of what I'd done back there. What I have been doing for the past ten years of my life. I was a killer, a murder, a psychopath and a monster.

It made me sick to think if Carina and Alex saw this side of me. What would they think? They would probably not ever want to see my face again.

I shook my head to get rid of my thoughts. Took a cold shower and then changed. On my way there, I stopped at a bakery and grabbed cupcakes for all my siblings.

They're all honestly the best and deserve to be appreciated more for it.

I came back home after a long drive, a package of half-finished salad in my hand. I quickly got out of my car and headed inside. Thankfully, no one was downstairs, which sort of surprised me, since it was just six in the evening. I decided not to question my luck and went to the dining area.

No one there as well. I got out the pack of cupcakes I had bought for my siblings. I put them on plates, a different flavour for each of them. Vanilla for Carina, Dark Chocolate for Alex, Blueberry for Luca, Butterbeer for Lucas, Strawberry for Layla, Mocha for Liam, Cherry for Amara, Cookies and Cream for Ace, Lemon-Lavender for Genieve and of course Red Velvet for me.

I placed them all in different plates and left them on the kitchen counter, looking to go search for everyone. After roaming in the entire house, I figured everyone was busy doing something or the other in their rooms. I sighed and made my way upstairs. I am a monster anyway, why would anyone want to be around me?

While I was in my thought process, I bumped into someone. "Woah." The person whom I bumped into said. "Sorry." I mumbled, not looking at the speaker.

"Romeo!" The voice that I now recognized exclaimed.

"Hey Carina."

She frowned. She took out one of the airpods she had in her ears , which was why I guessed she bumped into me.

"Where were you going anyway?" I asked, realizing she was going downstairs.

"Oh nothing, I was going to get something to eat while watching 'Paddington'." Then her eyes lit up. "Will you watch it with me?"

I hesitated.

"Please?" She pleaded. I made up my mind.

"Sure thing." She hugged my waist, which took me by surprise. After I came over my shock, I wrapped my arms around her as well. Maybe she sensed my uneasiness, because even when I tried to break the hug, she didn't budge. Her and Alex were not very alike, but both were also similar in different ways.

After probably a minute, she detached herself. "I'll go get some snacks, you go set up the movie." I said. She bounced on her heels. "Okay, I'll meet you in my room." I watched her as she skipped back to her room. Oh to be that happy.

I got some nachos from the pantry, went to the kitchen and grabbed mine as well as her cupcakes, left a note on them, labelled each cupcake for whoever I brought them for, and made my way to her room. I entered her room.

She looked up at me and smiled. "We are all set." She patted the spot beside her and I sat next to her.

"I got us all cupcakes." I said, giving her the Vanilla one.

"Ooh, I love Vanilla! Thank you!" Camila said, grinning at me. I smiled back.

"Now, we start watching." About half-way through the movie, I felt her snuggle up to. I put an arm around her and continued watching. Yep, definitely not like Alex.

Sometime during the movie, my eyelids started to droop. I looked down to see Carina asleep.I yawned and tried to stay awake so that I could go down to dinner, but I failed. My exhaustion got the better of me and my eyes closed. Right before I drifted off to sleep, one thought loomed in my head. Maybe Alex was right. My siblings will always be there for me.
_______

I did not wake up to the sun shining brightly, though I did wake up because of light. Camera flashes, to be exact. I opened my eyes to see eight phones hovering above me. I looked around. The surroundings were not familiar. Then it came to me.

I fell asleep in the middle of watching a movie with Carina. As if on cue, she started to stir. I heard a couple of giggles above me, and quickly turned. Every one of my other siblings was there. Even Genevieve and Ace were there, which said something. I groaned.

"Tell me you guys won't keep those pictures."

Alex laughed. "You think we took those to delete them?"

"What's going on?" Carina sat up, confused as ever. "What pictures? What are you guys doing?"

As soon as she said that, she seemed to realise. But unlike me, she just laughed. The others took it as permission to keep the pictures.

"I swear if you don't delete them-"

"Oh please." Luca interrupted. "You just don't want to seem soft. But trust me, you're softer than butter, you just don't know it yet."

Unfortunately for him, his pep talk didn't work. I tackled him, but instead of wrestling, I did something worse. I tickled him. He squirmed and shouted at me to stop, but that was not happening. I could hear everyone else laughing.

A couple moments later, Genieve finally said, "Okay, that's enough." I stopped and got up. Luca gasped for air. I lent out a hand for him to get up and he gladly took it.

"So much to cheer you up." He mumbled.

I laughed at that; a genuine laugh.

The next thing I knew, Genieve was hugging me. I gave in immediately. I felt another pair of arms wrap around me. Then another. And another. Soon enough, I was buried in the arms of my siblings. I felt more at home than I ever had.