Ch.26: I Give Up (Jk)

Julian leaned his head against the backrest, closing his eyes. Then he shifted again, hunching over, elbows on his knees, his hands holding his face up. He yawned. Then he stood up, and his eyelids drooped as he headed over to the bed.

With his eyes carefully trained on Julian, Albert shifted away. His hand grabbed for Milo. Julian casually shooed Albert.

"Move," Julian said, rubbing his left eye.

Albert scooted over to the edge of the bed. Julian lay down on his side beside Milo, who quickly shuffled away and then stood up, backing away towards Valentino. Albert rose to his feet too.

"I… Um, I'm a little sleepy, hahaha…" Julian's laughter was quiet and tired. "Goodnight."

Everyone watched Julian's breathing soften. His chest moved slower, and slower, then slower. Silence fell over the room. No one even moved for a few minutes.

Valentino walked towards the bed, bent over the edge, and waved a hand over Julian's face.

"He seriously just fell asleep," Valentino said.

Nicholas frowned to himself, then he approached as well and inspected Julian's face. Somehow, he looked younger in his sleep. More innocent.

Nicholas sighed. "So what do we do now?"

"...Kill him?" Valentino said.

Albert and Nicholas gave Valentino a flat look.

"That's not funny," Nicholas said.

"I wasn't joking."

"That's worse!"

The door swung open, and the familiar man who'd been aiding Julian with his plan quickly stepped inside and stood guard beside him, as if he really was worried they would kill Julian. What Nicholas actually wanted to do was search Julian for his gun.

Behind him, the man kept the door open, and through the gap several more guards could be seen. They were likely a combination of Sasha's loyal men and the few ones who'd betrayed her in Julian's favor. Right now they didn't have a choice but to work together to keep the situation under control, which had to be pretty awkward.

They were all armed, too. Just the sight of the guns peeking from their belts made the wounds on Nicholas's arm and shoulder tingle and then pulse with pain. He shuddered.

"I have an idea," Albert said. "Let's go find something to eat because you guys are gonna pass out again soon if we don't."

One man gestured everyone to follow him.

Nicholas could already tell there were more guards around if they weren't scared of letting them roam the house semi-free like that. With Albert leading the way, Nicholas, Milo, and Valentino made it into a small kitchen at the far end of the corridor. The man stood at the threshold and watched them silently.

Albert looked through the cabinets for anything edible. Nicholas peeked in behind Albert every time he opened a cabinet door, trying to find something he could eat right now without puking his guts out.

Then, Albert opened one last cabinet, and Nicholas's eyes widened as he spotted a familiar red cardboard box. Fruit loops! He pushed past Albert, reached up, and grabbed the box.

"Oh," Albert said, watching Nicholas rip the top of the box and pull out the plastic bag. "Milk? Bowl?"

Nicholas shook his head as he ate the cereal with his hand alone. No way was he using any utensils from this house. He wasn't about to put a spoon that psychopaths had eaten from in his mouth. The mere idea was nauseating, so he just leaned against a counter and munched on his fruit loops right from the bag.

These things had been his breakfast every single day for the past four years. Every single day. No break. No change. That routine was the single most comforting thing he'd ever experienced, and it gave him a distant sense of relief right now.

Then Nicholas noticed Milo peeking longingly at him from where he sat at the table, eating a sandwich. Nicholas looked at his cereal. He sighed. Then took a step towards the table and placed the bag near Milo.

"No," Milo said, pushing the bag towards Nicholas. "It's okay, you found it first…"

"I don't want it anymore. You can have it."

Nicholas returned to his place against the counter, crossed his arms, and leaned his head back, mindlessly staring at the ceiling. Albert and Milo finished up eating. Valentino refused, saying he didn't have the appetite right now, and he just sat with them, his fist supporting his cheek as he gazed apprehensively at the table.

Nicholas turned around and pulled a drawer open, hoping he could secretly grab a knife and hide it with him, since Julian had stripped him of all his weapons while he had been passed out. Alas. The drawer was empty, and so were all the others. He couldn't have eaten his cereal with milk and a spoon if he wanted to.

Nicholas tsked under his breath, then zoned out for a while, until Sasha appeared in the doorway.

"Julian," she said. "For God's sake, don't let them out of the room."

Nicholas frowned and looked around him.

Julian?

He wasn't here.

"Stop looking around you. I'm talking to you."

Nicholas looked at Sasha square, and her brows pinched together, baffled. Then she recoiled, recognition finally sinking in.

"Oh, Nicholas," she said. "I thought you were…" She shook her head. "Get back to your room. Where's Julian?"

"Sleeping."

Sasha nodded, ushering everyone to their room like prisoners. Once they stepped inside, she shut the door and locked it.

Julian was still asleep. The man still stood beside him.

Albert and Milo sat in the chairs in the corner, and Albert distracted Milo by talking to him about plants. How to tell the difference between a fig tree and an olive tree. Something like that. Milo listened earnestly, like it was the most important thing in the universe.

It was a long time before Julian finally stirred, slowly rousing from his sleep. An hour or two, maybe. There was no clock in the room, so Nicholas could only guess. Julian sat up, one palm to his mouth as he yawned, then he brushed his hand through his hair. He blinked away the bleariness, and then his eyes sharpened, and he set them straight on Valentino.

"I heard what you said, Valentino. I wasn't asleep yet."

Valentino looked at Julian, and although he still appeared calm, caution filled his eyes.

"Thanks, Nicholas," Julian said, smiling at him. "For telling Valentino that killing me isn't funny."

Julian turned to Nicholas, leaning forward as he crossed his legs. "It's a little weird, though…"

"What is?" Nicholas asked.

"You keep saying that death and killing people isn't a joke." Julian hummed, his brows furrowed with apprehension. "So then why did you tell your dad to kill himself?"

Nicholas's heart stopped. His eyes grew wide, his breath immediately picking up.

"Shut up," Nicholas said, his chest starting to move more violently. He pushed off the wall, tension gathering in his shoulders. "Shut the hell up. You don't know what you're talking about. It's none of your business." His heart thumped and thumped and thumped like it wanted to break past his ribs. "How the hell do you even know about this?"

Julian shrugged. "Your mom shits on you to everyone. I'm sure you know? Your whole neighborhood where you grew up knows about this 'cause your mom told them. I just had to ask around again!"

Nicholas knew this. He knew his mom still blamed him for everything, still misunderstood everything he did and said, and yet hearing this still hurt. It ached, like someone was sawing into his ribs with a machete.

The door was pushed open, and Sasha peeked into the room, wearing an annoyed expression.

"What in the world is going on?" she said. "Why is Nicholas shouting again? Listen. You're part of this organization now, Nicholas. Which means you go by my rules. And when I say I don't want to hear your voice again, it means I don't want to hear it again. Understand?"

"No, I don't understand!" Nicholas said. "I'm not part of your stupid organization!"

"You are. And you're never leaving again. And you're going to start working soon, too."

"You know what?" Nicholas spat. "Fine!" He moved over to the bed and lay down with an angry huff. "I'm tired of this bullshit. I'm tired of dealing with all of you. You can lock me here all you want, I don't care. But you can't make me work for you. I'm not moving an inch from this bed. Good luck with your organization. Goodnight."

"Fine by me," Sasha said. "You can sleep here until you rot, Nicholas. But you're not getting out."

Sasha left, followed by her men and Julian. They closed the door behind them. Nicholas stayed in place on his bed. Neither Valentino nor Albert commented on the ordeal for a while. Finally, Albert approached. Valentino, too. They stood near the bed, facing Nicholas. Albert frowned with uncertainty. Valentino looked familiarly unimpressed — like he could sense something was wrong.

"That's not like you," Albert said. "I don't think you'd give up so easily or so… suddenly."

"How are you planning to get out of here?" Valentino asked.

"Shhh," Nicholas said, lowering his voice. "By pretending to be Julian."

• • •

Nicholas discovered he has acting skills when he pretended to be the captors' son and now he wants to put them to good use 😂

Thank you so much for reading/voting/commenting!! You have no idea how much it means to me and helps boost my motivation! ❤️✨️