Chapter 1 I’m in the Blackwood Creek Secure Hospital, watching my brother’s wedding on a live stream. Suddenly, a man—naked, covered in blood—bursts into the reception hall and throws himself at my brother’s feet, groveling. “Ethan, my face is already ruined, you cut up all my clothes! I can’t threaten you anymore! Please, just don’t send me back to that place. I’ll stay away from Eliza, I swear…” My brother's new bride, Eliza, explodes. She spins and slaps Ethan, hard. “Liam was always so terrified of the world, so gentle! How could you be so cruel to him?! You’re a monster!” “I’ve been too soft on you. Today, you’re going to learn that the Lu family will not tolerate your vicious, evil streak!” The wedding is over. My brother, Ethan, is dragged into a car, sent to a remote “abbey” to reflect and repent. The next time I see him, he’s on a steel table. His face is a mask of bruises, his chest is caved in, and his fingers are twisted into unnatural shapes. I look down at my own hands, identical to his, and I clench them until my knuckles turn white. My mother is sobbing behind me. “He must have been in so much pain…” My name is Caleb. Ethan was my twin. He was the bright, clever, shining one. I was the quiet, cold, hollow one. The one whose eyes made people nervous. They called me a freak, a psycho. Only Ethan ever treated me like I was human. He’d push his only piece of candy into my mouth, his eyes sparkling. “Is it sweet, Caleb?” I gently touch his cold face. His eyes are closed forever. He’ll never see me again. When we were kids, the Dean's son cornered him in the parking lot. A few of his frat-boy friends were with him, laughing. Ethan ran. I followed them. When Ethan finally made it home, he was breathless, relieved they hadn't caught him. He never saw me come home later, covered in blood. The moon was full that night. The police found the Dean's entire family slaughtered. They found me in the middle of the living room, sitting in a pool of blood, calmly counting Ethan’s candy wrappers. They said I was sick. They locked me up here at Blackwood. Ethan always visited. He’d press his face to the security glass, his breath fogging it up. “Caleb, the cherry blossoms are out! They’re everywhere!” Even though I never spoke, he’d talk for hours, sharing his joy. The last time I saw him, he was ecstatic. “Bro, I’m getting married!” “I’ll have Mom stream it for you. You can see me in my tux! Think I’ll look sharp?” The wedding didn't even finish. I wrap the leather restraint strap from my bed around the hospital director's throat. I press until his face turns purple, forcing him to sign my release papers. Whoever touched my brother is going to die. Chapter 2 When I get home, I find Mom on the cot in the living room. Her legs are... wrong. Bent. She tells me what happened. She went to find Eliza after Ethan… died. Eliza and Liam were there. When Mom accused them, Liam just laughed. He pulled out his phone. “Dead? How? That’s weird. In this video I just got, he looks like he’s sleeping pretty soundly.” On the screen, Ethan was lying still, peaceful. Mom lunged at him. “You killed him! My son is in the morgue, broken and battered, and you killed him!” Eliza stood up, disgusted. “That’s enough! Ethan is dragging his own mother into his sick games now?” “You’re both pathetic. You’re exactly alike. Nothing but lies.” Liam, lounging on the sofa, just smirked. “Ma’am, you’re really embarrassing Ethan right now.” Eliza just motioned to the door. "Throw her out." The bodyguards threw her out. And broke her legs. I look away from Mom and lift the white sheet from my brother's face. The bruises. The caved-in chest. The twisted limbs. A crushed butterfly. The door buzzer rings. Then, it's kicked open. Liam and Eliza stroll in. Liam smirks at the small altar we made. “Well, well. If it isn’t the dearly departed.” Eliza’s eyes land on the urn in my hands. Her face flickers. But when she sees my face—identical to Ethan’s—her expression hardens. “Ethan. You’re taking this 'playing dead' thing too far. You’d even use a prop urn to get sympathy?” Liam saunters over, arm in arm with Eliza. “Eliza just sent you to that abbey for a few days to cool off. And what do you do? You assault the staff, run away, and show up with a prop box pretending to be dead.” “What’s next? Are you going to invite us to a fake funeral?” His hand darts out to grab the urn. “Let me see what trash you dug this out of.” I pivot. He stumbles, catching himself before he falls. “Ethan!” Eliza shrieks. “You’re still not done? You dare to push Liam?” Liam’s eyes instantly fill with tears as he clutches Eliza. “Eliza, don’t blame him... He’s just mad at me for crashing his wedding. It’s all my fault...” Eliza’s face is granite. “Ethan. Apologize to Liam. Now.” I just stand there, holding my brother’s ashes. Mom, from her cot, screams at them. “Get out! Get out of our house!” Eliza grabs my wrist, her nails digging in. "Is this the trashy way your family raised you?" “Since you refuse to learn, you’re coming with me. Back to the abbey. We'll beat some manners into you!” I let my wrist go limp. “Fine.” I am, after all, looking for the men who killed my brother. This saves me the trip. I gently place Ethan’s urn on the altar. I trace the smiling face in his photo. Sweet as candy. As I turn to leave, Mom grabs my hand. “Caleb!” she whispers, her eyes filled with terror and a terrible understanding. I pat her hand. She lets go. “Go.” I nod and follow Eliza to the car. Liam sits in the passenger seat. As soon as I'm in the back, he leans over to Eliza. “Eliza, baby, I think I have an eyelash. Can you get it?” She leans in, blowing softly into his eye. Their noses are almost touching. They completely forget I’m there. Liam glances back at me, a smug, triumphant smirk on his face. I just stare out the window. The car winds up the mountain road, getting closer to the abbey. The killer instinct in my blood is singing. It was them. They killed him. The radio crackles. “—Emergency broadcast. A patient considered extremely dangerous has escaped from Blackwood Creek Secure Hospital. Citizens are advised to—” I look at the two in the front seat. They haven't heard a thing. I smile. Chapter 3 Eliza drops me at the abbey, and the iron gate slams shut behind me. The "Prior" of this place just stares at me, his eyes wide with fear. The heavy door clangs shut. A group of men in shoddy robes, cigarettes dangling from their lips, surround me. Their laughter is sickening. “Well, look who’s back, boys.” “Miss us, little bitch?” “You didn’t seem to have much fun last time. We’ll make sure you enjoy it this time.” “What are you waiting for? Get him. Same as before.” I keep my head down. Their heavy breathing gets closer. My muscles pull tight. When I don’t move, the leader unfurls a thick leather whip. “Stubborn piece of shit! Need a taste to remember the rules?” The whip cuts through the air. I catch it. He freezes. Then, his face twists in rage. “You dare?! I’m going to end you!” Before he can finish, I yank the whip. He stumbles forward. I hit him. A dozen times, open-handed. SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP. The sharp sounds echo in the courtyard. His friends are still laughing. “What’s wrong, Three? Can’t handle one skinny twink?” Until "Three" turns his head. A spray of blood and broken teeth hits the stones. The laughter dies. The courtyard is dead silent. The Prior screams. “Ethan’s dead! They said he was dead!” The thugs all freeze. They all look at my feet. In the sunlight, a shadow stretches out, long and clear. “Shit! He’s alive!” The leader spits blood. His eyes are murderous. “Who cares? One little punk won’t—” They lunge. I let my head fall back. A smile I can’t control spreads across my face. They don’t know. I was born with a gift. Ten years of rage. How else could I have taken out the Dean's entire family? My blood sings with violence. I’ve only held it back for Ethan. Now, I don't have to hold back ever again. The screaming lasted for three days. The beauty of a remote mountain abbey is that no matter how loud you scream, the sound just vanishes into the trees. When Eliza comes back, the abbey is a smoldering ruin. I’m curled up by the broken gate, clothes torn, face smeared with ash, blood caked under my fingernails. “Disgusting.” She tosses a coat at me. As I pass Liam in the car, he leans in and whispers, “Too bad you didn’t burn, you bastard.” I get in the back seat, shivering. My sleeve is dark with dried blood. Their blood. It was funny how they begged. Especially when I took the wooden mallet and, inch by inch, crushed the rotten meat between their legs. They were holy men, after all. They needed to be purified. It’s good. Now, every one of their bones is as beautifully broken as Ethan’s. I remember their agony in the fire, and I smile. Chapter 4 We get back to the mansion. As I step toward the door, Liam blocks it with his foot. “Ugh, Ethan, you’re filthy. Why don’t you wash up in the yard first?” “The hose is still working. I’ll even have the guys help you.” He sounds so thoughtful. His eyes are pure venom. It’s the middle of winter. The ground is frozen solid. Eliza doesn’t even look back. “Get clean before you come in.” The door slams shut. I squat by the rusty spigot. Three bodyguards surround me. The same three who beat Ethan at his wedding. They pull out the heavy-duty fire hose. “Sorry, Mr. Jiang.” The leader licks his lips. The freezing water hits me, and they aim it straight down my shirt. “Miss Lu’s orders. Gotta get every... crack... nice and clean.” From the second-floor window, I see the curtain twitch. Liam. When Eliza’s shadow joins his, he quickly drops the curtain. I wipe the icy water from my face and give the guards a slow, cold smile. The high-pressure nozzle fits perfectly in their mouths. When I walk inside, dripping but clean, the backyard has three new "ice sculptures." They're swollen and grey, like water-logged pigs. Eliza is waiting. She wraps a towel around my hair, her touch surprisingly gentle. “What took you so long? I just said rinse your feet.” She pushes a steaming bowl of chicken soup toward me. “The kitchen made it fresh. Get changed and drink this while it’s hot.” “...Okay.” I manage a raspy word. I change and come back down. Liam, his eyes burning with jealousy, brings the soup to me. Before I can take it, he "stumbles." The entire bowl of boiling soup goes down my front. “Ah!” Liam screams. “Ethan! I was just trying to bring you the soup, and you knocked it over! You burned me!” “I know you hate me... Eliza, I’ll just go! I’ll leave! I’m just in the way!” Eliza lunges, grabbing Liam’s perfectly fine hand, her face a mask of panic. She doesn't even glance at the massive red blisters already forming on my chest and hand. She turns on me, her voice like a whip. “Ethan! Apologize to Liam! Now!” A sharp pain lances through my chest. This. This is how they treated him. His absolute devotion, given to this. I bolt for the front door. CLICK. The high-security deadbolt engages. Eliza roars. “Ethan, what the hell are you doing? Have you lost your mind?” “Apologize to Liam!” I turn, my eyes red, my face streaked with grime and blood from the bat. I walk slowly toward them. Liam, nestled in Eliza's arms, suddenly goes pale. His hand shoots out, trembling, pointing at the TV on the wall. He’s stammering. “You... You’re...” I raise a finger to my lips. “Shhh. The game is just starting.”
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "385781", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel