The scent of expensive liquor and cigarette smoke hung thick in the air, mingling with the muted murmurs of the stunned crowd. Moments ago, the casino had been alive with music, laughter, and the clinking of glasses. Now, all of that had been swallowed whole by the horror unfolding in front of them. 

Ethan stood motionless, his breath caught in his throat, his pulse hammering against his skin. The acid had done its work with brutal efficiency. Where there had once been a man—Albert Cassano, the mighty casino king—there was now little more than a grotesque ruin of melted flesh and bone. The stench of burning meat clawed at Ethan's senses, turning his stomach. 

The room was deathly silent. No one moved. No one dared to breathe too loudly, as if even a whisper might set off another wave of carnage. 

And at the center of it all stood Kai Adrian Cassano.

He had barely flinched as his father screamed. He had watched the man collapse, watched the acid eat through flesh like fire through paper, and yet his face remained disturbingly calm. His black-gloved fingers adjusted the lapels of his suit, his expression unreadable beneath the dim glow of the emergency lights. 

Then, as if snapping out of a trance, Kai turned, his gaze sweeping across the room. He looked at them all, daring anyone to speak, to challenge him, to question what had just happened. No one did. They wouldn't. 

This was a massacre. A warning. 

And it was only the beginning. 

Ethan could feel the weight of the stares behind him—people desperate for reassurance, for someone to say that this wasn't real. That it was some kind of twisted illusion, a magic trick gone horribly wrong. But it was real. Too real. 

His gaze flickered toward Yohan. 

The boy stood in the corner, a wicked grin creeping onto his face, his eyes gleaming with something Ethan could only describe as admiration. Ethan felt a chill run down his spine. He wanted to believe Yohan was too young to truly understand the gravity of what had just happened. But the way he looked at Kai told him otherwise. 

Pride.  

He's proud of him. 

Ethan forced his attention back to his brother. Kai took slow, deliberate steps forward, each footstep echoing in the stunned silence. He stopped in front of the ruined body of their father, tilting his head as if inspecting his work. A slow breath left his lips before he turned back to the room. 

Kai was eerily composed, his dark eyes gleaming with something Ethan couldn't decipher—satisfaction, maybe. Victory. Or perhaps nothing at all. His lips barely twitched as he surveyed the massacre, the quietest smile playing at the corners. 

Elias, who went to the Casino's opening in stead of his brother along with Noah, stood on the other side of the room, staring at him in absolute disbelief. Noah saw it all in his face—the shock, the confusion, the unspoken question: Was this really the same Kai I once knew? 

Kai met Elias' gaze, his expression unreadable, then turned away. Whatever recognition had once existed between them had shattered beyond repair. 

Fear rippled through the crowd, thick and paralyzing. No one moved. No one dared. Even the casino's most powerful guests, men and women who had seen death in its most brutal forms, seemed shaken by what they had witnessed. 

And then, one by one, they began to leave. 

Some rushed out with barely concealed horror, while others, the smarter ones, nodded politely to Kai before making their quiet exit. 

Yohan stood over his grandfather's corpse a little too long, his fingers brushing the edge of the bloodied carpet. "We'll need to burn this," he said simply. His voice was steady, too steady for a boy his age. Kai glanced at him and said nothing. 

He then, glanced at the guards. "Clean this up." 

They obeyed without hesitation, moving quickly to deal with what was left of their former boss. 

————————————————

The ride home was silent. 

Kai drove, his grip firm on the wheel, his expression unreadable. Ethan sat in the passenger seat, staring out of the window, his thoughts tangled in the night's events. 

In the backseat, Yohan leaned against the door, his fingers idly tracing patterns on the leather. He looked perfectly at ease, as if tonight had been nothing more than an ordinary family gathering. 

As soon as they arrived at the mansion, Kai disappeared into his study, closing the door behind him with a quiet click. 

Ethan let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His hands were still unsteady as he ran them through his hair. He needed a drink. He needed air. He needed— 

"Uncle Ethan," Yohan's voice was soft, but the underlying amusement in it made Ethan tense. 

He turned to the boy, unsure of what to expect. 

Yohan tilted his head, his lips curving into a small, knowing smirk. "You wanted this too, didn't you?"  

Ethan stiffened. "What?"  

"You wanted him dead," Yohan said simply, shrugging. "Maybe not like that, maybe not in front of everyone, but you wanted it. You can't lie to me." 

Ethan swallowed hard. 

He had wanted Albert dead. He had spent years imagining it—fantasizing about a world without their father's cruelty poisoning them at every turn. But wanting something in theory was vastly different from seeing it play out in reality. 

Especially like that. 

Yohan chuckled, seeing the conflict in his uncle's eyes. "It's okay, Uncle Ethan. We're all monsters in this family. You just hide it better." 

Before Ethan could respond, Yohan turned on his heel and walked away, leaving those words lingering like a poisonous whisper. 

Ethan clenched his jaw. We're all monsters in this family. 

He hated how true it felt. 

Ethan exhaled slowly, his fingers curling into fists at his sides. He wasn't grieving. There was no sadness in him for Albert—only relief. The bastard was finally dead, and the world was better for it. No more manipulation, no more cruelty, no more suffocating under the weight of a father who had never been one. But the victory felt hollow because Ethan wasn't mourning the death of his father—he was mourning his brother. 

The Kai he knew, the boy who once clung to his sleeve and whispered his fears in the dark, was slipping away. He had been slipping for years, and tonight, watching him stand over their father's lifeless body with that blank, unreadable expression, Ethan realized just how far gone he was. Albert's death might have given Kai the temporary closure he craved, but it would never mend the damage that man had done. No amount of spilled blood could stitch together a soul torn apart by years of suffering. 

Only love could heal that. 

But how could love reach him when Kai had locked himself in a prison of his own making? He wore his strength like armor, pretended emotions didn't exist, and let the darkness inside him fester. He thought control would keep him safe, but it was only swallowing him whole. And Ethan—Ethan was terrified that one day, he would look at his brother and see a stranger staring back. 

————————————————

Ethan needed a drink. A strong one. 

Lost in thought, he reached for a bottle, but the sudden impact of someone colliding into him made him stumble back. His grip tightened instinctively, his pulse spiking, and he snapped his head up, already on edge. 

The sharp scent of cologne. The familiar weight of silence between them. 

Noah. 

Of course, it had to be him. 

Ethan exhaled sharply, stepping back like the mere contact had burned him. "Watch where you're going." 

Noah didn't move. He stood there, arms crossed, gaze steady, but something simmered beneath the surface—something unspoken, something old. Ethan could feel it, thick and suffocating between them. 

Noah's voice was smooth, cold. "Still drinking your problems away?" His lips curled, but there was no real amusement. "Some things never change." 

Ethan let out a humorless laugh. His grip on the bottle tightened, but he forced himself to stay calm. "And some people don't know when to mind their damn business." He moved to step past him, but Noah shifted, blocking his path. 

Ethan's patience snapped. "Move." 

Noah tilted his head, his smirk deepening, but his eyes—his eyes were anything but amused. "I wonder if that's what you told yourself when you left." 

Ethan's breath hitched for half a second before he scoffed. "Right. We're doing this now?" 

Noah didn't budge. "You disappeared for years without a word. Without an explanation. You don't get to pretend like nothing happened." 

Ethan clenched his jaw. "It's been years, Noah. Let it go." 

Noah let out a bitter laugh, but there was no humor in it. "Let it go? Do you have any idea what you left behind? The mess? The damage? The people who—" He stopped himself, exhaling sharply, shaking his head. "You walked away like we meant nothing to you." 

Ethan scoffed, his irritation morphing into something darker. "You really think you were the ones who suffered?" His voice came out sharper than intended. "You don't know pain, Noah. None of you do." 

Noah's eyes darkened. "Right. Because you and Kai corner the market on suffering." He took a step forward, voice low and biting. "Kai cheated on Elias. He broke him, and now Elias is the one carrying the weight of it all." 

Ethan's fists curled at his sides. The slow, seething rage inside him burned hotter. 

He took a step closer. "You don't know a damn thing about what happened. So don't act like you do." 

Noah met his glare without hesitation. "Maybe not. But I do know one thing—" he paused, tilting his head slightly, his voice dipping lower, "—watching Kai kill Albert wasn't the victory you thought it would be, was it?" 

Ethan froze. 

The air between them turned razor-sharp. 

Noah pressed on, voice dripping with something that wasn't quite pity. "He just stood there. Watched Albert scream. Watched him melt. No hesitation. No remorse. You saw it too, didn't you?" 

Ethan swallowed. He wanted to say something. He should say something. 

But nothing came out. 

Because, yeah. He had seen it. 

Albert had been on his knees, skin sloughing off in grotesque patches, eyes wide with agony, and Kai had just stood there. Cold. Unshaken. Watching. 

And when Albert's screams had faded into wet, gurgling silence, Kai had turned to him—expression blank, voice disturbingly even—and asked, "Do you think he suffered enough?"

Like it was a genuine question. 

Like it mattered. 

Ethan inhaled sharply, pushing the memory back. 

Noah studied him, and for the first time, his smirk faltered. His voice dropped lower. "You're scared, aren't you?"  

Ethan's fingers twitched, the rage inside him turning into something more dangerous. 

"Shut up." 

Noah didn't. "You don't give a damn that Albert's dead. You're just scared that the little brother you knew is, too."  

Ethan's stomach twisted. He hated how, even after ten years, Noah could still see through him. 

That raw, unfiltered understanding in Noah's eyes made him feel exposed, like an old wound being pried open. 

So he did what he always did. 

He forced himself to move, shoving past Noah without another word. 

Noah's voice rose behind him, sharp and laced with something dangerously close to hurt. "You don't fix things, do you, Ethan? You just leave before they get too messy."  

But Ethan? He didn't look back. He kept walking, his steps steady, his fists clenched. 

Just like last time. 

Just like ten years ago. 

Noah's words hit harder than he wanted to admit, reopening wounds Ethan had long since buried. But he didn't stop.  

Because looking back meant facing everything he wasn't ready to admit. 

Noah didn't stop him this time. 

Because what was left to say? 

Just like those gardenia flowers, his love—meant for someone who never claimed it, was left to wither, before it ever had the chance to bloom where it belonged, unwanted and unseen. 

————————————————

Kai sat in the dimly lit study, staring at the faint bloodstain on his cuff. He had washed his hands twice, but the feeling remained, clinging to his skin like a ghost. 

The soft click of a lighter was the only sound in the dimly lit room. 

Kai leaned back in his chair, letting the cigarette dangle between his fingers. He didn't even feel the need to smoke it—just holding it was enough. The weight of it in his hand gave him something to focus on, something to ground him. 

He exhaled, watching the smoke curl into the air, dissolving like ghosts. 

The moment replayed in his mind on an endless loop. The acid. The screams. The silence that followed. 

He had thought this would bring him peace. That seeing his father's suffering would mean something. That it would feel like closure. 

But all he felt was... nothing. 

It should have been satisfying. It should have filled the hollow parts of him, stitched up the wounds Albert had carved into his soul. But the emptiness remained, vast and unyielding. His father was gone, and yet the echoes of his voice, his touch, his presence still clung to Kai like a shadow that refused to fade. He was just sinking deeper, mistaking vengeance for salvation, letting the darkness consume what little was left of him. 

Killing Albert had put an end to a monster, but Kai was too blinded by his vengeance to see the far greater horrors closing in. The whispers in the shadows had grown louder, more relentless, crawling closer with every passing second. They weren't just watching—they were waiting. Waiting for the moment he faltered, for the moment his family was vulnerable. And when that moment came, they wouldn't hesitate. They would tear everything apart. 

————————————————

No one cares for Kai as much as Ethan does, he wants his little brother to be happy not to drown in darkness. 

Noah and Ethan finally had that confrontation both of them couldn't avoid. 

Old feelings linger but are they strong enough to compete with new ones?