April

I speechlessly stared at Gracie. There was no major resemblance between her and uncle except the pinkish complexion of her skin. Her hair and eyes were completely different from Uncle George. Maybe that's why it was hard to notice.

"She's our cousin. Uncle George's daughter." I mumbled I disbelief. Was it too easy to get deceived or was I too easy to deceive?

"I don't understand. Why did she lie to us? She could have just told us she was Gracie Grey." I question Austin.

"Because nobody knows about her. She's his illegitimate child." He stated the matter of factly.

What?

"Also, he wanted to keep an eye on us."

My surroundings started to slowly move around and after a minute everything was melting into each other.

"April?"

Austin caught me by shoulder and put me down on bed. What was going in here? I'd never felt so terrified of lack of knowledge. How much did I not know? What was Uncle Planning?

"Come on. Let's go somewhere else." He helped me to stand up. I tried to make sense of everything. I tried to figure out what uncle George was planning but nothing. I couldn't think of anything other than serious damage. He was planning something big.

As we were at the door Austin twisted his head back at Gracie. "Don't ever come near to my sister again."

He kicked the door shut venting out his anger.

"Ap. You sure you're okay?" The softness in his voice both surprised and overwhelmed me. He called me Ap. It's been so long since I heard that.

I nodded. I missed this. I so missed my brother.

Shortly after we were in his room which was on the floor above. It was quite empty and huge.

I plopped down in the middle of his bed, and he took a seat on his chair.

We just stared at each other for a long time. My mind was getting swirled around with emotions and questions equally. I'd thought I'd lost my only brother but after what he just did a tiny ray of hope beamed inside me.

He suddenly grabbed the bottle of water which was sitting on his desk and came up to bed handing me the bottle. "Drink."

Glancing at the same eyes as me overflowing with love, I couldn't hold it in. I tossed the bottle aside and lunged at him.

"Woah! What?" He mumbled, all confused. His sister was giving nothing but hateful glares to him for a long time now. He was bound to be surprised. I hugged him tighter, sensing major nostalgia brimming inside me and tears threatening to come out.

But my happiness came to a halt when I felt something weird on his back. My hands could feel the odd rigidness covering all of his back. Just to make sure I wasn't imagining things I stroke his back carefully this time. I hurriedly pulled it back.

"What's wrong with your back?"

He froze for a split second and then answered. "Back? What? Nothing."

"Austin. Strip. Now." I ordered, crossing my hands over my chest. No more hiding things brother.

"What?!" He exclaimed. Such a terrible actor he was.

"Come on. You know it's no use hiding it now." I waited till he sighed and took his tee out.

"Wha.. what's all this?" Clutching his shoulders, I shook the hell out of him because what I saw on his body was unbelievably horrible. This can't have happened to my brother. My brother who is incredibly strong.

"Who did this to you Austin?!" I screamed at him. And he was planning to hide it? I rummaged my brain for an answer.

"Ap. Calm down. Sit there." He pushed my arms off. Calm? How can I be calm?

My heart fell into my stomach as I saw his body covered in big scars. There were several smaller cuts and wounds, black and purple puddles on his stomach and his back was all red. There was a pattern to them. It was sickly similar to me. I'd seen uncle venting out his anger on the unfortunate servants of his. How dare he?

"What are those scars? I don't think they are new. Since when he's been torturing you Austin? We have to tell dad." I blurted out and an urge to kill uncle George with an iron hatchet came over me.

"Can I talk now?" Austin asked as if I was getting hyper for nothing. I nodded, sitting down on the bed.

He took a deep breath. "You've guessed correctly. This is uncle's doing."

Obviously. No one is as inhuman as he is.

"We had a deal. When you left home that day, I confronted Gracie. I'm sorry I should have done it before but I thought she'd been living with you for almost a year she couldn't do it." He gave me a guilty look.

"But she continued feigning the victim. That you were not treating her right. I didn't completely believe her, so I spied on her and caught her talking with Uncle George. I took her to uncle and confronted both of them."

He stopped to look at me for a moment and continued.

"That was when I got to know about Gracie. Her mother was one of the maids who used to serve uncle. She died after giving birth to Gracie, and uncle has been using Gracie for spying on people since then. She's become a pro. That's why none of us ever doubted her."

"So she didn't live in New York?" I interrupted. She was lying through her fucking teeth, and no one even noticed.

Austin shook his head. "No. That was a lie. But we did meet when we were little. That was kind of true. Anyway, when I confronted them, I found out that Uncle George had ordered Gracie to live you to keep a watch on you."

I felt sick in the pit of my stomach. What was he trying to achieve by keeping a watch on me?

"When he got to know that your sold the house to Christian he was so mad he wanted to-" his words died in his mouth as he stopped and I looked at him confused.

"He wanted what Austin?" I stared at the terrorized expressions on his face.

"He wanted you dead." He dreadfully said.

A chill ran down my spine. If uncle George wanted something he got it. Why was I still alive?

"But I made a deal with him. A deal to save you." He stated and I got my answer. I was alive because of Austin.

"What? What deal? Do you mean those marks on your body?" I whispered, my voice drenched in fear. No please don't tell me!

"The deal was that he would leave you alone." He paused. "And in return I'll have to live with him wherever he went and-"

"And?" I was scared to death to know, but I had to know.

"And endure whatever he did to me for half an hour a day." He gulped hard before looking at me. His eyes were extremely worried.

"W-what-whatever he did?" I stuttered.

"April please calm down. I don't want you to hyperventilate." He got up from his seat. My face must have got him worried.

"Sweetie I'm okay. Stop looking at me like that." He cupped my face. "April are you listening to me? Oh god that's why I didn't want to tell you."

When all those time I was cursing him and blaming him for leaving me. I'd thought he has left my side, and it pained me but in reality he was getting wounded. He was getting wounded for me.

My breathing was getting uneven by every passing second.

"April please keep your eyes open." Austin grabbed the water bottle and splashed some water on my face.

"April!" Panic crossed his face. His attempt to keep me awake must have gone in vain.

That was the last thing I thought before my mind shut down into nothingness.

__END OF CHAPTER__