My brows lifted into surprise, "Impossible. Elijah showed me a picture. The one in the picture doesn't even look like you."
Angel, with his dark eyes, rolled his eyes and played with the knife in his hand, making me nervous with the sharp edge against my chest that slowly moved toward my throat.
Angel asked in a sarcastic voice with a fake smile, "Have you heard of plastic surgery?"
I was shocked, and I looked more closely at his face. I noticed the similarities between the picture and the boy, the nose, the green eyes, and the other eerie similarities.
I asked with horror in my tone, "Why would you do something like that?"
Angel calmly stated, "Because I was in a car accident three years ago. And I needed face surgery at that time, so I looked different from before."
I asked another question, "Why would Elijah show a picture of a previous you?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Because I hate taking pictures. He only has the pictures from before the accidents."
His green eyes turned sharper than the edge of the knife, turned painful against my neck, making me hold my breath tight. I said, not only looking deep into his eyes.
Angel grinned cruelly, "Enough questions. It doesn't change facts about being your baby brother. But I don't accept you as my big brother. You lost that privilege a long time ago."
I narrowed my eyes in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"
He laughed with anger in his voice. "You stopped talking to me, you didn't give a shit about me. Not a word. Not even a message."
I was stunned. That was a long time ago. That wasn't even my fault. How can a twelve-year-old be responsible for stopping talking to his little brother for six years? I wanted to say something, but looking at Angel's angry eyes made me shut my mouth.
"Honestly, I don't give a shit if you are my brother or if you're my father's beloved stepchild. Just stay out of my way, and both of us are good."
He said in a quiet voice, and I knew he was threatening me, and it made me angrier to know that. I revealed a broad grin on my face, "Or what?"
I pushed my chest closer to him despite the knife poking my neck, the trail of blood warming my neck. Angel revealed a tinge of surprise in his eyes til his eyes hardened at my bold display of rebelliousness.
He revealed a callous grin, and he shrugged his shoulder as he pulled the knife away from my neck. "Alright, if you want to play this game, we can play it."
He pulled out his phone, and a bright screen of a dark room with sounds of rough noise began to play.
[A video of Tyler beating Angel on the ground, curled up on the ground with half of his clothes nearly half-off.]
I widened my eyes when I watched the video. Angel grinned when the sounds of 'me' beating a certain someone in anger over and over to the point that person passed out. That screen turned black when the video was over.
I clenched my hands and asked, "What do you want?"
I knew this was bad, really bad. If this gets out. I could be charged and arrested for assault. My hands shook with so much anger that I wanted to wrap them around Angel's neck, and I could see it in my head.
I had to watch Angel's face, and he curled his lips into a half-smile. "Simple. Don't piss me off. Stay out of my way and don't try to play any of that big brother's bullshit."
"It makes me sick."
Angel asked me in a smug voice, "Do we have a deal?"
It wasn't a deal. It was blackmail. I gritted my teeth and said as calmly as I could. "Yes."
I watched Angel grin at me with a cocky smirk and turned away before leaving the room with a proud back. I fell back on the bed and realized that I needed to get rid of that video if I wanted to get back my freedom. I can't let that little punk control me, no matter what.
Who knows what he might ask me next? Thankfully, he just asked me to stay away from me.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
I answered the phone. [Hello.]
[Where are you at? I don't see you at your house!]
I rose from the bed and replied with an annoyed tone. [I moved into my stepfather's house, Nino. And guess what?]
[What?]
Should I tell him? I ponder; besides, he will start worrying about me and stuff. And he's injured right now.
[Don't worry. They have plenty of ice cream for now. Don't do anything stupid when I'm not there.]
[Hey. What are you hiding from me? I can tell something's off.]
His voice became suspicious. I started to get more nervous and replied, [Hey, got to go, someone's coming.]
[Hey–]
Hanging up the phone and lying back on the bed with a tired sigh. I touched my neck and felt the bleeding spot, and rubbed it away. I closed my eyes and got up. I started to unpack my bags and hang up my clothes, and got familiarized with my room. I looked around my new room and headed out into the hall, and directed toward the kitchen, and opened the fridge, and little food appeared. I furrowed my brow. I expected the fridge to be full since they are rich people, but I will have to cook what I can.
I took out the eggs, milk, and some other food.
Some time later, the kitchen started to smell really good with the delicious scent, and I nearly burnt my eyes while cutting the onions, so I had to close my eyes. A white hand with a white rag appeared, and I grabbed the rag with a quick thanks from my mouth, soothing the burns in my eyes.
I looked through my burning eyes, and it was Angel standing before me with a gloomy expression.