“Do nothing once I share my very strong suspicions about what you did to Stone,” Pitch went back to clean his hands again and then snapped his fingers.
“On second thought, I may not tell him. What do you think? I like it too.” Pitch spoke as if Humphrey had agreed. “Maybe I’ll just let you wallow in the fear of how that news might tarnish you in the eyes of your minion,” satisfied, Pitch took his keys and wallet from the credenza in the penthouse’s open entryway. He’d placed them there after his first blow layed Humphrey low.
Humphrey managed to lift his head from the chair cushion. “W-what are you doing?”
“Too much fun ain’t good for you,” Pitch went back to squat next to Humphrey, smiling villainously when the man shrank back.
“I promise I’ll be back though, if needs be. You better believe the next time you won’t survive my visit.” Any trace of Pitch Tesano’s usual playfulness or easy sarcasm was gone. In its place was only the glint of ruthless promise. He got to his feet and left his half brother on the floor in a pool of his own waste.
Pitch didn’t bother closing the front door behind himself. Humphrey had no idea when or if he was truly gone. He held out for a minute before emotion took charge and he gave into heavy sobs.
The sound of firm, unhurried steps on the hardwoods almost stopped his heart. Pitch. Humphrey closed his eyes then. To pray? He’d never prayed, even at a time when God was most likely to have cared about what he had to say. He knew he deserved whatever creative method Pitch had devised to take him from the world. It had to be some sort of poetic justice that he would meet his end at Pitch’s hand. Lord knew, Pitch had earned the right to take him out. His only regret was that he wouldn’t get the chance to record the moment and store it in the library of personal journals he had kept for almost three decades.
The footsteps got closer. Humphrey realized when he was no longer alone in the foul smelling living room. He realized something else. Pitch’s rubber-soled work boots had made no sound before.
“Wh-who’s there?”
“It’s me, Hump.”
“G-Gabe?” Relief swamped Humphrey like water gushing from a dam. The pressure of tears stung his eyes and he silently thanked God for his salvation. His gratitude didn’t hold for long.
“That goddamn black son of a bitch! I want him dead! I’ll do more than make him sit in his own shit! I’ll make him eat it!” Humphrey spat, the words a mesh of fierce whispers as he struggled to sit upright. Amid those struggles, he noticed that Gabriel didn’t offer to help.
“I don’t care if Roman comes after me or not. I want that half-breed dead!” Humphrey exhaled an exhausted breath when he was once again resting back on the base of the chair.
“I want him in a box,” he set his head back along the chair arm. “I want him in a box...”
“Just like Stone, huh?”
Humphrey opened his eyes, scanning the room for his brother. Gabriel stood just inside the living room. He had barely moved farther than the entryway.
“Gabriel?”
“And Guy...Giselle sh-she’s in a box too, isn’t she?”
“You didn’t put her there, Grek.”
“No. But you did.”
Humphrey forgot about his broken hip and the wretched pain in his face. He swallowed around what seemed like a boulder crushing his windpipe.
“Gabriel, Kreel he-”
“No.” Gabriel moved, his steps bringing him down into the living room. “You set Kreel up, put Giselle’s...death and Ophion’s crimes on him too. It’s good to know there’s one person you confide in besides Vale. Does he know? Vay? Doubtful. You would’ve killed him by now if he did. I was surprised you let Ophion live so long, knowing what he does but he’s making you richer than God so why would you? By the way, your partner wants out of your arrangement.” Gabriel’s voice had lowered to a stage whisper when he moved within range of Humphrey. He made sure to keep away from the mess surrounding the man.
“The only person the swine hates more than you now, is Vale. No surprise there. I don’t even think Ma and Pop liked him very much. Our little brother does have his talents, though. Underestimating me is one of them. I think I’ll keep the little shit around-let him do the dirty work.
Anyway, while Vale was underestimating me, I was getting to know your friend Ophion and getting to know you too it turns out.”
Humphrey remained still, though his stomach churned. He felt nauseous sitting there marinating in his own vomit and piss...it didn’t matter. He couldn’t move.
He had been terrified while Pitch roamed his house, dwarfing everything he stood next too and pulverising him into the soiled joke he was now. Yes, he’d been terrified then. Gabriel; debonair and cultured next to Pitch’s savagery, seemed ten times more lethal. Humphrey watched his brother walk the room on measured steps in Gucci loafers and knew then that the brother he loved best would be the end of him.
“As I said, Ophion wants you out- as in six feet under, out. He’s had men on standby, waiting to do the job. I’ve been trying to talk him out of it, defending you, dismissing everything about you that’s been right under my nose all these years. I even reminded him that all of this grandeur we enjoy is because of you-and then you go and fuck up again.”
“Ro was getting too close-”
“So you try to kill him and almost get Imani instead! Thank Christ you missed both times! Now Ophion is livid!”
“Oh Jesus, Grekka! You think Ophion doesn’t want the same?!” Humphrey fired back despite the pain blistering his sides. “For years, he’s been asking me to watch out for Roman!”
“Watch out for! Not kill! For fuck’s sake Humphrey do you realize the heat that’s comin’ down since your stunt? Roman Tesano is more than our hot headed little brother now. He heads one of the most powerful investigative agencies in the world. Vestige isn’t even a household name! Do you know how powerful that makes him! The guy’s a fucking phantom! And you try to take him out by running his goddamn truck off the road?! Now Ophion has his hitters lining up their sights again and again I go trying to talk him out of it. Going to your defense-again.”
Humphrey looked serene in spite of the tongue lashing. “You always were a good brother. I always loved you best.”
“Mmm...and my wife best, right?”
Serenity made way for tension. The familiar chill of fear started to mainline Humphrey’s veins again.
“It must’ve really steamed you that I got a goddess like her? Me- the family slut. You accepted it because you were sure I’d make a mistake. Patience is one of your strongest assets, but it failed you didn’t it? The day she came to see you.”
“I-”
“Shut your mouth.” Gabriel’s voice was a blistering hiss. “Everything Pitch just said was only speculation-about Guy anyway. He was accurate as hell about Stone, though, wasn’t he? Which one of you hit me over the back of the head that night? You? Vale? Which one of you shot him?” Gabriel’s ill-humored grin caused his blue eyes to sparkle icily.
“All your elaborate scheming and the truth comes out anyway. The family would either think you did it or that it was me or Vale acting on your orders- most likely me given how Stone’s death wrecked me.”
Humphrey didn’t dare respond then.
