Step-Brothers

_Amelie’s POV_

I let out a groan as my eyes peeled open, confusion filling me up. My mind was a haze as I tried to remember what had happened, but that was a chore on its own.

Everything was a jumbled mess, and each word I tried to say ended up like a sound made by an estranged animal.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the pounding ache in my head. It felt like a drum was being beaten inside my skull. Or someone was having an orgy in there.

And the second thing? I was tied up.

My wrists were bound tightly behind me, the coarse rope digging into my skin. I tried to move my arms a bit, but I let out a low hiss in pain.

Whoever had tied this was definitely trying to prevent me from setting myself loose.

I tried to move my legs but my ankles were similarly restrained, leaving me completely immobilized.

Great, I was tied up with ropes meant to hold down Artemis.

I peered into the darkness, the dim light hanging over my head preventing me from seeing much.

 I wasn’t certain if I was alone or if there was someone else with me, but I was most definitely not going to start screaming for help.

I needed to calm down and catch myself first.

 The room smelled of damp wood and metal—like a place no one ever visited willingly.

Like me right now, I wouldn’t visit this place unless I was kidnapped and left on the floor.

For a moment, I tried to process where I was and how I had gotten here.

I had gone for my wedding and then we got attacked. The last thing I remembered was running for my life, the sound of gunshots ringing in my ears, and then stupid me tripping over my own foot.

I never expected to be kidnapped, I thought the worst that was going to happen was they left me on the floor thinking I was dead.

But here we are.

I got kidnapped on my wedding day, just great.

Muffled voices filtered in through the heavy wooden door and my head immediately snapped up. It could only be my captors.

I strained to hear what they were saying, pushing myself across the floor in an attempt to get closer to the door.

I tried to listen more, my ears catching bits and pieces of what they were saying. The voices were deep, their tones filled with authority.

One voice stood out among the rest—it was calm, almost too calm. It sent a shiver down my spine. It was the same man who had locked eyes with me in the church.

I just there it, there was no way such a voice would belong to someone other than him.

The door creaked open, and my breath caught.

I couldn’t move any further from where I was, and I couldn’t even go back to the position I had been in previously.

Someone walked in, his shoes standing few inches away from my face.

My eyes travelled from his long legs, straight up his torso and finally stopped at his face.

Just like when he was in the church, his face was covered.

He looked down at me, his grey eyes holding what seemed to be amusement.

Something about those eyes felt familiar, but the thought was out of my head the moment it came.

I wanted to ask why he had kidnapped me, wanted to know what plans he had for me.

But as I stared into those eyes, words failed me.

“Still the same, Amelie. Always likes to stare,” He said in amusement, chuckling lowly but the humor didn’t reach his eyes.

His eyes held strong murder intent and it sent a shiver down my spine.

Still the same? He knew who I was, and not just on a basic level.

“Wait, how do you know me?” He spoke like we had known each other for such a long time.

In one swift motion, the mask was taken off and my heart fell into my stomach, my eyes widening.

No. it couldn’t be.

I was unable to believe the face that stared back at me, my mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for breath.

“You are supposed to be dead,” My words came out as a whisper, but he heard it.

His lips pulled into a sinister smile as he tossed the mask away.

But how could this be? He was standing right before me but my brain refused to believe that he was still alive.

It was simply impossible.

He died, I watched them burn. They didn’t make it out of the house on time.

So how… how could the person I had killed be standing right before me.

It was impossible.

“Hello, sister,” he said, his lips curving into a faint, bitter smile.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head in disbelief. My voice was hoarse, barely audible.

He didn’t look much different from the last time I’d seen him, except for the sharper edges to his face and the darkness in his eyes.

He had gotten older, gotten taller. And from the look in his eyes I was certain he wasn’t here for just a family reunion.

“It’s been a while,” he added, his tone laced with something I couldn’t quite place—resentment, maybe?

Of course he would resent you, you had killed him. That little voice said in my head, and as I stared up at the man I thought I had killed, nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

Except that he wasn’t dead but was standing right before me and very much alive.

My mind raced to make meaning of the situation, but nothing made sense. “You’re… you’re supposed to be dead.”

There was no way he would be standing here after what had happened that night.

He chuckled darkly, shaking his head. “Of course, after all you were the one who had tried to kill us.”

That’s right… Us, not just him.

He and his brothers. Since he was here too, then it meant that they survived as well.

At that moment, another man entered, pulling off his mask as well, followed by a third.

I stared at them, my chest tightening as their faces became clear.

It was them.

Luca, Matteo, and Nico. My stepbrothers. The boys who were supposedly killed in a fire years ago.

A fire I had started on purpose.

And just like this wedding, I was only following instructions.

But they weren’t dead. They were alive, standing in front of me, very much real—and very much armed.

“Why?” I croaked out, my voice breaking. “Why are you doing this?”

“Our sweet little Amelie. Always playing the innocent one,” Matteo, the second eldest, leaned casually against the doorframe, his gaze falling on me.

“You are always the victim and you never seem to know the reason something happens to you,” He mocked, shaking his head.

I hated the way he stared at me, the way he always made me feel like I was some insignificant bit.

“I expected her to start groveling by now,” Nico added and my eyes snapped to him finally.

I was supposed to. My eyes snapped to the gun they all held and I swallowed thickly.

“You are here for revenge, are you not?” I asked, raising my eyes to meet theirs.

If they wanted to kill me, they should just do it, because I wasn’t going to beg them to keep me alive.

“Yes, we are. And we aren’t here to kill you, my sweet Amelia.” Matteo said and I turned to him confused.

“We are going to destroy your father, and you are going to help us.”