Were it not for their current situation, the green haired teenager would have never believed Kai to have had any relations to the Underdogs’ leader whatsoever. His upperclassman appeared to have gotten most of his looks from his mother. Perhaps there was some streak of madness he might have gotten from his old man, but if so, he was able to hide it surprisingly well.
“Hang on, so if Marie’s father is actually your brother, then doesn’t that make the two of you are… uncle and niece? Isn’t that super weird for the two of you?”
“The first time we met, I just thought of her as the daughter of my Mom’s best friend, and to her, I must have just been the son of her mother’s best friend. Since we were kids, we simply started playing together without a care in the world.
“Over the years, we’ve grown closer together, and I naturally started treating Marie like she was family before eventually finding out that she actually was. Sure, it was weird finding that out, but ultimately, nothing changed about our relationship after we discovered the truth.
“However, as for your other question, Simon isn’t exactly my biological brother, at least not fully. We only share the same father. Damion had him when he was young, and I believe Simon’s mother died giving birth to him. As his firstborn son, he was brought up to take over the mantle in the future.
“Due to her work as a model, my mother managed to catch Damion’s eye. Since she was friends with Mrs Degrace, it was inevitable that her two lives intertwined and from what I’ve been told my half-brother apparently fell in love at first sight. I don’t know how, but the two of them ended up together, and she was dragged into this whole life.”
Hearing about this, Gary felt a little sad for Marie. Just because of her father, she had been dragged into the underworld. When he thought about it, the green haired teenager suddenly realised that it was the same for Kai. Neither one of them really had a say in the matter.
Still, since he knew that Marie and Mrs Degrace were doing okay, the story’s resolution shouldn’t be too bad…
“Simon… I don’t recall ever having heard such a name during my time at the Underdogs.” Gary muttered to himself. However, it wasn’t impossible for him to have never encountered the guy. After all, he had merely been a Transporter.
“As I was saying…” With a pained look, Kai continued his story.
———
Watching his half-brother walk off, Kyle continued to curse under his breath. The two of them didn’t have the best relationship to start with. Given the large age-gap, they had nothing to talk about with each other, and the teenager also suspected his half-sibling hated him.
He wasn’t sure whether Simon hated him for the fact that Damion had remarried his mother, or if he perhaps felt threatened that Kyle might have any ambitions regarding the leadership for the Underdogs.
“Hey, Kyle, are you okay? You look a bit flustered.” Marie asked, as she came out of the restroom.
“Hmm? My bad, I was lost in thoughts, Marie.” Kyle replied. He was happy to see the teenage girl. He felt far closer to her than to that scum who had dared hurt her recently.
The funeral continued without any incidents. After a few of the high-ranking people gave their condolences and the friends and family members of the deceased did the same, the rest of the evening pretty much turned into a meeting between the Underdogs’ gang members.
Damion and the rest of the leaders were talking about plans for expansion, and how to avoid the troubles they were facing. They couldn’t afford for losses like this one to occur more than once. For a second, Kyle spotted Simon talking with Kiki, their exchange seemed short and in the end the man walked away heading towards the other leaders.
‘I wonder…what’s going on.’ Kyle thought.
Sneaking around, the teenager walked closer towards the others. He didn’t quite understand what they were talking about since a lot of it was business talk, but he got the gist of it. Simon seemed to have been given quite an important task to head, and it was one of his first. Damion was all smiles as he patted his favourite son on the back.
“Don’t f*ck this up for us, alright!” Damion warned him.
Later that night, Kyle thought that Kiki and Marie would be going back to his half-brother, so he was positively surprised when all of them returned to the hotel room together. While in the large taxi together, it seemed like Kiki couldn’t believe it either.
“So what happened, Mommy?” Marie eventually asked.
“I’m not quite sure.” Kiki replied. “He said that for now it would be best if we stayed wherever we were hiding. He even warned me not to come back to the apartment for a while. It looks like we’re okay.”
Although that seemed to be true, Kyle knew that it would just be temporary. Perhaps the reason for him not wanting them to return was so that he could concentrate on the big task that had been given to him. Once it was over, Simon would surely be obsessing over Kiki again.
‘I can’t..I can’t let Marie go back to that damn demon..I can’t see her like that again.’ Kyle thought.
With the next day being a weekend day, Kyle and Marie were just spending their morning playing games. Her eye was doing a lot better which was causing the teenage girl to play better and for the first time in a while she ended up winning.
“Hey… what is up with you?” Marie asked, putting the controller down. “I never win this easily, so something’s clearly on your mind. Just look at your fingers, they’re moving in slow motion.”
Of course, it was because Kyle had been thinking every day about what he could do to help Marie and her mother. For that, he had been doing a bit of research on his father’s gang. He had found out that the Underdogs didn’t take to betrayal or failure nicely.
In some cases, there had been members kicked out of the gang, never to be seen again. There were also some shocking stories about what happened to those guys. Some of this he had learned through his mother, and other things he had picked up just by being around his father and his men.
After yesterday’s news, he had come up with an idea.
“Marie…I think I know of a way to get that demon off your back.”
“Demon?” Marie asked, not sure who Kyle was referring to.
“Simon.” Kyle answered, not wanting to admit to either one of the two having any relations with him. “I’ve overheard that he’s responsible for a massive task at the moment. If he messes this up, there is a good chance that my father might kick him out of the gang entirely.
“It might not work the first time, but if he keeps messing up, or maybe even if I can set it up to look like he stole money from the gang, he might lose all of his backing!”
Hearing Kyle talk this way was somewhat frightening for Marie. He had a dangerous glint in his eyes, seemingly obsessed with the idea. She wasn’t wrong with her assumption. The teenage boy had spent more time than he would like to admit thinking how to sabotage Simon.
“Don’t you think that’s too dangerous? Kyle, this isn’t like in the movies! What if you get caught? Listen to yourself, you’re trying to sabotage your own brother! What do you think he will do if he finds out?” Marie cautioned him.
“Do we have a choice? Do you have a choice?’ Kyle countered. “What if he went further that day? I … I …might have never seen you again! You or your mother! Your mother told me to look after you, Marie, and this is my chance to!”
Marie wasn’t convinced. In the end they were only young teenagers, what would they even do?
“I won’t involve you directly. I’m not asking you to do anything for me, I just need you to tell me one thing. Can you tell me the address…the address of where you were staying with him.”
Thinking about it, the fact that Simon didn’t want them to return to the house, most likely meant there was something he didn’t want them to see or be involved in. If Kyle could sneak in, and find something to use against his brother, mess up his work or frame him for something in the Underdogs, all of this could be over.
Unsure of what to say, and seeing the intensity in Kyle’s eyes, not quite knowing what he was going to do, Marie decided to give him the address.
******
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