It felt like Zade just got stabbed with a knife right now. His heart was bleeding all over, and the gnash was nothing compared to the injuries he sustained from the fight he engaged in a while back. It was shocking to just discover that his girlfriend has been cheating on him this whole time with no one but his eldest brother.
Betrayal and anger flowed through his chest as his gaze locked with Charlie's. Charlie looked smug, and on noticing that Zade was watching, he grasped Sara's chin and tugged her into a filthy kiss, right in front of him.
Zade was too dumb founded to do a thing, he only gaped at the scene unfolding before him till anger and intense rage began to shrug through his veins to the point of making his hands shake at his sides.
He noticed that his other three siblings didn't look shocked by the scene before them, almost like they've all been aware as well, making Zade more furious. Not only had he been played by Sera, everyone was clearly aware, except him.
"Why? Why her of all people? You can get any woman you want, Charlie. Why her?" Zade bit out, directed at his eldest brother who rolled his eyes and dropped one final kiss on Sera's lips. Zade wanted to punch the two of them right now, but he needed answers presently, because nothing seemed like it made sense anymore.
"Because I fucking could. And c'mon, you know you'll always be a fake Melbourne. Sera here deserves the real one, the one who'll inherit everything in a few years, and not you, who was picked up from the slums."
"And one thing about picking up people from the gutter is that no matter how much you deck them in designers, the gutterness just can't ever leave them, and that's your exact case. You repulse us Zade, and you've never belonged with us."
Zade was beyond shocked to hear all these words from his brothers. He was adopted at age fifteen, ten years ago, and he grew up looking up to them, trying to please and impress them. He did so much for them to get their approval, took numerous falls for them, and so on.
"Why do I have to die though? Because I was from the gutters?" Zade asked, still genuinely perplexed. His second eldest brother, Malik, sharply glared at him.
"Don't dare get cocky with us, you'll literally be dying in a few minutes. This is the time you're supposed to use in saying your last goodbyes."
Zade's heartbeat quickened as he looked between the four men, all older than him. Charlie was older by six years. Malik was older by four years. Travis and Scott were twins and are older by two years.
"Why am I getting killed by people i thought were my brothers? You guys literally told me you accepted me as your brother,"
Charlie stepped forward this time. "That's because we were forced to accommodate you and be nice to you by grandfather. And now, grandfather just told his children that he was willing all his inheritance to you and no one else. And you know we absolutely cannot have that, so you have to go, bro."
Zade was genuinely taken aback by this news. He knew the grandfather loved him so much, but he didn't know it was to this extent. The grandfather, who was the owner of all riches under the name Melbourne, was the one who had picked Zade from the gutters after Zade helped him one night from some thieves. Grandfather had then handed him over to his only child and son, to adopt and bring Zade up along with his four children.
Zade wasn't that surprised the grandfather could do something like this, because the man never hid how much he liked Zade whenever he was present. He liked how Zade had a hustling spirit and was never entitled, unlike his grandchildren who were lazy and only liked to lavish their grandfather's money, without having any goal in sight.
"I- I don't think you guys have to go to this length. I'll talk to him and ask him not to do that. Heck, what am I supposed to do with all the billions I'm supposed to inherit? I'll rather it be shared between us all, I promise." Zade urged, and he meant those words.
"You're flexing the fact that grandfather only listens to you, right?" Travis spoke this time and instantly Zade shook his head as he denied the accusation. Almost immediately, his eyes dimmed and his pounded, reminding him of the fact that he was still losing blood and needed to clean up and bandage his wounds.
"Whatever, you're still dying anyway. We don't want to share what rightfully belongs to us with you." Scott added as he folded his arms.
Zade was engulfed with another wave of shock as he looked between them.
His brothers were sometimes selfish and mean, but they were the only family he knew, so despite their shortcomings, he still learned to love and care for them.
He did so much for them after getting adopted into the family. Since he was naturally smart and loved to study abandoned books while in the slums, he helped the twins with all their assignments and online tests from highschool, till they graduated college. He helped Malik learn how to fight with his fists till he got good enough to face off his friends.
He also helped Charlie smuggle in weed and multiple times, he's forced to take the fall if the drug is discovered, but he did it all and more, because he believed that they were a family and that's what families do- show up for each other.
What he was just realizing was that he had just been used this whole time. They never saw him as a brother or a part of the family. They only used him, and now that they don't need him anymore and currently feel threatened, they want to discard him without a second thought.
How cruel.
His eyes focused on Sera once again and the betrayed feeling returned to him tenfolds.
Zade was so hurt by her betrayal because she was nothing before he met her. He believed that after his own life got changed by the grandfather, the humble thing to do was to also help our people like him. In the middle of donating to the poor and financially helping out, was when he met Sera. She was pretty and funny, so after they started dating, he completely transformed her life.
Only for her to stab him in the back like this.
It wasn't that he hadn't noticed when she began to grow distant. He did notice, but he assumed it was because of issues at home with her family. He never guessed that she might be cheating on him, and that was where he shot himself in the foot.
If he could turn back time, he'd have flung her away a long time ago, even though it would have hurt because he genuinely loved her.
He guessed this was what happened to people like him that still believed pure and genuine love still exists.
How stupid of him.