Chapter 28

Shoji had really managed to find the best contacts.

 

The man had found Jun’s location with 11 hours to spare before the clock struck midnight to reach monday. Now, they had to act fast. This time, there would be no guns, and no throwing his younger brother off a cliff before actually confirming he was dead.

 

He just had to get his coward of an older brother sorted out, because his hesitation was getting ridiculous. But he knew how to remedy the risk of him telling the truth. They had to get this done tonight though, before Jun had the chance to relocate.

 

Scrolling through the tablet in his hands, that clearly synched with the man’s cell phone, he frowned at the amount of pictures this man had of the person who was apparently his husband. This was obscene. This man was wealthy, Shoji had once hoped that Jun would marry his younger sister, but the youngest Manjoume had fucked that up too. 

 

He stopped at a photo where a woman had her arm wrapped around another, kissing her on the cheek while a man very familiar to him held her from the other side, similarly pressing his lips to the woman’s cheek. Yuuki Juudai. He tried to place the two women, certain that he had seen the person in the middle before as well somewhere.

 

When it clicked, he almost threw the tablet through the room.

 

️

The phone rang where it was lying on the living room floor. Jun stared with wide eyes into the barrel of a gun, the stern face of his older brother Shoji holding onto the cold metal object.

 

He didn’t know how Shoji and Chousaku had gotten into the building without anyone recognising them, considering they were all over the news, but they had managed to get all the way to the apartment accompanied with a food delivery man. They hadn’t ordered anything, and they had been suspicious, but chalked it up to reporters having decided to try Misawa to get some sort of comment on the whole Manjoume scandal.

 

Donning his most unassuming face, only aware of who he thought was a reporter at the time, and unlocked the door. The safety chain was still on, just to be on the safe side since you never knew how intrusive a reporter could be, but still, there was no way he would have expected what happened next.

 

The first thing that happened was a stun gun being pressed to Misawa’s chest, knocking him out before he could even make a sound. At the sound of metal, Jun got off Juudai’s lap and let his boyfriend head to the hallway. As far as it was possible, Jun could not be seen by who they thought was a nosy reporter. Juudai froze for a second before starting toward the door, only to be pushed back by the unknown man aiming a gun at him. Seeing Juudai walk backwards, back into the living room, Jun came face to face with his brothers for the first time in almost a decade.

 

He felt himself become stiff with fear, all his nightmares seeming to come true. They were here, and they were going to kill him, Juudai and Misawa.

 

Chousaku was dragging Misawa’s limp body behind him, a strange look on his face that Jun couldn’t decipher. He let go of him once he was propped up on the couch, and Shoji motioned for the couple to sit down next to their unconscious friend. Uncertainly, Jun reached forward to check Misawa’s pulse, but was stopped by his second oldest brother. “Don’t move, Jun, if you don’t want your friend to actually die.”

 

Jun quickly looked back at his brother, who was handing their oldest brother a roll of duct tape. The unknown man was also aiming a gun at them now. Juudai slipped his hand into Jun’s, smiling at him in reassurance. Sadly, it did little to help his anguish now.

 

Chousaku ordered Jun to turn around, and with despair in his eyes he tried to meet his older brother’s eyes as his hand was forced apart from Juudai’s. Chousaku refused to look at him, hurriedly wrapping the tape tightly around his wrists. He could feel the warmth seep from his fingers before he had even gotten started on doing the same to his legs. Juudai’s hands and feet were quick to follow suit, tightly wrapped in tape behind his back. Juudai’s gaze was unwavering as he looked right into Shoji’s eyes as Chousaku proceeded to bind Misawa as well.

 

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Shouji moved, pistol whipping the brunet across the face. Juudai fell to the floor, but as he rolled over he kept looking right into his eyes. “You know killing any of us here won’t make what you’ve already done go away. Everyone knows.”

 

Jun cried out as Shoji kicked Juudai in the stomach, making him curl in on himself as he tried to catch his breath again. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll tape your whole face shut.”

 

Juudai, realising that probably entailed both mouth and nose, kept quiet for the moment, but kept his gaze trained on the middle brother. He was shoved back into his seat next to Jun, only for Shoji to step closer, leaning over his younger brother. “I’m going to make sure you wish you’d never been born, you little freak. You should’ve just died when we pushed you over that cliff, but you’ve always been nothing but trouble, your whole life.” Jun felt a lump grow in his throat when Shoji spat him in the face. “Our parents never gave a shit about you either, you know that, right? I wish they’d taken you with them when they died so we wouldn’t have had to put up with your sorry ass for so long.”

 

Jun looked up at Shoji with desperation, unable to respond but feeling his heart break into little pieces, that Shoji was willingly stomping on with glee at every impact.

 

Then, to his surprise, Shoji took a few steps back, training the gun at the couple again. “Chousaku,” he spoke, making the oldest sibling snap his attention back to them from where it had been drifting. “There’s a belt in the briefcase, go get it.” Clearly confused, Chousaku still did as told, holding the thick brown leather in his hand.

 

“What did you bring this for?” he asked, looking uncertain. Shouji just motioned toward Jun with his head. “Tie it around his neck and buckle it so he chokes.”

 

Jun felt his heart drop to his stomach, and he exchanged a panicked look with Juudai, who couldn’t help but look at Shoji in shock right after. “You can’t do that-”

 

As soon as Juudai opened his mouth, the unknown man pressed the taser against Misawa’s ches, the sound making Juudai choke on his words. “How many times do you think it’ll take till his heart gives out? I know you have a friend who almost died from something like this, and I ensure you, the voltage on this is extremely high.”

 

Juudai clamped his mouth shut.

 

“Now, get on with it, Chousaku.” He motioned with the gun this time, making Chousuke start. Jun looked up at his oldest brother with despair. “Please, please, at least just kill me and let the others go, I’m the one that caused you all this trouble, so if you just kill me this will all be over. Please, I-”

 

His words were cut off as the belt was pulled tightly around his neck, so tight it cut off his breathing. He looked at Chousaku as the belt tightened even further, the clasp snapping shut around his throat. Tears finally slipped down his face, and he gasped quietly for air his lungs needed. He could see the form of his brother shake, though he wasn’t sure if it was because of the lack of oxygen or if he was actually feeling something as well.

 

Everything started to get black around the edges of his vision when he heard the sound of something tearing. Then his brother disappeared from his sight, and an ungodly scream could be heard.

 

The last thing he could remember was the sound of a gunshot.

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