Page 119 of Midnight Wedding

He shrugs slightly, almost too casually. “You overthink shit.”

“I found out something from Aunt Sona—”from my mother,“—that changed the way I’ve been looking at our childhood and my role in all this. I had to step away for a few days and process. I had to figure out what it all means.”

“You’re losing me.”

“I know.” I nudge at my coffee cup. I don’t want to say it, but it’s what I came here to do. “Our dad isn’t my actual biological father. Our mom never gave birth to me either.”

His eyebrows raise. “What the fuck?”

“Aunt Sona’s my mother.” I tell him the whole story. He sits back in shock and listens. It’s painful, saying it all out loud, but not as painful as I had expected.

He doesn’t get pissed like I was afraid he might. Everything he’s done for me, all the sacrifices he’s made, all the scraps we’ve gotten through, all that shit was done under the belief that we’re brothers.

“That means we’re cousins,” I say at the end of it all. I sit back and drink my coffee. It tastes good. Hot and bold with just a splash of milk. The way I always take it.

Tigran’s frown deepens. “No, we’re not.”

“Aunt Sona’s my mother. Boris Zeitsev’s my father. I mean, at best?—”

“Shut the fuck up, you idiot.”

My grip on the coffee mug tightens. “I know it’s hard?—”

“You dumb asshole.” Tigran shoves back and gets to his feet. “God, you’re such a myopic piece of shit.”

“Okay, I knew you’d be angry, but you’re being an asshole.”

He throws up his hands. “We’renotcousins. Who gives a fuck which cunt you got squeezed out from?”

I grimace. “That’s an ugly image.”

“I don’t care which cock blasted you into life. We grew up together. We fought, bled, and killed together.” He comes around the table and leans down, wrapping one hand around the back of my head, and slams his forehead into mine. It fucking hurts. And it feels good. “You’re my brother.”

“Tigran, you don’t have to say that.”

His grip tightens. He shoves his forehead painfully hard into mine. “You’re my brother,” he snarls. “Do you hear me?”

I finally crack. Relief slithers down my spine. I nod against my brother’s forehead and lightly slap his cheek. “Let go now, you asshole,” I say and he releases me, grinning like a maniac. I rub my face. “I needed to hear that.”

“You’re such a prick. Seriously, Arsen. You overthink everything.”

“You really think nothing’s changed?”

“Not a goddamn thing. Except maybe now you can stop agonizing all the goddamn time and start taking care of business. I’ve been holding the Brotherhood together these past few days and people are starting to ask questions.”

“It’s okay. I’m back now.”

“Better fucking be,” he mutters and sits down in his chair again with a sigh. He’s quiet for a second as he lifts his mug and puts it back down again. “Aunt Sona, huh? I guess that explains why she always favored you.”

“Favored me?”

“Hell, yeah. Bro, she gave you thebestpresents for your birthday. One year, you got that fucking brand new gaming computer, remember that thing?”

“That was pretty cool,” I say, remembering the way she’d tried to help me set it up in my bedroom, but she didn’t know what she was doing.

“I never got more than a card and a twenty-dollar bill. But that makes total sense. I was her nephew, and you?—”

“I’m not her son,” I say firmly, cutting him off. “She made that clear.”

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