Chapter 40

LEANDRO’S RAGE

Liam’s P.O.V.

I was able to catch half of his body and decided to lay him down on the sofa first. If I hadn’t done that, his body might have just been injured by the shattered glasses waiting on the floor.

That was when I noticed that his right knuckles were wounded as if he cracked them against a firm and rocky object. I went to the guest’s restroom, brought the first aid kit, and returned in front of him.

No matter how I tried to ignore his recklessness, I had to treat his wounds immediately so it would not get infected. It didn’t take long for me to treat them. I removed the dirt and some torn skins before disinfecting them. Since his knuckles were no longer bleeding, I used direct pressure to control swelling. After that, I wrapped his hand with a sterile gauze bandage.

There was no question that Leandro was too sloshed, but I wanted to call it a night. I was about to go and climb up the stairs again when he suddenly grabbed my left hand and cried like a little child.

“Please, b-bro… Diane is mine. She is only mine, and I badly needed her in my life! I—I was the one who got to know her first. She was only seventeen then, but I already knew her, and I liked her way back then! We have a p-promise to each other, right? Have you already f-forgotten about it?” Beads of sweat were noticeable on Leandro’s forehead as he reminded me about our promise that I had never forgotten.

“What’s m-mine will always be mine. What’s y-yours will always be yours. It was only a matter of who c-came first. Do you remember it now, bro? And this time, we both know that I came first! I will die if Diane would never be mine. Can you just leave her to me, huh? P-Please? Just give her to me, I beg you. Take everything away, but not Diane!” Leandro pleaded drunk. His eyelids were drooping while he continued to hiccup.

Heaving a deep sigh while looking at him, I couldn’t help but pity him now that he was in excruciating pain. It crushed my heart while seeing how my brother begged for me with non-stop tears streaming down his cheeks. But I guessed that I had to be selfish now. I truly loved the woman we were talking about, leading me not to ever trade my feelings for Diane.

I’m sorry, Leandro… but this time, it’s Diane I will choose.

Because of that, I slowly removed his grip on my hand. For all the times I prioritized Leandro over anything—over the things that I liked previously—I guessed it was about time to stand up for myself and not think about him. I cared for my brother. I really do. But when I closed my eyes for a while, Diane’s angelic face swiftly appeared, and it made me long for her despite the current situation.

“Leandro, let’s just talk about it tomorrow—when you’re already sober and fine, okay? For now, you should take a rest. That’s what you need,” I calmly suggested before I turned around, took a step away from him, and reached the base of the stairs. Spending the previous hours with Diane already completed my night, and I didn’t want Leandro to ruin it.

“I would be fine if you promise me now that you will never meet Diane again! Isn’t it hard to stay away from her, huh? You, fucking traitor!” He barked, causing me to stare at him again.

Leandro removed himself from the couch, then quickly seized and threw away the wine bottle. It got smashed into the picture frame currently displayed on the cabinet right in front of the sofa.

It fell, and the glass enclosing the photo broke into pieces adding to the mess Leandro had already caused in the living room. It was our graduation photo when we finished our Master’s Degrees at the same time from Harston Corporate University years ago.

Letting a deep sigh out of anguish, I closed my eyes and crumpled my right fist as I approached him again. I must admit that I already got tired of hearing Leandro’s whining. I never saw myself running out of patience with Leandro before, but it was now happening. My temper was already reaching its limit that I might be afraid of what I could do to him.

“Do you hear yourself, huh? Leandro, Diane is not a possession or something that we can pass on! She is not a toy that we can both own. I can’t pull her right hand while you are pulling the other! She has her own feelings, and you should respect her. For Christ’s sake, let her choose who she wants to be with!” I rubbed my hands on my face. My veins throbbed in my neck while I was trying to control myself.

Leandro grinned like crazy before standing up and clutching me from the collar. He was drunk, but his stares would most likely want to kill someone. “And who told you that we could pass her on? Diane is only mine, so back off! She is my possession, so she doesn’t have the right to choose, bro!” He sardonically spoke before he continued.

“And w-who do you think she likes to be with, huh? You? The great and famous business magnate who just came back here? You—who she only met last night? W-Why, Liam? Tell me honestly! Has anything already happened between the two of you? Did she surrender her virginity right away? If so, how much did you pay for it? I would be glad to double the price just for my dick to shove her pussy!” Then, he chuckled evilly.

That was it. I couldn’t stop myself anymore from punching him as hard as I could, and maybe in that way, Leandro would soon realize some sense. I didn’t want my fist to land on his face, but for the first time, I guessed I really ran out of patience.

Fortunately, he went straight to the sofa and not on the floor. He yelped as the left side of his lips started to bleed profusely, but I didn’t care anymore.

“You, son of a—” I cut my own words as rage was boiling inside me. It made me gasp for air. “Don’t you ever talk about Diane that way because she’s not that kind of woman, and she would never become one! You’ve known her for a long time as what you said, don’t you? Then, you should have known her better than anyone else!” I was gritting my teeth so hard that my jaws were about to break.

He continued to grin foolishly while holding his wounded lips. “You two only met the previous night, right? So, did you feel that you already knew her that soon? Wow! A round of applause for Liam Arthur Evangelista. You’re my idol now!” He squealed before he seemed to applaud like crazy. He was full of sarcasm.

Then, he continued to glare at me like he was about to murder me. “She agreed on making out with you plainly inside the car, despite the fact that she didn’t know you for a long time, isn’t she a low-class type of woman? *Fille de joie!” He contemptuously told me without any hint of remorse.

I strode towards him, and my left hand grabbed him by the collar. I was ready to punch him again after he called Diane a fille de joie, but I stopped. While fighting the chaos of my wrath against Leandro, anger hardened my heart. Fury continued to sweep over me like lava.

“You know what Diane doesn’t like about you, huh? That useless, controlling, and manipulative attitude of yours, pathetic loser!” Rather than punching him, my right forefinger ended up pointing at him. “I can endure your anger towards me, but insulting Diane just like that—as if she was a whore? That’s one thing I can’t miss to deal with, Leandro. I won’t ever standstill, and I might even disown you as my brother!”

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Fille de joie* /ˌfē(yə) də ˈZHwä/ in French literally means ‘girl of pleasure.’ It is used euphemistically to refer to a prostitute.