"Hello, little brother," the stranger greeted with a grin. "It's been a while."
Everyone, including Alex and the twins, imdiately knew who the ntioned brother was.
The man's hair and eyes were similar to Reid's, white and blue, respectively. The only difference was that the man looked older than Reid, with shorter hair.
"You're as beautiful as ever, Miss Cross," he said, stopping in front of Elizabeth. He took her hand and gave it a kiss.
"And I see you're as much of a hypocrite as ever, Mr. Fletcher," Elizabeth replied, withdrawing her hand.
Nathan clutched his chest, feigning hurt. "Your words cut deep, my lady. But I shall take comfort in the fact that my long-lost brother has returned." He turned to Reid with a smile.
His tone and expression seed so convincing that Reid would have believed he was genuinely happy if he didn't know him long enough.
"Cut the crap, Nathan. What the hell do you want?" Reid barked.
"I see you're still a foul-mouthed brat," Nathan said, dropping the act. "I heard a rumor of your return and you apparently offending a mber of the Blackwood family, so I ca to see for myself."
"Doesn't that just make you nosy?" Elizabeth asked.
"I believe it's called curiosity, my lady," Nathan replied, his eyes landing on Rusty. "I see you got yourself a forged beast."
He turned to Damien, who still looked mad from the outco of the fight.
"By the looks of it, you also sohow managed to defeat the so-called genius of the Blackwood family." Nathan spoke in a mocking tone. "But don't think that makes you any less of a failure, little brother."
"Yeah, yeah, if you're just here to remind what a failure I am, then you can just leave," Reid said "besides, I'm not the one stuck at the Gold rank for four years now".
"On the contrary, my dearest brother," Nathan answered with a smile, although he didn't seem bothered by what Reid said, there was a subtle twitch of his lips. "I ca to offer you a way back into the family."
The look on his face suggested he was granting Reid a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity. But what was in his mind was entirely different.
'This f*cking brat, just wait till I get my hands on you'.
"All you have to do is accept being my butler." He announced, gesturing to Alex and the twins. "You can bring your lackeys too, if you want."
"Hahaha" Reid laughed in amusent, finding Nathan's words funny. "A chance to go back to the family? More like a chance to humiliate more."
"Thank you for your generosity, but f*ck you and your offer," Reid spat out when he finished laughing.
Nathan's expression turned cold. "Then I'll deliver your ssage to Mother."
Reid stiffened at the ntion of his mother. Nathan continued, "After all my hard efforts to convince you to co back and see Mother just once, you decide to send away with a f*ck you."
"I'm sure Mother will appreciate hearing that," Nathan grinned, finishing his fabricated story.
Reid's anger boiled over. "You're f_cking pathetic. If you think using Mom to blackmail into coming back, then you're f*cking pathetic."
As soon as he finished speaking, a heavy pressure descended upon him. Although his aura was that of a gold rank, Reid knew he wouldn't be able to defeat Nathan.
Nathan was multiple tis stronger than Damien, despite being the sa rank.
"Don't you f*cking call pathetic ever again, you failure," Nathan said, his voice laced with anger. He walked closer to Reid, who struggled to stand.
Suddenly, Nathan stopped and a sword rested close to his neck. "What's the aning of this, Miss Cross?" he asked, looking at the sword.
The way she held the sword suggested that she wouldn't hesitate to separate his head from his shoulders if he made any wrong move.
"I'm sorry, but Reid is under my care, so I can't let you hurt him," Elizabeth explained.
Nathan's eyes narrowed. "Is that so?" He seed to consider his next move. "Then I shall take my leave."
Nathan wanted to teach Reid a lesson, but he also knew that offending Elizabeth Cross wasn't worth it.
She was one of the few platinum rank tars in the world and although their eldest brother was also one, gaining Elizabeth's favor was much more beneficial to the family.
He turned around and walked towards the exit of the battle arena, before saying, "I'll see you around, little bro."
"Thanks for that," Reid sincerely thanked Elizabeth.
"No worries, and besides, I promised Grandpa that I'll look after you guys," she said with a smile.
"That was freaking scary," Tommy said, when he was close enough. They were observing everything from the arena's seats.
"Is your entire family like that?" he asked Reid.
"Pretty much," Reid replied, surprised since this was the first ti one of the twins spoke to him in a friendly tone.
They were always either arrogant or, like recently, extrely nervous but never this friendly.
"Great fight, by the way," Timmy chid in. He understood what his brother was doing.
Reid was evidently strong and he was going to keep getting stronger, so they decided to make friends with him now before he decides to take revenge on them one day.
Alex, on the other hand, remained hesitant. He could see what the twins saw, but his pride wouldn't let him behave like them.
'How do you just f*cking walk up to a guy you've been bullying for a year and a half now and ask to be their friend' his mind judged, making him more hesitant to approach.
"I would have been disappointed if my rival really was a failure," Damien said, surprising everyone, including Reid.
Reid raised an eyebrow.
"Don't get it confused, I still f*cking hate you," Damien defended before standing up and hurrying to the exit.
"That was weird," Reid said, putting a hand on his chin. "Could it be that he's ...a Tsundere and a masochist at the sa ti?" Reid mused.
"No, I'm f*cking not!" Damien shouted from the exit.
"I see" Reid answered but he sounded unconvinced.
"I'm not explaining myself!" with that, Damien quickly disappeared.
"I'm glad you guys are settling your differences, but we should also be leaving," Elizabeth interrupted.
"It's getting close to lunchti, and I'm getting hungry."
They left the arena, heading to another restaurant. As they walked, Reid couldn't help but think about Nathan's unexpected visit. What did he really want? And why did he ntion their mother?
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