Anthony DeCosmo - Empire

“Not yours honey,” the man said. “His.”

He meant, of course, Trevor.

“My name is George. That’s George with a ‘g’. But you could just call me Junior.”

Trevor’s father had been named George.

“George…George junior?” Trevor forced the words.

“That’s right. I’m your brother, Richard. Your older brother.”

“Bull shit!” Trevor spat. “I never had an older brother. I was an only child.”

“I suppose I should add the ‘half’ part. I’m your half-brother, Dick.”

“What?” Ashley exhaled.

“Ole’ papa bear lived a lonely life on the road.”

“No! No! My father loved my mother. He wouldn’t have been screwing around on her. You are full of shit.”

“Easy, easy does it,” George waved the knife. “You need to control those emotions, Rich. You might just spook me into doing a little carving and none of us want that.”

JB scolded, “My father’s name is Trevor.”

George looked down at the boy and said, “Usually I don’t take that kind of lip from a three-year-old kid. Why, if I had had that mouth when I was a boy my mother would have back handed me.”

“Don’t you touch my son,” Ashley spoke through clenched lips.

Trevor saw her shake. Part of that shake came from fear, certainly. Much of it came from anger; the primal rage of a mother protecting her child. Trevor realized that, given the opportunity, Ashley would rip this man to pieces maybe as lethally as could Nina Forest.

Nonetheless, George ignored her and remained focused on JB. “But you, you’re special. You’re special just like Richard is, right? That’s what it’s all about. That’s why I’m special, too.”

“You’re not special,” Ashley growled. “You’re just another monster who looks like a man. No real man would hold a knife to a little boy’s throat.”

“Would you like me to hold a knife to your throat, honey?” The man smiled. “I can think of lots of things I’d do if I had you under my knife. You’d sure as hell find out how much of a real man I can be. Might be a little rough, though.”

Ashley wavered but only slightly. “You’d damn well need the knife.”

“You are not my brother,” Trevor stayed on point.

“Yeah, I knew you’d have problems with that. Don’t worry, Dick, your dad didn’t go messing around on your mother. He met my mom long before he married. I’m a good eight years your senior, little brother.”

“You’re lying,” Trevor said with certainty. “My dad would have told us about you. He wasn’t the type to run away from his responsibilities. I know that.”

“He isn’t going to tell you about something he don’t know about. That’s right; my mother didn’t even know your pop’s last name. They met at a truck stop way back when. It gets lonely on the road, you know. She was a waitress. It was his first time through. Next thing you know he goes driving off into the sunset and nine months later she’s got a nice little surprise. Life can be funny like that.”

Trevor shook his head. “I don’t believe you.”

“Yes you do. You believe me. You went to my place out there in Virginia and saw it yourself. You know I found you because I could see visions of who you are, of how far you’ve climbed in this new world. When you stood in my cave, you felt a connection with everything there. Just like I feel a connection with everything here. Do you want to know why, Dick?”

“My father’s name is-”

“Shut up you brat”

George smacked the boy’s skull off the desktop then immediately placed the knife at his throat again. He moved so fast that Trevor managed only a half step before he had to abandon any thought of attack.

“Stop it! Stop it!” Ashley roared.

“No more words out of you, boy. No more from your lips. This is time for grown ups to talk. Not freaks like you, hear me?”

Jorgie sniffled and held a hand to his head. He appeared dazed, possibly suffering a concussion.

“You do that to my son again, and I’ll kill you,” Trevor stated a fact.

“Oh Dick, who are you kidding? You decided to kill me long before I woke you and the misses out of bed tonight. The real question here is how bad do you want your son and wife to live? That’s the real question.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ashley’s voice trembled from that combination of fear and anger.

“You see, right now you’re thinking that the big revelation here is that Richie has himself a half-brother. You’re thinking, who really cares if his dad knocked up some minimum-wage waitress a long time ago. I mean, it’s not as if he was cheating on his wife, right? The point isn’t that I’m Richie’s half-brother. Oh no. That’s no big deal. That’s just the way of the world. The point here is what pieces of the puzzle does this put into place for you. The real revelation is right in front of your eyes and you’re not seeing it. Why here I am, only half of what my little brother is and I have it all figured out. Why, I thought me being here would give you all those answers you’ve been wondering about. I mean, you do have questions, don’t you…Trevor?”

George smiled as if he did everyone a favor by calling his half-brother ‘Trevor’ instead of Rich or Dick.

“Yes, I have lots of questions. Like why are you holding a knife to my son’s throat?”

“Oh, c’mon now, I mean the real good questions. Like, why did you get the shit job of running this whole comeback show? Why is it you can order around dogs a lot easier than most folks can order around their kids? Questions about why this little brat of yours is so special.”

“A link…” Trevor spoke soft as he remembered the Old Man’s words. “…a link on a chain…”

“A link on a chain, huh?” George offered a better description. “More like a code for a combination lock, brother.”

“You’re not making sense,” Ashley complained.

“Oh honey, you need to start paying attention,” the brute said. “We’re talking big concepts here and you can’t see beyond the front of your nose. Hard to believe you’re such an important part of all this.”

That sparked Ashley’s attention.

“Me? What? What do you mean?”

“You still don’t get it, do you? Oh honey, you need to understand something. All of this,” he waved his arm-the one that did not have the knife to Jorgie’s throat-around the room but his motion referred to the nightmarish world in which they lived. “All of this, it’s on your shoulders.”

“What?” Ashley quivered.

The man finished, “You and Trevor here. You started this. You caused Armageddon.”

Ashley’s jaw dropped. Trevor’s eyes narrowed.

“Yeah, let that soak in real good. Let that sting for a bit,” the man smiled evilly.

Trevor tilted his head as the dots of understanding connected. “The other half of the equation. I was half, and Ashley was the other half. Is that what you’re saying?”

“That’s good. Yeah, A plus B equals C. You had to be A and her as B. That’s how nature’s been planning it all along. Now you’re thinking. Think some more for me. Tell your honey what I am. Go ahead, Dick.”

Trevor licked his lips.

“You are a mistake.”

Surprisingly, George nodded in agreement.

“You were never meant to be. Your mom wasn’t the right mix with my dad.”

“Yeah! Yeah! Keep on going.”

“My dad was meant…was meant to be with my mom. The same way I was meant to be with Ashley.”

George said, “A genetic code, Rich! All through history. I’m not so sure about this whole ‘meant’ thing, but you two had the ingredients for the recipe for Jorgie here.”

Dad and mom looked to their son. Jorgie stood but his head wobbled side to side, his eyelids fluttered. The blow left him dazed and unaware of the conversation.