CRIMSON RED: The bastard who rules

"The flowers are here. They are so lovely."

Marie stepped into the office holding a bouquet of lilies, their stems wrapped in pale ribbon. Ryan looked up from the stack of reports on his desk and felt some of the day's tension ease. He had been working late, exhaustion was written all over his face. There was a presentation the next day and his best was expected.

"Perfect timing." He stood and took them from her, being careful not to crush the petals.

Marie smiled, setting a folder down on the corner of his desk. "Enjoy. I hope tonight goes exactly the way you want it to."

"Thank you, Marie." He set the flowers down gently and reached for his jacket. "What about you? Any big plans tonight, or is it just you and a good book again? Do you even have a boyfriend? I rarely see you with anyone."

She laughed, waving a hand as if to bat the question away. "Don't you worry about my love life. It's hopeless enough. I just can't be helped."

"Is it that bad?" Ryan chuckled softly.

"Even worse. Don't bother." She straightened a few papers on his desk, still smiling. "Does she know you're coming tonight?"

Ryan shook his head, adjusting his tie in the small mirror by the door. "No. I've been buried in work all week. I want it to be a surprise."

"A good one, I hope. Go on, then. Don't keep her waiting."

"Wish me luck."

"You already have that," she said, "but good luck anyway."

She stayed behind to pack up as Ryan lingered a little bit longer before gathering the flowers and heading out.

Ryan parked outside, engine ticking as it cooled, and sat in his car looking up at the building. Her bedroom light was on, a warm amber glow behind the curtains.

He noticed the shadows before anything. Two shapes, close together, shifting behind the curtains.

He blinked, and told himself it was nothing. A trick of the light or maybe a friend visiting. Gathering the lilies from the passenger seat, he got out of the car, pushing the thought aside before it could take root.

The front door was unlocked. That alone should have told him a lot, but his mind was elsewhere, running through how her face would look when she saw him standing there with the flowers.

He climbed the stairs, his heart racing with excitement. Lisa had been distant the past few weeks because he was always working, she had gotten quieter than usual, and he'd told himself it was a kind of retaliation from her. Tonight was supposed to fix that.

Just the two of them with a nice dinner. He also had the intent to surprise her with the diamond necklace she had always yearned for…. right after dinner.

She was the one steady thing in a life that felt like his own. His father's company, his father's name, his father's approval, always given first and completely to Jace. Ryan had learned early to expect less, to stay in the spaces his older brother didn't care to fill. Lisa had never made him feel like a second option. With her, it was different.

At the top of the stairs, he slowed down. Softening his steps in order not to announce his presence.

He could imagine her expression already, the way her eyes would widen before breaking into that smile she saved only for him.

Then he heard it.

A low laugh accompanied with moans. A voice, muffled through the door, but unmistakably hers.

He stopped walking.

There was a second one too, deeper, threaded through with something intimate that made Ryan's stomach turn cold before his mind had even caught up to what he was hearing. Then he remembered the earlier shadows he had seen, those weren't hallucinations.

“God…I could go on forever”

He recognized the voice……..Jace. What was he doing here? He thought.

Ryan's hand tightened around the stems of the lilies until he felt one crack beneath his grip. He stood frozen outside the door, telling himself he was wrong, that it couldn't be what it sounded like, even as every instinct told him otherwise.

The door was open with just a crack. Enough that if he leaned forward, he would see.

He didn't move for a long moment. Some smaller, more desperate part of him wanted to turn around, walk back down the stairs, get in his car, and drive away before this became something he couldn't unknow. But his feet stayed planted, his hand slowly finding the door handle.

Memories surfaced uninvited. High school, when Jace had taken an interest in a girl Ryan liked simply because Ryan liked her first, charming her away within a week like it was nothing. His father had called it youthful exuberance, that it wasn't deep. Ryan had forgiven him but that had been the beginning of many similar events.

His older brother had always looked at whatever belonged to Ryan with a kind of entitlement, as if wondering when he'd get around to taking it. His entitlement was valid because he was the golden son, he was rarely scrutinized. Praises always landed on Jace like sunlight and skipped over Ryan entirely, year after year, until Ryan stopped expecting it to fall his way at all.

He had told himself Lisa was different. That she was his, fully and only his, in a way nothing else in his life had ever been.

The moans increased, the sound of flesh entering flesh became more evident. Ryan's chest ached, his pulse pounded so hard he was certain it would give him away before he even opened the door.

He heard Jace again saying words he couldn't quite make out through the door.

Whatever was on the other side of that door, he needed to see it with his own eyes. He needed to know and to confirm.

With his fingers closed around the handle, he pushed the door open.