Companionate (18+) | Completed ✔️

Chapter 41: part 2

Tobias

"Taro Myers. Black and purple Masquerade mask. Black tux. Talk to him. He will tell you everything you need to know. Tobias I'll never stop loving you."

There he was, just like she said. Black tuxedo. Black and purple masquerade mask. He was just standing there, with a glass of champagne in his hand and the other hand in his pocket.

He fitted in this crowd like the missing puzzle piece, if she never told me he was here I would have never known. And now he's here, right in front of me after all these years.

My big brother, Taro. The man I looked up to, the man I wanted to be, the man I idolised, and the man that let me leave the house at the tender age of 16 with nothing but my camera and as much as I could fit into a duffle bag. He stood right in front of me so nonchalantly and it was infuriating.

I had so much questions, so much to say, so much to scream and so much to shout. I was his little brother, he was supposed to protect me but just like the father I was graced with, he left me out in the cold world by myself.

It hurt so much to find out that he was here, just a few feet away from me, it hurt because I didn't know how long he had been here. It hurt because I didn't know how he fitted into all of this chaos and honestly I was scared to find out.

I breathed deeply before making my way over to the man himself. I marched over to him until I stood directly in front of him. He stilled but he never faltered, he took a final sip of his champagne before placing it down on the table behind him.

I didn't know what I was going to say because honestly, I didn't even know if I was ready for this confrontation but I was here now. And I needed answers.

However, before I could breathe a word he spoke in a whisper but his voice was stern. "Not here. Follow me, incognito."

He emphasised the last word and I knew exactly what he meant, but it spiked memories that I didn't want to relive. Incognito, the code our father used when he took us out on practice stakeouts. He was grooming the both of us to take over the business, no matter his hate for me he taught me everything that I wanted to forget.

So, I followed the code exactly as my father taught me. I took the place Taro was in previously, scanned the area for anything out of the ordinary, specifically I chose to ensure Chase was nowhere to be seen which he definitely was not.

Using my periphery I committed Taro's route to memory before leaving it precisely three minutes before I chose to head that way but instead of taking the same directions he took, I decided to weave through the crowd and greeted the few people I knew along the way.

Finally reaching the destination Taro walked to, I found myself behind another red velvet curtain on the opposing side to where Monroe and I were previously. I looked around scoping out the possible areas Taro would be until I looked up to see him on a balcony. I should have known, my big brother had a thing for looking down on people.

I rolled my eyes before jogging up the stairs leading to the hidden balcony. As soon as I reached the top of the stairs, the first thing I noticed was his masquerade mask in his hand and his frame looking down over the balcony. I began walking over to him before taking my mask off too.

I reached the balcony and took in the sight of what he was looking at, just a well-dressed corridor in gold flooring and red velvet carpets to give the whole hotel a movie star feel. Neither of us were ready for this and this was evident as neither of us were willing to look into one another's eyes when we were both bare and unmasked.