Chapter 195 THERE'S BLOOD IN THE WATER
AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW.
"Aurora." I heard the soft, manly rasp of Kai’s voice at the door, his gentle taps easing the tightness in my bones. “Can I come on? Are you okay?” I inhaled, the tears finally springing forth as the restrained dam broke. Grabbing my long dress by the base, I rushed to the door, my tears falling freely as I pushed it open.
The moment he laid eyes on me, I caught a note of gentleness enveloping those dark orbs. “We’ll need a few minutes.” He didn’t look away from me. I furrowed my brows, his voice dropping a few octaves as he commanded someone; likely a guard or another employee.
“B-but Mr. Mercer, Mr. Silas has demanded both of you to be in the car now.” The voice of the timid person trembled, his feet shaking along with him. Kai did not look at him even then. He simply walked into the dresser, his gaze still not departing from mine.
I stood there trembling, my chest heaving as I tried to swallow a sob. Kai didn't hesitate. He crossed the distance between us in two strides, his large hands coming up to cup my face. His thumbs, slightly rough and smelling of expensive cedar wood, brushed away the tears staining my cheeks. His touch was so gentle, so tender, I wondered if he touched me at all.
"Look at me, Roar," he commanded, though it sounded more like a plea, his eyes as intense as yesterday. Sometimes, I wondered if he was truly as emotionless as he was rumored to be around school. Whenever he spoke to me, he seemed so….human. The very contrast of who I knew him to be before we started all this.
I shook my head, my voice a broken whisper as I trembled against him, the force of my despair catching up to me. "I can't do this. I'm doing this all alone, Kai. She was supposed to be here... my mother promised me she'd be the one to do my hair, and hold on to me when I get engaged. I know it’s fake, but I still miss her….I need her. I was so mean to her that day, if I could go back in time…if I could change it all, I would.” I cried, my gut-wrenching sobs filling the room.
“What if….what if she doesn’t make it, Kai? What if that’s all she remembers of me?” My eyes went wide, my heart suddenly losing all feeling but a tight, deep groaning. “You know, it is rumored that people in comas have to relive their last memories before they go down.
What if she’s suffering because of me?” he wiped my tears ever so gently, his hold on me soft and settling.
“No…she loves you. I know it.”
“What if she's angry, Kai?” I could not control my sniffles now. I must have looked a wreck; the mascara could have streaked my cheeks already, but Kai did not seem to care.
“I’m such a bad person. She's fighting for her life, and I'm... I'm here, faking a relationship, I’m a headline for a union on the very magazine that slandered her years back when dad kicked us out."
"You aren't alone," he rasped, his forehead dropping to rest against mine. The heat from his body seeped through the thin silk of my gown, grounding me. "I told you, I have the guard at the hospital. I have the doctors. And you have me….you always have me, Aurora. No matter what.
And she isn’t upset with you. Your mother…” he swallowed, a haunted look crossing his features for a second. “She is a good woman, and a great mother….she would never think anything bad of you.”
There was a way he spoke of her; it was so raw, so passionate, so kind, I easily detected a note of familiarity that could not be missed.
“Did you ever know her?” I asked before I could stop myself, my tears no longer flowing.
“What?” he blinked, the expression of a deer caught in headlights crossing his features for a second before the familiar stone-faced, expressionless one took over. “What do you mean?”
“It’s just….you speak to her as if you actually know her personally.” I chuckled, no longer as sad as earlier.
“You stopped crying.” He said instead, with a soft smile on his lips. The gentle taps of his heart beat under my fingertips felt so calming. For some reason, I had the feeling he was deflecting. My curiosity gnawed at me, pushing me to ask him, to make him elaborate further.
“I… yeah, you seem to have a gift.” I chuckled instead of asking more questions. There was a time and place for everything.
“Yes.” A playful smile replaced the serious, somber one. “I have been told that. And I mean, girls never cry around such handsomeness.” He waved a hand to his face.
“You are incorrigible.” I chuckled, my heart light.
He pulled back just enough to look me in the eye, his gaze fierce. "Tonight isn't for Silas. It isn't for Armando. It’s for her. We walk in there, we take what belongs to you, and we use every cent of Mercer and De La Vista money to make sure she never has to fight for anything again. Do you understand?"
I inhaled the scent of him, tobacco, rum, and that familiar, protective warmth, filling my lungs. The slackness in my body began to tighten into something else. Something harder. It was a desire for revenge, an insatiable hunger that could only be quenched once Armando, Denise, and Morgan fell.
“Yes…I understand.”
"Good girl.” He tapped my cheek gently. “Now, let’s get you fixed. I want everyone in there fighting to keep their eyes off of you. The reality of one truth settling in their souls….the fact that you’re mine, all mine.”
That glint in his eyes/ yeah, it was replaced with a slit, something so possessive, it made me breathless. He caressed my cheeks, leaning so low, our lips hovered over each other until I was sure he would kiss me.
For a second, that was all we did, stare at each other as if we were doing a reading into each of our souls. And I fear we would have been in that position if someone hadn't knocked on the door.
“Sir, Miss…..we need to go now, please.” The person from earlier said, worry clear in his tone.
Kai still did not pull away, a note of longing in his body language. “Kai…we need to leave,” I called for him. The air in the room felt tense, taut, and full of something else I couldn’t name.
I gulped, my skin tingling underneath his fingers.
“Okay, green,” he murmured, his hands sliding down to rest possessively on my waist, drawing those familiar, calming circles against the fabric. "Remember this, there’s blood in the water, the sharks are waiting, and I refuse to let them see you bleed."