Chapter 136 Becoming A Shield
The funeral was a blur of black umbrellas and the smell of wet earth.
Within a week, the grand house was locked up, and William, Luke, and Helena were packed into a car and sent to the countryside.
They had to endure the looks of the world until William turns 18 and regain their properties.
They were orphans now. And their new world belonged to Aunt Liyah. His father’s only sister. They knew the worst phase of their lives will start if they started living there.
“Do we have to go, William?” Helena sobbed, clinging onto his arms when they were in the car.
“Yes. But, don’t worry, it won’t last long. When I turn 18. We will move out.” He reassured, forcing a shaky smile.
“I am scared. I don’t want to go.”
“There is nothing to be afraid of. I am here. If you need anything, tell me. Don’t bother Auntie Liyah, okay?” He instructed.
“Okay…”
Liyah didn't want children; she wanted the inheritance and the labor. She was a woman of cold edges, a cruel soul who hated children
When the kids came, the first thing they noticed was the leather strap that stayed coiled on the kitchen counter like a sleeping snake.
It was enough to know one mistake would cost them too much.
Yet Helena made one.
She was starving and tried to make an egg but got her hand burned and it flipped the saucepan down, breaking the handle.
"Which one of you clumsy brat was it?" Liyah’s strict voice came, glaring at Helena and Luke.
"I will teach you the value of things that aren't yours." She picked the strap, coming closer.
Luke paled, stepping back, he couldn’t bring himself to stand in between and help Helena.
But William, now fifteen, and hollowed out by a guilt that never slept, stepped into the light, holding her wrist that almost reached Helena.
"It was me," William said. His voice was flat, devoid of the fire it once held.
He was dead from inside, the bags under his eyes indicated he hadn’t slept for weeks, his solace, his future, all was destroyed by his own mistakes.
"William, no-" Luke started, but William silenced him with a sharp look.
Liyah laughed dryly, "The golden boy? I don't think so. Move aside, William. I know it was the girl."
She lunged for Helena, but William moved faster. He didn't fight back, he knew fighting back made it worse for them.
He simply placed his body between Liyah and his siblings, shielding them with his broader frame.
"I said it was me," he repeated, his gaze fixed on the floor.
"Beat me. Leave them alone."
The strap came down.
The first strike burned across his shoulders. William didn't flinch. He didn't scream. The siblings ran away in dread as he stood, bearing it all.
Every lash was a payment he felt he owed to the parents he had cursed to their graves.
He stayed silent, obedient, a statue of flesh and bone.
Later that night, in the attic they shared, William sat on the edge of the thin mattress. His back was a map of red welts.
Luke was crying quietly, and Helena was trying to dab his wounds with a damp cloth, her hands shaking.
"I am sorry, William," she sobbed, hugging him tightly, "I am so sorry."
William turned, ignoring the agony in his muscles. He reached out and pulled them both into his arms.
It was the first time he had truly held them since the accident, not with the anger of a rival, but with the desperation of a savior.
"Listen to me," he whispered, his voice iron-clad. "As long as your brother is here, nothing in this world can harm you.”
His lips curled into a beautiful smile, concealing his pain and the glistening tear, he brushed his head against theirs.
“I will take every hit. I will bear every burden. You guys don’t fear anything, I am here."
Their eyes shone when they finally received the warm embrace they struggled to gain, refusing to let go of him as he kissed the top of their heads.
"I lost them because of what I said," he murmured to himself, more than to them.
"I won't lose you because of what I don't do."
…. From that moment onwards, protecting them from their miserable time in Liyah’s shades became his duty….
BACK TO PRESENT
“I spent my whole life being a shield,” William whispered.
The trauma had come full circle.
He was still on the floor, his head in Arabella’s lap, his fingers digging into her skin as if she might evaporate if he let go.
Their hands locked for mutual solace, declining to leave each other.
The trauma had come full circle.
William murmured against her knees, his voice breaking, “I did everything I could, Bella, still I failed in the end,”
“I took the beating. I went hungry. I did everything to be ‘good’ again, Arabella. I thought if I suffered enough, the universe would forgive me.”
Arabella’s fingers stroked his temple, her heart aching the boy who was consumed by guilt, “William, I get it… But,”
“But?”
Her fingers traced his jawline, giving his hand an assuring squeeze followed by a bewilderment.
“Is that why you are so obedient to Liyah, even after she made your life a hell? Is it the terror or something else?”
Something horrifying flickered in his eyes but, before she could comprehend the depth of it or question, he masked it professionally and lowered his head.
“It’s nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
“I said it’s nothing.”
He looked up at Arabella, his eyes brimming with a terrifying, possessive light.
“I hurt my parents, I cursed them. I did this to Luke and Helena. I hurt Luke but I-I have lost it all, Bella,” His lips quivered, hesitation brimming but there was no sign of remorse for his actions.
“I-I can’t afford to lose you too. You are the only one that is still here…”
Arabella slid off the bed to sit beside him on the floor. She wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder.
A beautiful warmth emerged, wrapping them in an invisible sheet of tranquillity. William didn't speak further.
He just held her with a grip that was slowly turning from a hug into a cage, his eyes staring at the door as if expecting the past to walk through it and take her, too.
But, it never came. Instead, all he received was an oath.
“And I am the one who will stay until the end,” she promised, her voice a soft vow. “That is my promise to you, William.”