Vengeance

Chapter Fifty Eight

Angel Bella’s POV

Dad was antsy. He kept checking his phone, which rested beside his plate. He usually didn’t have his phone on display when we had dinner. It was our family time.

Mom brought a spoon with pureed sweet potato in an arch to Jemima's waiting mouth; she smacked her lips happily around the food. I, on the other hand, tried to stop Jordan from throwing his food around. He didn’t like being fed and preferred to shove food into his mouth by himself, but he was still too small for that and made too much of a mess. I held his small hands so he couldn’t grab the spoon and brought it to his mouth. It took three attempts before he accepted the food.

“They are cute but watching them eat is a bit disgusting,” Belsa said, her nose wrinkled. “And since they started eating normal food as well, their diapers stink.”

Dad frowned, obviously unhappy about the topic. He could eat dinner while someone was tortured right in front of him but a stinky diaper bothered him. Men.

Jordan put out an indignant howl when I tried for another spoonful of puree. He jerked in his seat.

Dad’s eyes held disapproval. Seven months, and he still couldn’t bear Jordan’s sight. At least he’d held Jemima a few times, but I didn’t think he could ever look past their DNA

.

The front door banged open, and Gabriel rushed into the dining room, looking ecstatic and a bit unhinged. Dad rose slowly and Gabriel smiled. I shivered because there was something dark and awfully eager in my twin’s expression. “We got him,” he said. “We got the bastard.”

“Where is he?” Dad asked, knowing exactly whom Gabriel was referring to.

I set down the spoon. Mom and I exchanged a look.

“Rapheal and I took him to our safety house as discussed.”Rapehal ? A horrid suspicion overcame me.

Mom began cleaning Jemima.

Dad’s eyes moved to me, and finally Gabriel turned to me as well. I approached them. “Who did you catch?”

Gabriel touched my shoulders lightly, his eyes bright, but in their depths something was lurking that scared me. “We got our hands on Ibash, Lord Erik’s brother . He was taking part in a street race close to our borders and we caught him.”

My insides turned to stone. “Why did you catch him?” I had a feeling I knew exactly why.

“To torture the little pisser and send Lord Erik a video of it like he sent us a video of you. And maybe we will send him each part of his brother that we’ll cut off, wrapped in a white ribbon.”

“Gabriel , Ibash is only fifteen. He is a boy. It’s not right.”

Gabriel’s face hardened. “He is a member of the Hades, the fucking tattoo and all. And Lord Weik didn’t give a fuck about right and wrong when he kidnapped an innocent woman on her wedding day and tortured and raped her.”

The color drained from my face. “It wasn’t like that,” I whispered.

I glanced over my shoulder at my children, but Mom was already picking up Jemima. I took Jordan out of the seat and handed him to her as well. She left quickly. I turned back to Gabriel , shaking because he’d said a name I hadn’t heard in a while. I still felt incredibly guilty because my family didn’t understand that Lord Erik hadn’t forced me, didn’t understand that he had only taken what I had given.

Dad stepped up beside Gabriel . He still had a hard time meeting my gaze when this topic was addressed, too ashamed for not having been able to protect me. “Your brother is right. The dragon Lord’s het what they deserve. We will destroy their crazy family like they destroyed ours.”

I swallowed. That’s what he thought? That our family was destroyed? I saw it every time he looked at my children and his expression flashed with guilt and disgust.

“Lord Erik won’t stand back and let you torture his brother. He won’t care about the danger. He will walk into our city and tear everything down that’s in his way.”

Gabriel dropped his hand, face twisting with self-hatred. “Like we should have marched into Hades and saved you.”

Dad ran a hand through his hair. “You know we couldn’t. Lord Erik would have kill Bella the second we got close. We were lucky he didn’t do so when you went there on your own. We couldn’t risk it after that.”

Lord Erik would have never killed me, but they didn’t know that, couldn’t possibly understand, and how could I ever explain to them when I didn’t understand it myself?

“Instead we sat back and waited for him to make demands while he was busy forcing himself on her and getting her pregnant.

”

“I’m here! Stop talking about me like I’m not here.”

“Sorry, dove,” Dad said with a sigh. My heart fluttered. He seldom called me ‘dove’ anymore, not because he loved me less but because he felt responsible for my broken wings

.

“I’m not blaming either of you,” I said firmly, looking first at my father then at Gabriel . “But I know Lord Erik and he will do anything to save his brother. Anything.”

“We will see. We’re going to do a live recording for the fucker today. He can watch his brother getting tortured live on the Darknet.” Gabriel grinned.

I took a step back. “You’re joking.

”

“No,” Gabriel said. “I only came to pick up Dad. Danilo is already preparing everything, and Dante is supposed to arrive any moment as well.”

“You planned this?”

“Not Ibash, no,” Gabriel said. “We wanted to attack the race. It was pure luck that the little bastard enjoys racing cars.”

Dad nodded. “We should leave now. Let’s go.”

I gripped Gabriel ’s arm. “Let me go with you.”

He exchanged a look with Dad who said, “No, dove. That’s nothing you

should see.

”

“Why not? I’ve been a captive of the Hades for months. Do you really think torture or blood still bother me? Do you think anything can bring me to my knees anymore? I’m not the innocent girl of the past. I have a right to be there. I was the one they kidnapped. You owe it to me to let me go with you.”

They both stared at me like I’d punched them, and I felt a flicker of guilt, but playing the guilt card was my only chance to convince them, and I needed to see Ibash.

.

Dad closed his eyes briefly then gave a small nod. “Come on.”

He went ahead. Gabriel wrapped his arm around my shoulder and

squeezed. “We will make them pay for what they did to you. Lord Erik will regret the day he laid a finger on you.”

I averted my eyes and followed Gabriel out of our house, a place that felt less like home every day. Every day that Jordan looked more like his father.