Chapter 80 Chapter 80
With the bang of the gun, Aurora screamed and my heart leaped to my throat.
For a second, I thought Adrian had pulled the trigger. I felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest when I thought of Aurora getting hurt.
My eyes squeezed shut as I was not ready to look at her side. But then her scream was followed by a heavy growl.
It was the guard.
I snapped my eyes open just in time to see the man who had been holding my daughter collapse to the grass, clutching his shoulder. His grip loosened around Aurora.
Aurora who still couldn't understand was quickly swept off the ground.
My knees almost gave out when I saw who had come.
Lucien!
He looked disheveled with his shirt unbuttoned at the collar, his eyes glowing with a lethal and icy fire.
He held Aurora with his left arm, tucking her small, trembling body against his chest while his right hand kept the weapon pointed directly at Adrian’s heart.
"Mr. Stranger" Aurora sobbed, holding him tightly. "Adrian is very bad. He is a devil. He had my mumma" she complained.
More tears dribbled down my cheeks as my knees wobbled. I don't care about myself. At least my daughter was in safe hands. I can die peacefully now.
"Hush, strawberry," Lucien’s voice rumbled against her hair. "I have got you. Daddy’s here."
She buried her face into the crook of his neck, her tiny hands clutching his shirt as if she would never let go while he whispered sweet nothing in her ear to calm her down.
The next second, Lucien turned his gaze toward us, and I felt the air leave my lungs. The love in his eyes when he looked at me for a split second was enough to heal every bruise on my soul, but when his eyes shifted to Adrian, they turned into daggers of ice.
"Get your hands off her, Adrian," Lucien said, his voice felt like a murderous promise. "Now."
"You're late, brother," Adrian spat as his grip on my arm tightened "She is already mine. You can take away your daughter all you want."
Lucien's eyes darkened. He looked like a reaper who had come to claim a debt.
Without warning, Lucien fired a single shot into the ground inches from Adrian’s foot. The dirt exploded, and the sheer shock of it made Adrian’s grip on my arm loosen and take a step away from me.
Taking advantage, the priest ran away quickly.
In that split second, Lucien came over the aisle. He quickly gave Aurora to me.
"Cynthia, take her," he commanded.
Handling the trembling, sobbing Aurora into my arms, he grabbed Adrian's collar before he could reach for his gun which dropped down to the floor.
"You bastard!" Lucien roared and delivered a brutal punch to Adrian's jaw.
"Mumma!" Aurora cried clutching me tightly.
"Cynthia, go outside! The car is waiting for you!" Lucien shouted at me.
But I couldn't.
I couldn't move from my place.
It felt like heavy stones had been tied to my feet which didn't let me move them.
Lucien and Adrian got engaged in a very brutal and dirty fight. They were all over each other.
"Mumma, you fine?" Aurora asked looking at me with her teary eyes.
I nodded and wiped her tears. My legs were giving up. I couldn't hold her for long but I didn't want to leave her either. My head was spinning badly, and I could see white dots in front of my eyes.
"I am sorry, baby" I whispered "I am really sorry"
"No!" She pouted "Adrian is a very bad man. We are not going to him"
"Never" I shook my head and hugged her tightly.
Feeling her tiny heart beating against mine gave me some relief but my attention was once again caught by the ugly fight.
"I hate you!" Adrian screamed and he slammed his elbow into Lucien’s ribs. "I spent my life in the shadows, eating the scraps of the life that I was supposed to have! I was the firstborn! I was the one who should have been a Vaughn while you were pampered and loved!"
Lucien could have easily used his wanted but he wanted to play fair.
Lucien caught Adrian’s throat, pinning him against the floor. "Loved?" Lucien roared, his face contorting with a pain I had never seen. "You think I was loved? I was a pawn in Alister’s game! I was the one who had to watch my mother caged and tormented because of the sins he committed!"
Lucien grabbed his throat tighter.
"You two held her hostage so you could use her against me. Alister made me his slave and I had to follow his orders like a pet just to keep my mother safe"
My eyes widened and my breath caught in my throat. Lucien never talked about his mother to me.
Oh God!
She was held hostage by his father so he could blackmail him and mold him the way he wanted. My head started spinning faster.
Adrian laughed. It became hard for me to carry Aurora anymore so I just let her stand beside me.
"And you did like a good little boy" Adrian smiled "you chose over your love whenever life tested you. Didn't you?"
"I will kill you! Adrian. I will kill you!"
"Kill me! But you will never get back those five years." Adrian smirked "It feels so good that you have also spent all these years and pain without family just like I have"
Lucien banged his head against the floor tightly.
"And let me tell you one more thing my baby brother" Adrian smirked and turned
"It was I who sealed the deal in your name. The deal that ruined Cynthia's father"
The revelation hit me so hard that I can no longer stand on my feet. I collapsed on the ground with a heavy thud.
"Mummmaaa" Aurora screamed.
Lucein looked at me but nothing mattered. My mind was filled with only one thought.
I had spent years hating Lucien, blaming him for the bankruptcy, the shame, and the cold grave my father occupied. I had looked at Adrian as my anchor, my savior, the only man who stood by us when we were left with nothing. My father... my poor father had trusted him so much that he had placed my hand in Adrian’s on his deathbed, begging him to protect me.
He had used Lucien's name to hide his own malice while I cursed the father of my child.
My eyelids became heavy and before I could take another breath I blacked out.