Chapter 201 C OUNTER ATTACK
KAI’S POINT OF VIEW.
I felt the tremor in Aurora’s body under the pads of my fingers; it was a fine, violent shivering that traveled from her ribs into the palm of my hand. She was hollowed out, her spirit buckling under the weight of Denise’s lies and the judgmental, narrow-eyed glares of the Orsini vipers. She kept herself pressed to my back, her body trembling like she’d been left in an avalanche of snow on the Antarctic continent.
I breathed through my nose, my fists clenched as I watched Denise go off. She had no idea, but all this…Silas and I had planned in advance for it to happen. Hell, we knew, we hoped, and we prayed it would happen this way.
Mistress. Bastard. Whore. The words didn't just hang in the air; they rotted with the stench of death, both social and personal. Denise was standing there, her face pale white with that pathetic, tear-streaked face as she stuck with playing the martyr in this story, while Morgan writhed on the marble floors like a rabid animal, throwing a hissy fit like an undisciplined child.
It was both pathetic… and satisfying. It was a circus. A cheap, low-rent performance designed to play on the obsessions of the clan elders towards the women in their circle. They expected purity, class, poise….meanwhile, they themselves defied their pathetic rules.
And my father? Silas stood there like some petrified in stone, his dark eyes goading me, egging me on to see what I did. To others, they might think he supported Aurora, or me, but I knew what it was... he wanted to see if I’d fail him. If I’d choose her.
I turned to the still trembling young woman behind me, her tears trickled face resembling a cracked doll, pale skin red, and blotchy. She stared at me, her beautiful green orbs shining with despair. She wanted to speak, to defend herself, but she felt stuck.
“I’m….so sorry.” She whispered with a hiccup. “I’m sorry we can't keep this fake engagement ruse any longer.” I shook my head silently, willing myself to wipe those precious tears from her cheeks. My vision box pulled open, the memory of everything we went through….Everything I kept buried since we spent an entire week in that bunker.
Aurora didn’t know it, but she was my light, my soul…my damnation. She’d stormed into that dimly lit basement, dressed in that short white dress fit for her five-year-old body. I’d been locked in by my mother for daring to ask for food, my back burning with the blood and wounds marring it. The deep gashes of her knife had sent excruciating pain all over my body.
I was severely dehydrated, hungry, and malnourished….probably delirious too. Because the small figure with dark hair stormed into the small basement, dragging a small bag, but too big for her, over to me. She’d huffed, puffed, and coughed, but never stopped until she brought me the small pack of toast.
It was the first meal id had in forever. Although it tasted like sandpaper and pain, I munched on it, allowing her to feed me since I’d been chained to the wall.
“I promise…I’ll get you help, okay?” She’d sworn on her small pink bunny, the very one she’d stuffed into my pocket….the one I kept inside my bedroom ever since I was rescued. That day, she left, taking the halo with her, and locking the pain back in.
I swore I'd never see her again, but I did. And that time, it was with several officers, their guns blazing as they followed her small feet tapping the floorboards. Turns out, Marloise had kidnapped more kids, believing them to be rude, belligerent, and arrogant. She thought she could train them to be better kids using torture, whipping, and withholding food.
I’d thought the hell would end that day, but my mother had somehow escaped into the night. And over a decade later, she still hadn't been found.
Silas blamed himself every day. He was right to. I’d warned him of his wife’s psychotic tendencies, but he never believed me. he thought I needed a mother, so he looked away. That month, he had left for a business trip…. Then my mother, seeing the opportunity, chose to run wild.
Aurora… she had saved me. Without her, I would have either died, rotting on that floor till today, or I’d still be imprisoned by my mother, my fears….my nightmares.
Silas swore to me that she’d died that day. ‘a shoot out between the police, and your mother’s aids went wrong. She was hit in the head and died instantly. I believed him, I mourned her….I buried her. Until one day, I saw her kneeling in the cafeteria, her hair covered with expired goat milk.
That day, I felt two things: anger and… hope.
But my anger had won. I thought she abandoned me, and I wanted revenge. I was wrong….so wrong. It took confronting Silas to get that. He’d lied to me because he feared her presence would trigger any memories from that experience, plunging me into suffering again.
He should have known better.
Aurora was the cure to my PTSD. Without her, I was lost.
Now, they’ve come for what’s mine…..my girl, my life, my soul….and I cannot let that slide.
"Enough," Silas’s voice cut through the room, his voice a low-frequency hum that silenced even Morgan’s histrionics and Denise’s wails. Everyone in the hall stopped to stare at him, awaiting him to probably denounce Aurora…something she probably also thought would happen.
But they were so far….so fucking far from the reality of it all.
Denise wiped her eyes, a gleam of predatory victory sparking in her gaze. She thought she’d won. She thought the fake, stupid stain on Aurora’s name would force Silas to change his mind and cast her off. She thought she was about to crown Morgan as the new Mercer bride.
She was so fucking delusional.