Chapter 49 Who is Back??
“Care to explain, Deborah? Are you hiding secrets and lying again?”
The question hung in the air. Sharp. Heavy. Accusatory.
Deborah felt it slice straight through her chest.
All five men stood in front of her, four brothers and one Cain heir... each with a different expression, different expectation, different demand.
And she…
She suddenly felt something again. Cornered. Small.
With too many eyes and not enough air.
She took a slow breath. Her voice came out barely above a whisper.
“Caelum… it’s not what you think.”
Caelum let out a humorless laugh. “Then please clarify, because right now it looks exactly what it looks like.”
Lucio crossed his arms. “You lied to us.” Knight added softly, “Again.”
Casper’s voice was sharpest. “And now two men are acting like you owe them answers we don’t even know about, espcially this young Cain.”
Luther stepped forward, jaw clenched. “She doesn’t owe you—”
But Deborah snapped her gaze at him. “Don’t.”
Her voice cracked, not angry, just exhausted.
Luther froze.
Ylmaz looked down, guilt flickering across his face.
Deborah swallowed hard and turned back to her brothers. “I didn’t lie. I, I just didn’t tell you everything.”
Casper raised a brow. “Which is the same thing.”
“No,” Deborah whispered. “It’s not.” She stepped out onto the terrace fully, closing the door behind her with trembling fingers. The wind brushed her hair back, but nothing could cool the heat in her chest.
She looked at them one by one.
Knight, calm but disappointed. Lucio, irritated but worried. Casper, sharp and unreadable. Caelum, furious but….. hurt. And Luther, whose eyes burned with something she refused to name. And Ylmaz, who looked like he wanted to shield her from all of them.
Deborah inhaled deeply.
“I told Dad everything because he listens. Because he doesn’t make me feel guilty for wanting space. For wanting to breathe.”
Caelum stiffened. “We don’t make you feel guilty.”
“You do,” she said quietly. “But you don’t mean to.”
That hit them. Hard.
Lucio shifted uncomfortably. Knight’s expression softened almost invisibly. But Caelum’s anger flared again, fueled by fear. “And instead of talking to us, you run across the continent? You disappear without our permission? You make us think something happened to you—?!”
Deborah’s eyes glistened. “I told you I needed time.”
“You said you needed an afternoon.” Caelum shot back. “Not a flight to Italy!”
Luther stepped forward again. “And she still should’ve told me—”
Deborah closed her eyes, exhaling sharply.
“Luther. Please. Not now.”
The hurt on his face was immediate. But her brothers didn’t miss it.
Casper narrowed his eyes. “So he does have something to do with this.”
Lucio muttered, “I knew it.”
Knight sighed. “This is getting messy. Deborah we already talked about this, right?”
Ylmaz finally spoke, stepping forward just slightly between Deborah and the brothers. “Enough. She doesn’t need five men interrogating her at once.”
Caelum glared. “We’re not interrogating. We’re asking—”
“No,” Ylmaz said firmly. “You’re cornering.”
Deborah bit her lip, because for the first time, someone said it out loud.
Caelum stepped forward threateningly. Ylmaz didn’t back down.
Luther moved too, eyes locked on Ylmaz. “Don’t pretend you’re innocent in this.”
Yılmaz’s jaw flexed. “I’m not pretending anything. I told you, I asked her repeatedly if she was sure.”
“And you still brought her here,” Luther shot back.
“Because she said yes,” Yılmaz answered calmly.
That one line… Made the entire terrace fall silent.
Deborah felt her heartbeat racing. She hated this.
She hated being the reason they were all at each other’s throats.
She stepped forward, voice breaking.
“Stop. All of you. Just.....stop.”
The brothers flinched slightly. Luther’s breathing slowed. Ylmaz lowered his eyes.
Deborah pressed a hand against her forehead.
“I didn’t leave because of any of you. Not Caelum. Not Luther. Not Ylmaz. I left because I needed to think without judgment. Without pressure. I just want to be happy without—”
She cut herself off before she said your shadows.
She didn’t want to hurt them more.
Caelum’s voice was low. “You could’ve asked.”
“You would’ve said no,” she whispered.
Caelum froze.
Deborah looked at him, truly looked and said softly,
“You love me, Caelum. I know that. But your love feels like chains sometimes.”
The words broke something in him. Casper looked away. Lucio’s fists clenched. Knight exhaled shakily.
Before anyone could answer, Luther spoke again, softer this time, but full of raw ache.
“Deborah… why didn’t you tell me?”
She closed her eyes.
“I didn’t want you to follow me.” Her voice cracked, painfully quiet. “And you did anyway.”
Luther’s breath caught.
Ylmaz’s eyes softened with sympathy. The brothers exchanged heavy glances.
Deborah stepped back, shaking her head. “I didn’t come here to choose sides. I came here because I needed silence.”
Caelum took a small step toward her.
“Then come home,” he whispered. “We’ll give you space at home. Just… come home.”
Deborah looked at him, her protector, her shield, her chain.
Her lips parted, an answer forming. But suddenly.... A loud voice echoed from the villa gates.
A valmere guard rushed in, breathless.
“Mr. Valmere! We found someone sneaking around the property—”
Everyone turned. The guard dragged forward a figure struggling against his grip.
Deborah’s blood ran cold.
Yılmaz stiffened.
Luther’s eyes widened in fury.
The Valmere brothers stepped forward like a wall.
Because the person being dragged in....
was Samuel Cortez.
Bruised. Smirking.
And he looked straight at Deborah.
“Well, well,” Samuel drawled. “The princess really did run away from her castle.”
The air exploded with tension.
Knight whispered, “Oh, hell, you're alive?”
Lucio muttered, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Caelum’s expression darkened like a storm ready to break.
Samuel grinned wider.
“This reunion,” he said lightly, “is about to get interesting.”