Chapter 33

Dawn POV:

I wake up on a soft bed. I don’t remember when I fell asleep last night but do vaguely remember someone carrying me. Suddenly I remember everything from the last night and the pain comes back again stinging my eyes. Julian! I lost Julian!! My mind is scrambled by all the blood bath of the night, all because of a mad man who knows nothing but to manipulate people. I get up and look around trying to understand where I am. The walls look kind of familiar, but I recognize the place when I look outside the window and into the garden with children playing. I am at the orphanage. Archer must be nuts to bring us all here. It will make the place vulnerable, and we are threats to every children present here. I don’t know what story father is going to make for explaining the mess we left behind. He might as well frame us as robbers or terrorists trying to steal in money or take his precious life. The door unlocks and Archer comes in with a bag full of medicines. For few seconds we stand apart from each other looking for something in each other’s face. Then as if a broken charm we run into each other’s arms. I can’t help the tears spilling out of my eyes. I just clutch him tightly hanging onto his tall frame and trying not to shake.

“Shhh,” he says “Dawn it’s okay. You are okay”

“No I am not.” I say crying like a toddler. He pushes me gently and holds my cheeks with his palms “You have to be, or I will lose my mind too” he says. Then he wipes my tears and gently drags me to the bed.

“Sit” he says. He kneels down before me holding my hands on my lap “Tell me what is hurting you?”

For the last few days I was robbed of any kindness and safety from my life. I had to endure that monster and listen to the hatred filled story of my past from my own father’s mouth. Everything is hurting me and all the years I have lived on this land I have learnt to hide the hurt. So I just look at his face, his emerald eyes looking back at me so earnestly.

“Tell me” he asks again.

“Everything” I say “All the truth, all those innocents’ deaths...I…don’t deserve this”

“All of them made a choice Dawn. They made it for you so that you can live a life of happiness.”

“Will you be with me?” I ask.

“Always” he says in a heartbeat. I brush his platinum locks from his forehead. He has nicks and cuts all over his arms and face, but he is the most gorgeous person I have ever met. Not only his face but his eyes...his eyes are what gives away the soft interior filled with warmth and love. He is not a monster like the one living at the manor.. he is not a lost case. He is just a boy and I have fallen in love with him. I cup his cheek and bring my lips to his locking the emotion I feel within us. This is the way to feel how much you want each other. The kiss is so fragile, but it does so much in my heart that I feel the sea is contained within me and the waves are raging high to drown me but this time I am not afraid. Eventually we break the kiss, and he starts laughing, a genuine giddy laugh that makes my lips curve in a smile too.

“How is Damien?” I ask

“He is good. Jenny did a good job and then here we had better kit to treat him with. Matron Margaret used to be a military nurse once. She worked on him over the rest of the night. Krista is feeding him now”

“I have to meet Jenny” I say

“You can meet them now only, but I wanted to ask you something.” He says averting his gaze from me.

“What?” I ask.

“What do you want to do now?”

“You are asking me?” I ask in turn.

“Yes”

“Why? It was your aim from the beginning”

“I know” He gets up and start pacing “But I am not sure if I want to walk the path of revenge any more or not. I don’t to risk anyone’s life anymore. Harken is a big persona, and he can get away with a lot of things, but we can’t.”

“So you want to start over? You don’t want to chase him” There is a sharpness to my tone, and he looks at me.

“Is that not what we should want? I am not okay with killing anymore”

“I understand why Archer” I get up and put my right palm on his chest “But what the promise you made to your mother.”

“Nothing is mine anymore Dawn,” he says. “Not even my promise.” I look at him closely and I know he is hiding something. “What do you mean” I ask.

He sighs “The plan I made to rescue you; do you think it would have been successful without help? Where did I get all those arms and ammunition and distraction to carry out the plan?”

“What did you do?” I ask panic creeping up. He remains silent for a while playing with a black lock near my neck. The silence throbs between us like a living thing.

“I made a deal with the Krakens” he says finally “They don’t help out of sympathy or a for a sob story. I told them that I would give them the proof about everything. I have my birth certificate which proves me as the legal son of Andrew Farrow, and I also have some property details and a will my mother was able to sneak out with that night. But the main property papers are in Harken’s possession.”

“How could you be so stupid!!!” I say angrily.

“I couldn’t have left you with him. I just couldn’t, knowing that he will torture you for the truth. He hit you didn’t he?”

I shut my eyes close with force and nod. “How will you settle the matter now? You know you have to keep the deal from your side”

“I will give them what I have and then we can run away from here” he suggests quickly. “I just want to have a normal life”

“And how far we’ll go before they hunt us down? How long will it take?” I ask. He remains silent. “We can’t keep running our whole lives, they will hunt us down. The Ravens and the Krakens both will be after us. We can’t outrun their network.”

“So what do we do?” he asks accepting his defeat easily. In his mind he knew all these; he just wants to know what my opinion is. No one has ever asked me like this, no one has ever asked me what I want!! I tug him closer and say “We fight!! We fight for what is ours. Harken is vulnerable at the moment. It’s now or nothing!!!”

He leans down and our foreheads touch channeling energy to each other, taking strength in our union.

“Okay love, then we will fight” he says.

Harken POV:

The police finally left when I sold them the half-baked story. They were extremely hesitant to challenge my involvement with all these and I found it very funny. The interrogation has left me with a mild headache which is not a surprise after a sleepless stormy night. I have seen so much in my life but suddenly today I feel the absence of Daniella like a broken rib inside me. She was a breath of fresh air in my life. Gunning down Monica didn’t stir a single emotion in me other than letting a shred of my past go. But for a split second I got a vision of Dani on her bloody sheets taking her last breaths. That was the moment which taught us that I cannot out run destiny and death. It taught me that I can’t hold anything dear to my heart for it to be taken away in flash. The pain that comes with that has created this remorseless evilness in me. I could have survived by other means; I could have made a life for me separated from the chaos, but I chose not to. I chose blood because I paid my price with Dani’s blood. Why would anyone have the right to laugh with their family when I was robbed mine. Although at that time I believed Andrew to be single devoid of any family, still he held is court like a big happy family always laughing always flirting with the servant women in his household. I admit I was jealous of him; I was jealous when at the very beginning Dani used to talk about him like he was the man. Was everything I did out of jealousy? No. It was there but ultimately it was my greed for power. After losing Dani, I was open threat, an unshackled beast who wanted to immerse in power and work. The grief was so raw it muddled everything. I remember night after night waking up to Dawn’s cries and tiptoeing towards her crib with a pillow in my hand. I wanted to smother the life out of her, but I couldn’t. It is a mystery I am not able to solve till date. The hatred wasn’t a question, but through that dense cloud of disdain I could see her as my daughter, something that Dani made and gave her life for. I never loved Dawn, never held her affectionately in my arms and when the opportunity came to sell her I did that in a heartbeat. A huge amount of weight was lifted from my shoulders when Andrew took her. The night after night of failing to kill her was disturbing me. The other things I did I have no excuse for that. I did what I did because I liked it. That’s what matters to me then, now and also in future.