Chapter 16

Cronos

The drive to my house is silent. It isn't… awkward, it's just quiet. We are both lost in our own thoughts. I won't lie and say I'm not hesitant to tell her about Aida. I know keeping that to myself before was hard for her but I guess I wasn't ready to… let go of that part of my life. I put the truck in park out the front and climb out. She follows behind me, keeping space between us. I don't like the distance she is keeping between us but I say nothing as I open the door and head inside.

"Have you eaten?" I ask her as I enter the kitchen.

"N-no." I turn and scowl at her.

"Sit, I'll cook while we… talk." A whoosh of air escapes her as she climbs onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar while I sort us some dinner. I'm no Gordan Ramsey but I can make a decent meal. I grab the fixings to make some chicken fettuccine. I can feel her gaze on me and just know without her having to utter a word that she is waiting for me to open up.

Fuck!

This shit is going to be a lot harder than I thought. I focus on the garlic I am chopping while I tell her the story of my past that broke me and shaped me into who I am today.

"I'm the second born twin. Artemis is older by ten minutes but what most people don't know is that we were actually born on separate days. He was born a minute before midnight and I was born nine minutes later. Costa was happy about that, he never wanted twins."

"Why?"

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, forcing my emotions to remain in check as I continue to prepare dinner. "Because it meant he had double the chance of losing his place as the head of the family when it came time for us to complete the trials. The elders didn't care that we were born on separate days, as far as they were concerned we were twins. Costa argued that we weren't because of our technically different birthdays but all you had to do was look at me and Artemis and see we are identical. He was out voted by the elders, both his sons would trial together against the other heirs. Artemis and I knew we could win—those heirs never trained a day in their life or had to fight for everything they had like we did. Nothing was ever given to us, we had to fight to earn our meals, our clothing, anything we had, we earned."

"I'm so sorry," she whispers but I ignore it as I push on.

"We were never allowed anything of our own. Costa made sure we always knew anything we had could be taken from us at a second's notice. Artemis was always stronger, smarter and wiser. I fell into line and did as I was told, he could control me but never Artemis. Even when the triplets were born, Artemis never cowered to our father. He fought to protect not only Adonis, Apollo and Ares but… me as well. We never knew that he was being beaten if we ever stepped out of line. He took beating after beating just so we wouldn't have to. My brother wanted us to try and lead a normal life. I was selfish and listened to him," I growl.

"Aida," she mumbles. I turn my head to the side and hold her gaze as I nod.

"I found something of my own and I ruined her," I admit as I return to my task. "She was everything to me, my entire fucking world. It wasn't my brothers keeping me alive anymore, it was her . She showed me there was more to life than darkness and misery, she broke down all my walls and made my heart beat again. She was perfect." I slam my eyes closed and grip the edge of the counter in a vice-like hold as I try to calm myself and not allow my anger to take control. "Costa could see I was losing my edge, I didn't want to kill anymore. I wanted something different from my life. I tried to drop out of the trials and be free. I thought he would be happy that he would only have Artemis fighting for the win, but he wasn't. He forced me into the trials saying that if I won he would grant me my freedom and allow me to leave The Godfathers, I just had to hand everything back to him at the end. Simple. Easy." I scoff at my own stupidity.

"Nothing was ever simple or easy where Costa was concerned but I was blinded by love and believed what he was selling. Artemis tried to warn me but I refused to listen. He didn't know what it was like to love someone, he refused to allow himself to care for anyone who wasn't his brother and now, I understand why. Costa used my weakness against me and… Artemis."

"How?"

"If he succeeded in saving one brother, three would die. Art had no idea what that shit meant until we entered that room." I turn away from the stove and face Amelia. She looks like she is on the verge of tears, pain evident in her beautiful eyes. But the pain she feels is for me and what I suffered through, not herself. "The last trial is designed to separate the boys from the men as they say, but the truth is, that trial is designed to destroy any ounce of humanity you have inside yourself. That trial will break you beyond repair and it did."

"What happened to Aida, Nos?"

"They had her tied to the bed inside that room. They had cut away her clothing and left her bare for all to see. All Artemis had to do was rape her and he would have won, sealing the triplets fate. But he knew winning would cost him the triplets and me. What we both didn't know at the time was that his refusal meant that Costa, his men and the elders would all have her—one by one, the next more ruthless than the last. We were forced to stand there and watch as the men took their turns, her gaze remained on me the whole time. She begged and pleaded for me to save her. I tried with everything I had to get to her but they all held me back. When it was over, I took her out of that room but I knew deep down inside that her soul died in there. Two days later, Aida took her own life and left me behind. I went into her room to bring her breakfast, she wasn't in her bed or in the bathroom. When I turned and saw the closed door on her wardrobe, I knew. It took everything inside me to open that door and face my worst fear—the girl that I loved more than anything had hung herself. Her eyes were open and bloodshot, she was looking right at me with vacant eyes. That is the final memory I will have of her for the rest of my life." I drop my chin to my chest, unable to look at her any longer. "You see, angel, being loved by me is a death sentence and that is why I could never commit fully to you because the fear of my past still had control of me."

"What's changed?" she whispers. I don't answer as I begin to plate her food and then place it in front of her. After reliving the horrors of my past, I'm no longer hungry so I choose to watch her eat instead.

I mull her words over for a moment before I answer. "The old saying, you don't know what you have until it's gone . I didn't realize what I had with you until you kicked my ass to the curb." She drops her gaze to her plate in shame. "You were right to get rid of me." She snaps her head up in shock. "It forced me to deal with the past and I don't think I would have ever done that if you didn't force me out. I see a future with you, Amelia, and I will fight through my demons to get the chance to have that life with you and that little girl." Tears shine in her eyes but she blinks them away. "I will never not love Aida, she will always be a part of me." To drive my point home I raise my left arm that has her face inked there. "But I can't keep living in the past with her. I thought I died the day she did but I can see now I didn't, because I was meant to live on so I could find you ."

She pushes back and hops off her stool to come around and stand before me. Her eyes glisten with her tears and when one finally falls, I reach out and brush it away with my thumb.

"Being loved by you is like being loved by the Devil." My face falls and I drop my hand. She smiles and steps in closer, craning her head back so she can meet my gaze. "The Devil fell from heaven and made a world of his own. You remade your world like he did and here you stand, stronger than ever and willing to live again."

I search her gaze trying to detect a hint of a lie but get nothing. "Meelz, I'm not the type of guy that buys flowers and drops to his knees and tells you that he loves you." Her eyes widen.

"Is this you telling me you love me for the first time?" I narrow my eyes and snap my arm to grip the back of her neck forcing her onto her tiptoes.

"Was me not letting you push me away a second time, not enough to show you that I do?"

A devilish glint enters her eyes. "Do, what?"

I bend until my lips ghost over hers. "I do love you, angel," I whisper. She gasps and inhales sharply before I seal my lips to hers in a kiss that says more than words could ever. I never thought my heart would belong to another after losing Aida, but I was wrong. She trampled over my walls and forced me to wake up, now my heart not only beats for her but for that little girl growing inside her womb. Before I get a chance to deepen the kiss she pulls back and stares up at me through her lashes.

"If I don't tell you now, I don't think I ever will," she admits. I reluctantly release her when she steps back and reclaims her seat. My stomach is in knots as I wait for her to tell her story. I know hearing about what she went through is going to hurt but I need to know what happened so I can deal with it. Because, regardless of what she wants or what she thinks is right, the cunt won't get away with hurting her.

"You sure you want to hear this, it's a long story?" I pin her with a bored look, there is no way she is getting out of this.

"Start talking."

She purses her lips and nods, then takes a deep breath as she squares her shoulders. I see her begin to wall off her emotions and shut down everything she feels so she can dive into her own past. I understand that and resonate with how fucking hard it is to relive those moments that tore you apart and set you on the course you're on now.

"After we ended, I dove into work and started to focus more on my career again. I wanted to prove to myself that I could be happy on my own and didn't need a man. I wanted to show not only myself but I guess a part of me wanted to stick it to my dad and show him that I could be okay without his constant pestering and interfering in my life. I stopped checking in with Uncle Bishop and told him I was fine. He backed off but I knew he was always there watching somehow. Then suddenly out of nowhere when I was leaving work, I bumped head first into someone. I was utterly shocked to see it was Colson."

Colson is soon to be fucking dead!

"I won't bore you with all the details but we agreed to meet up. One thing led to another and I stupidly thought that this was the universe telling me that I was meant to let you go so I could find Colson again." I grind my teeth so fucking hard they begin to ache, but I remain silent. "It started off small. He would pout and beg for me to take days off so we could spend more time together. I was foolish, I thought if I poured my focus into him I would stop thinking about… you. " My brows raise at her admission, I never knew she still thought of me. "Then it changed from me taking days off to what I wore, who I spoke to, who I hung out with, my weight and when I rebelled, he got angry. He would scream and shout but never laid a hand on me, until he did."

I hold a hand up, stopping her as I try to rein in control over my anger and thirst for blood. I'm not in the right headspace to hear this. I am going to flip out and drive to Chicago to kill this cock sucking cunt. "Carry on," I grit out.

"The first time he hit me, he acted like it was an accident and he never meant to actually do it. I was a fool, I believed him. The days after, he was so sweet and kind and always apologizing. I decided to move on and let go of that but then he came into work and saw me talking to Conrad–my coworker—and lost it. I left work early and in the car on the way home he… he… punched me."

"Motherfucker!" I roar and spin away from her, my breaths are coming in rapid pants as I fight for control.

"I tried to leave, I fought back like Uncle Knight had trained me to do but it was useless. He overpowered me and forced me into submission. He told me I was his and I would never get away. I retreated inside myself. Everything my dad had told me about the world was true. Men aren't princes and treat women like prizes, they use them for their advantage." I hear the bitterness lacing each of her words. "Colson showed his true intentions not long after that."

I spin around and face her to see tears cascading down her cheeks. I want to go to her and wrap my arms around her and vow to protect her, but I'm too wound up and don't want to scare her further so I remain where I am. "How?"

"He admitted that he targeted me at college. He thought bagging the heir to the Murdoch Mafia would cement his place as one of the most powerful men in the world. What he didn't know was that I didn't want any part of my family's business. I thought my dad sent him away because he didn't want me to have a semblance of happiness unless he decided I could have it. I blamed my dad for everything after that. I pushed him away and the truth is… I was wrong. He was just protecting me because they found evidence of Colson plotting to use me against my family and Dad chose not to tell me because he didn't want me to feel like I was a fool. He allowed me to blame him and… hate him because he would rather that, than let me feel like an idiot for falling for the wrong boy."

"You aren't a fool. He used and manipulated you, angel."

"He did more than use me, Cronos. The night I fled, he admitted to tampering with the condoms we used so I would get pregnant. He wanted to make sure I could never escape him. He knew birth control was a huge thing for me and I was always safe, so he tampered with the condoms."

I swear on my life this cunt will die slowly!