Chapter 24

Cyrus

It felt like being struck by lightning or a surge of electricity that coursed through my veins, leaving me stunned. Emilia looked just as shocked, and she suddenly pushed my chest so hard that she fell off the couch, taking the blanket with her. I peered over the edge of the couch, and her ass was sticking up in the air as she wrestled with the blanket, only for her hand to slip. Her face was about to hit the wooden floor, but I managed to grab her T-shirt just in the nick of time. I shook myself out of my stupor and hauled her back onto the couch.

I shifted onto my back and lay her on top of me, but she let out a long groan and buried her face in my chest. Her long locks of hair covered her face. Someone somewhere must love me to have sent me an angel. Albeit a twisted dark angel, but an angel nonetheless.

"I've been a cold-hearted, brutal monster for too long. I don't know how to love," I whispered, stroking my fingers through her hair. "The only person I ever loved was my little sister, but perhaps she sent you to me because she knew I needed you in my life."

Her head slowly came up, and I swallowed hard when I saw the sorrow on her face. I didn't see pity in her dark eyes, only understanding. She knew my pain, and she somehow felt it for me because she—loved me. It made me wish that I was an ordinary man who could love and cherish her the way she deserved, but I was too selfish to let her go.

"Cyrus, I have enough love in my heart for both of us," she whispered so softly that I barely heard her.

Tears pooled in her wide, soulful eyes, and her lips trembled but rested her hands on my cheeks as her tears tipped over onto her cheeks. She moved up my body, and I put my arms around her back. I felt a feather-like kiss on my forehead before she stroked my hair back and kissed my cheek.

A tear drop fell on my face, and I closed my eyes so she wouldn't see the tumultuous emotions brewing in my eyes. I tightened my arms around her so I could hold her close. She burrowed her face into the crook of my neck and pressed her lips against me to kiss me again. A weight that I didn't know I carried lifted off my chest. I breathed in the scent of Emilia's hair as her slight body rested on mine, and I felt my heart beating against her. I knew wherever she was, that was where my home was.

For the first time in my life, I told another living person every detail of what took place in my family. I shared my happiest memories of my sister, and in speaking about Ruby, I could remember her before the dark shadows began to appear in her eyes, before she became withdrawn, and before my failure to save her. My angel silently listened to me, all the while soothing me with her presence.

She told me about her younger siblings, her parents and her grandparents. She recounted how living with her grandparents shaped her into who she was today. There was a little hesitance, but I put it down to her wanting to spare my feelings because my family life had been so dismal by comparison.

When she began to yawn, I carried her upstairs. I lay awake for hours, considering all my options for my business as well as a few targets I wanted to deal with before I left the country. When I began to tire, I pulled Emilia against me and within a few moments, I fell asleep with the faint awareness of our hearts beating together.

**

I was about to go into the bedroom when I heard Emilia giggle. I pushed the door open a few inches and saw she was sitting cross-legged on the bed in front of her laptop with her Grandmother's Holo showing.

"Does he look after you, Angel?" I heard her Grandmother's sharp voice.

Emilia hadn't mentioned that her family called her Angel, yet another happy coincidence.

"I wouldn't be with him if he didn't," she replied.

"Hmm. He did well with your rings. I had to buy my own," her grandmother said with a sniff.

"For the love of God, Valeria, I wish you would stop making digs about that. It's been over fifty years. Get over it," her Grandfather shouted, but his voice sounded muffled, and I couldn't see his Holo.

"Did you finally get some dick?" I heard her Grandmother whisper. "Was it good dick?"

What kind of a grandmother was she?

I wondered if old people still had sex. They both looked healthy for their ages, and if Harrison had any issues, there were drugs for erectile dysfunction. I could tell that they had been a good-looking couple at one point in their lives.

Emilia began to giggle again, which made me smile.

"You know I had an awful experience once. I didn't know what a micropenis was at the time, but it looked like a deformed nipple glued above a hairy set of bollocks. In the end, I had to walk away because I was sure my clit was bigger than his nipple dick. I'd have been better off with a woman that night."

I began to feel sick at the picture she painted.

What the fuck was wrong with her? She'd looked like a sweet old lady when I'd talked to her.

"Grandma! What the heck?"

"Hmm, no. You look too happy, so he can't have a micropenis," she mused. "If he did, you'd still be a virgin."

Emilia covered her face with her hands and groaned while her Grandmother began to cackle.

"You haven't told me how it went with Dad," Emilia said, switching the subject.

I frowned when I heard her Grandmother sigh.

"Angel, your father is in denial. I can't believe that I gave birth to that idiot. He stormed out of the house like a drama queen. He even left your mother behind until he realised what he did and came back to collect her fifteen minutes later."

"Oh God. Please, Grandma, you need to do something," Emilia pleaded with her.

"We're giving him a few days to adjust. We will all be there for your wedding. I will make sure of that. My normal children are happy for you, Angel."

What was wrong with Emilia's Dad? I didn't know any other families but I was sure this couldn't be typical behaviour.

"I need to speak to him, Grandma. I need to try to make him understand," Emilia said, but her underlying anxiety and sadness were apparent to me.

"He might feel better after killing a few people," her Grandmother said. "I would let it be for now, Angel. He will come around. He loves you more than you know."

I stared at Emilia, who looked dejected, but she didn't bat an eyelid at her Grandmother's words.

"You're probably right," she mumbled as she nibbled on her lower lip.

Feeling dazed, I turned away from the room because I couldn't remember what I'd come upstairs for, but I needed to process what I'd discovered. It could have been an offhand comment about killing people. It didn't matter what her family was. Emilia was mine, and if her father took issue with that fact I wouldn't hesitate to set him straight.