That turned out to be much harder than taking any hit her father had to give.
“That’s enough for tonight.” He stopped her when he saw the first tear fall. Drago picked her up, taking them to the bed, so he could wrap his arms around her and hold her. “You have the remainder of our lives to tell me the rest—if you stay with me.”
Trying to stop her tears, she pressed her body deeper into his, feeling the cold metal of his ring that touched her skin. For the first time, she finally noticed the weight of her own that sat snuggly around her finger…
To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.
She had no intentions of dying or taking it off anytime soon. Not ever.
Thirty-Nine
The Sins of My Father
She was glad Drago was with her because she thought walking up to that house would have made her happy, but it didn’t. She was happy to get to see her brothers, but she wasn’t happy to be home. Coming back, she could see it for what it was: a house of horrors.
The devil might not live in it anymore, but you couldn’t take back what happened in that house.
Dominic opened the door as soon as their feet touched the porch, the sight of him causing Kat to jump up into his arms to give him a hug. It was the longest time they had spent away from each other; she was so glad to see him again. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too.” He hugged her for a bit before he placed her back down on the floor.
It didn’t take her long to figure out that something seemed off about her brother. She knew he was just as glad to see her, but she could see the silent rage he carried behind his hazel eyes.
“Kat, why don’t you go see Matthias. I want to talk to Drago.”
Swallowing hard, she looked at Drago, not wanting to leave, but he gave her nod telling her it was okay. So, she did, knowing that Drago was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
As she walked down the hall, it was hard for her to pass the basement door, unable to even look at it as she continued to Matthias’s room. She knocked on the door first, but when she got no response, she cracked it open to find Matthias on the bed just lying there silently, staring at the wall.
Kat went in doing what she usually did when she saw him like this. Slowly, she lay down beside him, placing her hands under her face to where he could no longer see that wall and was forced to stare only at her.
His haunted eyes seemed to finally see her as he slowly came back from the darkness. Whispering, his voice sounded just as haunted. “Hi, Kat.”
“Hi.” She smiled at him knowing he always liked it when she smiled.
“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you.” She reached out to feel his face. “You didn’t think I forgot about you, did you?”
The way he looked at her fucking killed her. It was almost like he wasn’t even there, slowly becoming a shell of a man who had been hurt too many times.
She tried her best to keep her happy face. “You know, Angel lives just a few doors down from me. You can come over to visit anytime you want now.”
He only nodded.
Kat could no longer hold her smile. It hurt too much to see him this far gone. “I love you, Matthias.”
“I love you too,” he whispered more clearly, his eyes less glazed as they watched the tear fall from the corner of her eye and down to her hand under her head. “Don’t cry, Kat.”
What she had said seemed to work to get him out of that dark place for now, but what about next time?
“I’ll be okay,” he tried to promise her. “Why don’t you go find Cassius. I think something has been bothering him, but he won’t tell me what it is.”
Kat stared at him for a moment longer, not wanting to leave him but also knowing she would never be the one to save him. Placing a kiss on his forehead, she regretfully left him to find Cassius.
Going up the creaky old stairs at the back of the house, she knew exactly where he’d be. The upstairs consisted of Lucifer’s old room, but Dominic used it now after he had given her his old room. She opened the big window, letting the cold air hit her face.
“You know I don’t like it when you come out here,” Kat grumbled, squeezing out the window to sit on the roof next to her youngest brother.