19. Delilah
Chapter nineteen
Delilah
“ H e’s just been acting weird, Kimi! It’s been weeks, and he’s been avoiding me.”
I was chatting to Kimi over FaceTime. While I was home, thinking about Archer rather than finishing up my ten-page paper, she was working in her office at the academy with Avery.
“So let me get this straight, ” she started. “The guy practically bullies you your entire life. You asked him to leave you alone, he listened, and now you’re upset?”
I thought about it for a moment and sighed as I ran my hand through my hair. “Would you think I’m crazy if I said yes?”
“Actually, I have nothing to say at all. If anything I’m a bit lost in the situation as of right now.”
“I am as well, Miss Russel,” I heard Avery say in the background and rolled my eyes.
“Out of my conversation, Avery.”
“Of course, Miss,” he said, but he didn’t get up, so I knew he was still listening.
“I don’t know, Kimi. I-I just—”
“Want his attention?” she asked me, and I sighed.
“No... Yes? Is that bad?”
“Not if you don’t care about Uncle Killian tearing everything to shreds if he finds out.”
Leaning my head back, I puffed, annoyed. “But I do care about that.”
“Then yes, it is a bad thing.”
I sighed and laid my head on the desk. Marshmallow hopped up on my lap and cuddled into my arms. Kimi moved her face into the camera fully and looked at him.
“Is that my little Snowball? Have you been feeding him! Does his aunty need him to bring him some treats?”
At the sound of the word “treats,” his ears perked up, but he didn’t move.
I lowered his ears as I caressed him, and I glared at Kimi. “Kimiko, don’t make my baby excited for nothing.”
“What do you mean, nothing? I was going to send Avery to drop off some—”
I sent her a look. “Kimiko! Back to our conversation!” I exclaimed.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You want an answer? Stop what you’re doing and listen to your brain, not your heart.”
I made a face. “My heart? Kimiko, this has nothing to do with my heart.”
She nodded sarcastically. “ Yeah, okay. Look, Dee, I gotta run. Don’t get into too much trouble,” she said, and I nodded and bid her goodbye before I ended the call.
I snuggled with Marshmallow for a little before a knock was heard at my door.
“Come in,” I said, and Benjamin walked in. The look on his face told me that something was going on, and it wouldn’t be something I liked.
“Hey, Benny,” I said softly, and he stood beside me.
“Good afternoon, Delilah... Your father asked me to present you with your March and April schedule.”
I took it and read the paper. My schedule for April seemed a bit too long.
I tilted my head. “Why do I have events scheduled for our time in Paris?” I asked, mostly to myself, and Benjamin answered.
“He has canceled your flight to go as well.”
My heart dropped. I looked up at Ben, and he looked at me with sadness in his eyes.
“I-I don’t know why he would—I’ll talk to him,” I sputtered.
Benjamin placed a hand on my shoulder. “Give him a moment or so. He just finished a heated conversation over the phone… It wouldn’t be wise going in to speak to him right now.”
I sighed with a nod. “Thank you, Ben…” I said softly, and he left the room silently.
An hour passed, and I stood at the door of my father’s office. I knocked and listened to his voice as he allowed me to enter. I entered slowly and pulled on the end of my sweater as he sat at his desk with a stack of papers and files everywhere.
God, Calvin always makes him into a complete mess .
He looked over at me and tilted his head. “Delilah, sweetheart… How can I help you?”
“Dad, Benny, uh—he told me that you gave me a new schedule for March and April, and you c-canceled my flight to Paris. I just wanted to ask if it was because you wanted me to go with the other students or—”
“You’re not going,” he replied as he looked at his computer, and tears immediately sprung to my eyes.
“W-why?” I asked softly.
He turned to me with an emotionless expression. “What do I look like sending my daughter across the world without my protection along with Lockwood’s and Crawford’s sons?” he asked. I could feel my hands getting a bit clammy as he continued, “Until this mess with Calvin settles down, I don’t want you going anywhere.”
The way he spoke told me that his words had a nonnegotiable conclusiveness to them.
“B-but Nathan can come with me, or any of our other bodyguards,” I tried to reason, but he seemed to be having none of it.
“Delilah, I have a lot of work to go over. We’ll discuss this later,” Dad dismissed me.
I spoke again, even as my throat threatened to close up. “So I can’t go… n-not even to support K-Kimi?”
Dad didn’t say anything for a moment.
“I don’t like repeating myself, Delilah. As of right now, my decision is final. No more questions.”
“Daddy…” I whimpered with a slight tremble, but he simply looked up at me and spoke without any remorse.
“I said no more questions.”
I bit my lip as tears came down my face. Dad looked away, and I walked out of the office, making sure to slam the door in the process.
I walked back to my room. Before I stepped in, my mother came out of her room and froze as she caught sight of me. We both stood staring at one another; then she opened her arms after a few moments and I quickly went into her embrace for comfort.
My father had a tendency to speak his mind at any time, not worried about the effect he had on anyone on the receiving end, and that was still the case today. His eyes were cold, and he had no sympathy laced in them at all, as his word was always final from his perspective.
Eventually, Mom moved us to my room and we sat on my bed together.
“He doesn’t even care. He’s so ruthless and doesn’t even want me to enjoy my break with my best friend,” I whispered.
She wiped my tears away softly with her thumbs. “I know, sweetheart. I’ll try to talk to him, but at times like this, he’s usually hard to get to,” she warned.
I sighed. Mom was the first person who knew everything about Dad, and when she said there was no getting through to him, I knew she was telling the truth.
“It’s always Calvin,” I muttered, and she nodded silently. Then, after a moment, we both had the same look in our eyes.
“You want me to talk to him?” I asked her, and she sighed.
“I don’t want you anywhere near the man, but I don’t know, sweetie. This could go both ways; it could make things better or make them worse. He listens to you, so maybe give it a shot, but don’t get your hopes up.”
“…I just want to enjoy my break with my best friend without constant tension.”
Mom squeezed my hand in reassurance. “Then you have my permission. Have a chat with him and see what you can get out of the conversation.”
I nodded, and she gave me an almost cheeky smile.
“You’ve been very emotional lately… Does this have anything to do with our Edward or Jacob?”
I pulled away and rolled my eyes as I pushed my hair out of my face.
“Oh my gosh, Mom,” I said, and she laughed as I stood up and walked away.
“I’m just asking, sweetheart. Hormones work in different ways—”
I looked over at her in disbelief, and she continued to laugh. My blush threatened to rise, but I looked away from her.
“Okay, thanks for the chat, Mom.”
She finished laughing and kissed me on the forehead. “I still haven’t forgotten that you promised to watch your siblings and cousins! We’re setting the date soon!” she said, leaving the room happily, and I shook my head.
Please, please don’t remind me.
Sitting in the library, I was in my usual corner, going over my Chemistry homework alone. I didn’t feel like eating right now, which was unfortunate because today we were having seafood, and I was always one for crab cakes.
A book dropped on the desk across from me, and I looked up to see the boy I was running after on the first day of school.
“Is, uh… this seat taken?” he asked, and I shook my head.
“It’s all yours,” I responded.
He moved his bag off of the table and sat down. He pushed his glasses up and wiped his hands on his pants multiple times.
“I’m Kyle, by the way,” he said, and I gave him my full attention.
“Delilah.”
He nodded his head. “I know who you are… and I’m sure you remember me from your first day.”
“Pretty hard to shake that image of you out of my mind,” I replied, and he bit his lip.
“Yeah. I-I’m sorry for how I’ve acted towards you up until now... You didn’t deserve it.”
I crossed my arms on the table and tilted my head. “Took you long enough to figure that out. What made you come around?”
“Brad spoke to me about what happened with you and Luca, and I see you around a lot during school. It’s not hard to see that you’re not like them. I mean, right now, it’s lunch, and the daughter of the richest man on earth is working on synthesis reactions.”
I closed the book and rolled my eyes. “Way to sugarcoat it,” I muttered, and he suppressed a smile.
“I just wanted to apologize. You’re different, and I should’ve seen that when you tried to help me.”
“No hard feelings.” I shrugged as I was reminded of my conversation with Archer a few days or so ago.
Speaking of the devil, past Kyle’s shoulders, I watched as Archer strolled into the library looking for something before he fixed his eyes on me. I thought he was going to come towards me, but he went off in the other direction as I watched silently.
I excused myself from Kyle quickly and walked into the aisles of the books to see Archer standing in the middle, “looking” through the books on the shelves.
He pulled out a book and flipped through it as I said, “Hi.”
He side-eyed me before putting the book back. “You didn’t eat in the dining hall today.”
“I was studying. Were you looking for me?”
He didn’t say anything for a moment. “…I went to Kimiko’s office, and you weren’t with her either, and she told me you’d be here.”
“Whatever happened to leaving me alone, Lockwood?” I asked him as I bit my lip, and he approached me slowly. He towered over me slightly and I watched as he ran his eyes up and down my frame shamelessly.
“Well, Princess, I wanted to make sure you were all right, and from the looks of things, I’d say that you are.”
“Is that the only reason you came to find me?”
He shrugged his shoulders, and my back hit the bookshelves as he towered over me fully at this point.
“She also told me you were unsure if you were going to Paris.”
“And that has everything to do with your father,” I responded swiftly.
He hummed in response before his arm wrapped around my waist and abruptly pulled me towards him. I jumped slightly, and heat rose to my face. He was only inches away from my face, and my knees buckled slightly as his eyes darkened.
“The only reason I spent close to ten grand to go on a fucking field trip was because you were going. I want you there, Delilah. I know I’m technically overstepping boundaries right now, but I planned to spend time in Paris with you even though I knew I had to stay away from you… like you want me to, right?” he whispered in my ear.
I was at a loss for words. Looking up at him through my eyelashes, my hands found his chest as he leaned in closer.
Running them up his shirt, I gasped softly as his hand found my hair, and he gripped, pulling me closer to him. With his lips dangerously hovering over mine, he looked into my eyes, his own hooded with lust, as he silently urged me to let him continue.
My breaths became more shallow as I was pulled flush against him, and as I gripped his tie with my hand, I breathlessly nodded, giving him the green light to continue.
In an instant, his lips were on mine, and I held back a moan as I greedily wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer as I wanted more. My body was practically on fire as his hands explored my waist, settling on my ass, groping me shamelessly as he pulled me closer to him.
I tried to push him away, get him out of my thoughts, and yet here I was, wanting him closer to me… He always had the right touch, he knew what made me shiver, what made me always turn to putty in his hands.
I moaned softly, and he backed me against the shelves again. My legs quivered slightly as my breathing became more labored, and I could feel him smiling against my lips as he pulled away for just a moment to let me catch my breath. Hands still in rather questionable places, we simply stared at one another as our chests rose and fell while we tried to control our breathing.
I didn’t hate the guy that much, but if there was one thing I knew I hated, it was the way I’d get lost in his eyes—his dangerous, possessive, overprotective eyes that always looked for me in a crowded room, that tormented me first and cherished me after. He was as confusing as he was addicting, and I’d only realized recently how much he was affecting me.
We both heard a throat clear and we pulled away to see the librarian looking at us through her glasses as she crossed her arms. I cleared my own throat, and Archer pulled away and wordlessly walked out of the library. Attempting to feebly fix my hair as embarrassment weighed heavy on my shoulders, I went back over to the table I was sitting at to see Brad now sitting there as well.
“Hey, Brad,” I said to him, and he and Kyle both looked up at me expectantly. “What?” I asked as I crossed my arms.
“This is a library, Delilah. It’s quiet for a reason, and judging from the flushed look on your face, I can see that you were the one causing the disruption,” Brad muttered.
I blushed even harder as I averted my eyes from his. “Shut up,” I whispered, annoyed.
They both laughed as they continued their conversation, attempting to get me involved. However, I was too lost in my thoughts as Archer’s taste lingered on my lips.
So he was only going because of me? Mom tried to talk some sense into my dad, but he could not be any more unreasonable. I groaned internally as the solution to my problems appeared once again in my mind.
There was only one thing left to do.
Opening up my phone, I shamefully opened his contact and sent him a message. Unsurprisingly, I immediately received a response.
I’d like to speak to you sometime this afternoon if you’re not busy.
Calvin: Why, of course, Kitten. I always have time for you. Stop by whenever you aren’t busy.
Omniscient
Killian’s office door burst open, and he looked up and sighed.
“What is it with the woman in this house coming to bother me while I’m working today?” he asked himself.
Brielle shook her head. “No! None of this ‘I’m an alpha male’ crap while I’m in here. What did you do not even thirty minutes ago, Killian? Our daughter is distraught because she and Kimiko have been planning this trip to the academy for almost two months now, and you just ruined it in a span of five minutes.”
“She’ll get over it,” he uttered.
Brielle scoffed. “Like hell she will! Do you know after all that you’ve put her through for being the ‘oldest’ or your ‘first daughter,’ she has yet to lash out and call you anything other than her father?”
“Well, I would expect nothing less than her to address me as she should.”
“Killian, you can’t shelter her for long. We’re lucky that after so many years, she hasn’t lashed out with your impenetrable mind. God, it’s like talking to a damn brick wall, except a brick wall would at least not talk.”
He rolled his eyes as he continued to look through his files and glanced at her after a moment or so. “Are you done?”
She stood silently and angrily crossed her arms. He sighed once again and pushed his seat back as he ran his hands down his face.
“Come here, Brielle.”
This made her angrier.
“No! You’re not going to try to have office sex with me to get me to forget this whole thing. Figure something out that allows my daughter to go on her trip. Your and Calvin’s business has nothing to do with her. Get that through your mind. And until you do, for the time being, you’re sleeping on the floor,” she finished and walked out of his office, slamming the door.
He rolled his eyes.
Do they really think they get their point across from slamming the damn door?
He thought about her words for a moment, and she was technically right. Picking up one of the pictures on his desk, he sighed as he looked at his first girl at her ballet recital, excitedly smiling beside him. Could she potentially lash out at me? he asked himself, and if it were truly out of anger and he pushed her over the edge, she may have even gone as far as to say that he wasn’t her real father… just like Brielle mentioned she might. But he knew his wife was only exaggerating as she vented her frustration.
He placed the photo down and sighed. He was torn between seeing his daughter happy and wanting her safe and secure. She was growing up fast… too damn fast. But she was his daughter first and foremost. He only wanted her to be safe.
With everything going on with Calvin, he didn’t want there to be any more issues than necessary involving Archer or Delilah, in another country, for that matter.
A Few Days Before
Eugene walked into Calvin’s office and Andrew looked over to him for a split second.
“I’ve been by this window for the last twenty minutes. I didn’t notice you walk through the door for visitors, and we have yet to be informed that you were here to see Calvin,” Andrew said.
Calvin walked in from the conjoined room and rolled his eyes. “It’s been fifteen years, and the man still refuses to walk through a damn door. Climbing buildings or sneaking into them is dangerous, Eugene… but you’re on the verge of being clinically insane, so keep up the great work.”
Eugene crossed his arms. “Calvin, I thought we were done. I killed Marissa and my parents. You were supposed to let me off the hook.”
Calvin simply chuckled. “I think over a decade is quite a long time to be let off the hook, don’t you agree? And before you gloat anymore about something you didn’t do, she’s still alive.” He handed him the letter, and Eugene read it over quickly before tossing it to the side, his anger beginning to rise.
“I left them in the middle of nowhere to bleed out and die. She had no way of getting out of the situation,” he tried to reason, but Calvin shook his head.
“Well, you didn’t follow the fucking directions now, did you? You left them to bleed out? All that tells me is you didn’t finish the job. You were in charge of making this little issue go away, and here we are back to square fucking one!” Calvin screamed, but Eugene seemed unfazed, though he was slightly panicking on the inside. This was his fault.
“News flash, if you hadn’t already guessed, you’re no longer off the fucking hook. You don’t get to hide away from me now. You work for me. We need to get back to planning for this year, and you’ll be here the entire way through whether you like it or not.”
“Calvin... I don’t want anything to happen to my family. You saw what they tried to do to Brielle.” Eugene spoke as memories of a scheduled hit-and-run left him in a panic as his sister was in the hospital.
“Which is why you will keep your mouth shut and do as I say... Juliet and Melanie will continue to remain safe. They aren’t being targeted, but... let something happen to the kitten, and we may have a bit of a disagreement in regards to them.”
“You’re still working on that plan,” Eugene stated, and Calvin chuckled sarcastically.
“And it was going smooth until your mistake posed a threat. What else could I possibly be doing with my time? This isn’t all for nothing, Eugene.”
Eugene didn’t say anything as he looked away and Calvin leaned against his desk.
“You could always say no, Eugene. I’m sure Brielle and Killian would love to hear how you’ve failed and how their family is no longer safe. I’m sure they’d love to hear about your time after the war when you were practically off the rails. I’m sure Juliet would probably love to hear it too,” Calvin threatened.
Eugene ran his hands through his hair.
He contemplated whether he could actually go through with assisting Calvin, not to mention how it would impact Delilah. But his past was something he was trying to run from, and even though small parts of it were coming back, it was better than his family knowing the entirety of what he’d done.
An image of Delilah and Brielle flashed in his mind, and almost instantly, Juliet and their daughter Melanie appeared, defenseless and relying on him to keep them safe.
Sighing, he looked over to Calvin, silently praying his sister and niece would forgive him as he uttered his next words.
“What’s my first assignment?”