66. Omniscient
Chapter sixty-six
Omniscient
L uca shushed Ivory softly as he looked down at her, and she trembled in his arms. She looked up at him in fear only to see he had a tired and sadistic look in his eyes. He wiped away the lone tear that fell from her eye as he stared at the little girl with only a bit of pity.
“Everything... was going according to plan. Everything . Imagine my fucking surprise when I received a letter telling me to turn my fucking self in for assisting in the murder of your deadbeat family,” he snarled.
Ivory shook her head softly. “I-I’m s-sorry! I-I didn’t mean to,” she began, but flinched when Luca grabbed her by the hair and turned her to face him, still holding the knife to her throat.
“Didn’t mean to what!” he screamed, and she whimpered as he got closer.
“You know who gets to walk free? Your uncle Eugene, the actual murderer. And what the fuck do I get? I get a fucking father who wants nothing to do with me and a life sentence for assisting in a crime I didn’t even commit… all because you couldn’t keep your little mouth shut!” he seethed.
Ivory closed her eyes in fear as a sob racked her chest.
Hearing bushes rustling, Luca looked over to see Jin quickly emerging, seemingly horrified by the sight before him.
“Luca, please—” he began, and Luca shook his head.
“I’ve done enough fucking listening, and so have you two. If I’m fucking going down… I’m taking all of you with me.”
“She didn’t want to tell anyone! It was eating her alive, but she was so afraid of you that she didn’t want to say anything!” Jin spoke truthfully.
Luca hummed as he caressed the side of Ivory’s face.
“I scare you, hmmm? Are you afraid of me, little Ivory?” he asked.
She nodded quickly as the words wouldn’t escape her mouth.
Luca gazed at her for a few more seconds before throwing her to the ground. She whimpered in pain as Jin’s heart clenched.
“Good,” Luca replied, looking back over to Jin as he approached him slowly. “To think I would hurt such a sweet little girl for something her boyfriend decided to spill… Hell, I’ve probably hit rock bottom already, considering I’m here contemplating if I should hurt actual children.”
Jin slowly stepped back as he gulped. Luca’s smile widened as Jin tripped over a branch, taking him to the ground. Leaning down, Luca sighed heavily.
“It’s almost too fucking easy,” he muttered, and glanced over his shoulder to see Ivory looking over to Jin with fear and sadness as she tried to lift herself from the impact of being thrown.
“I’m almost sad to see you two go through this. Key word being almost— ” Luca began, but was cut off as he was hit over the head with something blunt.
Jin looked up and let out a breath as Zachary dropped the rock in his hand out of pure shock. After shaking himself from the fear, he pulled Jin to stand up by the hand and quickly went over to his sister, who was in the middle of a panic attack.
Her body was shivering, and her face was red, with tears constantly falling. She gave a little hiccup as sobs continued to escape her, and Zachary shushed her softly as he pulled her to stand. Noticing her legs giving out slightly, he picked her up carefully, and she laid her head on his shoulder.
“H-How did you know something was wrong?” Jin asked.
Zachary shook his head. “I didn’t. He did .”
They both looked over to see Stephan, Archer’s older brother, emerging from the trees with Killian, Archer, and their bodyguards, Nathan and Trent. Nathan grabbed Luca from the shirt and pulled him up off the ground while Trent placed the handcuffs on him from behind.
Stephan’s voice filled the silence. “I knew Luca was going to do something extreme. And I just couldn’t take it. I had to tell someone, but it wasn’t just something I could say over the phone. When I came to tell everyone, Zachary immediately took off into the forest to find you and Ivory. Call it a gut feeling, but he immediately knew something was wrong.”
Killian walked over to his daughter, who was still shaken about the whole experience. Taking her from her brother, he glanced over to Jin, who was avoiding all eye contact.
He leaned down toward Jin and spoke in a low voice. “When she’s feeling better... the three of us are going to have a bit of a chat regarding your relationship.”
Jin responded slightly shakily. “Of course, sir.”
Killian walked ahead as everyone followed. Archer and Stephan remained silent, but there was a definite tension between the two.
Archer and Stephan were standing in the living room, and there was a deafening silence.
“Congratulations on your engagement, by the way,” Stephan muttered.
Archer remained silent.
Stephan looked over to his younger brother and noticed the angry and resentful look in his eyes.
“Let it out, little brother,” he muttered, and as if a switch went off, Archer’s glare intensified as he seethed his following few words.
“You’re no fucking brother of mine.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Stephan sighed as he replied.
Archer continued, “Do you know how much shit you put me through the last few weeks, months… years?! Here I was, trying to gain your approval for all of my childhood, and for what? For you to attempt to ruin my relationship by exposing it to Killian early or for constantly being against me and blaming me for our father’s actions? He’s the one who played you, not me.”
“Archer... I know—”
“No, you don’t know any fucking thing. If you knew anything, you wouldn’t make it your goal to treat me like shit.”
“I know you love Delilah,” Stephan muttered, and Archer scoffed, shaking his head as if the mere mention of Delilah’s name coming from his older brother’s mouth was an insult considering all that he’s done.
“Of course I love her,” Archer snapped, his voice low and dangerous. “I also loved my older brother despite him betraying his own family and putting the woman I love and the people she loves in danger. Because of your own selfish jealousy, you schemed, you plotted, you did everything you could to tear us apart.”
Stephan’s face hardened, but there was still a flicker of guilt in his eyes. “I made mistakes, Archer, I know that. But it wasn’t about jealousy. It was about trying to protect you, even if you can’t see that.”
“Trying to protect me?” Archer laughed bitterly, the sound harsh and cold. “You weren’t protecting me. You were destroying me. You pushed me away for being the ‘golden child.’ That’s what you bitched about to justify your shitty behavior, right?”
“You’re right,” Stephan admitted, his voice steady despite the accusation. “But if I hadn’t exposed the two of you, something much more drastic would have happened. Imagine the potential rampage your future father-in-law would go on if he found out about you and Delilah in a more fucked-up way. Luca is not in his right mind.”
“And you are?” Archer asked sarcastically, his tone sharp.
Stephan sighed, “At least I had the decency to send pictures that weren’t all that demeaning to the man’s daughter. Sure, I did go a bit overboard, but it would have been nothing compared to what that idiot would have done.”
Archer remained silent, the weight of Stephan’s words settling in. “If it weren’t for you… I don’t know what that idiot would have done to this family... He would have truly torn it apart. So for that, I am grateful.”
Stephan could tell Archer wanted to say more, and he muttered, “But?” already expecting the worst from his little brother.
“But… I think we need some time apart,” Archer said, his voice heavy with emotion. “You need time to come to terms with everything—no matter how fucked up it is. And I need time to heal from what you’ve done. I spent so many years looking up to you, only to have that admiration twisted into something painful and destructive. I need space to figure out if I even want to try rebuilding our relationship after all these years of effort. We both need time to process this before we can think about moving forward.”
“Fair enough... I don’t expect any forgiveness because I know I don’t deserve it. Tell everyone I said goodbye, would you?” Stephan asked, and Archer gave a slight nod and simply watched as Stephan turned and walked out of the home without another word.
Archer took a seat on the sofa, feeling angry but also a tremendous sense of relief. He hadn’t forgiven his brother, but he honestly didn’t need to. Not until he was ready.
What truly mattered was that he was able to voice his feelings, and for the first time in his life, his older brother actually listened. Whether or not their relationship would go any further would be to Archer’s discretion; however, he was grateful for what his brother did for his future wife’s family.
“Everything okay?” He heard her melodic voice and looked up to see his fiancée walking over to him cautiously.
He pulled her down to his lap playfully, and she giggled as he placed a few kisses on her neck.
“How is Ivory doing?” he muttered.
Delilah bit her lip as she thought back to the shaken state of her sister. “Mom and Dad are with her now. She’s a bit shaken up, but I think she’ll be okay...” she said, hopeful of her sister overcoming this.
Archer nodded his head as he laid it on her shoulder.
“You still didn’t answer my question,” Delilah whispered as she ran her hand through his hair, to which he simply looked up at her in question. “I asked you if everything was okay. I know it’s a bit of a broad question, but it’ll let me know how you’re feeling,” she muttered.
He was silent for a moment.
Pulling her closer, he spoke wholeheartedly. “When I’m with you, Princess… yes. Everything is always okay.”