Chapter 77 Delilah #2
I’ve never seen my sister angry. Scarlet, yeah.
She’s a raging bitch and wears it with pride.
But Ruby was always calm, gently maneuvering around our parents, stopping tensions before they could rise.
Now, as her tears slip down her cheeks, I’m surprised they haven’t evaporated from the hate burning in her eyes.
“He touched you?” she forces out, her voice still managing to remain soft.
I nod, feeling a weight lift off me at her believing me, instead of telling me to shut up.
She stretches across the table, gripping my fingers with both hands as she lowers her head.
“I am so sorry, Dilly. I promise I did everything I could, but when they found out I was pregnant with Seraphim, they put me through fucking hell. There wasn’t a choice.
I couldn’t risk them knowing she exists. If they find out, she won’t be safe.”
“Is that why you sold her people to eat?”
She shakes her head, taking a deep breath.
“This farm isn’t a working farm. It’s just for us, but you have to understand something.
I would kill for you and Scarlet. I raised you, bathed you, read you stories.
I sacrificed to keep you both safe. Whether I was successful or not is a different story.
But I won’t sacrifice any more children to our parents’ ways.
I will kill whoever I have to, eat their flesh myself if it means I get to be here,” she lightly presses her finger to the table, “to be the mother we never had.”
I can’t be angry at her for doing something I couldn’t.
Not when I’d do anything to go back in time to prevent Helene hurting my babies.
My selfishness has ruled every aspect of my life, ruined more than my own life, but it doesn’t factor into where the babies are concerned.
I know without a doubt that if I went back in time, I would have prevented them from being born so they never knew pain.
The firsthand knowledge of that pain and regret pushes the bitterness aside as I say, “You did the right thing.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you did. We didn’t know we were surrounded by it all of our lives. At least there’s someone who isn’t. You changed it all, stopped history repeating itself.”
“I hope so. I’m just glad you’re alive. I tried hiding things for you in the crates, but you never called so I thought you’d managed to escape when Kane disappeared.
” She squeezes my hand, wiping her tears off her cheeks.
“Scarlet said you’d be cursing up a storm, calling us bitches for leaving you or fantasizing about our worrying, saying we deserved it for leaving you behind. ”
A small laugh escapes at me, but I tense as the front door opens and multiple footsteps echo through the house. She rubs my hand and whispers, “It’s okay. I promise we won’t allow anyone to hurt you.”
“Auntie Scar!” Seraphim shouts from the top of the stairs.
“There’s my favorite diva. How much trouble have you caused since I last saw you?”
The teenager sprints down the stairs, nearly flying as she jumps off, missing the last three steps entirely. “I tried to shave my dad’s head like we talked about, but he woke up too early.”
“Try it again,” a deeper voice says. “We’ll have matching haircuts, little demon.”
They get closer, abruptly stopping when they reach the kitchen.
A large man, the one who was by Ruby’s side during the wedding from hell continues walking.
He nearly sits on top of Ruby as she slides across the seat to make space for him.
His eyes are the strangest I’ve ever seen but I can’t see a plastic ring around his deep purple, nearly grey irises to show he’s wearing contacts.
“That’s Auntie Delilah,” Seraphim not-so-quietly whispers as I psyche myself up to look at the sister I haven’t seen since I was a teenager. “Mom said we have to be nice but she’s a bit dumb so you might have to speak slowly.”
I don’t know what to do. Should I stand?
We always fought growing up, but we’re adults now.
Do I ask her normal questions? What the fuck are normal questions to ask when I’ve had my head fucked with my entire life, trapped on an island with a perverted elderly woman that wouldn’t fucking die, then kept as a fucking sex slave alongside children?
Wiping my hands on my thighs, I slowly turn my head as I try to smile. Her eyes are wide, mouth slightly open, and she doesn’t blink as a little boy on her hip lightly taps her cheek while sucking his thumb.
“Delilah?” she squeaks.
I nod.
“Shit. Holy fucking shit!” She runs at me and wraps her arm around me, squashing the child in the middle. “Fuck. You’re all grown up an—Shit, you’re so grown up.”
The little boy clearly doesn’t like being sandwiched between us as he whines, “Momma.”
“Sorry, little man.” She winces, peeling herself off me, then bounces him on her hip. “This is your Auntie Delilah but remember I’m your favorite auntie, okay?”
“You’re not corrupting my baby,” Ruby argues.
Her partner leans up, taking the boy, then sits him on the table.
There’s nothing other than love in her eyes as her daughter stands next to her dad and she looks at the family she’s managed to create despite the toxic one we came from.
Even her terrifying partner thaws slightly.
Their daughter is definitely worse than Scarlet as she throws herself onto his thigh, nearly smacking him in the face in the process.
But she’s sweet too as she tickles the little boy’s side and lightly wobbles his chubby cheek with the tip of her finger. “Say hello, Micah.”
He shyly waves at me, mumbling around the thumb still in his mouth, “Hello.”
Kane has been gone too long so I excuse myself from the disconcerting normalcy. “Is the bathroom upstairs?”
“Second door on the right,” Ruby says.
I have to count my steps to stop myself running as their stares heat the back of my head.
“I thought she was dead.” The man’s voice carries through the house as I slowly walk up the stairs, feeling my calf twinge.
“Daigon,” Ruby says low in her throat. “Don’t say that.”
“How did she get here?” he asks.
His daughter answers, “I opened the gate when they buzzed. I thought it was you with Auntie Scar.”
“What have I told you about opening the gate, little demon?”
“Don’t do it without checking the cameras. It’s not a big deal. Mom’s happy so it’s not like you’d care about anything else.”