Page 50 of The Devil In Disguise

He freezes. “You saw my art?”

“I saw the man with half a face, it was really good.”

This is the second time I’ve seen him act nervous. It’s a cute look on him.

For a while, Kylo floats around greeting people briefly and I stick right by his side. The energy in this room is dark and I know none of these people. Lucifer won’t be coming, either, Kylo told me on the ride over.

Two men approach us and make conversation with Kylo as I stand off to the side. Behind me, I hear a group of men laughing. When I turn around, they are pointing and looking at me. Maybe it’s all in my head, but when I scan the room I get the sense that there is some sort of joke I wasn’t let in on.

Kylo’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “Renato, I was hoping to talk to you alone.”

Subtly, I turn to get a better look at the infamous Renato. His eyes look dark and dead. There’s a sinister energy to him, and I’m somewhat afraid that if he so much as catches me looking at him, the outcome won’t be pleasant. While the two of them are wrapped up in their conversation, I slip away into the first exit I find. It leads to an empty hallway.

Most doors are locked, but there is one that opens into some sort of office. I’m about to turn when a tall bookcase catches my eye. There’s an invisible string pulling me into the room. With a final sweep of the hallway, I go inside and close the door behind me. My finger runs along the spines of all the classics until a blue cover calls my name. I pull the book out and a singular picture falls out from between the pages.

Bending down to pick up the picture, I flip it and hope to find a picture of baby Kylo. But this is a picture of a couple with their baby girl. Does Kylo have a sister?

I bring the picture closer to examine it. The memories come flooding back so quickly I lose my balance and topple over to the floor while I watch all my missing memories replay in my head, down to the moment I crashed.

“I think it’s time I talked about it, amor mio,” my father says to my mother who has tears forming in her eyes.

“Talk about what?”

“Come with me, mi amor. There’s a lot to explain.” Mama takes my hand and leads me to the couch in the living room where I’m sandwiched between the two of them.

My stomach sinks in anticipation, I want him to just spit it out already.

“Mi niña. The couple in that picture are your parents. That baby is you and the woman in that picture, your mother, she was my sister.” He looks drained already, but my head is hardly able to wrap around the fact that my parents aren’t my parents.

“What?”

“Renato Kincaid is a despicable man, I’m sure you’ve heard stories. Well, he had an obsession with your mother that knew no bounds. Estelle lived in fear of when he would strike or what he would do, so she created a game of hide and seek in case he ever came. And he did. When you were four years old, we got the call.” He looks at Mama and puts his hands over her free hand, the other is wiping away the tears she can’t contain.

“He wasn’t alone, but he did the most damage. After beating and tying up your dad, he raped Estelle and made him watch along with everyone else in the room. Even a little boy was there. Unfortunately, I saw enough when I got there. You were hiding in the outside cellar until I got to you and I heard his voice filtering through a window. He knew she had a daughter and he still wanted to go after you. That man’s heart is coal black and full of hatred. Your parents put us in their will for that same reason and that’s how we always had more money than we knew what to do with.”

Mama chimes in through deep breaths. “I knew at an early age that I would never be able to have children of my own, but the day that we were blessed with taking you in as our own I knew that I would raise and love you as my own. My love for you is no different. You are our baby girl.”

Mama pulls me in for a hug and it’s only then that I realize I’m sobbing, too. She holds me and apologizes until the sadness melts to anger.

Looking around the room, the severity of where I am crashes down on me. Grateful for waterproof makeup, I wipe away any stray tears and sneak out of the room quickly.

Fuck me. I stupidly walked right into the lion's den.

Kylo.

Was any of it real? Or did I imagine what Kylo and I had?

I am a fool, that’s all I’m certain of.

Taking a deep breath and steeling my spine, I slip back into the main room, sticking to the shadows. In my haste, I bump right into a random man and mindlessly apologize.

“Careful there, emerald.”

My confusion is evident on my face when I turn to him fully. “Emerald?”

He shamelessly rakes his gaze from the bottom of my dress, all the way up to my chest and licks his lips. When his dark hazel eyes meet mine, they are full of an emotion I can't place.

“Your dress. It’s emerald green, my favorite gemstone.”

---