Page 54 of Beautiful Chaos

I shake the melancholy off. “You did enough.” He kept me alive long enough to get out. To escape so I could one day come back and get my revenge. “You’re doing even more now.” Everything he brought Noah is going to be exactly what we need to finish this.

“You deserve revenge.” The emotion is no longer clogging his throat. Something almost like amusement has replaced it.

“Seems like you do too.” My own voice holds a note of teasing in it. A place I’m far more comfortable in. “Not many people I know ask for their father’s head as a reward for their help.”

He chuckles and the sound pulls a small smile from me. “No? That surprises me.”

A shocked laugh eddies up out of me. “You’re probably right. More than a couple of us here have daddy issues.”

“At least yours is dead.”

I snort in response. “Don’t worry. Yours will be soon.”

He laughs and a more comfortable silence fills the room as we both get lost in our own thoughts.

I take the pasta off the stove and drain it before returning back to the stove to pour the sauce over it.

“You know,” he starts before hesitating, “I really missed you, but I’d never been so relieved as I was when you disappeared. I dreamed up this whole life for you away from Eastvale.”

I finally turn to stare at his face, a soft smile graces his lips as his blue eyes get a faraway look. It’s an expression I remember from our childhood. Charles always was the dreamer between us two.

“Yeah? Did you get close to picturing the truth?”

He throws his head back in laughter. “Not even close.”

My hip bumps against the counter as I rest my elbows on the island. “Really? I can’t imagine why not.”

He grins at me and shakes his head. This type of banter is familiar, soothing an ache I didn’t realize I still felt in my core. “Me either,” he hums. “The whole psycho assassin thing you’ve got going on really fits the vibe you had back in the day.”

He finishes the salad and pushes it to the side, matching my position on the opposite side of the island.

“So tell me all about this life you did see for me.”

His fingers dance against the counter. “Everyone knew you donated money to Josie’s foundation. Well, everyone back home.”

I shrug, we always knew people would put it together. We only needed it to be untraceable. We’ve accomplished that much.

“I always knew you’d never run to another elite circle. Even back then, before everything happened, you never wanted to become your mother.” I nod in agreement. I had my ticket out of shark-infested waters, I wasn’t about to waste it by diving into a pool of piranhas. I wanted to become the predator.

“A small but cozy flat in the middle of Paris. That’s where I envisioned you. Just enough money to stay comfortable without drawing attention. Luca and Kade disappeared around the same time you did. Though no one else noticed that bit. But I pictured you all together, finding your happiness. I had no idea what they would do but I always knew they’d keep you safe. And you would become a dance teacher. Surrounded by kids and love and laughter. Bringing them the same joy you always managed to create even on the darkest days.”

Tears shine in his eyes and one slips down my own cheek and I know we’re both thinking of the twins.

“I tried to save them,” he whispers, the cracks in both our hearts visible in that moment.

“Me too. I tried to save them too.” Another tear escapes, but I can’t even be mad. Crying for my sisters is something I’ll never stop doing. They deserve my grief, my tears, the piece of my soul they took with them.

He moves around the counter and hesitatingly pulls me into his arms. I don’t fight him, resting my head on his shoulder and wrapping my arms around his waist. He feels so different from when we were seventeen. Much taller and even more filled out than I had first realized. Yet as different as we both are, somehow the comfort I find in his arms is still the same. A small piece of home.

We stay locked together for several seconds, both of us mourning the little girls who deserved so much more than what we could give them. A peace settles over me at being with one of the only people in the world who knew and loved them like I did.

“Well fuck. Now I need a cigarette.” I pull away, wiping at my eyes and clearing my throat.

“You smoke now?” He clears his throat, wiping his own red rimmed eyes.

I arch a brow in his direction. “Is that really the most surprising thing you’ve learned about me?”

Chapter Thirteen Scar

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