Chapter 57: The Skeleton In Their Closet

Chapter 57: The Skeleton In Their Closet

Without waiting for her answer, her brother continued. “I’ll let Clara and the rest know you’re safe. Take care.”

And with that said, he bid her goodbye and hung up. Lucy was still left dazed with the anxiety still rising in her heart. She knew she was supposed to be celebrating at this moment. Many days had not even passed and her family wanted her back already. She should be jumping in glee. But Cedric. Cedric was here. It wasn’t good news. And right now, all she could feel was helplessness again. Confusion and helplessness. She was confused at whatever would unfold next. And helpless that she might not be able to handle it. Would she even have the power to?

It didn’t take long before her phone rang again. And the next thing she knew, she was bombarded with so many calls from her family. Her whole family, except her mother and father.

First it was her sisters-in-laws, then her second brother. They all asked about her wellbeing and told her the same thing her Big brother had told her. Cedric had returned. And her parents wanted to see her.

Although her sisters-in-laws had expressed their concern that she lived with Greg. Their voices held worry as well as apprehension. Nevertheless, they sounded happy to know she was okay. Her second brother as usual, who always found something to joke about in any kind of situation, had found away to tease her by cracking some jokes.

He managed to break the ice and Lucy found herself laughing to his jokes, even though they were mostly to tease her.

When the phone calls ended and she was once again left alone with her thoughts, Lucy bit her lips and her eyes darted to another notification that suddenly popped. It was a message. From none other than Cedric himself.

Greg sat in his office, lost in a pile of documents that lay stocked up in front of him. Too many contracts to sign. And a lot more collaborations to consider.

But his thoughts, even as his hands moved swiftly, marking his signatures in all areas required, his thoughta were only occupied by the impending danger back in his home. A danger perfectly disguised as the most cutest bunny he had ever seen.

And he couldn’t help but question his sanity for the umpteenth time. He was a risk taker. He had taken countless risks he couldn’t remember a majority. But why did this risk seem as if it was the biggest he was going to take his whole life?

Technically, dealing with plenty of business sharks and putting many goons that are ten times larger than you, in their place was the trickiest risk every man could think of.

Still, why did they all seem small to him in comparison to this one he was taking?

He had promised himself to take things slow. He had finally come to terms with his feelings. It took a lot of pondering and a sleepless night, but he wasn’t the one to leave a thought hanging in his head for so long. He wanted to protect her. It was the instinctive thought that always kicked in his mind whenever he found something as a threat to her.

He never cared about others predicament before. Ever. Hell, he never even cared about his predicament. But when he wanted something, he made sure he grabbed. It could take moving mountains or setting a whole city in flames, he didn’t care. He took whatever he wanted.

And he had taken this one. A hot flame against his own ice-cold hands. She was scorching and yet, soothing. She would melt the ice, taking away the cold. But she would take it’s presence away as well. That was the grip she had on him. And as much as he didn’t dislike it, he wouldn’t agree he liked it either. Not especially with the barriers. The restrictions he had set up himself. The restrictions he knew were only for her good. And those restrictions she was trying so hard to provoke and break down.

Damn! She would be the death of him. He didn’t want anyone to be in that much control. Not when it was that person that would probably end up being hurt in the end. He was like a cat on a hot thin roof, sometimes he was even afraid of his own limit. The endless alley be never seemed to have an end. The end that would be where his limit stopped stopped.

And he couldn’t help but ask for the umpteenth time. Was he ready to embark on this journey with her?

But the decision had already been made. There was no going back.

Even when he thought of the dangers lurking around her. The dangers no sane person would think of. Those dangers she wasn’t even aware of. She had spent a night he would like to call, forbidden. A place that harbored so many things the plain eyes would never fathom. Only a handful of people in the city knew of the invisible vines that surrounded that place. And the many bones that lay underneath. Because beneath that cheerful and bustling area of the town, those unquenchable reptiles in form of humans were still lurking. Their thirst for everything evil was neverending.

He had also found out that secret by chance. On one of his quests for everything life-threatening and dangerous. It was a secret he never told anyone else. He had nothing to do with it any way. So he had planned to take it to his grave. But now, he had everything to do with it. He didn’t like the idea. The idea that she might have caught an eye or two while in that territory. It wasn’t an unlikely chance. Even though it was just a night. One night.

One second was all it could take to be recognized by an enemy.

And he was certain. Very certain that even her family couldn’t handle this sudden reality. Hell, not even their well-kept secret could counter what his instincts were telling him had started brewing. The skeleton they had in their closet was formidable. But that was it. He wouldn’t put a name to what this one would turn out to be.