Chapter 22 - "Two at ten, six at thirteen."

"Wow."

Jake tried to stop Dante and Nate from barging in, but they didn't even let him fight back. Dante shoved him aside as though he was a fly, and they both stomped inside the base.

"I don't know what you two are doing but not now," he panicked, screaming through a whisper as he followed behind them. "Sarah finally left the room ever since the news, and she'll retreat back if you—"

"You piece of shit, you useless waste of a father."

The moment Dante saw Lucius lean on the counter, bare-chested with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other, he couldn't restrain himself. Lucius had clearly just woken up—even though it was late in the afternoon—since the bun in his hair was completely disheveled, strains springing in every direction.

Beside him, snuggled against his side, was Sarah who hadn't seen daylight in over a week.

The horrendous grief was evident through her sunken cheeks and eyes, and that short amount of him, her arms had gotten much more skinnier. Even the way she lifted her head to stare at them had been unnaturally slow. Her eyes were barely open, and it was almost as though she wasn't even staring at them, as though memories of Natalia continuously spiralled in her mind, had continuously control over her attention that she could no longer be present in the moment.

She had been wearing Lucius' baggy clothes since he had helped her dress this morning. When he had offered to make her a cup of coffee, she had refused, but he pretentiously made one from himself knowing she would drink from it. She was slowly starting to regain her sense of existing, and all these things mattered now more than ever.

Which was why Lucius was overly irritated when he saw Dante and Nate at the entry way to the kitchen. It only made it worse that Nate was present as well, since he had no intention on wanting to see Nate for...about, ever.

"I need to talk to you," Dante growled, removing his jacket and throwing it aside. "Now."

"I'm busy."

It was evident that Dante was on a short fuse, as he instantly exhaled a long sharp sigh, his face starting to burn red from the heat of rage. He was attempting to control his anger by clenching and unclenching his fists, but it was only making it worst since it made him think of how satisfying it would be to launch it at Lucius' face.

"Lucius," Dante asked again, clearing his throat. "Either we have this conversation or I'm taking this outside."

It had been a while since Lucius had seen Dante that enraged. The only him would have probably pushed himself off the counter and asked to meet outside without even asking what was the issue. However, because Sarah was by his side, he had recently woken up and it had been a peaceful morning, he exhaled the fumes from his cigarette before he hissed, "Speak."

"Can't this conversation happen some other time?" Jake tried to intervene, stepping between them. "Today's Sarah's first day out of the room, and I really want to—"

"You brought Natalia on missions?"

It was Nate that shouted that, completely disregarding Jake. However, it had been enough to cause Jake's lips to instantly slam shut as he twisted around to face Lucius, also waiting for a response.

Lucius had been calm and collected for Dante, but Nate was a different story. Instantly, he gently stepped aside from Sarah and started walking towards them, pointing the end of his cigarette towards Nate as he snapped, "You got some balls showing up here after what you did."

"I didn't do anything; it's what you did."

Lucius thought he had heard wrong, completely taken aback that Nate would even dare say that to him, in his own home. "Oh Nathan," he chuckled with a manic smile, "trust me when I say that you're not leaving here alive today—"

"You had Natalia kill people?"

And that was when the atmosphere changed.

It was from a high tensed air to a sudden gloom that settled in the room. Everyone felt the heaviness settle on her shoulders when that was admitted. A silence unbelievably heavy that they could practically hear each other's heartbeats.

Lucius lowered his arm and didn't say a thing. From the way his narrowed eyes suddenly widened, Dante knew that Charles had told them the truth.

"How old was she when she had her first kill then?"

There was another pause, all of them waiting for the answer. But it was not in Lucius' bones to give in with such ease, hence he spat, "I'm confused, are you two her fathers?" Dante's teeth gritted. "Then mind your business; my relationship with my own daughter has nothing to do with either of you."

Dante wanted to spasm, leap forward and plant his knuckles into Lucius' nose. However, before he could, a sudden frail voice caught their attention, remembering that there was more people in the room.

"Maybe it has nothing to do with them but it has everything to do with me."

That was when they finally saw the reaction from Lucius that they wanted. The horror instantly stretched across his face, his spine straightened and he slowly turned around to meet the gaze of his wife.

"I'm her mother."

He had totally forgotten that Sarah was behind him the whole time.

"I want to know the answer to that question, Lucius."

Sarah tightly folded her arms and lifted her chin, her sunken eyes sharpened as though there were blades that could escape and stab through Lucius skull if he said one lie.

"When was her first kill?" she hissed slowly.

Lucius paused, suddenly feeling stuck. It had been years, over decades, that he had felt such fright. This was worse than any time his father, Draco, scared him, and he was much taller, much thicker and much stronger than tiny frail Sarah, who barely even had enough power to break his skin.

Part of him wanted to deny the truth, but Sarah wouldn't buy it, not after his eyes had already gotten this widened, quivering in guilt. That was why his shoulders relaxed, he exhaled a long sigh, and as he felt his chest tighten from the fear of the repercussions, he quietly admitted, "...eight..."

The gasp was from Jake as he repeated with quivering fingers, "E-Eight...years old..."

Sarah's expression didn't change. "And how many since then?"

Lucius couldn't even bring himself to meet Sarah's gaze; throughout the years that they lived together, he had undeniably fallen in love with her, to the point that her mere presence was an essential aspect of his daily life. He adored Sarah with all of his heart, hence he couldn't even face the disappointed look she sent him.

"Two at ten, six at thirteen. We eventually lost track..."

That was when Sarah finally gasped, stumbling towards the counter and holding on, or else she would collapse.

For years, she had begged Lucius to keep Natalia safe, to prevent history from repeating himself and be better than Draco. She pleaded for him to tell her the entire truth, if there was anything he had lied about or could be hiding, and he had promised her that he wouldn't hide anything behind her back because he genuinely fell in love with her.

Sarah had to close her eyes or else she would faint from how dizzy she felt. This was the first day she had left her bedroom, the first time she felt enough strength to walk to the kitchen, that she hadn't thought of her gorgeous young and fierce Natalia for a mere second, and all this news did was revert all her progress back to ground zero.

What she said next shocked all of them since they had never expected for it to leave her mouth, and Lucius felt his heart drop all the way to his stomach, so intensely that he stopped breathing for a few seconds.

"I'm filing for a divorce."