Chapter 26 - "You ruined my life, Dante."

The entire ride back to the home was utter silence. Nate stared out his own window, while Dante's hands continued to tighten around the steering wheel, clenching as though he was attempting to rip it apart.

As for Nate, it seemed as though he couldn't find a single comfortable position—leaning against the car door, folding his arms, leaning forward against the dashboard—and it was evident that he was bothered. Charles had no interest in speaking at all anyway. The thought of being back in his own bed was all that was crossing his mind, but he should have known it wouldn't have been that easy.

The moment they pulled into their driveway, the unexpected guests seated on their patio chairs caused a tension to overwhelm the car.

"Charles, stay in the car," Nate ordered through a tight tone, to which Charles rapidly nodded his head. He hadn't expected to see him this early, at least not as soon as he was released from the hospital.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Dante grumbled as he turned off his motor, staring at one of the visitors' stand to his feet.

"I'll stay in the car with Charles. Go on ahead and then let us know if it's safe," Nate swallowed hard, motioning for Dante to step out of the car.

Dante shoved the keys in his pocket, hissing a few curses under his breath. He was not in the mood to deal with him, especially after they had seen Kane and had been unable to do anything to him, and this guest was not going to take that news lightly.

Asher waved a hand as he watched Dante approach, before pointing onto the patio chair and saying, "Lucius has been drunk all day." Snoring as though he hadn't slept a wink in months, Lucius' head was bent backwards, the empty bottle of liquor in his hand and his body limply in the chair. "He told me to drive us here and then passed out during the ride."

"You're not even old enough to drive." Asher shrugged his shoulders, observing Dante reach over to Lucius and remove the bottle from his grasp. "Did he tell you why he wanted to come here?" When Asher shook his head, Dante decided to reach over to Lucius and shake his shoulder. "Lucius, wake up."

It took more than that, but when Lucius' eyes finally opened, they were so droopy that Dante wondered how he could even see. His entire appearance looked unbelievably disheveled; his bun was loosely hanging with strands all over the place, and it seemed as though he had thrown on whatever clothing he could find. Maybe it had been on purpose or not, but he was also wearing one of Sarah's scarves, having it wrapped around his neck even though it was nowhere near cold climate season.

At first, Lucius stared into space, as though his mind was slowly regaining consciousness. Then, when enough light returned in his red eyes, they shifted around his surrounding, attempting to remember where he had been. The last thing he did was meet Asher's gaze, before shifting it over to Dante whose gaze reflected back worry.

However, the only thing crossing his mind was how tired he was, and he needed to get home as soon as he could since he wanted to sleep in his own bed. In one sudden movement, he leaped to his feet terribly fast that he stumbled forward, and the only reason he didn't fall to the floor was because both Asher and Dante caught him before he could.

As they both helped him with his balance, Dante waited until Lucius was standing straight on his own before he asked, "What are you doing here? Jake still doesn't want to talk to you. And since when did your eyes become red again? Did something happen?"

Lucius eyed Dante for a second, as though attempting to remember why he had even showed up in the first place. He only recalled his reasoning when his gaze shifted to the ones of Asher. Then, after exhaling a long disgusting burp, he patted Dante on the shoulder and stated, "Take care of Asher for a bit."

As though what he said had been clear and detailed, he started his march back to his vehicle, but the moment he started walking down the steps, he stumbled forward and soon collapsed onto the ground. Asher and Dante glanced uneasily back and forth at one another. Before they could even reach Lucius, he pushed himself onto his feet, stumbling towards the side when he did, but eventually found his balance.

"You can't leave like this, Lucius," Dante spoke, approaching him. "You're too drunk to drive."

"I'm a grown ass man, I can do whatever I want," Lucius snarled, narrowing his eyes towards Dante before continuing his slow and unbalanced walk forward. Every single step felt as though it was a battle, trying to walk straight but the alcohol had overwhelmed his mind so much that he had to squint his eyes, forcing his gaze to un-double itself.

"Let me drive you then," Dante offered, watching Lucius approach his own vehicle that was parked beside Nate and Charles; he had not noticed them being in the car. "I'll take you and then Nate can come pick me up."

"I'm leaving town," he burped, but that burp did not feel good since he planted a palm over his mouth. Then, he suddenly leaned his head onto the side, holding himself by the top of his car before puking onto their driveway.

Dante's nose scrunched as he grumbled, "You can't drive. Let's go inside, Lucius—"

"Don't fucking touch me." Lucius wiped his mouth with the end of his sleeve, grimacing since all the alcohol he had drank was practically on the driveway floor and no longer in his system. He exhaled a curse before pulling open his driver's door.

Before he could close it, Dante stopped it with his hand. "Lucius, at least tell me when I should expect you back, in case something happens to you."

Lucius stared back at him for a lengthy time, and Dante could visibly see the series of emotions crossing his eyes. At first, there was hurt, then anger that caused flames to roar behind those red irises, but then they returned to sadness, even becoming glossy in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly, he hissed, "Never, not after what you did."

Dante paused for a moment. "I didn't do anything to you."

"You ruined my life, Dante," Lucius growled, pulling open his car door. "I'm not coming back here."

"Lucius, you couldn't have expected me to hide the fact that you asked your own child to murder people with you on missions!" Dante snapped back, shrugging his shoulders.

As for Lucius, he was not willing to recognize his brother's perspective as he spat, "You didn't have to fucking hide it but you didn't have to mention it to Sarah or Jake!"

"Those are two very important people to Natalia, they deserved to know—"

"And I could've told them, on my time!" Lucius screamed even louder, his shoulders broadened. "You could've confronted me instead of making the people that I love the most leave me!" Instantly, his eyes grew teary.

"They left because of you! Because of your actions and those are the consequences you have to face because of what you fucking decided to do! Don't you dare put that on me—!"

"I'm all alone so thank you! I hope you're happy that I'm facing my 'consequences'!" He sniffled, wiping his nose as he entered his car. "I don't know when or if I'll be back, so just fucking take care of him."

Before Dante could resist, the door was slammed shut and he had to quickly remove his hand. Before he had the chance to find a way to get Lucius out of that car, he had already backed up from the driveway and was seen swerving left and right down the street. He was soon out of sight when he turned down the road, and that was the last time they saw Lucius for months.

As for Asher, he stayed seated front patio, standing to his feet when Dante approached him again. "What's going on?"

"Mom left too and he lost it," Asher sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm sorry about this."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," Dante consoled, noticing that Asher's voice had coiled. When he noticed his shoulders start to quiver and Asher lowered his gaze, the fatherly side of Dante reached forward and wrapped him into an embrace. "He's going to be fine, Ash.