Chapter 30 - "You're so beautiful, Sarbear."

He remembered the last time he saw her as though it was yesterday.

The night before, they had argued and argued, neither of them getting much sleep as Lucius begged to have a conversation, pleaded that she at least tried to fix their relationship. He even agreed not to speak to her at all, but that she stayed in the home and they crossed through the grief of Natalia's death together.

However, he also remembered her screams, or the way his heart ached when he heard her sobs, his chest tightened when he saw her quivering fingers or trembling bottom lip. Even worse, he remembered how painful her hits were, as bad as any other scars or wounds he ever had on his body.

But the last time they saw one another, he could practically feel her last embrace, the warmth it made him feel as he held her as tight as he could. He could even remember the sound of her footsteps when she walked back towards the car, and her small anxious wave before the car drifted away from their home.

All of it flooded his mind when he saw her that he couldn't say anything, and it was evident that Sarah was speechless as well.

"Lucius," Dante stepped in front of his line of view, blocking Sarah behind him. "Why don't we head upstairs like we said?"

"Oh Snuggles, how much missed you..."

It had been such a long time since anyone had seen Lucius smile, or even grin the slightest bit. But in that moment, he let loose the longest and warmest smile they had ever seen in his life.

"You're so beautiful, Sarbear."

As much as Sarah tried to hide it, her cheeks did start to pink up more than she would have liked.

"I'm so glad to see you."

Sarah felt her heart start to race.

"There's so many things I have to tell you."

He approached her, his entire face brightened.

"It used to bother you that I never cooked, so I bought a cookbook and learned every single recipe in there for when you come back. I made one recipe a day, and I can't wait for you to—"

"Babe, I have your wine glass."

Suddenly, an unknown third voice caused Lucius' smile to instantly vanish, his eyes returning back to their permanent droopy narrow state as his eyes darted to who had had the audacity to interrupt him. The stranger that approached Sarah, handed her a glass and pressed a palm onto her waist, made everyone around start to silently panic.

Dante immediately stepped aside, repeatedly glancing between Lucius and Logan. Even Sarah started to sweat, uncertain where to even look, Jake, Cesar and Jules were eavesdropping with their heart racing so fast it was pounding in their ears, and the kids were hiding behind the wall, peaking a bit but too frightened to get caught.

Logan's eyes shifted to the tall blond that he hadn't seen once during the three years that he had been around Sarah, her friends and her child. Neither had Sarah ever mentioned anyone else in her life and refused to talk about her past relationships. Hence, the sudden sight of this gigantic man who had been observing his fiancée a moment ago, did concern him.

Hence, with his chin lifted—in order to meet Lucius' gaze—Logan cleared his throat and asked coldly, "Who's this?"

Dante placed a palm over his mouth. Bronsted, who was behind Lucius, was gripping his hair, and Charles, Emma and Asher exchanged looks.

"Uh..."

Sarah was clearly uncomfortable, her posture much too straight for it to be natural. Her fingers played with one another as she bit her bottom lip, the hesitation clear in her face as she eyed Logan's confused gaze.

Their relationship had been the healthiest she had ever been in with barely any fights and he took care of her as though she was gold. Being dishonest with him would simply ruin all she had worked towards, hence, after holding her breath for a second, she let out a long exhale as she pointed to Lucius.

"Logan, this is my ex-husband, Lucius Hercules." She sensed Logan's fingers tighten along her waist. However, she felt her throat clench when she now turned to Lucius whose entire colour had drained from his face. "Lucius..." she could barely admit to it; she wasn't sure why it felt painful to say even though she had never been this happy before in a relationship, "...this is Logan, my fiancée..."

As though that wasn't enough, Logan pulled Sarah closer into him, making certain that Lucius could see the hand wrapped all around her waist. With his other hand, he extended it forward and forced a smile, as he politely stated, "It's nice to meet you."

All of them were in a panic, squeezing their eyes shut and too frightened to peak. Even Jake, who had also left Lucius, had his hand on his forehead, waiting to see what happened next. It felt as though the following silence lasted an eternity, uncertain what Lucius would do next and not wanting to have another dead body they caused.

However, they were all shocked by what Lucius did.

With a straight face, he extended his palm forward, connected his with Logan's and shook it firmly. "Nice to meet you too." He didn't smile, but neither was he glaring or appearing hostile either.

After they shook their hands, Lucius' gaze shifted to Dante. He motioned towards the exit doorway as he said, "I'll wait for you upstairs for our chat." And with that, he disappeared—by crossing the kids who acted as though they were playing on their phones when he passed by.