However, somewhere in the very back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think to myself - He’s only twelve, Cora. He kidnapped a woman, six years older than him, and he murdered a man, destroyed another family, and he did it without remorse, without hesitation, without even caring what his parents, his mother would say. How?
Watching him laugh and stick Twizzlers under his lip, acting like a walrus, I knew he wasn’t a psychopath…he cared. He cared a lot. God complex? No, he wasn’t narcissistic enough for that to be the case.
What is he? How is he like this so young?
HELEN – NOW
“I couldn’t describe it then. Now I can,” my mother whispered to me. “Wyatt is the most dangerous because, unlike the rest of us, who bend or break the rules of society, he doesn’t acknowledge them…it’s as if they never existed to begin with. You think he’s an angel…I agree. But I agree knowing that Lucifer was the most beautiful angel of them all, too.”
“I need to go,” I said, softly handing her back the phone before leaving my room. The moment I stepped out into the hall, I heard his voice.
“Helen!”
Wyatt walked down the hall, in the middle of my father and uncle. He had that normal goofy grin on his face; he seemed the same and yet…all I could see were tattered black wings behind him.
“Helen? What’s wrong?” my dad asked, stepping forward.
But I stepped back, shaking my head. I tried to speak, but nothing came out.
Without saying a word to them, I turned and left. I could hear them calling for me, but I ignored them. Instead, as I was going into the garage, all of a sudden, I felt a hand grab onto my wrist, pulling me back.
“Helen?!”
Wide-eyed, I turned back to him, only to see him staring at me just as wide-eyed and confused.
“Are you okay? What happened? Did you fight with your mom—”
“You killed my father,” I answered back.
“What?” He laughed like I was the one who was insane. “Uncle Declan—”
“Senator King,” I snapped, and he froze. Everything seemed to freeze. Except the world right outside the entrance to the garage, where the rain fell on the gravel like bullets from the sky. He opened his mouth and closed it and then opened it again, but no words came out. “Let go of me, Wyatt.”
He blinked a few times before glancing down at my wrist like he forgot he had grabbed it before letting go. The moment he did, I turned around and walked over to my dad’s Aston Martin. Wyatt didn’t speak. He didn’t move even as I reversed. Then just before I sped out, he called out and finally said, “You belonged here.”
Glaring at him, gripping onto the steering wheel, I fought the urge to run him over. Instead, all I said was, “That wasn’t your choice to make, it was mine.”
As I drove out, only when the rain began to beat down on me did I realize I’d taken the top down…but I didn’t want to stop. I just kept driving toward the gate to get as far away as possible from the manor.
FIVE
“The best kind of Humans are the ones who stay.”
~ R. M. Drake
WYATT
“That wasn’t your choice to make, it was mine!”
“You’ve always been selfish… You’ve never once thought about those of us around you.”
Their words echoed in my mind without mercy, and not just them. Dona, my uncles, my aunts, my own father…apparently my selfishness was a well-known bane of this family. They all hated…me…even Helen.
“Wyatt?”
Glancing up from the glass in my hand, the ice long since melted, I looked over to the door as she walked in, a very familiar smile on her lips as she opened her arms out to me. I sat up off the edge of the table, put my glass down, and hugged her gently.
“Welcome home, Nana,” I whispered down to her.
“What do you mean welcome home? You’re the new one to this place.” She laughed and hugged me tighter than the force of God, and I let her for a moment before letting go.
She glared at me. “Why do you look depressed?”
“I’m not depressed, Nana.”
“I know you’re not depressed, Wyatt, that’s why I’m asking why you look depressed,” she said, breaking away from me, taking my glass, and finishing the liquor. Her face twisted together as if she ate a bag of sour candy. Plus, the wrinkles over her ivory skin made her look older than normal. I wish I’d taken a camera. “Never mind, I have my answer. What the hell is this?”
I snickered, trying to remember what I’d poured into the glass. After I left the garage, everything was kind of blank. “In all honesty, I can’t even remember, Nana.”
“Good. Never make it again, or I’ll disown you.” She cringed, putting the glass on the table.
“Nana, when did you become a such a drama queen?”
“I’ve always been one, but your sister kept overshowing me!” she shot back, her mind sharper than ever. She sighed deeply and frowned. “I miss her. I got here and automatically wanted to go to her room before remembering she wasn’t here.”
I felt my shoulders sink down slightly, but didn’t want to see her frown. “I’m sure the royal palace of Monaco can handle one more drama queen.”
At that she paused, looking me dead in the eye and said, “I’ll go visit her when you visit her. My place has always been with you boys. You and Ethan. Sons of my son. I’m very happy you are home, Wyatt…this place needs you.”
I tried to smile, but my thoughts hurt too much. “Are you sure? Because at the moment, I got people abandoning ship.”
“Is that why you look depressed? Your abandonment issues?”
“I do not have—”
“Your parents died when you were young, you have abandonment issues,” she cut me off.
I made
