[ARTEMY]
“Who is she?”
That was the first thing Damian asked when he walked into my office. I knew who he was talking about, but I ignored his question. I was standing on the top of the stairs when Damian and Howard made their first appearance. I saw Rebecca freeze from a distance. My first instinct was to go to her. And I did…without a second thought.
But I realized too late what I had done.
“Artemy, I asked you a question,” Damian growled.
“And I chose to ignore it. Now, can we discuss why you are here?”
My head snapped up when he slammed his fists on the desk. “Are you fucking stupid? After everything that happened, you let yourself get fucking weak over some girl?”
“That’s none of your business,” I hissed. Pushing my chair away, I stood up and glared at him. I saw Howard and Brayden standing at the door, both their arms crossed over their chests, an impassive expression on their faces. Like father, like son.
Walking around the desk, I pushed Damian away. “Stay the fuck out of this. I’m serious about this, Damian. Don’t tell me what to do.”
“I taught you better than this. I drilled it in your head before I left. No weakness. Make sure you don’t have any weakness because that’s the first thing your enemies will go after,” he snapped, moving in my face.
Grabbing his collar in my fist, I pushed him way before yelling, “I know!”
Damian laughed at my answer. “You know?” he mocked me, his laughter harsh around the walls of my office and to my ears. “Then explain that look in your eyes when you stared at her.”
I paused at his question, feeling the anger coursing through my body. He was pushing me, forcing me to think about what I tried to bury deep inside of me.
“You know damn well what the outcome of this will be, but you still let yourself get weak,” he continued in the same agitated tone, his face completely red with rage. My fists clenched at his words.
He was wrong. History wouldn’t repeat itself. I wouldn’t let it.
“I handed this empire, this family to you because I thought you wouldn’t make the same mistake I did,” Damian said, his chest heaving with fury.
“I’m not you!” I roared, lurching toward him in anger. My fists made contact with his face in a loud crunch, and he fell backward against the coffee table.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Howard moving toward us, but Damian raised a hand to stop him. He got up and wiped his cracked, bleeding lips with his sleeves.
“That was your mistake. It was your fault. Not mine,” I hissed. “You loved Mom. You brought her into this fucked-up world, and you got her killed.”
His eyes went wild with rage, and he came toward me in full force. His fingers grabbed around my shirt and pushed me into the wall behind me. “You are right. It was my mistake, and you are making the same fucking mistake.”
Letting me go, he took a step away. “After everything, I thought you would know better. You’ll get her killed. Then you’ll lose yourself. And in the end, you’ll bring this whole family down with you.”
That was what happened in the past. Damian almost ruined this empire, and I was the one who saved it. But I wasn’t going to make the same mistake as him.
“Stop comparing me with you!”
We both moved toward each other at the same time. I didn’t have a chance to move away before he landed a punch in my stomach. I quickly retaliated, punching him in the shoulder.
I bore an anger that had no boundaries. Damian had snapped the last thread of my control. We rolled on the ground, both of us lost in our years of held-in fury.
His fingers wrapped around my neck, squeezing. His hold slipped when I punched him in the face. I felt someone pulling me back, but I struggled against their hold.
“Artemy, let go of him. Damn it, Artemy. Let go!” Brayden snapped, pulling me away.
Howard helped Damian to his feet and held him back when he tried to come at me again. Brayden was holding me back too. Our harsh breathing filled the room, the air around us chilling and tensed.
“You are right. You taught me better than this. I’m not going to make the same mistake,” I snarled, glaring at Damian.
“Did you hear that, Howard? He isn’t going to make the same damn mistake.” Damian laughed without looking away from me. “You are a fool and completely delusional. What you don’t realize is that you already made the same mistake. She is already your weakness. Stop living in denial.”
I could only glare at him. At my expression, he shrugged off Howard and moved forward. “Come to your senses before it’s too late. Get rid of her. Build that fucking wall around your heart again. Don’t do the same thing I did.”
With a dejected sigh, he shook his head. “I don’t want you to go through the same thing, Artemy,” he whispered. “I’m saving you from years of heartache.”
He took a step away from me and turned around, walking away without a second glance. Howard followed behind him without any words.
Opening the door, he stopped in the doorway. His next words were a blow to my chest. I closed my eyes and swiveled around, facing away from him.
“Angels don’t belong in our world.”
With that as his final words to me, I heard the door close, and then it was only silence. An unbearable and painful silence. I felt suddenly empty, my heart aching at the thought of Rebecca.
“Artemy…” Brayden started, but I quickly cut him off.
“Leave. Just…leave.”
He sighed but left without uttering anything else. I walked around the desk and fell on my chair, staring at the ceiling.
Damian’s words echoed in my ears. I wanted to say he was wrong, but he wasn’t. I was living in denial. I didn’t want to think of Rebecca as my weakness, but she was.
The fear of losing her was instilled inside of me…but I was powerless. Instead of pushing her away, I was holding her closer every day.
Rebecca consumed every fiber of my being. Rebecca was everything I couldn’t have but everything I needed.
She was my light. I’d let her into my heart where she had showered me with her sweet venom.
I was so lost in her, forgetting that I couldn’t feel what I was feeling. It was all a temporary bliss and happiness, but now reality tasted sour.
Rebecca was my Angel, but I couldn’t have her.