By the time Ms. Belcalis finished her bath, I had finished disinfecting Liam’s wounds and applying an ointment to the bruise on his cheek. I had also wrapped the open-wounded scrapes on his little hands with bandages since he seemed to have scabbed his tender palms pretty badly on the rough pavement when he was pushed around in the crowd.
She walked out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a small towel.
Even though I found a set of relatively small clothes from my teenage years, the shirt was barely hanging onto her shoulders and almost fell all the way down to her knees. To add on, the drawstring of the shorts seemed to had been pulled as far as it could possibly go to keep them on her hips.
But she still managed to make my heart flutter, even though she had just come out of the shower and her face was slightly swollen from before.
Taking barely any note of me, she went straight to Liam’s side, kneeling down next to him as her eyes worriedly raked over his body. She chewed onto her lower lips anxiously when she caught sight of the bandages on his hands and leaned down to place a soft kiss on the back of his hands. She had spoken so softly that I nearly missed it, “I’m sorry, Liam. If only I had been stronger, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
My chest ached at her words.
No one would blame her for not being able to stand up to a guy who was more than a head taller than her and most likely over 80 lbs heavily. She probably already did as much as she could to try to keep her son safe.
I sighed as I walked over to her, kneeling down next to her as I handed her a mug of hot tea. “It’s not your fault, and I’m sure that Liam would never blame you.”
She graciously accepted the cup from my hand and mumbled, “But I could’ve tried to be more alert of my surroundings or avoided-”
“Don’t say that. I’m sure you tried your best, and-”
She looked up at me with tears brimming at the corners of her eyes. “But, they always say it’s my fault! That I was the one who seduced them and made them act like that by… by how I dressed… or how I looked at them… or h-how…”
Her words were cut off with a muffled sob. She was in so much pain and yet she was still trying to keep it hidden in an effort to protect her son, trying not wake him even though she couldn’t help but to break down right next to him.
I hesitantly slid one of my hands over her shoulder and gently eased her into my chest.
I was scared that she would push me away, but it never came. Instead, she buried her face into my chest and only cried harder, letting out all the pain bottled up within her.
I lightly rocked her from side to side. I wanted to soothe her sorrow, but I doubted my clumsy words would do any good. All I could do was hold her as she finally let out all of her anguish and grief.
I lightly stroked her head as her sobs started to die down with time. Her grip loosened from my shirt as exhaustion from today’s events started to settle down into her body. And, soon enough, she eventually dozed off in my lap with ruminants of tears streaked across her cheeks.
In any other scenario, I would’ve been warmed by the fact that she felt comfortable enough to fall asleep next to me, but at that moment, all I felt was mind-numbing ache, a desperate wish to erase all her problems from her life so I would never had to hear her heart-wrenching sobs ever again.
I carefully lifted her off the ground in one arm and picked up Liam in my other arm, making sure not to jostle either of them as I walked into my bedroom. I gently set them down onto my California king sized bed and tucked them in, watching how they naturally rolled into each other’s arms.
My finger mindlessly reached down to brush the tears off her cheeks. Even though her eyes were all puffy and red from crying, she still looked so ethereal to me.
Would I ever be allowed to enter their lives and stay as a someone who was permanent? I wanted to show her how she was supposed to be treated and I was more than sure that I would have no problem taking in Liam as one of my own.
It was a selfish wish of my own, one that I would never force upon them if they didn’t want it. I could only hope that it wouldn’t shot own immediately if ever brought up in conversation.
I sighed at the thought as I straightened back up. I walked out of the bedroom, closing the door soundlessly behind me.
My phone buzzed, revealing a encrypted message from my team of guards. I clicked on the notification as I walked into my living room.
The moment the verification of my identity went through I found a grotesque image of the bloodied body of the man from earlier today. His body was mutilated beyond recognition with a gaping hole in his abdomen and his head barely hanging onto his neck.
To any other person, it would seem like a completely inhumane act of pure violence, but I couldn’t care less. I was used to silently removing or even torturing my enemies when necessary. It came naturally with working in the business world.
And this man in particular-though he wasn’t part of said world- didn’t deserve to live, especially not after what he had done. I had no feeling for such revolting men and believed that they were better off dead. It wasn’t it out of a sense of justice or anything of that sort, but simply from the fact that the mere sight of him disgusted me.
I quickly shut off my phone when I heard a loud buzz from my intercom. Standing up from my seat, I made my way over to my incessantly buzzing intercom.
I tapped the panel and found a live video of fuming Benedict standing outside of my apartment.
“I took your keys and wallet so you wouldn’t go home. I didn’t take them for you to ditch me and take a taxi home instead. What would you do if I decided to start swiping your card?!?” he shouted from over the intercom.
He was loud even over the intercom. I could only imagine what he would sound like if my walls had not been soundproofed.
I reluctantly cracked my door open, just enough for my body to fit in the opening without letting him barge in.
He narrowed his eyes at me and questioned, “What? Am I no longer allowed to enter your apartment too? It’s not like you sleep at 5 PM anyway.”
“Just not for today,” I replied shortly.
He childishly tucked my stuff behind his back. “Then, tell me why not otherwise I’m not giving your stuff back.”
I raised an eyebrow at his ridiculous antics. “You realize that all of those keys and cards are replaceable, right? I could easily get them reprinted.”
He stomped his feet frustratingly and exclaimed, “Is it so bad for your friend to simply be curious about you? You never hid anything from me before, except for when you…” His eyes widened as he snapped his head up to look at me. “No… You would never… Do you actually have a woman in your apartment right now?”
I diverted my eyes. He wasn’t entirely wrong. It probably wasn’t the way he excepted it, but I did technically have a woman in my apartment.
Taking my silence as affirmation, he hopped around gleefully and shouted, “My man is finally growing up! Oh my good-”
Startled by the sudden burst, I hurriedly hushed him. Even though every room in my apartment was soundproofed, I didn’t want to take any chances in accidentally waking either of them up. I shoved him further out into the hallway, closing the door behind me, and hissed, “For fuck’s sake, do you even know what indoor voices are? You’re going to wake her up at this rate.”
“She’s sleeping this early in the evening?” He tilted his head to the side in confusion. A moment passed and then his face started contorting into a mischievous expression. He lowly chuckled, “Oh, ho, ho. Did you actually bed-”
I cut him off sharply. “No, it’s more complicated than that.”
He shrugged off my words, unfazed by my harsh tone. “Whatever you say, Rafael.” He tossed my possessions to me with a playful wink. “I’ll leave you alone now, but don’t get too rowdy just because I’m gone.”
I rolled my eyes and walked back into my apartment, slamming the door behind me.
Although Benedict was a womanizer, I at least knew that he would never sexually harass a women. All of his partners were willing and knew what they were getting into when they sleep with him.
Although I don’t approve of it and am slightly concerned whether he has STDs, I didn’t hold it against him. I understood that it was normal in modern society, especially when it involved a bachelor with more money than he would ever need.
But, the idea of living such a frivolous life never seemed appealing to me.
Maybe it was because I was raised an old-fashioned or maybe I was simply a dud as how Benedict liked to put it, but I had always liked the idea of finding someone who I could put my full faith in. Someone who I knew would never try to stab me in the back for my money, power or anything else.
And even though I still don’t know much about Ms. Belcalis, my heart couldn’t help beating faster whenever she was near. I couldn’t help feeling like she would be a perfect fit if I could just be allowed to stay by her side…
Even for a little bit…