So I decided to write you a letter. It’s better this way, I promise.
First, let me just say, I am in love with you, Elli. I have been for as long as I can remember. I’m selfish, I know that. But I also know that you were always meant to be mine, and me yours. No matter what I’ve done or said to you, please believe me when I say it was always you. You are it for me.
I had to make a choice. And I know it was the correct one. I hope one day you will wake up and agree with me. You deserve your father. My family took him from you, it’s my responsibility to give him back. Nicholas can protect you from everything that is bad in our world. I failed you more than once and for that I’m sorry. I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t. Not when it mattered.
I tricked you into marrying me. I’m not sorry about that, though. I went to an attorney yesterday and had divorce papers drawn up, but I couldn’t bring myself to sign them. I can’t let you go. Although, I will no longer exist to the world, I will still be alive. For how long, I don’t know. But I promise you this, Elli, you will be my wife until I take my last breath. I did, however, make sure that you are taken care of. Tyson has the paperwork you’ll need. I left you everything that I have. I know you don’t need it, but you deserve it. You’ve always owned me so it felt wrong to not give you what was left of me.
This is where I’m supposed to tell you that I hope you find someone to make you happy. That you settle down with a good man that isn’t involved with the Lords, have kids, and grow old with him. But I can’t do that either. If that makes me a horrible person, then so be it. You know who I am, and I’m the guy that can’t imagine you with anyone other than me. That will never change.
Lastly—don’t lose yourself in your own mind, Elli. Don’t let yourself drown trying to save someone who refuses to swim. Stay clear-headed. Don’t fog your brain with drugs or doubt. You are stronger than that. Know that you are loved by a man that wanted the world for you, even if he wasn’t able to deliver.
Please know that you’ll always be in my thoughts, and that you will remain my little demon forever.
Love, your devil
“Where the fuck is he?” I hear my father demand and I look up through my watery eyes to see him enter the house. He yanks the journal from my hands.
I feel dizzy, my hands grab at my chest, pulling on my shirt.
Tyson walks over to me. “Breathe, Elli,” he orders, gripping my face, forcing me to look up at him. “Fucking breathe. Before you pass out.”
“Goddammit.” My father hisses, throwing the journal to the floor.
“W-why would he do this?” I’m gasping, trying to catch my breath. I don’t understand. The letter didn’t answer any of my questions, it just gave me more.
“Because he’s an idiot.” My father is the one who answers. “Tyson, we need to leave.”
“Where are we going?” he asks, confused.
“My old house. Now.” My father starts gathering his things. “Does the cathedral still have a triage set up?”
“Yeah.” Tyson nods.
“Good. Call Gavin. Have him meet us at the cathedral. We’re going to need him.”
_______________
I REFUSED TOstay back at the house after reading the note that Sin left me. If he is going to choose to leave me, he’ll say it to my motherfucking face. After everything we’ve been through, and he thinks he can just walk out on me? I won’t accept that from him. He’s never been a coward; I won’t let him be one now.
I sit in the back seat of my mother’s Cadillac Escalade. Looking over the seat, I see my mother and Sin’s father both hog-tied, lying side by side in the back. We went and picked them up at my parents’ house.
My father and Tyson have been talking nonstop. I’m trying to keep up with their conversation but half the words I don’t even understand. The other times I’m too busy crying, wondering why Sin would do this to me. Why can’t I have them both? Him and my father? Is that too much to ask? Just when I thought I was going to get what I want, what I deserve, the world takes it from me.
Tyson pulls into a driveway and stops at a gate. He punches in a code and the gate opens. We come to a circle drive, and I jump out of the SUV, my hands sweating as I look over the building. It looks like an old castle. One you would see sitting on a cliff where a monster would live. The dark clouds that cover the sky just add to the haunting feeling.
Tyson grabs my mother and my father grabs Sin’s. I follow after them on shaky legs and up the stairs. Tyson shoves both front doors open, and we enter the grand foyer. Two staircases are on either side that lead up to a second-story balcony. The smell makes me gag. It looks just as threatening on the inside as the outside.
“Well, well, well. We love when company shows up unannounced, don’t we, brothers?” a man’s voice echoes before he comes into view from a hallway off to the right.
“Surprise,” Tyson states dryly, dropping my mother to the floor. She sobs around the tape over her mouth. I should feel bad for her, but I don’t. Not after I found out everything that she had done.
Two more enter the room and they’re all covered in blood. From their hands to their shirts and their jeans. One guy even leaves bloody shoe prints with his black boots as he walks to stand in front of us. I gag again, getting the attention of one of them. He looks me up and down, smirking. “If you brought the girl to beg for Romeo, it won’t work.”
My watery eyes go to Tyson, but he keeps his eyes ahead on the three men who stand before us.
“I’m here for a trade.” It’s my father who speaks to them. “Two for one.” He then drops Sin’s father to the floor at the men’s feet.
“What am I going to do with them?” one asks, kicking Sin’s father in the chest, making him cry out into his gag.