His Little Diamond

12~ Attacked by a Monstrous Love

༻𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨༺

I didn't expect to feel an ounce of emotion towards this woman. In all my years, I was only raised to care for what truly mattered. The enemy, my father once told me, should never matter under any circumstances. Yet here she was, going about her life in my presence, not knowing a single sin she has committed against me and my long gone family.

It had been almost a month since miss Liara moved in. She wasn't annoying to have around, I was just so uneasy. I didn't feel like my usual unmerciful self around her, and it was haunting the core of my soul daily. She had started to kiss my cheek in the mornings as a greeting, and always went to bed at night after receiving a hug from me.

She was too warm at heart to be living under the same roof of a naturally cold spirit.

I watched her now as she was sitting on one of the living room sofas teaching my brother English. Carter was slouched back beside her as if he was dozing off, but tossed a ball in air every other second to keep his brain jogging. He already had a thin appearance, and his mind didn't seem to be much bigger.

"Ah, brother!" Carter cheered as if I had come to save him. Needless to say, I didn't. I just wanted to escape this house for a moment to clear my head. I needed to flee from them. I needed this undeniable feeling I had for Liara to go away. "Pay attention to your lessons," I told him, "being bilingual comes in handy for future missions."

Liara's brown eyes followed me as I approached the main hall to the exit. "Can I come with?" she asked me in that casual sweet tone. Even her voice was getting to me. My god, what was she doing to me! I felt as if I was having a mini heart attack again. If she sees I've gotten weaker, would she even like me the same?

Like?

Why do I care??

Get out of your head Ramerio!

In the most calm voice, I spat. "No. Stay here. With him."

• • •

I jogged along the trail in the woods. It was two miles. I could easily run ten rounds upon it. Working out was the only thing nowdays that kept me sane and cleansed my brain of these overthinking demons. The more that I ran, the less worries that would follow.

"Sir, there's a problem."

I sighed and looked down at my talking Fitbit. "Of course there is...what is it?"

"When I scanned her in her sleep, I saw she had a device implanted in her blood."

I slowly stopped jogging. "Is it a tracker?"

"Does not appear to be."

I hummed. This would still propose somewhat of a problem. "Is it removable-"

"Hi!"

I hurriedly tapped a button to make my watch go off, and turned around to look behind me. To no shock whatsoever, a cheery Liara was standing there. Bright white smile, brown sugar skin, bronze eyes, and all. "What are you doing here? I told you to stay with Carter," I said sternly.

She poked her bottom lip out at me in a pout. "You're always avoiding me now, y'know? I understand that you don't think we're friends, but I do." My eyes widened when she looked at the ground and started picking at the sleeves of her shirt. "I want to be there for you."

Friends?

Being there for me??

I let out a quiet sigh, releasing a heavy invisible weight off my chest. I knew what it meant to have a working family. Love. Growth. Memories. Arguments in which we'd always get over the next day, and sometimes even the next hour. I had no choice but to live with their flaws. But none of that was like friendship. The family in which you chose.

A piece of me was hoping I could learn what she meant, cause she didn't have a family I was once blessed with, but she did know more about having friends than I ever would. I brought her into a hug, because I could see the longing aura hover around her body. Her face nuzzled into my chest, and she sneezed a little when she took in the scent of my cologne mixed with sweat.

"Sorry," I told her quickly, but she started giggling and looked up at me. My arms were still wrapped around her back, and hers were still wrapped around me, just above my hips. Was this as friendship-like embrace, or more? I couldn't tell, but I didn't want her to break away. "Can you go shopping with me later?" she asked me.

"Everything you need is here," I told her. She didn't even like to shop most of the time because of her anxiety, so it surprised me a little that she wanted to go.

"I know, but you need more clothing choices. All black for every season isn't a look."

"I'll order then-"

"No, we'll shop," she grinned evily.

"Fine," I responded plainly.

I had dropped my arms from around her, but she still held onto me so tightly. I should have looked away. I really should have...but I couldn't. A magnetic force that happens to anyone falling in a pit of emotion for a person happened to me right then. Nothing was said as we drew closer, and closer.

I had closed my eyes and she had tilted her head, but even when her nose brushed against mine, she decided to pull away instead. If lines of poetry could define the current feeling of my heart, those exact stanzas would resemble pain. I wanted more. I truly wanted her.

She jolted away from me suddenly, and the most violent glare was shot my way. That's when I realized she didn't draw away from me a second earlier on her own command. Something had completely taken over her mental. She looked furious...and Liara was never furious.

"Project Six: Eliminate Every Last Blood of Salvatore Loveday," she uttered, almost robotically.

I rose my hands slowly as her pupils shrunk. "Liara...wake up...the mission is over...you're no longer the weapon they can use-"

It was too late for any words to pull her out of the darkness that suddenly swallowed her whole. When she tore a branch off a nearby tree and charged at me with full force, I could see my little diamond's heart had been blackened and shattered. I didn't know how to save either of us.

The monster she had turned into killed my entire family.

Was I next?

"Back away brother!" I heard a man shout as Liara rose the stick in her hands, aiming it at my heart.

I saw Carter behind her with a gun in his hand. He was known to never miss, and that's when I realized how quickly this could go south. I panicked, wondering how fast a man had to be to beat a bullet, and tried to save Liara. "CARTER, NO!" I shouted desperately.

He pulled the trigger.

Turns out, I wasn't nearly fast enough.