brutal

Chapter 22

VERENA

I made my way down the stairs and followed the sound of voices and metal and glass. From here, I could hear Roman's raucous laughter, Yuna's giggling, and Eleanor's voice talking about something I couldn't quite understand.

"Verena! Come, sit with us!" Yuna patted down the empty seat next to her.

I settled down beside her just as Emma walked in, Kai behind her with his eyes trained on his little sister. Eleanor wasn't kidding when she said he was overprotective; even in their own home, he was her own personal bodyguard.

"Malachi." His mother stood from where she sat and brought her son into a hug. He hugged her back with his arms around her back— like a child starved of the love he only got from his mother.

Eleanor pulled back and trailed her fingers over the fresh stitches on his forehead. He didn't even flinch when she did, but I could see how he stifled his pain through the curling of his fists. It was as if he directed all of his hurt to the palm of his hand and was choking it unconscious.

"Thank God Verena found you. I kept saying that you were strong and it was nothing, but when Drew told me that if we had found you any time later..." Kai intertwined his fingers through hers and pulled her in for another hug when she choked on her own tears.

The room went quiet, but he didn't care; it was his own damn house and his own family. He hugged his mother, more sincere than the last, and stroked her back to comfort her as she wept in his shoulder. "I'm fine, mom. You know how strong I am. Remember how I managed to keep down all of that meatloaf you made me years ago?"

Eleanor, solemn one minute, whacked his son on the shoulder and pulled back to sit on her chair once more. "My meatloaf is good, for the record. I wasn't that good at cooking back then."

"But your meatloaf is still too salty, mommy!" Everyone laughed at Emma's timid and innocent comment. Even I found myself snickering at the sly child.

Eleanor scoffed and turned to where Kai took the seat at the other head of the table, the one next to me. "You're a bad influence on your sister, Malachi."

"Why me? The people eating your breakfast stay here just as much as I do." He quickly grabbed the piece of bacon from my plate that I'd been eyeing since I first sat down in my chair and ate it in two large bites. I gaped at him in shock and kept my anger in check at his actions.

"What are you blaming us for? We're saints in the eyes of little Emma," Yuna answered with a smile directed to Kai's little sister.

Emma frowned. "That's not–"

"Mrs. D, your food tastes exquisite," Roman cut in with wide eyes at Yuna that screamed the complete opposite of what she said.

Eleanor laughed it off and nodded as she sipped from her glass of orange juice. "Of course it does, Roman. You helped me prepare it."

Everyone gave a comment of commendation at the both of them before they all redirected their focus to eating. Yuna and Roman spoke to each other as they ate, talking about something too boring for me to even pay attention to. Seth handed his phone to Emma when she was done eating her cereal and asked if he had any games on his phone, while Kai was all too quiet from eating.

I placed my hand on the fork and reached out for the knife placed to my left. Immediately, my mind wandered to two nights ago. To the dagger the Fake Brutal held, identical to the one I had. It was locked away in my personal safe back at my parents' house, but it still haunted me like a soul refusing to move on.