Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 72 - Confrontation

Kay would never forget the look on her mother's face as Thane confronted them. For a moment, the love she harbored for this ancient who stole her heart and then broke it shone in her eyes like a blazing beacon, but then reality set in, and that expression hardened, growing cold. 

"I came to apologize to my daughter for keeping her in the dark even after every other truth came to light, but it seems I came at the right time to correct another wrong," Thane said, glancing at Kay. "May I enter?" he asked, and she almost raised a brow in surprise. 

"Father, I don't know if now is the right time."

The sound of that word changed his entire countenance as his gaze softened and his eyes warmed, but another emotion hid in those enigmatic depths; guilt. The Thane she had met such a short time ago would not have given a second thought to what he did to this woman, but the Father who went through so much to save his children and who finally learned the truth that set him free was not that the same person. 

Eve saw the difference in him and frowned, noting it but not moved by it. 

"Dani... Kay, I do not wish to speak to him," she said quietly, gathering her things with shaking hands and not marking the pages they discussed as she had intended. Seeing Thane shook Eve to her core, and she didn't blame her mother. 

How would she react if Marcus did to her what her father did to the woman he claimed to love? She'd never speak to him again. 

"Evie, please, give me a chance to explain?" he asked, almost gently. 

"Do not ever call me that again," Eve bit out, dropping a pattern book. The spine opened, spilling the pages over the floor. 

"Damn it!" 

It was the first time Kay ever heard her mother swear, but the unexpected tug of mirth that briefly lifted the shadows in Thane's eyes told her that it wasn't the first time he heard her swear. Whatever that memory held, it brought back a fond memory.

Eve didn't even notice, but something in the defeated slump of her shoulders, the way she bit her lip, and avoided looking at them, warned Kay that she was close to tears in a very different way than before. 

Seeing Thane again hit her mother a lot harder than expected, and with the raw emotions between them barely resolved, Eve couldn't deal with another flood of emotions, but she was too strong a person to allow them to see how close she was to breaking. 

Pity tugged at her heart, but before she could move, Thane squatted beside his former love and helped her gather the pages. Their hands accidentally touched, and Eve froze. 

"Don't touch me," she hissed aggressively, but the emotion originated in pain and sorrow.

"I know that telling you that I am sorry and I was wrong will have no meaning to you. But if you allowed me to tell you my story, you may at least understand why I was such an intolerable asshole, even if you can never forgive me."

This raw moment of reconnection seemed to intimate a place for her to be present at, but she didn't want to leave Eve alone with Thane. Although he may have changed a lot, he was still the ruler of the underworld and sometimes far removed from human emotions and reactions. He might hurt Eve even further without realizing it. 

"I bought your bullshit once before, Thay, and I may be a 'seedling,' and you are a king, but even a donkey doesn't bump its head twice against the same rock. No, I do not wish to hear your side of the story, and you already know mine. Thus there is nothing for us to talk about. I guess you will call my boss and rob me of even being part of my daughter's life until this wedding?"