Dangerous Illusion [18+]

30: The Past

"I can't believe he just walked out like that. Who's running off now?"

Besides me Manuel let out a breath as if he'd been holding it in for a long time. "Wow, that was something."

I shot him a glare. He was shameless enough to find it funny.

"Don't hold it against him," he spoke in Ares's defense, but I was not about to listen to his bias.

"By all means, tell me how wrong I am." I muttered bitterly.

"I won't. I think you're right. He can be a bit obsessive about some things. Everyone's always told him so, but he won't listen to us. Can't blame him for that either after what happened to his grandparents."

"What?"

I froze hearing the mention of Ares's grandparents. I knew them before their passing. Their death was a huge shock to me.

He gave me a wide-eyed look. "He didn't tell you?"

"He never tells me anything." I complained.

Manuel sighed and a grim look passed his face. Before he even spoke, I knew the news was going to make me sick to the stomach.

"They were murdered, right in front of him."

***

I found Ares pacing the living room. A sign of impatience and restlessness. Neither of which was his nature. A frown marred the space between his brows. His shoulders were tensed and the space in the living room was thick with tension. I knew something was deeply wrong with Ares the moment I met with him in his office that first day nearly two months ago. He was a new man in so many ways and I had attributed this change to just growing up and being responsible for a multi-billion-dollar empire, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

It was personal. A loss as personal as death of two loving parental figures, the ones that he truly loved and admired, must've been terrible for him. It was terrible enough for me to hear about it now.

Ares saw me standing at the far corner and his movements came to a halt. I saw the anguish and despair in his eyes as if he was relieving the horror again.

I ran up to him and wrapped him up in a hug. "Why didn't you tell me?" I could've been there for him, comforted him and at the very least held him when he cried.

He put his arms around me and his posture relaxed.

"I can't lose you too, Luna. I can't live that nightmare again. I'll kill myself..." I stopped him from finishing his sentence with my fingers to his lips.

"Don't say that. You'll never lose me. We're going to be together forever."

"Yes."

"When did they pass?"

As if too weary by the weight he was carrying he sat on the couch, taking me with him. I held his hand when he struggled to form words. I waited patiently.

Ares was gripping my hands with white knuckled force, but I felt numb, "I went home as fast as I could. I saw the life leave their bodies and death cloud their eyes. I watched them die and I couldn't save them." I was pained by the horror he faced. What kind of monster would force a man to watch as he killed his loved ones?

"How did you find out?"

"Someone sent me video them beating up my grandparents. The person who was hurting them challenged me to come and save them. He told me if I ever sought help, he'd kill them, and I'd never see their bodies again." Ares was shaking, whether it was in anger or from trauma or both, I could see how agonizing it was for him. "I left the moment I could think again. You were sleeping and it took everything in me to leave you like that."