Accepting Fate - (Slums to Riches, Book one)

Chapter 37

Angelique yelled all the way to him and yet he never turned to look at her. His arm lowered, when she finally stepped in front of him.

"What do you want from me? Must you continue to taunt me with her face? Why can't you leave me to end my suffering?" he shouted at the sky.

He raised the gun again, but Angelique wrapped her hands around his and pulled it down.

"Stop, Logan. What is wrong with you?"

He pulled away and stumbled over his feet as he tried to get away from her. His eyes were wild as they lowered to her.

"You. You are doing this to me. Have you not caused me enough pain? Must you project yourself to torment me some more? You witches are all the same."

Angelique stomped the few steps towards him, fighting the current. She had to add some energy behind her swing, but the slap echoed through the silence. "Does that feel real enough for you?" she asked when he raised red-rimmed eyes to hers. "This is your solution? Shoot yourself and leave me with no one who understands me, or gives a damn about my family?"

"It will set you free to love another. It is what you deserve."

"Deserve? Do you even know what I deserve, or you for that matter?"

"You deserve a strong man, who cares about you and your family. A man who can protect you and do right by you. Someone who will love you unconditionally."

"Are you quoting qualities of a man you assume I should be with, or are you talking about yourself, because I've already decided who I want."

"Entonces sigue adelante y sé con él. ¿Por qué estás perdiendo el tiempo con un perdedor como yo?" (Then go ahead and be with him. Why are you wasting your time with a loser like me?)

Angelique stomped her foot when he turned and walked away from her. If she did not already love the fool, she would go find someone else, even though no one else would match him in kindness, strength, and love. She did not even add her need for his proximity so she could sleep, because the mothers could stop it at any time. She could not save those people at three years of age, and they are dead now, so she couldn't save them even if she wanted to.

"I can't," she shouted at the frustrating man. "He's dug a pit for himself and he is currently drowning in it. Open your bloody eyes, Logan! What happened this morning had nothing to do with you. If you just used your brain for one second, you would have realized it wasn't me talking, but you were so convinced I would reject you for saving my parents from a fate worse than death, you couldn't and still can't think straight!"

"I saw you this morning. You had hate in your eyes."

"For the love of all things holy! Look at me now. Look at me and see me. There is a symbol on my chest. Tell me why I would ward myself again demons if I hated you and my family? Tell me why I barely looked at you if all my anger was directed at you? They controlled my mind, that's why."

"You didn't look at me because all you would see is a weak, pathetic murderer who can't even set you free." 

He spun around so fast, water blinded her to his actions. A loud thunderous bang echoed through the silence. By the time she could see again, Logan had dropped to his knees on the bank of the river and his shoulders shook as he sobbed into his hands.

She took a few steps closer and gripped the stitch in her side. Apart from her weekly Martial Arts lesson with Andrew, she hardly worked out and climbing stairs twenty-four times in one day clearly did not make her fit enough to run all the way from the manor.

"You're wrong. I don't see you like that at all. All those attributes you mentioned earlier? That is what I see. And do you know what else I see? A man who saved my parents from being wore as fleshy demon suits, while they kill all the people my parents saved, including my siblings."