Reborn Deceit

CHAPTER EIGHT

Damian

"We should have seen this coming." Caius's voice portrayed what everyone around the table was feeling.

The four of them—Damian, Caius, Felix, and Mira—were gathered around the dining room table, empty pizza and breadstick boxes discarded at one end. After slipping upstairs and showering off the day, Damian managed to make it downstairs in time to grab a slice of pizza before Felix devoured it all.

The last thing Damian expected at the club was Caius telling him that his home was under attack, and that the only one there to hold the fort down was his baby sister. Mira was strong, but Damian had no idea how many she was facing. Caius felt the same way, because he drove like an absolute maniac back from the club, swerving through traffic as he raced to be by Miras side.

Damian's family had worked hard to keep this house hidden. Set far off the road, surrounded by heavy woods, and highly protected, nobody had ever even thought about attacking their family. Mostly because they couldn't find the house, but also because they feared those who lived inside. The Nikolaidis had a reputation that was known worldwide, which meant if someone was daring to charge their fortress, they had a damn good reason. Damian was almost positive everyone around the table knew exactly what that reason was.

Mira let out a heavy sigh before resting her head on her arms that were sitting on the dining room table. "We underestimated them. We thought we could keep her under the radar."

The room grew silent. Flicking his gaze to the clock on the wall Damian noted it had reached two in the morning. All four of them kept their voices low in an attempt to not disturb their guest who was sound asleep upstairs. It was probably quite reckless to be having this conversation out in the open. If they were smart they would have moved to the formal meeting room. Too late now.

"What do we do now? This won't be the only attack." Caius's words were cold, but they spoke the truth. And right now the only thing they needed was the cold hard truth. Sugar coating the danger that was beginning to surround them would only get somebody hurt.

Felix had remained silent throughout this entire conversation, which was uncharacteristic of him seeing as he was usually the blabby one. Even his eyes, the ones that were a clear window to the jokester laying inside him, were hard and... possibly scared. The only time Felix was this serious was when true danger was lurking around the corner. Damian knew this wasn't a simple threat they could brush off, but the fact that Felix felt the same way only made Damian feel more stressed.

Damian would be a fool to think he wasn't scared. He looked upon himself as a strong man that guided his family with bravery and a level head, but even this was too much for him alone.

Mira lifted her head back up and locked eyes with Damian. "We need to get her to mother."

"No, not yet. We can protect her for now." Damian retorted without a moment's hesitation. He may be a bit scared, but he wasn't ready to run back to his mother with this. That would make things real; it would remind him of what once was. This wasn't like last time.

Damian had hardly spent time with his mother since he abandoned her after the death of his father. It wasn't his intention to leave her broken hearted and alone, but he had his own grief to deal with, and a journey that he needed to take alone. He loved his mother to death; family meant the world to him. He just couldn't face the guilt that stabbed him in the chest every time he laid eyes on his mother. He hated himself for leaving her, and he knew ignoring her only made it worse, but he had no idea how to make it up to her.

His mother would never blame him for his decisions, and would never make him feel guilty about what he had done. That almost made it all worse. She was so forgiving, and maybe that was why he held onto his own guilt, because he felt he deserved more anger from her.

His mind flicked to Rose, as it had done countless times since he first met her. She was striking. It was second nature for him to look at her and try and see what he once lost. He needed to frequently remind himself that Rose would never be the woman he lost long ago. As much as he wanted to pick up where his love life left off, Rose would never be able to fill that hole completely, at least not yet. Not after everything that had happened.

But even after he gave himself that lecture, and he gave himself that lecture a whole hell of a lot, he couldn't help but feel the attraction that was growing between him and the tempting brunette who had won over his mind in the blink of an eye.

"You protect her? You don't have the best track record." Mira's words cut off his thoughts, and for a second he didn't comprehend what she had said. When the words sank in, his heart raced and the blood left his face.

Before anybody could blink, Damian stood with such power that his chair flew backwards and slammed against the dining room wall. Slamming his fists down on the table, he was about to explode at Mira when a small gasp sounded from the foyer.

He froze. All four of them froze.

Listening carefully, he could hear small, heavy breaths coming from behind the wall that separated the foyer and the dining room. When he took a step towards the front room, he heard steps racing quietly up the stairs.

Glancing back at the table, Caius, Felix, and Mira all shared similar looks, all asking the same question.

How much had she heard?