Reborn

Chapter Thirty Eight

There could have been an explosion inside the mansion and I wouldn't have noticed, too stunned by what I'd just heard. I couldn't wrap my head around it. The idea that someone so vile, someone so twisted could have fathered a child wasn't something I'd given any thought to; I'd simply assumed that it just wasn't something Viktor would ever have done. I didn't have to know him personally to know that he cared for nobody but himself.

Was Viktor ever aware he had a son? If he wasn't, would that have made any difference to the way he treated Shadow and Vince? Or would he have used his son the same way he used them?

It wasn't even worth thinking about because although Lukas was confusing the hell out of me, he didn't deserve to be treated the way Shadow and Vince had. Nobody did.

"You didn't know how bad Viktor was?" I asked Lukas, speaking for the first time in about ten minutes. Neither of us had spoken since he told me who his father was. He looked defeated while I was still attempting to wrap my head around all of this.

Who could I trust? Lukas or Benjamin? Benjamin had brought me here, wanting to claim me as his for all eternity but Lukas had made that worse. Lukas had been the one to manipulate Benjamin to actually go through with his plan, all to get a few minutes alone with me to help.

When I put it that way, Lukas was the one to watch out for, especially when I consider the fact he had made me kiss him. I wasn't convinced he had no idea what he had been doing, not at all.

Benjamin, on the other hand, had been honest. I might not have liked the things he'd had to say since he brought me here but he hadn't lied to me. He'd been honest from the start, which is more than could be said for Lukas. That didn't change the fact Benjamin would slowly lose his mind ─ and that would happen slowly if Lukas didn't use his ability on him.

My head hurt.

"No... I really didn't know. I didn't really know my father, I'd only heard of him. I never thought that he was like that... I still don't really know the extent of what he─"

"He was a cruel, twisted man who took pleasure in hurting others." I interrupted sharply. Lukas needed to hear this, especially if it meant he would change his mind about wanting to bring him back. "Viktor wasn't a man anybody would want to know. Quite frankly, you're better off without him."

Lukas looked up at me through tear filled eyes. "Did he really hurt his own brother?"

"He didn't just hurt him, Lukas," I smiled sadly. "He tortured him."

He sighed. "So bringing him back is out of the question."

"Why would you go through all of this just for me to tell you something you already knew I was going to say?" I asked him with a frown.

"Like I said before, you're the only one who could help me."

"So now you have my opinion, stop this nonsense and let me go. Let Benjamin get through his grief so he can move on with his life and─"

"Violet, I haven't done a thing to Benjamin in terms of his grief." He told me seriously. "The amount of grief he feels is all him. I just forced him to act on what he already wanted to do. I didn't make his grief worse because it's bad enough already."

I bit down on my bottom lip, staring up at the ceiling as I tried to calm down before I threw myself at Lukas. I wouldn't be kissing him this time though, I would be trying to kill him. As much as I felt sorry for him, he was the reason I was stuck here with someone who was gradually becoming more deranged by the day and that wasn't something I wanted to stick around for.

"You said you made Leah tell Shadow where I am, right?" I recalled his earlier words. When he nodded, I continued. "So where are they? How long ago did Leah go?"