Chapter 13: Disclosure
Ember Corbin
"Why are we in the graveyard at this time?" Lance asked me as I looked at the sky. The sun was going to set soon, and I loved watching the sunset.
"I am here to meet my mom, but I don't know about you," I responded.
He shrugged his shoulders. We walked to my mom's tombstone.
"Ember, are you still angry at me?"
I twitched my lips and answered, "I don't know. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."
Lance groaned, "I hate this feeling."
"Feeling you get when you are with me?" I arched an eyebrow. He was taken aback by my question.
"I meant the feeling of not knowing whether I am forgiven or not," he corrected his words.
I smiled and once we reached my mom's grave, we sat on the short trimmed grass nearby.
We were silent for a while with me staring at the writings on my mom's headstone and Lance staring at my face, trying to gauge what I was thinking.
After a few minutes, I started talking on my own, "You know, Lance, I saw my mother getting murdered in front of my eyes." I could feel his shocked gaze on me, but I kept my gaze fixed on the concrete under which my mom's body lay. "A few thugs came to our house when I was sixteen. We were a happy loving family until that awful day."
"What exactly happened?"
I could feel my hands turning cold remembering the day that changed my life forever. "It was a normal day. We were having dinner, and suddenly, someone knocked on the door. My dad opened the door, and around five men were bursting into the house with weapons."
I continued speaking, "I was so scared, so Mom made me hide behind her. It all happened so fast. One of the men stood in front of Mom and shot her straight in the head." A shiver ran down my spine while talking about it. To this day, I have been unable to forget a second of that day. "Blood splattered all over my face because I was right behind her, Lance. I watched as her body fell to the ground, bleeding and no longer moving. She was dead. My happy life was dead. I..."
I covered my face with my hands, rubbing them hysterically to get the blood that still somehow managed to remain on my face. Maybe it wasn't visible to the naked eye. But I knew it was right there. The blood of my mom. It was on my face, and I could never erase itâ
Immediately, I felt warm hands over my cold ones. He covered my wrists with his palms and pulled them down from my eyes so that I could look at Lance. He cupped my cheeks over my hands, his face close to me.
"Hey, it's okay, Ember. You don't have to tell me if you aren't comfortable. Iâ"
I interrupted him, "No, I am telling you because I feel comfortable with you."
His eyes widened a little at my words, then noticing our closeness, he removed his hands from mine and cleared his throat. "What was your father doing then?"
I let out a humorless chuckle. "Dad? He said nothing. He stayed quiet and watched the thugs leave like they didn't just kill his wife."
When I touched the cool stone of my mom's grave, Lance placed his hand over mine, giving me a light squeeze, assuring me he was there to hear it all.
"I cried for Mom so much. I asked Dad why he was standing still and wasn't taking her to the hospital. I asked him why he was so quiet and didn't let it all affect him even a bit. I knew he loved Mom a lot, then how couldn't he cry? As much as I wanted him to hug me tight and cry his heart out, the only words he said were, 'Goodnight, Ember.' I didn't know how to react at that time. I just had a blackout."
"Then, what happened?" he asked.
"The next time I woke up, I was in the mental asylum. And you know the rest. I got tortured for a month till I ran away."
This time, I looked at him, only to find him twitching his lips. "Didn't your father visit you there ever? Why did he send you there in the first place?"
"In the asylum, they said Dad admitted me there and left a letter. In that letter, he said that he sent me there because he thought I would go crazy without Mom, so he didn't feel safe staying with me."
"Did you ever return to your house after you ran away?" asked Lance.
I gave a curt smile. "I did, but Dad wasn't there anymore. He disappeared just like that. Then, I decided to leave my life in Dallas behind and started afresh in Las Vegas. I started doing part-time jobs and all to survive."
"You are a brave girl, Ember." I could hear the proud tone in his words.
"Thank you. But I still have plenty of questions, but they will be left unanswered forever."
"Or, maybe you will find your answers one day," he assured me.
"But I have already moved on from the past," I informed him. "But recently, maybe the past is returning." I got reminded of the death threat letters I received.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I received a death threat letter around three days ago. 'It's your turn to die now' was clearly written with blood. Before that, I also received similar messages twice six months ago, which caused me to change my address and job twice."
Lance now had a different reaction on his face. "Ember, I think you should stay cautious. It seems dangerous. You can even move to my Mafia base temporarily. It's safer there."
I couldn't help but laugh at his words. "Lance, did you ever wonder why I wasn't scared even after you told me you were a Mafia Leader?"
"Every time," he mumbled, making me laugh even more.
"I was too traumatized after that incident from eight years ago. Now, nothing scares me anymore. Even death doesn't scare me, then how can I get scared of a Mafia Leader or anybody else?" I poured out my emotions. "I didn't even cry when I was telling you my past. Of course, I cry every time I think of Mom, but when I think of Dad, I feel like hating myself."
"I pray for you to find your answers soon. Because it sucks to not know the reason behind such a fucked up life," he said to me.
"I know, right?" I removed my hand from Mom's grave realizing Lance's hand was still over mine. "I don't know whether my past will affect my future or not, but all I know is, I will live on my own terms as long as I am alive."
"That's the spirit," he encouraged.
I really felt good after sharing my past with Lance. It felt like a heavy burden was off of my chest. I could breathe in relief now after sharing it with someone I was comfortable with.
"By the way, you are the first person I shared all these emotions with. No one knew about my past. I never felt comfortable enough, but you give me comfort, Lance. So thank you." As soon as those words left my mouth, I saw a tint of red shade on Lance's cheek. It was acutely visible even under the evening glow.
Was he blushing because of my compliment? Oh, my God. That was something new!
"Well, you didn't tell me about your life much," I broke the silence.
"There's nothing much to tell about. Plus, didn't I tell you that day in the car?"
I pouted and said, "That wasn't enough. Tell me more. You only told me about your brothers briefly. I don't even know their names. Just that your younger brother calls you 'scary bro.'"
He shot me a glare, and I laughed lightly. "Don't tell me you never looked up my name," he said, giving me a pointed look.
I gave him a sheepish grin. "I may or may not have."
"Fine." He sighed, admitting defeat. "I run the Mafia Thunder. Earlier Dad was the leader, but then he handed it over to me. He's now doing whatever he fancies. As you know, I have two brothers. I'm the middle one, though I'm only younger than Elian by four minutes," Lance informed me.
"Would you have preferred to be the oldest one, though?" I asked curiously.
"Hell, no. It's too much pain. I'm fine being in the middle. In that way, I'm not too idolized or babied."
I smiled, even though I couldn't relate to any of it. "So your family members are the only people you are close with?"
He nodded. "There's my brother's girlfriend whom I'm close with. Alena is pretty cool."
"She's considered a part of the family already?"
"She will be official pretty soon. I bet Elian's going to propose to her in a few months."
I couldn't help but let out in awe, "Wow... she's so lucky, getting to have such a big family." I was honestly and unashamedly jealous of that woman. But at the same time, I was happy that someone was getting to have such a life. When would I get to have my big family?
"I guess so. She did seem pretty happy at the last family dinner."
I hummed and asked, "Did your dad force you to take over the gang?"
He chuckled and shook his head. "This is not a typical story, Ember. This is real life. I'm not bragging, but my family is a really happy one. Mom and Dad gave us choices to either handle the Mafia business, Berserkers, or Storm Dynamics. There was a fourth option too, which was to build your own career. Elian and I divided the mafia business to handle and you know what business each of us took."
"So you chose the Mafia life willingly?" I asked in amusement.
He nodded his head. "I have always wanted to, so why not? Besides, I get to run all the casinos of Berserkers here, so it's a win-win situation, minus the part where I have to attend business meetings as the president."
I shook my head, still amused. His passion for the gang was exactly like my passion when I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.
"Are you and your siblings happy with what you chose?"
"I know for sure I'm happy. Elian has always seemed more than satisfied as the CEO of Storm Dynamics. Plus, his girlfriend works in his office as COO; what more does he need? As for my younger brother, Eltan opened his own art gallery a while back, and it's thriving. He's a talented artist, I tell you. One day, the whole world would know him as one of the greatest artists of all time. I'm sure of that."
I stared at the big smile on his face when he was talking about his family. They really were happy, and I felt glad for Lance because I understood the loss of a family. I would never want someone else to lose their family as well.
"Anyway, it's almost evening. I can drop you home if you have actually forgiven me." Lance's voice brought me off from my trance.
"Oh, wow." I gasped dramatically. "Lance Storm is telling me he can drop me home? Is this the same person who threw me out of the car in the middle of the night after rescuing me from almost getting raped?"
He rolled his eyes. "I had my men follow you despite dropping you on the street. I have enough ethics, and besides, they even informed me that you reached home safe and sound, so you can stop being dramatic."
I was dumbstruck hearing him. I was a complete stranger to him at the beginning. Yet, he made sure I reached home safe and sound. He was so soft-hearted. I wonder how he was ruling a gang.
As if realizing what he just confessed, he put his hands in his pocket and said, "Either you come within five minutes, or else, I am leaving without you." With that, he walked away, probably calling the driver to bring the car outside the cemetery.
I couldn't help but grin.
I took out the yellow rose from my bag and placed it over Mom's grave.
"See, Mom? I told you he is nice."
All of a sudden, I heard Lance holler, "You stay there. I'm leaving!"
Without a second thought, I ran toward Lance, standing at the gate of the cemetery with his car just outside.