Chapter 24 - "I'll be waiting for you right here, okay Snuggles?"

"You're not even giving me a chance to fix it."

Lucius observed Sarah push her purse over her shoulders and reach for her suitcase.

"You're willing to end this after we've been together for over two decades."

"Lucius, we've argued for days now," Sarah sighed, wiping the sweat along the side of her face; the suitcase she carried was much heavier than she assumed it would be. She hadn't taken every single one of her belongings, but it was enough to keep her sustained for a long while. "I'm tired of arguing; where's Asher?"

"If you're tired of arguing, then let's go back to bed, Sarbear," he insisted, his voice coiling for a moment. He had to clear his throat before he continued, "I'm supposed to be there for you through this. I'm your husband and I meant my vows."

"Asher!" Sarah ignored him, walking past the anxious Lucius who sent his quivering fingers through his hair, following behind her. "We're leaving, Ash!"

"You can't walk that path with an entire suitcase, Sarah," Lucius tried to reason with her, watching her put on her boots and reach for her large jacket. To leave the forest, they had to walk through and reach their vehicle on the outskirt, and there was no way he was going to let Sarah travel on her own. "Let me at least walk with you."

"No, because you'll want to talk the entire way and I don't want to talk to you," Sarah growled, zipping up her coat.

"Yes because I'm trying to fix things with you."

"I don't want to fix things!"

"Then fine, don't fix anything but that doesn't mean you have to move out of our home, Snuggles. I still care of you, I want to make sure you have everything you need. Jake will come back too, I know it," Lucius pleaded, his eyebrows curling as he reached for his wife.

The closer his fingers got, the stronger the grimace across her face became. The moment his fingers were about to grip her waist, Sarah stepped aside, walking past Lucius whose arms fell back down to his side, exhaling a depressive sigh.

"Asher, I'm leaving now!" she yelled, walking towards the kitchen through which she could reach the bedroom corridor. "I'm not waiting for you—!"

"I already told you this last night."

Asher finally emerged from his bedroom, still in his pyjamas and his disheveled bed hair. Although he didn't want to appear irritated, he couldn't help it since he had had no time to rest ever since Natalia's passing. There was always an argument or something to attend, screaming throughout the night, Dante and Nate barging in to wreak havoc; it was as if they totally forgot that he existed and he wasn't given the chance to grieve.

That was why his narrowed eyes stared at his mother as though she was the culprit, even if he was trying not to. "I'm not leaving, mom."

"I'm not leaving you with him, Ash. So," she waved a hand to hurry him, "go get ready and grab a few things, I'll be waiting for you in the living room."

"Mom," Asher stepped forward, making sure that their gazes stayed locked as he repeated with much more stern, "I'm not leaving."

Sarah searched through his gaze for any sign of reluctance, but there wasn't; he really wanted to stay. "That's not your decision to make."

"Why not?"

"Because you're not old enough to make those types of decisions."

"Well what are you going to do?" Asher said, raising an eyebrow. "You're going to pick me up and throw me out of here?"

Sarah inhaled a sharp breath; it was true that she couldn't do anything, and now she felt as though she was unable to ever do anything.

These men were always much stronger than her, and that had been the basis of her entire life. She never had a say in anything, even the place she lived wasn't her decision. And now, she had lost her daughter because she hadn't done anything, hadn't kept a closer eye on Lucius and his doing, and it was eating her alive to the point that she couldn't even breathe when she thought of it.

And she had enough of it all.

"Mom, I didn't mean to..." Sarah twisted on her heels, quickly wiping the tears that caressed the sides of her nose before exhaling a sharp breath. "Mom, I'll come see you, alright?" Asher breathed, trying to ease the tension as he saw his mother's shoulders begin to quiver. "I'll be fine, I promise—"

"If you're staying in this life, then don't ever come see me." Asher felt as though he had been stabbed in the heart; his mother's tone had been as sharp as a blade. "If you choose to stay here with this monster, then I'm no longer your mother, and I never will be."

Asher felt his chest tighten; he adored his mother. To be honest, she was the only person that truly cared about him, since Lucius and Natalia had always been much more of a duo and barely included him. But his mother made certain he was a priority, no matter what was the case.

That was why it was difficult for him to keep his lips sealed as she walked away, leaving his sight of view as she turned into the doorway to the kitchen.

The moment she walked there, Lucius had been waiting for her and followed her towards the door. "You can't say that to him, Snuggles. He's just a kid."

"Natalia was just a kid when you had her murder another being, but for some reason," Sarah wiped more tears as she gripped onto her suitcase, "this is all my fucking fault and I'm the bad guy."

"No one said anything like that, baby. All we want is—"

The base began to vibrate as Sarah pulled onto the lever to open the gates. The noise was too loud for him to speak over it, hence he waited beside her, watching her fingers tighten around the handle of her suitcase. Once the metallic doors had finally reached the end, the gushing wind from outside enveloping the both of them, Sarah pulled over her hood and started to walk towards the forest.

Lucius followed after her, watching her already out of breath even though they had only been a couple steps; there was no way she would make it out safely on her own. "Snuggles, what you said will haunt him for the rest of his life and you know that—"

"What you did haunts me now, Lucius!" Sarah shrieked, stopping in her tracks for a second to glare him. "You killed my daughter and I'm supposed to just fucking ignore it?!"

"No one is fucking telling you to ignore anything, Sarah!" Lucius hadn't been raising his voice, but he was seconds from losing the love of his life and he couldn't take it; he was losing it. "I've admitted to you that I fucked up and I'm sorry! But all anybody has asked you to do is stay and talk about it so we can get through this together as a goddam family!"

"There's no family! There was never one! I never meant anything to you, and neither did Natalia—!"

"You two mean everything to me!" Lucius couldn't stop himself from lunging in front of Sarah, stopping her dead in her tracks and raising his hands to halt her movements. He gripped her shoulders, not realizing how much he squeezed her as he screamed, "Everything I've done has been for all of you! To protect you!"

Sarah smacked his arms away. "You should've fucking protected Natalia better then!"

"So should you have, Sarah!" She was taken aback when Lucius screamed that in her face, surprised by how close he had gotten. Even her head had pulled back, staring at the anger that was tightening his features. "I was grilling her about what the fuck she was hiding, and you're the one that stopped me. You're the one that decided to fucking trust her and not to question her even though we all knew there was something going on."

Sarah inhaled a sharp breath. "Excuse-me?"

"It's not just my fault, Sarah." Lucius helplessly shrugged his shoulders, his eyes growing red from the stinging tears that began to blur his vision. "We both failed her, you have to recognize that."

Sarah wasn't certain what she was feeling, but her flesh suddenly became filled with goosebumps. It felt as though she was seeing a tsunami approaching and she couldn't move, unable to save herself and waiting for it to hit and take her life. What Lucius said was not completely false; maybe if she had allowed him to continue his confrontation with Natalia, maybe Natalia would have admitted the truth and they would have protected her.

Had she also been an accessory to the murder of her own daughter?

"Sarah, that wasn't to—" He tried to reach for her but his hand was smacked, and Sarah tightened her grip onto her suitcase. "Baby, please, it's not your fault, I'm sorry I said that, I wasn't—"

Smack.

The stinging across his cheek made Lucius feel paralyzed, feeling the sharp pain stretch across his entire body like wildfire. It was strange, since from all the wounds and scars Lucius had acquired throughout his entire life, nothing even hurt him as much as Sarah's hits. Even her words were as painful, and that stinging felt as though it stung every single nerve in his body, so excruciating that he couldn't move for a few seconds.

"Don't fucking touch me anymore."

The inside of his cheek started to bleed, and Lucius instinctively touched the cheek she had slapped as he turned his head, meeting her gaze again. He choked when he noticed how much tears had overwhelmed her eyes, starting to stream across her cheeks without any control. Her hand she had used to slap him was still raised, and she was breathing heavily as though she had ran a marathon.

That raised hand now pointed a finger at him as she repeated harshly, "You understand me? Don't you dare ever fucking touch me for the rest of your life."

Lucius felt as though his heart was going to stop any second. Even through that pain, he slowly nodded his head, his saddened glossy eyes observing the rage and hurt in Sarah's features, watching her teeth grit before she spun around and continued her walk to the forest entry.

Even then, he wasn't going to let her walk that track on her own. His heart felt as though it was going to burn into ashes any second, but he still rushed after her and offered, "Let me at least carry your suitcase to the car. I won't talk the entire walk, okay? I just want to make sure you're safe."

Sarah didn't turn back around to face him, but Lucius knew her answer when the suitcase suddenly fell onto the ground and she kept walking forward.

***

The entire walk was completely silent.

The only echoing noise was the sound of their footsteps crushing the leaves and branches from trees, or the twiddling of nearby birds that was irritating for the first time in Lucius's entire life. It sounded almost mocking, as though they knew he was going through the worst time in his relationship, and they sang to make fun of him.

When they reached his vehicle, she pulled his keys from her pocket and didn't even glance in his direction as she pulled open the driver's seat. Lucius had still been carrying the suitcase and pushed it into the backseats, closing the door and stepping away from the car.

No words could explain the gut wrenching pain he felt as he watched Sarah enter the vehicle and close the door.

He felt as though his soul was tearing from his chest, and his heart was trying to latch onto it for dear life without being able to pull it back in. The worst thought about all of this was the fact that there was a chance Sarah met someone else, and ended up loving them more than she loved him, and that thought alone was killing him.

But he didn't want to be the same enraged old Lucius that did all that he wanted without considering anyone else's opinions, hence when the motor began to roar, he stepped back and waved his hand. At first, she didn't turn to look at him, but after a couple seconds, he observed her shoulders begin to tremble as he turned to face him, her entire cheeks covered with tears.

"I love you, Snuggles," he mouthed, wiping his own tears as he noticed the gas escaped the exhaust and rise into the air.

That seemed to make her even more distraught, completely losing her composure and pushing open the car door, leaving it open as she raced towards him.

Without any warning, she leaped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he was so tall that her feet no longer touched the floor. She felt his bulky arms wrap around her entire torso as he tightened his hold, and he felt droplets of tears starting to soak his shoulder as she buried her face into it.

They were uncertain for how long they both cried while caressing one another, but this moment was ingrained into their brains for their rest of the life, and Lucius sensed her soul completely detach apart from him when she tore herself apart from his grasp.

"I'll miss you," she admitted quietly, wiping her tears with the ends of her sleeves, avoiding looking up at his gaze. "I know I will, I'll miss you so much Lulu."

Lucius sighed; as much as he wanted to grab her and lock her inside his closet until she agreed to stay, it wasn't the same as someone who wanted to be with him. All he could hope was that she would eventually come back, and even if she didn't, that she would be happy and safe.

"If you miss me too much, you know where to find me. I'll be waiting for you right here, okay Snuggles? I don't care how long it takes, I'll be waiting for you because you're the love of my life and I don't want to walk this journey with anyone else but you. So take as long as you need, but I'll be here. I love you, so much more than you'll ever know, Snuggles."

Lucius felt his heart skip a beat when Sarah surprisingly raised her head with a small smile across her lips. It lasted for barely a second though, and she soon twisted around and walked away.

Lucius stood there, waving one last time, to which she returned it with a wave of her own, before she drove away from her home.