Paul and Geraldene’s mouths formed ‘O’s’. They looked at one another, covered their lips, then started looking from Sylas to Cassarae and then back again as though they were watching a reality TV show rather than their daughter’s love life.
Cassarae didn’t know how to react. Her brain seemed to lag for a full five seconds before her skull practically exploded with steam.
“SYLAS BROWN! What the fuck did you just say to me?!”
One would have thought that Sylas had directly insulted her in the most vile of ways. But to a woman like Cassarae, there probably wasn’t much of a difference. If it wasn’t for her last bit of sanity reminding her that the strength they had in their hands in this day and age could truly kill people if they weren’t careful, she would have already lunged at Sylas’ throat in an attempt to take a bite out of it.
Sylas looked at her calmly. He didn’t need to repeat himself; he was sure that she had already heard. There was a calmness in his eyes as though he had already decided on this matter for the both of them.
“You…”
Cassarae was so infuriated she didn’t know what to do with herself. She could only look at those deadpan eyes and grow more and more furious.
At that moment, her own Will seemed to catch fire and a raging blue flame flickered in her eyes.
Sylas took note of it, but not much more. It didn’t make much of a difference to him at all. However, to Cassarae, it seemed to have taken some of the edge off her fury. While she was very clearly still apoplectic with anger, at the very least, she could speak now.
“Who the fuck do you think you are? Even my own dad doesn’t speak to me like that.”
“Only because you wouldn’t listen to him anyway,” Sylas replied finally.
“At least you know, dick for brains. I’m not your own personal walking pocket pussy. You walked out of my life before, and now you think you can just stroll back in?! No, it’s even worse than that! You actually didn’t even try to have a conversation with me, you infuriating son of a bitch!”
The eyes of Cassarae’s parents widened, and Paul leaned over toward his wife.
“Walked out of her life? Were they together before?” Paul whispered. This was news to him.
“I don’t know, I had some faint guesses, and the fallout was pretty obvious, don’t you think?” Geraldene rolled her eyes and whispered back.
“Really? I guess that makes sense.” Paul nodded. “How did you know, though?”
“I found my lingerie missing one day. And then days later it suddenly appeared again in the same spot, clean and smelling far too fresh. I thought you had stolen it for a mistress.”
“What the hell! Was that what caused the Mistress Gate situation?! You didn’t talk to me for months!”
Geraldene looked up at the ceiling as though something interesting had appeared.
“Oh look, the design of that ceiling fan is quite beautiful, don’t you think?”
Paul snorted. “Are you sure Rae is the one who stole it?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Geraldene reacted like a cat that had her tail stepped on.
“Your ass is far too fat for our daughter to fit in your stuff. It’d wear more like a robe than lingerie.” Paul chortled. “Maybe I did have a mistress or two I forgot about.”
“Paul Joseph Hale!” Geraldene snapped.
Suddenly, both women were completely infuriated and Paul looked over to Sylas with several winks as though saying: ‘watch how a master handles this.’
However, Sylas and Cassarae might as well have been lost in their own world. Or rather, Sylas was lost in the storm of Cassarae’s fury.
“Walked out of your life?” Sylas said slowly. “I guess that is close enough to the truth. But the past no longer matters.”
“Close enough to the truth?! Fuck you, you insufferable prick!” Her sneer almost became vicious. “Since the past doesn’t matter so much, would you care to hear mine?”
“Okay.” Sylas replied, his expression still not changing.
Cassarae started to list off men that she had been with, and Sylas didn’t say anything from start to finish. He carried the same indifference throughout it all.
At some point, Cassarae started huffing for breath, having finally run out of lung capacity from cursing so much. Maybe only Sylas could wait out such a thing without feeling his penis inverting into his body. This woman sure had a way of making people feel inferior.
“Okay.” Sylas replied, still indifferent. None of this changed what he said. Even if she was telling the truth, they only had a chance with her because he allowed them to. Nothing more, nothing less.
Now they would never have such a chance again.
Cassarae huffed, her face sweating but her sneer remaining as sharp as ever.
“What, you don’t believe me?”
“Not particularly. But it also doesn’t matter even if every word was true.”
“Oh yeah?! Well, Zagrin had a fucking baby arm between his legs! I couldn’t walk for fucking weeks after! For our anniversary, he bought me a wheelchair, SYLAS BROWN. AND I PROMISE YOU I HAD TO FUCKING USE IT. AND I’LL DEFINITELY HAVE TO USE IT AGAIN!”
“Not if he’s dead.”
The words caused a hushed silence to fill the room. Sylas spoke them with just as much careless disregard as he had used the entire time, but this time… there was a chilling wind. Even Paul and Geraldene, who seemed to have been having a fight of their own, were completely frozen.
“I had a conversation with Lauren months ago,” Sylas continued without a drop to his cadence. “I told her not to let the changes to this world change what she chose to hold in high esteem and regard, namely her morality.
“I’ve realized, though, that this world isn’t taking anything away from me. If anything, it’s making me acknowledge who I truly am more and more every day.”
Sylas gave Cassarae a level glance. “This is no longer the Earth you once knew. The people who stand in my way now die.”
After saying these words, Sylas turned and left.
A silence fell once again. All they could hear were the heaving breaths that Cassarae was taking.
Eventually, she sat in her seat and let out a screech. Her hands rubbed at her head and messed up her hair so wildly one would have thought she lost her mind.
‘Why did I have to lie like that?!’ she screamed in her head. She would sooner cut Zagrin’s dick off with her own hands than it be inside of her. ‘Fuck. I should have said a celebrity’s name or something.’
This was like the day they broke up all over again.
She knew Sylas too well. He might not have reacted at all, but for him to say those words, he was truly pissed. And worst yet, he meant what he said. If he ever met Zagrin, he would kill him. Cassarae was certain.
She had known all her life that there was another layer to Sylas… and in the end, it seemed that she was the one who ended up bringing out the caged beast.
‘Fuck you, Sylas Brown. Why are you so fucking hot?’
There was an almost feverish glint in her eyes that she unceremoniously suppressed.
‘Hmph. This ass isn’t so easy to grab.’
