Chapter 24 Broken
2597 Words
[..]
“Don’t fücking touch her!” Armaros growled as he pushed Nathan.
Though Nathan might have feared Armaros, he wasn’t going to back off that easily, but then Vlad showed up, and grabbed a hold of him, as he pulled Nathan with him.
“What did you do that for?!” Nathan blurred out, as Vlad finally let go of him.
“You need to back off Nathan, I know you don’t mean anything bad, but Stella is only just woken up and the things your dad and Hunter did, are affecting her right now, so you have to stay away, until she is ready to see you, do you understand?” Vlad exclaimed.
“Then tell me what you know! No one wanna tell me anything!” Nathan argued, not wanting to back off.
“If it means so much.. Cathrine saw Stella’s memories.. Now just stop digging more in it.” Vlad spoke, as Nathan sighed.
“I just wanted her to tell me what happened.. Maybe I just hoped that.. I just didn’t wanna believe it.” Nathan replied, as Vlad knitted his eyebrows.
“Did you really think it would make a difference, to hear it from her? I can tell you one thing, it won’t! So, just forget it, okay?” Vlad stated, as he turned to leave.
“You mean like you are doing?” Nathan answered, making Vlad pause.
“What did you say?” Vlad asked, as he turned around.
“Well.. I heard everyone talk about your own personal vendetta,” Nathan shot.
“Listen to me Nathan, I’m sorry about what you are going through and what you have had to lose, I really am, but Carl, Hunter, and Kyle made a choice.. They made a conscious decision to try to kill Stella.. And I don’t take threats to people I love lightly, Nathan.” Vlad revealed as his eyes darkened, making Nathan swallow a lump.
Then Vlad walked away, leaving Nathan to himself.
“What was that about? Kyan asked, as he walked up next to Nathan, as he was looking at Vlad walking away.
“Nothing.. Have you visited Stella yet?” Nathan asked, as Kyan shook his head.
“No, Bella told me she was awake, but I thought it would be best to wait a little before I showed up.” Kyan replied.
“Why do you ask, did you talk to her?”
He asked, as Nathan shrugged.
“Just forget it, I’ll see you later.” Nathan spoke, before he walked away.
[Stella’s POV]
“Stella!” I suddenly heard my mom call, as her and my father came running towards us.
“What happened?” My mom asked, as they studied us. Though, my father seemed more focused on Armaros, and he didn’t seem satisfied by what he saw.
“Panic attack, nothing to worry about.” Armaros spoke, as he placed a hand on my cheek and let his thumb glide over my cheek as he gave me a reassuring smile, which I couldn’t help but return.
“We should probably talk to Dr. Canis about this, he said we should call him, if anything like this happened.” My mom explained.
[..]
“Please, mom, not this again, I..”
“I can take her there.” Armaros stated, interrupting Stella, as he raised from the ground and gently pulled her up from her spot.
Chase was still glaring at him, but he didn’t say anything, though Armaros was sure he knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Well, I don’t see any reason not to. Right Chase?” Cathrine spoke, as she looked at him.
“Guess not..” Chase grumbled to himself.
“But Charlie is going with you,” Chase stated as he crossed his arms.
“Great, let’s go then.” Armaros spoke carelessly, much to Chase's annoyance.
As they walked further away from Chase and Cathrine, Armaros intwined his finger with Stella’s, before he looked at her expression, she gave him a smile. He had missed that, but the thoughts of what happened to her were hunting him as well, but he knew better than to start asking about it.
“I can’t believe you actually are here,” Stella suddenly spoke.
“I had to, when I heard you were missing I just..” he paused, as he thought about what to say.
“I couldn’t leave it up to them to find you, Stella, I had to do something.” He spoke.
“Even when you had no idea what would happen when you showed up here? They could have decided to kill you, Armaros.” Stella spoke in a worried tone, making a smirk spread on Armaros' lips.
“Do you worry about me?” He asked, as Stella’s cheeks blushed.
“You know I do.” Stella answered in a low tone.
“I do..” Armaros added, as he paused for a moment, as he looked at her.
“To be honest.. I wasn't concerned about the consequences. I’ll do anything as long as it means you’ll be safe, Stella,” Armaros revealed.
[..]
Logan approached Chase, just as Armaros, Stella, and Charlie had left.
“So, did you find it?” Chase asked, as Logan nodded.
“And what did it show?” Chase asked, as he observed him.
“A single shot to the head.”
He replied.
“I knew it.. I appreciate your help, Logan.” Chase spoke.
“No problem, but what are you gonna do now?”
“Don’t worry, I got it from here,” Chase replied.
[..]
“I recommend you take it slow for a couple of days. I know you don’t want to, but I think it would be a good idea, if you open up about what happened.. And how it makes you feel, so you don’t have to carry those feelings around by yourself, okay?” Dr. Canis explained, as Stella made one firm nod with her head.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” She replied, as he nodded his head.
“Okay, we can talk again in a couple of days and see how it goes from there,” he stated, as he gently patted her hand, and then proceeded to leave the room.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Armaros spoke, making Stella roll her eyes.
“Easy for you to say, you are not the one being evaluated every other second,” she replied.
“Are you sure about that? ‘Cause I think most people here do that all the time,” he whispered, as he eyed Charlie for a moment, before turning back to Stella with a small grin on his lips.
“Okay, I get it, it’s not easy being judged, but I felt like that too, you know..” Stella replied.
“I know, but you know what?” He asked, as he leaned closer to her, only being a few inches from her lips.
“I don’t care what they think,” he added.
As Armaros was just about to kiss her, a loud noise interrupted them.
They both turned their faces to the door, as Chase stood there, and he clearly didn’t look pleased about what he had almost witnessed.
“Armaros, can I talk to you for a moment?” Chase asked, with a straight face, as Armaros just nodded and looked at Stella for a moment.
“I’ll be back in a minute, okay?” He spoke, as Stella nodded.
“Sure..” Stella replied, as Armaros left a soft kiss on her hand, before following Chase out of the door.
Then she turned to look at Charlie.
“I know my dad isn’t a fan of his, but he wouldn’t do anything stupid, right?” Stella asked, as Charlie smiled awkwardly.
“I don’t even know how to answer that, but no, I’m pretty sure he knows better.” He replied, as Stella nodded.
[..]
A few days had passed, Stella started to feel better, but she felt Armaros was being distant, and she didn’t really know why.
“Is everything okay? You have seemed a little.. Detached lately,” Stella revealed. He looked at her, before he finally spoke up.
“I have to go back, Stella..” Armaros spoke, as Stella frowned.
“Can’t you stay a little longer?” Stella pleaded, as Armaros sighed.
“I can’t, I don’t think it should come as a surprise to anyone that your father and everyone else here, want me gone, and then I also have a responsibility to my city and my men back there..” Armaros explained, as he held on to Stella’s hand.
“I thought you didn’t care about that.. Is it about what my father said to you the other day?” She asked, but Armaros didn’t reply, as he just kept looking straightforward.
“Then let’s just leave together.. I’m willing to get out of here, too, if it means I can be with you. I’m tired that my dad is still trying to control my life,” Stella spoke, as she took a tighter hold of his hand, making him stop and turn to her.
“Stella, he is your father. I might not know much about what it means to have one who truly cares, but I can see he just wanna protect you, and I get that.. All I want is for you to be safe and happy.. And I’m not able to give you any of those things..” he stated, as he let go of her hand and took a step back.
“So you're just going to leave me?” She asked in disbelief, as she looked at him with her brows knitted.
“Everything about my life is putting you in constant danger, Stella! My brother and my father aren’t going to stop trying to hurt you to get to me – they will even bribe my men to do it.” He added as he took another step away from her.
“So everything you said was just lies. I didn’t mean anything to you?”
“Of course you did – you still do, but I just can’t let myself be that selfish when it comes to you,” he stated.
“But that’s the problem – you are being selfish! You are pushing me away because you are scared of something that may or may not happen!” Stella snapped, but Armaros could see she was on the point of breaking down.
“You let me fall in love with you, and you just go and break my heart!”
Tears started to run down her cheeks. All he wanted to do was to pull her into his embrace and comfort her, but he knew if he did that, he would never be able to leave her.
“I know what I did was a mistake. You deserve so much more than I’ll ever be able to give you,” Armaros stated as he turned away from her.
“Goodbye Stella.” Armaros spoke, as he began walking away.
For every step he took, he only felt the undeniable pain in his heart grow bigger, but he tried to remind himself it was for the best, while he thought of his conversation with her father.
[Flashback - a few days ago]
“What did you wanna talk to me about?” Armaros asked, as he was standing in front of Chase.
“I wasn’t born yesterday, Armaros, whatever that makes Vlad cover for your stupidity is to me a mystery, but I know it was you – you killed Kyle, and you know I’m right!” Chase exclaimed, as Armaros just stared back at him, as he shrugged.
“I never asked him to do it.. And I only did what I believed was right to protect Stella from those sick fückers!” Armaros proclaimed, as he crossed his arms.
“You think you are protecting her? You are the one putting Stella’s life in danger!” Chase growled, as he stared angrily at Armaros.
“Keeping those bastards alive is what’s putting her in danger, Chase! You should understand that better than anyone!” Armaros snapped, as he felt the anger boil inside of him.
“Don’t you dare lecture me about what I need to understand!” Chase yelled.
“These bastards you are talking about have been here all her life – people I have trusted for years, but because of you, they suddenly saw Stella - MY daughter - as a threat to this tribe!” Chase snapped as he stepped closer to Armaros.
“So, in the end, this is all your fault!” Chase growled, as he stared angrily at Armaros.
Amaros’ anger suddenly vanished, as it was replaced with guilt.
The last thing Armaros wanted was to put Stella in more danger.
“I would die before letting anything happen to her,” Armaros shot, as he stared seriously at Chase.
“But that’s the problem, you can’t really promise that, ‘cause the damage is already done, you already know what happened..” Chase argued.
“.. If you genuinely want Stella to be safe, you should leave and let her find someone who actually can make sure of that.” Chase added, as he stared Armaros dead in the eye, before Armaros looked away, not saying anything, as this guy Drake came up to him.
“Listen to me, Armaros, if you stay, you already know what’s going to happen.. You will go back to a cell and everyone here will know what you did, and who do you think will suffer from that? Do you really want Stella to go through all that?” Drake interfered, as Armaros shook his head.
All he wanted was for Stella to be happy and safe, and if that meant he had to leave, then he would do that.
“Fine, I’ll leave then.” He sighed.
“Great choice! But I need you to tell Stella that, when she gets better,” Chase stated.
[End of Flashback]
[Stella’s POV]
“He just walked away like that, like he didn’t even care.” I sobbed, as Bella comforted me.
We were sitting in her room, as I had walked directly to her house when Armaros had left me.
“Don’t worry, he might come to his senses soon enough. He was just released from prison, and like you said, your father wanted him to leave.. Do you even have any idea what your dad said to him?” She asked me, as I thought about it.
“No.. He wasn’t really specific about that, he just told me my father and everyone else wanted him gone, and he did it to keep me safe, that was just about it.” I replied with a shrug.
“See, he probably had some kind of guilt trip after everything that has happened.” Bella explained, as she took a hold on my hands.
“If I were you, I would speak to your dad.. Figure out what he told him,” She continued.
“Right.. Thanks for the advice, Bells.” I spoke as I gave her a quick hug, and dried my eyes.
“Sure thing, I’ll always have your back, no matter what!” Bella stated, making me give her an extra squeeze.
“I know..”
- Writer
