A Heart of Darkness

Chapter 7. Beauty and The Beast

"Dammit Kaylee will you stop looking at me like that?" Brandon finally yelled as he bandaged her arm.

The entire ride home, she stared at him as if he was a stranger to her, as if she didn't know him. Even now when he cleaned and bandaged her arm, it was damn unsettling to see those brown eyes watch him with accusation and fear.

"I can't help it...I don't know who you are anymore. You can't be the man I fell in love with," Kaylee pulled her arm away as soon as he finished. "How can a man who broke another's man's neck with his bare hands be so gentle with me? You're either a villain or a hero. You can't be both, Brandon!"

"I am the same man you fell in love with, you just never accepted this side of me and it was my fault for trying to hide it from you. If I had been upfront with you from the beginning...I was just trying to protect you Kaylee."

"You promised me you would never kill anyone!!"

"I've killed before, those hackers who tried to destroy all of us...they died by my hands..."

"That was different," Kaylee said. "You were trying to save my life...they were evil..."

"Killing is killing, Kaylee...the bastard who almost shot you could have killed you...Baby, you know this world is much safer from me with you alive in it...if you were gone..." He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. "You are my light, you hold back this darkness inside of me...I could be so much worse...but with you in my life...I'm still somewhat normal..."

"You're hurting my arm," Kaylee mumbled in his shoulder.

He quickly let her go. "I'm sorry. How much does it hurt? Let me give you something for the pain, and to relax. You're in shock. I can tell by just looking at you."

"I'm going to have nightmares; I can still hear him..."

"I'm so sorry, baby, I didn't want you to witness that...I know how sensitive you are...."

"Can you leave?"

"What?"

"Can you please leave me alone?"

"Kaylee..." Brandon moved to pull her in his arms.

She jumped up and ran across the room before he could touch her. "I don't want you touching me right now! I can't stand it! I tried to bare it while you took care of my arm, but I can't..."

Brandon slowly stood up, his heart beating painfully. "Stop looking at me like that, Kaylee...I am still the same person you fell in love with... Nothing about me has changed..."

"Maybe I have," Kaylee mumbled.

Brandon's eyes darkened. "I won't let you leave me," he swore harshly. "We'll get through this together, but I won't let you leave me..." He walked out the room and slammed the door, hard.

Kaylee jumped when the walls shook. She knew she had hurt him, but at the moment she was having a hard time dealing with this. Perhaps, in a way this had been both their faults. Her refusal to accept this dark side of Brandon had lead her into a fantasy world. She'd actually managed to trick herself into believing he wasn't as bad as he seemed, constantly trying to cover up everything he did that was practically screaming out at her that Brandon was not and never would be a normal, ordinary man.

He was the leader of a powerful Mafia, The Don.

She paced the room deep in thought.

Threatening to never marry him had been foolish of her. She knew that would never make him change because she was already practically his wife, she just didn't have the papers. Threatening to never give him children wasn't a big deal either, they'd eventually have them if she continued to stay with him.