The Submissive Assassin (BxB)

Chapter 82 - Spectacle

"Intruding on personal matters."

"It's not really personal," Jake explained to Dante who rolled his eyes, waving his hand dismissively at the excuses. He then pointed to Nate and smirked, "Nate and I are buddies from school. We've already crossed that personal line, am I right?"

"No," Nate said coldly.

After a nervous chuckle, Jake shrugged his shoulders. "Let's look at the bright side—Melle is still here so we can go on with the...the spectacle."

"The spectacle," Dante repeated, a sudden flashback crossing his mind. It was a memory from his childhood, the favourite word his father used whenever there was something gruesome he expected them to do. He referred to it as a performance, one needed in order to become more masculine and stronger, to erase any sort of empathy or emotion from the mind.

Although those spectacles clearly worked for Draco as a kid, Dante hadn't had his completely eradicated, evident with how much he cared for Nate.

However, when he finally caught glimpse of the smile on his father's face, the worry across Melle's visage, the giddy grin across Jake's lips, and the memory of what spectacle he had to experience, his eyes widened. "Dad, he's not ready."

"Ready for what?" Nate questioned, but his voice was left as background noise as no one yet paid attention to him.

"He is ready," Draco laughed, stepping towards Melle who attempted to squirm away from his grasp, to no avail as she had nowhere to turn. Unfortunately, the lack of mercy in Draco's body made her resistance a nuisance that he had no patience to deal with, hence he gripped her by the hair. She shrieked, her purse falling from her shoulder but her focus was on the excruciating pain, the pull from his hand feeling as if each strand were individually being teared from her head.

He began to drag her towards the center of the hall, throwing her a couple feet directly across from Nate. "The same way you were ready when you were a child and the same way Lucius ready." His eyes looked around from an individual chair, and he reached for it before Melle could even get back on her feet. "And Nate will listen to the truth and he will decide for himself what to do with his beloved mother."

Even though she was much weaker than him, he did not dim his aggressiveness, violently pulling her to her feet once again by her hair and slamming her body onto the chair facing directly towards Nate.

Nate was in too much shock that his gaped open mouth could produce no sound—he had never seen anyone of his relatives treated this way. He wanted to protect her and defend her, but not only was he too weak, but he wanted to hear the truth Draco had in store. Hence he didn't say anything, his mouth soon closing as he observed the unapologetic grin across Draco's face, his large fingers squeezing Melle's shoulders tightly that she winced.

Jake bit the inside of his cheek in childish excitement, while Dante merely folded his arms and waited.

"Look at your son," Draco ordered, reaching for Melle's chin and lifting it harshly. "Tell him the truth."

Melle bit her bottom lip, seeing the way Nate's eyes widened.

The confusion in the wrinkles on his forehead, as if he attempted to read the truth through her eyes but couldn't find anything. All he knew was that her name was Melle and she was his mother. That she had married her father long before his birth and she had only been able to conceive him. And the one thing they couldn't take away from him, regardless of how much they destroyed her character by revealing her past, was that she did raise him with love.

No matter what they said, that was what he promised to continuously remind himself. Sadly, he didn't realize how hard it was going to be.

"I said," he shoved her seat forward, to which she almost fell but then gripped her by the back of her neck and forcefully kept her seated, "tell him the truth." When only silence prevailed, Draco didn't hesitate to swiftly slam his palm against her cheek. That instantly caused Nate to jump, who couldn't withstand the sight any longer—even Dante grew worried.

"Maybe she doesn't have anything to say," Dante suggested, merely because he saw the panic that crossed Nate's eyes.

"She does," he snapped. "And if she doesn't want to tell him, then we'll just beat it out of her—"

"Alright! Alright!" Her voice was breathless and it was when Draco pushed her chin upwards that Nate saw the tears leaking across her cheeks. Through sniffles and coughs, she finally cleared her throat and whispered, "I'll tell him."

There was a brief pause, all of them feeling the tension as she was about to reveal the truth, but Dante's interruption made them all turn to him. "Hold on a minute," he said, walking towards Nate and stopping directly in front of him, blocking his view from Draco and Melle.

Jake protested, throwing his arms in the air and hissing, "Just when we get to the good part..."

"Nate, listen to me." He leaned forward, making sure those green eyes were staring back at him. For a moment, Nate recognized those eyes. It was the expressions of when they initially met; not when he threatened his aunt during their road rage, but instead when he let himself collapse onto his knees and begged to be pleased. It was the vulnerable Dante he remembered, the one that Nate had grown fond of, the one that fell asleep in his bedroom and talked in his sleep.

He felt his heart calm and the tension around them start to fade. That was when Nate realized that he had been picking at his skin, since Dante reached for his fingers beside his face and lowered them, placing them on Nate's lap.

"Whatever she says Nate, I want you to remember that you're not like us." That made Nate's eyes widen. "You're not evil and I don't want you to become evil because of this. Please just..." he sighed, shaking his head for a second and finally pulling away, "...whatever he asks you to do, keep your humanity. The moment you lose that, you'll become like me and I don't want that to happen to you—"

"Move from my fucking view."

The harshness in his tone made Dante pause for a second before moving away, standing beside Nate who shook his head with his lip curled. It was evident he had not yet forgiven Dante, who folded his arms and turned to Melle and Draco, also waiting for the revelation as to why they were all there. His father had never mentioned Nate before and rarely ever spoke of Melle and Judy, hence he had no idea what they were going to say.

But nothing could have prepared them for the truth. Draco thought he knew the entire truth, but even he did not.

Melle cleared her throat, glancing towards Dante and Jake before exhaling a long sigh. The panic in Nate's gaze made her heart clench, but with Judith's passing, she was the one that needed to tell him.

"I'm not your mother, Nathan." When those words left her lips, all of them heard the sharp inhale and Nate's breathing simply stopped for a few seconds. He pulled back in his seat, almost making hm the wheelchair tip over. Jake's eyes widened, so did Dante who furrowed his brows and instantly took hold of Nate's wheelchair handles. However, the lengthy smile across Draco's face made it obvious that he knew that fact all along.

But Melle wasn't done.

"I'm not even your aunt." She was already this far in, but there was no other choice. The increasing hurt in his eyes only crushed her soul, but he needed to hear it. "Judith and I are not related."

That made Draco frown as he didn't know that fact, and neither did Dante.

"Raising you was a favour," she continued, as if he hadn't been stabbed in the heart enough. "I didn't want to, but Judith begged me to take you with me. Didn't you ever question why you always got along with her better than me or how you have more similar features with her than me?"

Nate was speechless.