The Submissive Assassin (BxB)

Chapter 83 - Melle's Story Pt. I

The room fell into such a deep silence that Nate could even hear his own thoughts out loud, as if he was being directly spoken to. His vision seemed to blur and he blinked a few times, shaking his head and slamming his palm against his forehead. The pounding of his heart was slamming against his chest that it felt as if it would burst through his chest cavity.

Jake had initially been excited to witness what Draco planned, but as he heard the truth, he wished he had never entered the apartment. He could practically feel the sadness radiating from Nate's quivering shoulders, his breathing growing heavier by the second. The vulnerability tempted him to lean forward and embrace him into a comforting hug, but he maintained his position by the door as he was ordered.

As for Dante, he glanced down at Nate but resisted the urge to place a palm on his shoulder. Nate didn't like his touch for now and it would be additional stress he definitely didn't deserve. Hence, he kept his hands to himself, but he definitely wished he could get rid of the pain Nate clearly felt. Draco was shocked, his lips having widened into a lengthier smile, the revelations becoming better than he expected.

The hurt in Nate's eyes made Melle retract, squeezing her lips shut for a moment and lowering her eyes. At the end of the day, she had raised him and she didn't want him to hate himself or blame himself for anything that happened in his life. These misfortunes were none of his doings, which was something he desperately needed to understand.

"Look Nate," she breathed, exhaling a long sigh and slowly shaking her head. "We were forced to make a decision and at the time, that was the best decision—"

"No, no, that's not good enough," Draco rejected, laughing behind her as he motioned for Dante to pull Nate's wheelchair closer, which he did. He leaned forward from behind Melle's seat, coming close to the side of her ear before he said, "We want to know everything. How you met Judy, why she handed Nate to you, why you decided to give him back to Judy this year—tell us everything."

Melle hit her bottom lip; it was evident those memories were not ones she wanted to relive, not even for Nate. However, with Draco this close to her and because she wanted to survive this moment, she cleared her throat and started on her entire story.

"The woman that birthed me was killed soon after my birth. They never located my father, so I was stuck in the foster care system." She paused for a few seconds, as if she was paying tribute to her younger self that was never given a childhood. Her jaw clenched, biting the inside of her cheek before she continued. "The system is very corrupted and I was sold to a troop when I was seven years old."

"It was a bunch of us that were all bought at the same time and we all were forced to start doing favours for the troop." Melle squeezed her eyes shut, her breaths growing even more shaky. "As girls, our favours were much more...sexual—please," she tilted her head towards Draco and begged, "I don't want to have to be explicit about everything they did to me. It's embarrassing as it is, I don't want to relive them."

He waved his hand dismissively. "I don't care about that anyway."

"One of the girls they brought at the same time was Judith. We formed a bond because we had the same troop member." She slowly nodded her head as her eyes fell into a trance, the memories slowly starting to replay themselves vividly in her mind. "We survived together, split our food when the other didn't receive any, found ways for our beatings not to be as bad. They tore us down...especially physically."

Nate's eyes hadn't diverted from his mother, everything surrounding them having stopped in time and only hearing his mother's voice. His undivided attention could not be misdirected at that moment; he needed to hear every single word.

"Judith got pregnant when she was fifteen and they assigned me to take care of her. I was eighteen at the time. I was by her side every day and that just brought us even closer. She became the family member I wish I had, literally my soul sister. We were inseparable and I would have done anything to protect her." They had been inseparable and although those times had been atrocious, the fact that she had someone there that shared the same experience gave them the will to survive even more.

"Their base got raided by Draco's troop. But Draco wasn't the leader at the time; it was King." Dante's eyes frowned and they all glanced to Draco as he attempted to remember which time he had invaded another troop's and whose it had been.

For the first time ever in his life, Draco's eyes flashed with an expression that Dante didn't even know existed in his body—sadness. It was a split second, barely even noticeable, but it had come across. And it was as if Draco hadn't felt that in such a long time that his stance instantly changed. He stepped backwards from Melle, suddenly giving her space and folded his arms as if he tried to shield himself from that topic. It was clear he was uncomfortable from that name being mentioned.

"King as in grandpa?" Dante raised an eyebrow, turning to his father.

"Yes, King Hercules—can you continue your story? We're finding out Nate's truth here, not mine."

"King was an demon, a horrifying and horrible man. He didn't care for the life of anyone and found glory in destroying anything and anyone. I can't even begin to think of the number of lives he took for random pleasure." She shuddered as she thought of his face, the first time she had encountered him.

"Our troop wasn't paying attention to their prisoners, so Judith and I began to ran. But her water broke while we were trying to escape." Melle sighed, slowly nodding her head and Nate noticed her fingers curling into a fist. "She was too weak to continue to run, so she asked me to help her give birth and escape with the baby so at least the baby would have a chance to a good life. So..." Melle paused for a second, "...that's what I did."