Pull the Trigger | ✓

t w e n t y

Juliette was assigned to the seat beside her mother and opposite of me as she sent me playful smiles and silly expressions, still completely oblivious to the atmosphere that surrounded us. No one was talking so we all sat at the long, stretched dining table quietly while cutting our steak. It had been like this for five minutes and I was already suffocating.

"So, how is the arranged relationship working out for you?" I heard Cain ask, clearing his throat beforehand as I felt his gaze on me.

I sent him a gentle smile and shrugged. "It's going smoothly. It's more friendship-based than a relationship, if I were to be completely honest." When those words left my mouth, it was Noah's turn to stare at me.

"Ah, I guess your father didn't tell you," Cain said, lifting his wine glass to his lips and sipped it before putting it back down, his blue eyes -so similar to Juliette's- now moved to Noah who immediately tensed beside me.

I tilted my head in confusion. "What?"

"My son is in love with you," Cain casually answered me, a hint of mischief glinting in those blue orbs of his and yet, it still rendered me shocked. I didn't know whether if it was his words or the way he had said them with such casualty yet honesty. "Judging by your expression, you didn't expect it."

I turned to look at Noah who was staring at his father with a blank look. What had happened to that woman he had fallen in love with? "Noah, tell he's just joking-"

"Tell me," Cain interrupted me, causing me to turn my head back to him, speechless. "Why didn't you expect a man like Noah to fall in love with you?"

"I, uh-"

"He's not the same age as you?" Cain questioned, cutting his steak as he kept his eye on Noah. "Does he not meet your high expectations?"

I frowned at Cain, shaking my head. "No, no, it's just that-"

Cain clicked his tongue once. "Ah, maybe it's because he's just not good enough for you."

The words coming out of his mouth were ridiculous. "No, that's not it-"

The sudden movement beside me occurred within a split second which caused a scream from Juliette, my head trying to unwrap everything that had literally just unfolded right before me. The next thing I knew was a gun was touching my temples, rendering me speechless once again as Noah had his gun out pointing at at his father first. I guess I blamed myself for sitting near Cain. My father had taught me to remain calm if I had ever been in a situation like this, to remain light-headed and to stay grounded.

"You're bluffing," was the first two words Noah said, his eyes narrowing in on the gun his father had on me.

I heard Cain chuckle humourlessly, my body stiffening at the sound of his gun cocking. "Try me, son."

"Take Juliette to her rooms," Noah said to particularly no one, his deathly glare remaining on Cain as Juliette's mother quickly escorted a trembling girl.

Something ticked in Noah's jaw as he placed his gun down slowly before tucking it into the back of his pants, sitting down after with a pissed off expression. Cain then slowly lowered his own gun before moving his hand down to my chair, beckoning me to sit. I obeyed.

"You didn't need to cause a scene in front of Juliette," Noah said as he kept his eyes focused on Cain's gun that has been placed on the dinner table. "At least be aware that she's young and easily scared."

Cain scoffed, sipping his wine. "She's not my child; I won't care for that bastard."

The second I saw Noah reach for his gun in my peripheral vision, I placed my hand on his bicep and gripped it tightly, preventing him from doing anything irrational.