Complete Me

37

Chapter Thirty Seven| Ava
^Ross^

"Kaden calm down!" I tell him, as I clutch Lily to my chest.

"How the hell did I let this happen?!" He clutches his hair in frustration. He then turns to Lily, who is surprisingly calm in my arms. "Lily, I raised you better than to talk to strangers!"

"Ross isn't a stranger." She tilts her head in confusion. "He's my brother."

"Baby girl, listen to me." He crouches down so he is eye level with her. "You shouldn't trust that boy, I'm disappointed in you, Lily. When and how did he give you this bracelet?"

"H-He told me he'd come and see me when uncle Raymond took me, so I waited every night for him a-and he came yesterday." She whispers, giving Kaden her best sad look.

"You got out of bed and waited for him? Elijah!" Ten seconds later Elijah is running in, a look of confusion on his face.

"What is it?" He breathes out.

"Security. Ever heard of it?" Kaden tilts his head at his consigliere.

"Erm yes. I'm in charge of it." Elijah replies, sounding confused.

"So why the hell has my daughter been in contact with that so called brother of hers? Why the fuck has he got passed security and managed to give her a stinking bracelet?" I decide to cover Lily's ears so she doesn't hear her father blaspheming.

I look down at Lily and she doesn't seem to care as she continues to munch on her grapes. I can't help but giggle at her.

"I'll look into it. There were two of our men in the cctv room last night." Kaden frowns even harder.

"Who was outside?" Elijah scratches the back of his head and looks away. "Elijah?!"

"No-one. Sorry Kaden." Elijah gives him an apologetic smile. Kaden's face starts to get red and I decide to intervene.

"Thanks Elijah, you can go." He gives me a smile and quickly runs out the room.

"Daddy?" Lily whispers, her eyes watery. It's obvious she can sense that Kaden isn't happy with her. "I'm sorry."

Kaden sighs and holds his arms out for her. I hand Lily over to him and I gently smile when she throws her little arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, baby girl." He rubs her back and closes his eyes when we hear her little sniffles. "Please don't cry." He pleads.

"I didn't mean to upset you." She whimpers into his neck.

He pulls her away from the comfort of his neck and looks at her. "What did he say when he came over yesterday?" He questions calmly.

"He's visiting me again, he's really funny, daddy." She beams.

"No, Lily, you stay in your bed." Kaden shakes his head when Lily's lips start to tremble. "Daddy needs to have a chat with him first." I sigh, knowing exactly what is going to happen tonight.

"B-But I want to see Ross." She whines, rubbing her eyes.

Kaden takes a deep breath. "You can see him, as soon as daddy has spoken to him." He strains out.

***

I jump when I see Kaden and Ruben, dragging in Lily's 'brother', Ross. "Let me go." He tries to pull his arms away from the two men.

"Kaden!" He looks at me and sighs, throwing the poor boy to the floor. Ross, looks up at Kaden in fright and I start to feel bad for the boy, so I step in front of the grumpy idiot.

"We don't want to hurt you." I hold my hands up at Ross. "We just need to speak to you.....about Lily." I give him a small smile and he slowly nods his head. I can feel how tense Kaden is behind me. "Let's go to the living room."

Ross stands up and follows me to the living room. I sit down and he follows my actions and sits on the other end of the sofa.

"Lily says you're her brother?" I say gently and he nods his head, casting a wary look to Kaden, who is standing not far from him.

"Whose your dad?" Kaden spits and I roll my eyes at his hostile behaviour.

Ross shrugs, avoiding eye contact with him.

"You think it's okay to scare my baby girl like that? You think it's okay to come onto my property uninvited?!" Kaden yells, making Ross flinch and look at me with pleading eyes. "Say something!" Kaden smacks his hand on the arm rest of the chair.

"Take your time." I reassure him and watch him give me a small smile.

I quickly glare at Kaden and turn my attention back to Ross.

"Lily is my half sister but I see her as full blood. She's the only family I have left, Uncle Raymond, he raised me but he erm....." He gulps and looks away.

"It's okay." I whisper.

"He abused me, took me away from my mum when I was small. I basically grew up alone my whole life and then I found out about little Lily." He smiles brightly at the last words. "I never wanted to hurt Lily when Raymond took her, the thought of making her sad didn't settle well with me. I was happy to take beatings from Raymond if that meant Lily wasn't hurt, I was use to them anyway." My heart breaks for Ross.

He never had a happy childhood. He had no-one.

I look over at Kaden and realise that he has sat himself down and is looking down at the ground.

"I'm sorry." I hear Kaden mutter under his breath. I shake my head a little bit and smile to myself.

"Where are you living?" I question.

"Here and there, haven't really got a place to call home." He shrugs, looking down at his hands.

I can't help but feel bad for the poor boy.

"I won't come back, if that's what you want. I just needed to know my little sister, I wanted her to know she has a big brother that cares about her." He looks up at me with glossy eyes and I feel my own eyes water.

"Lily would murder me if I got rid of you." Our heads turn to Kaden, who has stood back up. "I won't have my little girl mad at me, so you can stay, prove yourself to me and we'll see what happens in the future." And then he walks out of the living room.

I look back to Ross, his blue eyes wide with shock.

I open my arms up and he doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around me. "Thank you for taking me in." He whispers in appreciation. "Thank you so much."

After a while he pulls away and wipes the remaining tears on his cheeks. The door opens and Kaden walks in with a grumpy Lily, who clearly is not happy because she's been woken up from her deep sleep. However her eyes widen when she sees her brother.

"Rossy!" She squeals in Kaden's ear, making him wince. She reaches out for him and Kaden puts her down so she can run over to her older brother. Ross pulls her onto his lap and smiles down at her.

"Hey, little sis." He whispers, cuddling her small frame close to his chest. I look at Kaden and he nods his head to the exit of the living room. I get up from the sofa and walk out of the room with him.

"I'm trying." Is all Kaden says and I nod in understanding. "Now get your cute butt to bed." He winks and I laugh lightly.

💛