Chapter 5 FIVE

EMILIA'S POV

Miley. He was the only one who loved to call her that.

He'd coined that name for her when they were eleven. He hadn't wanted to call her Emilia like other people, and so he had come up with his own variation of the name. She had fallen in love with hearing him call her Miley, but now all it did was leave a bitter taste in her mouth and a burning rage in her chest.

She tried to steady her breath as several awkward minutes passed between them while he waited for her response. She slowly studied him: he had grown his hair long. It reached his shoulders now, like a cloud of black. There were more lines on his face than she remembered. He was taller, more buff, the shape of his lean muscles showing through his round-neck shirt.

She looked down at his hands, which were clasped before him and shaking profusely. He seemed to be nervous–or stressed. Suddenly an image of those hands on her body flashed across her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut. How the hell had her brain dug up that memory? He still had an effect on her, that was for sure.

"Miley?" He prompted her softly and she looked up, then blinked again. He was frowning with concern; he could sense that something was wrong.

"I'm–fine." She managed to blurt out, then took a step backward. A close proximity to him was doing wrong things to her concentration.

"You don't look fine." He said and moved forward. She took another step back and tried to wave him off. She was aware of the housekeeper and her kids watching them, and she wished everyone would disappear for a while. She needed to gather her thoughts.

"I'm fine, Ray. Really." She murmured, then looked up at him again, this time more confident. "But I certainly do not appreciate the way you tried to kidnap my children and I."

He looked down, the edges of his lips lifted in a smile. "Well, I instructed the chauffeur to use force only if you weren't willing to come with him. I knew you would prove stubborn. And besides, last time I checked, they were my kids too."

"Last time you checked?" She narrowed her eyes, feeling the rage again. "What's that supposed to mean? Ray, what are you not telling me?"

"Nothing." He said. "They're my kids, right?"

"They're more of my children than they would ever be yours. Did you ask after them? Did you even give any indication that you were willing to keep them? And if you didn't "need my help", would you have given two fucks about them-or me?"

Raymond started to say something, then he remembered that the triplets were still in the living room with the housekeeper. He turned to the elderly woman. "Please take the kids upstairs. Make sure they're well settled. Give them some milk or something, and put them to bed."

The woman nodded in understanding and walked towards the car. Emilia watched her closely as she coaxed the children out of the car and led them upstairs and into the large house. Ray watched their backs until they were gone, then he turned back to Emilia.

"I agree, part of it was my fault." He admitted, running a shaky hand through his hair. "But you didn't give me a chance to know them, did you? I didn't even know you got pregnant that night until a short while ago. How would I have given two fucks if I didn't know they existed, if you ran off without any explanation after that night?"

"You certainly won't expect me to hang around and watch while you fall in love with someone else, would you?" She retorted. "Running away from the pack was the best thing I had ever done, the best decision I would ever make. I'd rather do that than watch you live the life I'd always dreamt of with someone else."

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Miley. I had no idea you felt that way about me."

Emilia shook her head. She wasn't sure she was ready to hear his apologies. "What do you need my help for, Ray? That's why you kidnapped me and brought me back here, right? You'd better have a good enough explanation for all of this."

He looked blank for a while. It was clear that he wasn't expecting her to bring that up so fast. Then she watched as he swallowed hard and nodded. "Of course." He muttered. "I'll get to that. But first you need some sleep. It's the middle of the night and I'm sure you've had a long day."

"Alright. Tomorrow then." She said. "But bear it in mind that I'm helping you out of the goodness of my heart, and the history between us. I'm not sure there's anything to forgive, since you didn't exactly offend me. But I can't come to terms with what happened that night and the morning after. I'm not sure I'll ever come to terms with it."

He nodded again. "I understand."

"And after I've helped you with whatever you need, I'll be going back to Chicago immediately, and I'm taking my children with me. I can't stay here."

"Wait." He said, his face suddenly serious. "What do you mean, you're taking the children with you?"

She looked straight into his green eyes. "Exactly what you heard, Raymond."

"Can we reach an agreement?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, I cannot allow that."

He sighed with exasperation. "Fuck, Miley! They're my kids too!"

"How do you expect me to leave them here while I stay in Chicago? What do you think your mate will say or feel about that? I'm not going to leave them in this kind of environment, Raymond. I'm taking them home."

"This is their home too, Miley." He replied. "Are you going to deny them the opportunity of being true wolves? What do you think you're going to do in a few years, when their wolf forms start manifesting? How do you want them to feel knowing that you kept such a secret away from them for so long?"

She shook her head. "This isn't why you called me here-"

"I know." He said, looking at her. She refused to meet his eyes, and he reached out as though to touch her shoulder. But he stopped midway and dropped his hand awkwardly.

"You're a werewolf too, Miley. How have you coped all these years, trying to suppress the urge to morph? How did you not lose the ability totally?" He asked.

She shook her head again and closed her eyes, gritting her teeth. "I don't want to talk about this, please Raymond. I'm mad enough as it is."

Raymond opened his mouth as though to protest, then he thought better of it and nodded in understanding. "That's fine." He murmured.

She walked up the steps, then turned back when she reached the top and looked down at him. Her voice was steady, deadly and cold as she spoke. "You broke my spirit six years ago, Raymond, and I was trying very hard to fix myself when you decided to show up again. You'd better have a good enough explanation for kidnapping my children and I, or we would be parting ways with more than broken spirits to worry about. Mark my words." She said, then walked into the house, leaving her best friend to his scattered emotions.