Bonds

-Alex's POV-

Eight years old.

That was the first time the crimson color of blood stained my world. It wasn't a scrape from a fall, a burst lip from a careless tumble. No, this blood flowed freely, painting a gruesome scene etched forever in my memory.

win I wasn't supposed to see it. Tucked away in a forgotten corner of my father's study, hidden amongst towering bookshelves and leather-bound tomes, I became an unwilling witness. The man on the floor wasn't fighting back. There was no struggle, no desperate pleas for mercy. Just a look of utter defeat etched on his face, his eyes wide and vacant, staring sightlessly into the distance.

My father stood over him, his chest heaving, claws dripping with a crimson stain that mirrored the spreading pool beneath the man's body. A guttural growl ripped from his throat, a sound primal and terrifying. "Get him out of my sight!" he commanded, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through the room.

Two hulking figures materialized from the shadows, their faces obscured by the gloom. Without a word, they grabbed the now lifeless body. the man's limbs dangling limply as they dragged him away, leaving a trail of blood that marked their path.

Fear, you might think, would have been my first reaction. But as I huddled in my makeshift hiding place, a strange calmness washed over me. Curiosity, perhaps, or maybe a sense of detachment that shielded me from the horrific scene unfolding before my eyes.

My father's voice, still laced with raw anger, echoed as he addressed someone unseen. "Where is Alex?"

They wouldn't find me. Not here, hidden in this dusty corner, the musty scent of old paper the only witness to my presence. It might be considered stupid hiding from the person who I didn't want to find me but right under his nose but even at my age, I understood the term, keep your friends close and my enemies closer. Damon Thome was a man I considered my enemy right from the moment he laid his hand on her. I almost smiled at just remembering my mother's eyes. The color of a deep sapphire lake, held a warmth my father never possessed. I always wanted her to look at me, I craved it.

it even h his thunderous command failed to elicit a flinch. I knew what awaited me when My father's voice boomed once more, "Find him!" But they did. Training, Moulding. Shaping me into a reflection of his own monstrous being. Anything but that. I was never going to be like him. 1 would be just like her. So I would hide so he would never find me.

Just as I rose to melt back into the shadows, a new conversation snagged my attention, anchoring me to my spot.

my m Chapter 53

"Mr. Thorne?" A soft voice startled me. A petite nurse with a dazzling smile and a blush creeping up her cheeks stood in front of me. I hadn't even realized when she walked up to me, "I will take you to him now."Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

I nodded mutely, my mind still trapped in a loop, replaying that day all over in my head. We walked in silence but as we passed by a narrow corridor, I couldn't resist catching my reflection in a wall-mounted mirror.

I had tried.

Really tried not to be like what he trained me to be but sometimes m e.

when I looked in the mirror, I saw it.

My failure because in the end I turned out to be just like him-monster.