An Explanation

[ROBERT SNOW]

DAY 5

Robert sat behind his desk, staring at the wood as his fingers tented in front of his mouth. He wasn’t happy. In fact, he was furious, but you would never know it from his face. He appeared deep in thought, frowning with deep bags under his eyes. The darkness did not sit well with him, and as a leader, he’d hardly had time to even try to sleep in trying to figure out how to fix the darkness. In the end, the leaders had come to the conclusion that they would ride it out for a while longer and see if it simply dissipated. They also agreed that it was the revelation that sparked the masked man to murder Mordecai. A couple witnesses to the event attended the meeting, one of which was a Gargoyle named Avery. He knew the man did some investigative work for the council and trusted all of his observations. So the plan was to wait until further notice. He just didn’t know how long he or the other Gargoyles could wait with the exhaustion running rampant. Robert managed to nap for an hour once, but it had hardly rested him. He needed to figure something out and fast, because he was on his last legs.

His exhaustion only made his mood worse. He was waiting for his assistant to arrive. There was much and more to discuss with her. His anger burned in his stomach, but his face remained stoic, listening to the clock tick the minutes away. It was almost like he fell into a trance listening to the clock and watching his desk. The next he knew, Cadence was walking into his office. His eyes were hard and cold as he stayed exactly as he was. “Sit,” he commanded. He waited until she took a seat in front of his desk, watching her the whole time. For a long moment he just stared at her with icy eyes, considering how to approach this subject. At last he turned from her and grabbed a folder of black and white still shots. It was a woman first holding a sandwich for a man chained and bloody. Next she was talking to him. Then she was cutting the chains as he slumped. Finally she was helping him out of the dungeon. He studied her face as she opened the folder and waited for her reaction to a clear picture of her and Davenport.

Robert waited for the look of embarrassment or fear on her face. He wanted to see her blanch, her mouth tighten, and her eyes grow wide just the slightest bit. He wanted to see her surprise. “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t have security cameras in my own dungeon?” he asked in a dangerously calm voice. His eyes narrowed slightly, lacing his fingers before him on his desk. “So, Cadence, would you care to explain this to me?”

[CADENCE HIGGINS]

The lack of rest was wearing on Cadence as it was everyone else. She was weak and tired and constantly felt drained. She wished she could simply pass out and regain at least a fraction of her strength, but Cadence was never one to complain. She pushed through it all and though the situation was wearing on her, she did her best to not let it show when she could help it.

Working took a lot more energy these days and every time she saw her boss alone she got an anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach that he would make good on his promise from the night of the Masquerade. Of course she wanted it to some degree, but his roughness would hurt now, and she feared her reactions.

When Cadence went into Robert's office and he instructed her to sit, she felt that pit rolling in her stomach. She looked at him for a moment before taking a seat opposite him. Normally he didn't command her to sit that way when he wanted to fuck her. He would ask her to do something on his side of the desk and then make his move. What game was he playing?

The man was clearly angry and Cadence watched his eyes, unblinking. She wouldn't allow him to intimidate her with his glare. After a moment he grabbed a folder and passed it to her. She looked at it and then him before reaching and opening it.

Cadence stared in shock at the first picture on the top, though the shock wasn't apparent by the look on her face, staying stoic as ever. It took a long moment for her to sift through the photos. It was unmistakably her in all of them. “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t have security cameras in my own dungeon?” She had never thought of the cameras. How had she been so foolish? Her eyes moved up to her boss, knowing he expected something from her. A look of consternation, perhaps? “So, Cadence, would you care to explain this to me?”

Cadence was quiet, watching the man and knowing she was in deep shit. Even she didn't know how to crawl out of this massive hole she'd dug. She would likely lose her position over this, and the punishment would be severe. She was sure he wouldn't make her take Sebastian's place in the dungeon, but he would have something equally sadistic in mind.

After a pregnant pause she opened her mouth. "I know Sebastian." She lied, not once showing anything close to fear or remorse like she knew he wanted. She simply didn't feel either. "I owed him a favor, and I cashed it in by giving him his life. He would have died down there. It's no secret you have a cruel hand, sir. I should know, you use it on my rear often." Her tone was calm and cool as she stared him in the eye, not backing down. "It was wrong to go behind your back, but I do hope we could work this incident out, Robert. You know how much I...enjoy...working under you." Her lip twitched slightly, not letting up on her gaze.

[ROBERT SNOW]

Robert waited with building impatience and anger as Cadence considered her answer. There was no reaction on her face, only a blank stare. Whatever she was thinking, she better say it fast before he called her on her bluff. “I know Sebastian.” That was her excuse? “I owed him a favor, and I cashed it in by giving him his life. He would have died down there. It’s no secret you have a cruel hand, sir. I should know, you use it on my rear often.” Robert’s eyes narrowed. This was no time for jokes. “It was wrong to go behind your back, but I do hope we could work this incident out, Robert. You know how much I…enjoy…working under you.” His jaw set and he sat back with a sigh. “Do you? I think if you did, that would not have happened,” he replied, gesturing to the photos before her. He stood from his chair, his hands rested against the wood as he leaned on the desk.

“This is no laughing matter, Cadence, and you won’t sway me with your wiles this time. Do you know why?” he asked calmly, his voice low. He waited a beat and finally let his anger burst out of him. “Because you undermined my FUCKING AUTHORITY!” The first part of the sentence was spoken in a sterner voice, but he yelled the last two words so loud it seemed to reverberate off the walls. He wanted her full attention and he wanted her to know that her behavior was unacceptable. His eyes continued to burn into her, never having yelled at her like that before, but his handle on his temper was slipping the more exhausted he became. He stepped around his desk toward her, his voice a low growl as he approached. “I don’t care if Davenport is your long lost brother, Cadence. I won’t stand for my own assistant to free my prisoners without my say so.” When he was standing in front of her, his hand snatched out and grabbed her face by the jaw, dragging her to her feet once more so he could look in her cold green eyes.

“I was going to release him today. One more night and you could have spared yourself a world of hurt. As it stands, you’ll be taking Davenport’s place unless you can convince me otherwise,” he informed her, his voice hardly above a whisper. She knew better than to doubt his words. “Oh, and don’t expect to be place in that room. You’ll be on my turf, in my home. What else do you think my basement is for?” She would severely regret what she had done. If she tried to run, Peter and a team of Guardians was waiting just outside the doors to catch her. “Give me one good reason why I should spare you. Give me one good reason why you should still have your fucking job.”

[CADENCE HIGGINS]

“Do you? I think if you did, that would not have happened,” She didn't look at the photos as he gestured to them, her eyes still intent on his, almost unblinking. “This is no laughing matter, Cadence, and you won’t sway me with your wiles this time. Do you know why?” She knew better than to answer his rhetorical question. He was trying to get a reaction from her and she wasn't budging. Part of her knew she should, just to give him something he wanted when he'd been so helpless to have allowed her to set Sebastian Davenport free. “Because you undermined my FUCKING AUTHORITY!” A lesser woman would have flinched, but not Cadence. She didn't budge in her spot, though her heart began to race as he stood.

The girls eyes followed her boss as he moved around his desk, her head adjusting to look up at him as he came to her side. She was going to get it, and bad. She had never seen him so angry before, especially at her. There was a hint of fear in her stomach, but it was too small to have any amount of significance. No one was completely unafraid of Robert Snow, Cadence included.

“I don’t care if Davenport is your long lost brother, Cadence. I won’t stand for my own assistant to free my prisoners without my say so.” He grabbed her jaw forcefully and yanked her to her feet. Normally this wouldn't have hurt, but she finally flinched, showing her discomfort at her treatment. She inwardly chastised herself for showing such weakness in front of him, but she hadn't been able to help it. She wasn't as strong as she'd been last week. “I was going to release him today. One more night and you could have spared yourself a world of hurt. As it stands, you’ll be taking Davenport’s place unless you can convince me otherwise,” Her teeth clenched as she glared silently into Robert Snows cold, dangerous eyes. She had nothing. There was nothing she could say that would make him release her. In her mind he'd already made up his own and he simply wanted to hear her beg. He always wanted to get a reaction from her.

“Oh, and don’t expect to be placed in that room. You’ll be on my turf, in my home. What else do you think my basement is for? Give me one good reason why I should spare you. Give me one good reason why you should still have your fucking job.”

She knew this was a losing battle. The only way out of this was to threaten him, and she didn't have enough hard evidence against him to do anything like blackmail him. Not even faking tears could work on Robert. Tears were a sign of weakness, and Robert didn't care much for that. She would only be making her predicament worse. "Because I'm good at it." Her eyes were stern as she met his, not backing down. "Because you like how unafraid I am of you, how meticulous I am with my work, how I please you in every way you desire. You will never find someone who stimulates you the same. I thrill you, Robert, and we both know nothing I say will stop you from bringing me to your home and punishing me because you can't wait to hear me scream, can you. You were just waiting for an excuse to break me, and I handed it to you on a silver platter." Her eyes were challenging, which even she knew wasn't wise, but she also knew how much he carnally craved her.

"Break me, Robert.. It's what you want, isn't it? Isn't this what you've always wanted from me?"

[ROBERT SNOW]

“Because I’m good at it.” Robert’s eyes narrowed at Cadence’s, both infuriated and impressed. “Because you like how unafraid I am of you, how meticulous I am with my work, how I please you in every way you desire. You will never find someone who stimulates you the same. I thrill you, Robert, and we both know nothing I say will stop you from bringing me to your home and punishing me because you can’t wait to hear me scream, can you? You were just waiting for an excuse to break me, and I handed it to you on a silver platter.” What she said was bold and it made his blood boil both in fury and lust. “Break me, Robert…It’s what you want, isn’t it? Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted from me?” He wanted to silence her, that’s what he wanted. Without thinking, he picked her up and set her on his desk, grabbing a fistful of her hair so she would look at him, pulling hard and close to her scalp, keeping her head still. His eyes burned with an icy fire and his teeth were gritted firmly. “I don’t want you broken, Cadence. I’ve never wanted you broken. If you broke, you would bore me. But you are right about one thing: I do want to hear you scream. I want you to regret ever defying me,” he growled.

Standing there between her legs, glaring into her piercing eyes, absolutely livid with her betrayal, he lost his sense of restraint. He wanted to make her truly be sorry for what she had done. “Do you want to know what happened to your brother, Cadence?” he asked in a low voice. He finally saw it; the spark in her eyes. Her surprise angered him. “How stupid do you think I am? You assume I have no security in that dungeon and now you think I don’t check up on the people I hire. I know why you’re here. I know why your middle name is Jude.” He stayed close, pacifying any defiance of hers with a tug on her hair. Robert never talked about Jude; never. It had been the weakest moment of his life. But he was tired of this defiance from Cadence. Hell, he was just tired. He had lost all ability to temper himself and filter the things he said. He held tight and looked in her eyes as he told her about her brother.

“Jude was my friend, Cadence. In a lot of ways, your brother was the only friend I ever had. I was the golden boy, son of the head of the council and the leader’s prodigy; naturally, I had a lot of enemies. But I truly cared about your brother and when my enemies went after him, I made them pay for it, and Jude did the same for me. We really humiliated some people, but if we didn’t, they would have done the same to us. A large group of older, bigger, and stronger Gargoyles targeted us because we were constantly correcting them in our training, particularly your brother. They despised us, but we were untouchable and seemingly above reproach. I received a letter one evening telling me to go out to Megsy Isle just before dawn to meet with the leader—he had someone he wanted both Jude and I to meet. So we did as the letter requested and arrived on the isle just before dawn. That group of Gargoyles was waiting for us and ambushed us before we could react. Three of them held me back while the other three fought Jude to the edge of the cliffs. I escaped the trio’s grasp once, but they tackled me before I could get to Jude. They had only meant to scare us, get him close to the edge, but not push him over. The idiots pushed him too close to the edge and just as the sun began to rise, I saw him fall. The six of them were the first deaths on my hands. I have not blindly followed an order since and despise those that do.”

His hand loosened on her hair finally, noticing for the first time that she and Jude had the same eyes. How had he never noticed that before now? His jaw was set and he continued to glare at her, though he had calmed considerably. “I never told anyone that story. It was my fault and I deserve the blame. I brought him there and I couldn’t save him.” He was much too tired. He never made confessions like this, never talked about topics that hit so close to home for him. But he couldn’t take one more act of defiance from Cadence, not from Jude’s sister. “I tried to save him,” he growled. “It was my fault, but I tried, Cadence. You don’t know how hard I fought to save your brother. I deserve your bitterness and your hate, Cadence, but I was more loyal to your brother than I was to my own father. Why else would I give you this job? I’m trying to make amends, damn it!” He let her go, afraid if he kept looking in her eyes he would spill more about himself. Robert hated that she pulled those words out of him. He wanted to punish her, he wanted to tie her to the rack and whip her until her back was torn to shreds, but he couldn’t. The guilt of Jude’s death ate at him far too much, even after all these years, and he couldn’t possibly torture Jude’s sister that way. It disgusted him that he still harbored that loyalty to anyone, particularly a dead man. But it was Jude…he owed him much more. He despised that debt, but he knew the only way he could pay it back was to spare his sister. She had no idea how much she was like him, either…Whipping her would be like whipping Jude himself.

[CADENCE HIGGINS]

When Snow grabbed Cadence she made no move to stop him, almost expecting his rough treatment. His hand in her hair hurt worse than it ever had before and she she frowned her dismay at him but said nothing, her jaw clenched tight, her mouth in a thin line. “I don’t want you broken, Cadence. I’ve never wanted you broken. If you broke, you would bore me. But you are right about one thing: I do want to hear you scream. I want you to regret ever defying me,” he growled, but she was a little surprised that he didn't want her broken. She knew it would bore him if she were, but wasn't half the fun breaking someone so you could find someone new to play with?

He was so close to her, standing there between her legs with a menacing look on his face. She had infuriated him to no end and part of her was glad for it. He deserved to be undermined now and then, the cocky son of a bitch. “Do you want to know what happened to your brother, Cadence?”

For the first time ever with Robert, she gave in to that feeling of shock. Her eyes widened and her jaw slacked. Her brother? It had come at her completely unexpected. Robert, though brash and quick with his temper, was for the most part predictable. She knew what to expect out of him. She knew she was going to suffer at his hands and though she didn't know how, there was no denying he would make her hurt. It was predictable. Talking about Jude, however, was not.

“How stupid do you think I am? You assume I have no security in that dungeon and now you think I don’t check up on the people I hire. I know why you’re here. I know why your middle name is Jude.” He knew her middle name? She felt betrayed and angry. Had he been playing her this whole time instead of the other way around? She genuinely felt angry and frowned, her brows creasing low over her chilly green eyes as she twisted in his grasp, but as always he was too strong and she stayed put. He trapped her with that mighty grip of his.

He recanted his story and she listened intently, having always wanted to hear it, but never from him. She couldn't trust his version. She didn't want to hear how he'd killed her brother! "...I truly cared about your brother and when my enemies went after him, I made them pay for it, and Jude did the same for me." The thought of her brother having aided this man disgusted her. He had betrayed Jude! "...we were untouchable and seemingly above reproach. I received a letter one evening telling me to go out to Megsy Isle just before dawn to..." She struggled again but he held firm, wanting her to hear everything. Cadence shut her eyes tight, hating how much he could get to her by feeding her bullshit.

"That group of Gargoyles was waiting for us and ambushed us before we could react. Three of them held me back while the other three fought Jude to the edge of the cliffs." Her eyes opened and she shot daggers at him. No! It hadn't been someone else, it had been Robert who had pushed him! She was so sure of it.. "They had only meant to scare us.." No! "..get him close to the edge, but not push him over." "Stop! Her mind screamed, wishing instead for him to beat her.

"The idiots pushed him too close to the edge and just as the sun began to rise, I saw him fall. The six of them were the first deaths on my hands. I have not blindly followed an order since and despise those that do.”

It was all lies! How long had he been rehearsing it all? It sounded so genuine! It made sense, but she had been so sure... decades of researching the incident and coming up with dead end after dead end, and this was it? No! She was sure there was more, sure it had been Robert!

“I never told anyone that story. It was my fault and I deserve the blame. I brought him there and I couldn’t save him.” He'd won. Tears pooled in her bottom lid and she did her absolute best to keep them from actually falling and showing her weakness.

“I tried to save him,” He hadn't! “It was my fault, but I tried, Cadence. You don’t know how hard I fought to save your brother. I deserve your bitterness and your hate, Cadence, but I was more loyal to your brother than I was to my own father. Why else would I give you this job? I’m trying to make amends, damn it!” And to add insult to injury she hadn't even earned her position? She had worked her ass off her entire life to get to where she was..

When he let go of her hair she sat there for a moment glaring at him, unsure how to feel. She was furious and devastated, and feeling more emotion in that one moment than probably in her entire life combined. She had spent her entire existence blaming him and working to avenge her brother only to learn that Robert had tried to save him? He had led him into the lions den but hadn't been the one to kill him himself.

She grit her teeth hard and brought her hand up hard against his face. She was sure she was probably the only person to have ever struck the man outside of his training and that he would likely break her wrist, but she didn't care. She was thinking purely as a creature now, and not the beautiful young woman she was. "Are you fucking happy, now!?" She spat knowing he would be glad he had gotten to her. "Get away." She growled dangerously, shoving him now to try and escape from his desk. She couldn't be there. She couldn't be with him! She had no idea if he would actually let her leave or not. She was still in deep shit for having freed Davenport, but dammit she couldn't stand the sight of Snow right now! He had done a thorough job of fucking her up, hadn't that been punishment enough? He made her feel. He made her show it. And now she needed to process it.

[ROBERT SNOW]

Cadence was furious. Robert had never seen so much emotion on her face before and he realized he had successfully punished her more than any beating he could have given her. She had probably worked her ass off to get hired as his assistant so that she could bring down the man who killed her brother. Now she found out that he hadn’t killed her brother at all, in fact he had tried to save him. He had punished her far, far more than he intended, but he was satisfied he had. Unfortunately, she lashed out. Her hand made a loud smacking sound as it came across his face. His face burned and stung and he felt fury bubbling in his gut. For a moment he kept his eyes averted, still trying to decide what surprised him more, the fact that she had hit him or the fact that it hurt. When his eyes panned over to her again, they were dangerously cold and cruel. She may have been Jude’s sister, but she was asking for it.

“Are you fucking happy now?!” He was. Her reaction was golden, exactly the fury he wanted her to feel; it was the fury he had felt at her betrayal. He had made a mistake hiring her. He never let his emotions rule him, but he had let his emotions rule him in this case. Now he was severely regretting that decision. “Get away.” She shoved him, hard, and he actually stumbled back a step. He couldn’t hold back his fury anymore. Robert’s hand reached out as she was trying to get up from his desk, grabbing her by the throat and throwing her done onto the desk. Even in his weakened state, he was stronger than Cadence and much bigger. He held her down, though he didn’t squeeze. Robert wasn’t trying to throttle her, but he was trying to keep her in place. He bent over her, pinning her beneath him and he glared down at her face.

“Yes, I am happy now,” he growled, his eyes intent on hers. She could kick and scream all she wanted, but no one outside that door was going to help her and he could easily overcome her. “Now you feel the same anger I felt when I found out my one good deed had come back to bite me in the ass.” He wasn’t turned on, but he wanted more of a rise out of her. His hand came to her thigh and gripped hard, pushing upwards. “How disgusted are you with my touch now, Cadence? Now that you have no reason to be…” His hand crept higher, pushing under her skirt and gliding along her inner thigh. “Tell me, Cadence.” He wanted to know the truth and what better time to get the truth than when she was emotional? Robert felt like pushing; he needed to do it the way she had pushed him. His anger knew no bounds in this state.

[CADENCE HIGGINS]

Before she could escape him he had her around the neck, slamming her onto her back. She grabbed his wrist, no match for him, and glared up into his eyes as she squirmed below him. She had been foolish to think he'd allow her to go. She had been foolish period. Everything she'd done had been careless and idiotic and she felt sick because of it. She had underestimated him repeatedly and now she was paying the consequences. She wanted him dead more than ever.

She watched him as he leaned over her, his body spreading her legs further as he hovered above, one hand on her throat, the other on the desk near her head, supporting his weight. Her eyes never left his cruel, cold blue ones. “Yes, I am happy now,” he growled, “Now you feel the same anger I felt when I found out my one good deed had come back to bite me in the ass.” She bit her tongue wanted to call him on his lie. One good deed!

The hand that had been supporting his weight moved down to her thigh, gripping it hard and pushing up towards her groin. He had told her long ago he expected her to wear skirts, and she had made a point to always do so, so there was very little in the way of stopping him from groping her if that was his intention. “How disgusted are you with my touch now, Cadence? Now that you have no reason to be…” Her body was rigid and hot with her chagrin. “Tell me, Cadence.” He wanted to hear it from her.. wanted her reaction. It was the only way he knew how to punish her. What would beating her do? Hurt her physically? It wouldn't satisfy his need to make her quiver. She would never give him that sort of satisfaction with anything physical. No.. he was fucking with her mind which was far worse than any physical punishment he could bestow upon her.

No. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction by answering with words. Not to mention she feared how those words would come out sounding in her livid state. Instead she did the only thing to show how deeply angry she was; how much she truly despised him in that moment.

She spit in his face. She watched as the saliva hit him on his cheek, directly under his left eye. Would he hurt her? She was almost sure of it, but at least it was predictable. At least she could expect the treatment she was about to receive.

At least he wouldn't reveal anymore of her demons.

[ROBERT SNOW]

Robert expected words, a look, fists, anything but what he got. What he got was a mouthful of spit flung at his face. He couldn’t remember if anyone had dared spit on him before. It smeared below his eye and for a long moment all he could do was stare at her. There wasn’t so much surprise or anger there as someone might expect. In fact, he looked rather blank. The truth was, his anger had snapped. He was so infuriated with Cadence that it exhausted him. He wanted to punish her, to make her regret that decision, but he realized nothing he could do at this point would truly make her regret it. Robert had done enough and that was evident by the liquid stuck to his face. His hand came off her throat and he supported himself as he reeled his hand back brought the back of his hand hard across her pretty face. The blow was so hard, his knuckles ached afterward, but that may have also been a result of his weakness.

Then he simply walked away from her. He went to the tall windows of his office and watched the swirling storm. It was such a strange storm to watch and he found it exhausted him further. He clasped his hands behind his back, knowing she was still in the room. His head turned, looking over his shoulder at her. “Leave,” he commanded simply. Before the doors could open, however, he needed to add a point. “Cadence. If you ever defy me again, there will be graver consequences.” That was all he had to say. When he heard Peter attempting to stop her Robert closed his eyes. “Let her go,” he instructed in a firm, raised voice. He felt Peter’s bewilderment before he spoke. “Robert, she betrayed you.” “Yes and I’ve punished her sufficiently. Trust me on this, Peter.” And he did. There was no more discussion about it, but he could hear Cadence rushing away.

“Are you sure that was wise, Robert?” The Gargoyle leader shook his head. “No. I know it was fucking stupid. But she has received the punishment of a lifetime. Nothing is worse than when someone makes you realize everything you have lived for was a waste,” he explained a soft, deep voice, his eyes never moving from the clouds. He turned his head again, though, this time not looking at his second in command. “Please leave me, Peter. And thank you for your assistance.” The man walked away, closing the doors behind him, and Robert moved to the couch in his office. He laid down on it and closed his eyes, hoping that somehow, maybe now he could fall asleep. Perhaps he was numb enough and exhausted enough now to do so.

[CADENCE HIGGINS]

Nothing. He simply stared at her, her breathing labored as she looked back up at him. They were having a silent conversation, but Cadence didn't understand any of the words. Without warning he draw his hand back and slapped her hard across the face.

The sound that came from her mouth had been unintentional. It was a sort of yelp, but soft and guttural. She laid their panting afterwards, her face tingling from the blow as she looked at the wall, his hand having forced her head completely to the side. The pain didn't make her cry, since pain didn't do that, but it stung in the most miserable way, making her whole body ache with it. He'd never struck her like that, and as much as it hut and as much as she hated it and hated him she loved how alive she felt in that moment. The weakness only made it throb more and she knew without a shadow of a doubt she would feel it later and the next day and likely the day after. There was no denying it would bruise.

He moved away from her, but she stayed put on her spot on the desk, panting still and trying to catch her breath from the blow. “Leave,” he commanded simply and it took her a moment to get up and obey, her hand slipping to her cheek, but the mere touch of her fingers to her skin made it throb worse. “Cadence. If you ever defy me again, there will be graver consequences.” He warned and she turned, staring at him. What sort of consequences? Was she supposed to be afraid of him? She still wasn't despite the ache in her cheek, she didn't fear him. So much so that she intended on coming back to work tomorrow simply to show he couldn't scare her off. So he knew about her all along? Fine. He had given her a lot to consider, and consider it she would do in the days to come.

She opened the door and was surprised to see how many people were actually waiting for her. Peter grabbed her and she sneered at him. “Let her go,” Came Robert's voice and Cadence never let her angry eyes leave Peter. “Robert, she betrayed you.” “Yes and I’ve punished her sufficiently. Trust me on this, Peter.” Peter gave her a hard look and let go. She yanked her arm out of his grasp and shoved past him, storming her way from the building.

She felt a sense of loss as she left. Her entire life had been devoted to avenging Jude's death only to find the man she thought was responsible had in fact tried to save him. Furthermore he had destroyed those who had been the ones to kill him. Could she truly trust Robert? She had no reason not to. Still, he was partially responsible and admitted it. For that she could still retaliate, but what for? What was the purpose. Cadence had never felt more lost than in that moment. She would need to do a lot of soul searching, that was for sure.

---------------------END THREAD---------------------