Alia jumped back in shock, sucking in a sharp gasp of air as her blood went cold. A scream hovered at the edge of her lips, threatening to rip if it weren’t for the fact that the person who landed in front of her had moved, groaning.
Upon a closer look, Alia realized that it was none other than Carlo, his blond hair an absolute ss as he struggled to sit back up.
"Carlo!" Alia cried out in surprise, imdiately bending down to help him up. "Are you alright?"
At first, Carlo said nothing, rely hissing in pain as he wiped at his own bloodied lip. Then, when his eyes landed on Alia’s face, his scowl deepened. He easily shrugged her off despite his injuries, instantly regretting his decision to do so when the action caused a jolt of pain to rush through his body.
"Don’t touch ," he growled in warning.
Before Alia could say anything in rebuttal, her attention was drawn by the footsteps that emanated from inside the room Carlo had been thrown out of. She turned her attention, and when her eyes landed on a familiar tuft of blond hair, it was her turn to frown.
"What are you doing here?" she asked warily, instantly rising to her feet before stepping in front of Carlo protectively.
"Alia!" Caleb exclaid in surprise. "I didn’t think you would be here today." His expression of surprise quickly lted away, replaced by a soft — almost pained — smile. "I heard you had an appointnt with Jenna Ruby."
Alia didn’t even bother to ask how Caleb knew. Without a doubt, Emline must have told Kelsie about her plans for the day, and the word sohow was then relayed to Caleb.
"You have no business being here, do you?" Alia shot back instead, choosing not to comnt on whatever Caleb had said. "You and Kelsie are not married yet. A little early to adopt, don’t you think?"
"I’m not here for adoption," Caleb said, waving it off. He took a step forward, but Alia stood her ground. "If I wanted a child, we would already have our own little family."
Chills ran all over her body at the thought of having a family with Caleb. Their divorce would’ve been so much ssier if she did, and for once, she was grateful that her desire for a family had not taken over her rational mind back when they were still struggling to make ends et.
"Then what are you here for?" Alia asked.
Then, a thought struck her.
She turned and glanced briefly at Carlo, who had just sat up. He had blood sared across the corner of his lips, a cut on his cheekbone, and to top it all off, the look in his eyes was murderous when he t Alia’s gaze.
That’s right. Alia had almost forgotten. Carlo had previously been adopted by the Waltons. That would an that Caleb and Carlo would’ve been acquainted with each other before this.
"I’m just having a word with Carlo, that’s all," Caleb said with a shrug. "It seems like your orphanage director isn’t in today, and neither were you. Apologies, but I didn’t have the ti to make an appointnt. It was ant to be a quick chat, after all."
"It doesn’t seem like much of a chat to ," Alia said.
"It was," Caleb said. "Isn’t that right, Carlo?"
"Fuck off," was all Carlo said in reply.
Alia’s lip twitched. It was comforting to know that Carlo’s hostility wasn’t directed at her alone. At least they had a common enemy.
"You’re not welco here," Alia said. "Especially if all you’re doing is going around beating up the children."
"Children?" Caleb barked in laughter. "Does that look like a child to you? For Christ’s sake, Alia, he’s as good as a fully grown man!"
"That doesn’t an you can go beat him up for no good reason," Alia said through gritted teeth. "Now leave before I call the cops on you for aggravated assault."
"Oh, don’t worry," Caleb said with a scoff. He tucked his hands into his pockets before stepping out of the room, walking past Alia. He coldly glanced at Carlo on the floor before he returned his gaze to her. "As long as these ’kids’ learn to stay in their place, I won’t be making a spare trip here to visit. Unlike you, I don’t have such idle ti to spare."
Alia maintained a steely expression, her lips tightened into a stiff line as she watched Caleb take a few steps down the corridor. Right as she thought he was about to leave for good, he suddenly paused in his steps.
"Do you resent for not giving you a wedding?" Caleb suddenly asked.
Caught off guard by his sudden question, Alia’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline.
"What?"
"I an," Caleb said, "If this is all just to get back at , it’s a bit much, isn’t it, Alia?"
He closed whatever distance he had previously created, stopping right in front of Alia.
"I’ve already said that we could start afresh," Caleb said. "I know you’re only with Matteo Montgory just to spite . That’s enough fooling around, don’t you think?"
Alia’s jaw dropped in shock. The audacity of this man!
"You were the one that wanted a divorce," Alia hissed. "And now that we are, learn to act like it. A good ex would be one who acts as though he’s dead."
"I was wrong," Caleb said. His casual apology only caused Alia to raise her eyebrow. "I shouldn’t have kept my identity a secret from you. But haven’t you done the sa as well?"
Right as Alia was about to ask what he was going on about, Caleb continued, "If I had known that you were Horace Hawthorne’s granddaughter, we would’ve never divorced. Our family status would’ve been fitting for each other."
"You, however, do not deserve that," Alia hotly shot back. Her blood boiled as she clenched her fists tightly.
Caleb lowly said, "While I’m still asking nicely, you ought to take my offer. Matteo Montgory has already made an enemy of Emline and Annalise Hawthorne. Don’t you know? Even his family wants him dead. Being with him will only drag you down into the depths of hell eventually."
He suddenly grabbed Alia’s hand, causing her to yelp in shock. "Don’t you dare force my hand, Alia."
All of a sudden, Alia was swept behind soone in one swift movent while Caleb stumbled away. His hand was torn off of her wrist, and while it left red stains on her fair skin, at least he was ripped apart from her.
Alia raised her gaze to et a strong back standing in front of her protectively, their roles reversed.
"Maybe she said it a little too nicely," Carlo, who had stood up to his feet without Alia’s notice, said as he wedged himself in between her and Caleb. "What she really ant was ’fuck off’."
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