20 MOTHER’S LOVE

THE WOMAN WAITS FOR us to approach her. She doesn't say a word, but her eyes said millions. I can tell she's curious about me, but she doesn't try to say anything. She just simply waited for us, or rather for Cyrus, to do the first move.

When the door closes behind us, Cyrus slowly bows his head as a sign of respect. The room is actually an office. I don't know why there's an office in a house like this, but after everything I've seen so far, I won't be surprised if there would even be an amusement park in the basement.

"Hello, mistress." I greet first when we got close to her, but she doesn't even dare look at me. So I decided to just stand near the door instead as Cyrus continues to walk closer to her. After all, I am just Cyrus's guard.

How old is she anyway? Cyrus is thirty-five, so she's probably in her seventies. But she looks way too young for her age. Well, I didn't even know she existed to begin with, so who am I to judge. But why doesn't anyone talk about her? At the mansion, all the pictures of the family excluded her. And now that I'm thinking about it, all the heads of the family didn't have their wives on their pictures either. It's like the Delton family tried to hide them.

"How have you been my mother?" Cyrus finally asks.

The woman smiles and walks towards his son. Her smile looked like the ones you'd see in a toothpaste commercial, sweet yet forced. A normal person would think she's a loving mother, but I'm pretty good with reading people, and that is definitely not a loving mother's face.

"You look good Cyrus Delton." She answers him instead.

Cyrus doesn't say anything back like he's waiting for more. His mother continues to smile. But after a second, her smiling face vanishes, and she instantly slaps Cyrus without any hesitation. The action makes me take a step backward even though I'm not even standing close to them. It feels like I'm the one who was just slapped. But as expected, Cyrus didn't even budge. He wasn't surprised. And by the sound of that slap, it must have hurt too, but he didn't show any sign at all.

"I asked for the youngest and not the eldest. How dare you show your face to me here." She says, her true nature now visible on how she presented herself.

"I apologize but Tobias is at school. He is expected to focus on his studies first." Cyrus answers.

"Don't give me such a worthless excuse. Who do you even think you are? Making up your own rules as you please. You're not even the head of the family yet." The woman says angrily before walking towards her desk.

Wait, did she just say yet?

"I sincerely apologize again mother, but please understand that Tobias was not feeling well, so I decided to show myself here for his behalf." Cyrus answers in the most gentleman way that he could.

"Oh I taught you for years Cyrus Delton, think of a better excuse other than that terrible and obvious lie." She says before sitting down.

Okay, am I the only one who finds it weird that she addresses her children by full name? I'd think she's not actually their mother, but she definitely looks like Catalina and Tobias. There's no doubt they're blood-related.

"He's not feeling well? Oh, my poor son." The woman says with a sweet and caring voice before turning back to her serious expression, "Tobias Delton deserved that punishment. He interfered with what was already paid for and that's a serious offense. If you ask me he's a lucky boy. He only had thirty whips with a rope. The family's favoritism over him is way too obvious."

What the fuck did this bitch just say? Tobias was punished? When? Last night? Was that the reason why the bell rang again? And is that why he looked like he was in pain earlier?

"Things could have gone badly. As a mother, I am ashamed of not being able to discipline him enough. You grew up being taught obedience, but it seems like my lessons were useless." She says.

"Your lessons hurt us." Cyrus truthfully tells her, and for the first time, I saw a mother coming out from the expression that she just showed.

"Do you think I wanted to do it? To my own goddamn children?!" She practically shouts at Cyrus.

Cyrus doesn't say anything. And when his mother realized that she actually raised her voice at him, she sighed and massaged her temple to calm herself down.

"All I ask is for you to follow the rules. That is the Delton way. That has always been the custom. And I have tried everything in my power to make sure my children will never face what they experienced when they were kids. But it seems like all of you liked those experiences." She says, making me feel goosebumps for some reason.

"Why did you call for Tobias?" Cyrus asks, and this time, his mother laughs amusingly.

"Don't pretend like you don't know. The reason why you're here is that you know, so stop asking me." She tells him.

"Fine. I'll stop beating around the bush then. Just give me my punishment." Cyrus finally says, shocking me.

Another punishment? Tobias was just punished, and now they want to punish him again? Is this family cra-

Wait a second.

Chance received the Boss punishment, Cyrus received the Slut punishment, and Tobias received the Saint punishment. That only means that the next punishment is-

"You're here because the punishment Tobias was supposed to receive is the punishment that you know too well," she tells him.

That makes sense. If it's the gentleman punishment, it means Cyrus has done it a couple of times now. This may be the reason why he's willing to do this for Tobias's sake.

"Lucky for you, the watchers knew that you'd take Tobias's place, so they arranged the punishment for your liking," she reveals, not even surprising Cyrus anymore since the Delton family seems to already know everything. Which is a bad thing for me, because I am in fact an undercover agent.

"So..." She starts as she takes out a box from the drawer. The box looks antique, but it has a number code on it.

While placing the box on top of the desk, she adds, "This punishment molded you as a person. This is the reason why I told you not to attach yourself to other people outside the family. As the eldest, your mindset should be that family will always be first. This was the reason why you are strong now."

Strong? Is she blind? Cyrus is not strong at all.

He's broken.

"By the way, how rude of me to not even introduce myself to your companion." She suddenly says, her eyes surprisingly now on me.

The way she looks at me makes it feel like she knows who I already am. But instead of exposing me, she says instead, "I am Talia Delton, the wife of the late Adam Delton. You must be Vincent Carter, the new bodyguard."

I don't say anything and just nod my head to confirm it.

"It's good that you're here child because you're actually going to become a huge part of this punishment." Cyrus's mother – Talia – suddenly tells me, shocking not only myself but Cyrus as well.

"Mother, what are you saying? He was not supposed to-"

Talia ignores Cyrus and continues anyway, "Child, has it never occurred to you why Cyrus doesn't have any guards, or maids, or anyone else close to his side except his butler Luis?" She suddenly asks me.

I don't really know the exact answer. I just thought that Cyrus is a person who likes to be in a smaller to no crowd.

"Mother please," Cyrus says again, now grabbing Talia's shoulder to stop her. But Talia pushes him away and continues to look at me, "Gentlemen are friends of all. They should be able to treat everyone equally. But if someone starts becoming...special...we have to change things."

I don't exactly know what's happening, but it suddenly makes me nervous because of how Cyrus is reacting.

What the hell is the Gentleman punishment anyway?

"Mother, Vincent Carter is just someone I know. Why on earth is he part of this punishment? He is nothing to me! Nothing at all!" Cyrus suddenly shouts at her.

I don't know what the fuck is happening, but something inside me suddenly cracks. Maybe because my lips were on his just a few moments ago and I felt good about it, but now he's practically throwing me aside and telling her I'm nothing to him. I shouldn't be feeling like this because Cyrus is right. I'm not actually anything to him. I'm just his bodyguard that fulfills his sexual desire and frustration. That's nothing special.

"If he was nothing to you then you wouldn't be reacting like this! Your words do not match your actions!" Talia shouts back, now facing Cyrus.

Cyrus gulps and doesn't say anything, and for the second time, Talia looked hurt.

"I've always warned you. Always." She says before putting her hand on Cyrus's chest, "Your heart could only take a certain amount of damage. Why do you keep on breaking it yourself?"

"You do not choose who the heart desires." Cyrus softly says, surprising me because he glanced at me when he said those words to her.

Talia doesn't say anything about it and puts her hand away from Cyrus.

"The higher-ups decided the final set. Don't blame it on me. I told you before that you should be cautious. If you don't want to get hurt, you don't get close to anyone. You're a gentleman Cyrus Delton. I did everything to make sure you don't get hurt but you don't listen to me. None of you listen to me." Talia continues, making Cyrus clench his fist in anger.

As the three of us decided not to say a word, something is suddenly heard from afar. Like at the mansion, a bell is heard. It isn't as loud as the one at the mansion, but it still makes me feel uncomfortable. My heart won't stop beating fast because of it.

I've only heard it a few times and it's already making me feel like this. What more to the Delton siblings who have heard it since they were little?

"Well gentleman, it looks like we will begin the punishment," Talia says as he goes in front of the desk where the antique box is placed. I realize that there's a letter D on the box with the symbol of two guns, which is the gentleman symbol.

"Cyrus Delton, as the eldest Delton in the family, I present to you your punishment," Talia says as she finally unlocks the box.

Inside the box were photos that were upside down so no one could see what it actually was, then an expensive-looking cigar, and an old lighter. For some reason, I'm doubting if this really is a punishment or a fancy cigar party. But based on how Cyrus is reacting, and how Catalina and the others reacted, I think this really is something I should genuinely be worried about.

"Please sit down," Talia says, sitting down as well.

Cyrus is hesitant. At first, he looks confident, but for some reason, after finding out that I'm somehow connected with this punishment, he suddenly feels unsure. Should I have just stayed at the mansion instead? Or will nothing change even if I did?

"Sit down please," Talia tells him again, and finally, Cyrus sat down on the chair in front of Talia's desk where the items were placed.

Talia takes out the cigar and the lighter first before taking out the photos. I don't know what the punishment was about so I continue to listen to it carefully. Talia doesn't say anything and takes out the first picture. To my surprise, it's actually a picture of Luis Fletcher, Cyrus's butler.

"He's on this set every time. You must be tired of seeing him." Talia says to him, but Cyrus didn't even budge.

The second picture is surprisingly a young girl. I don't know who she was, but she seems like a ten-year-old. This time, Cyrus looks bothered. I could tell because he's clenching on his fist so hard it could bleed, but he was trying not to react and show too much.

What is even going on? What's with these pictures?

"Look who we have here, it's baby Esther. Your aunt Ophelia's daughter." Talia says, almost like she was spitting on Ophelia's name when she said it.

So Ophelia did have a child. And if I remember correctly, she's Adam's youngest sister.

"Third in line is actually new," Talia says while glancing at me.

As expected, the third photo shows my face. Cyrus takes a deep breath, but he still didn't say a word. He tried to compose himself as much as he can.

"And of course, the wild card. The one I personally picked myself." Talia adds, showing the fourth and final photo.

She places the photo next to mine. I don't know what to react because the photo is actually a picture of herself.

Cyrus finally breaks composure as he looks at her mother with a shocked expression.

"W-What are you-"

Talia cuts him off and says, "Cyrus Delton, for your gentleman punishment..." Talia starts as she flips the photos over so no one could see it. Then she shuffles it thoroughly and places it back in front of Cyrus. Now no one could tell who's who.

"As the rules go," Talia says as she lights the cigar up before handing it to Cyrus.

When Cyrus was now holding the cigar, Thalia finally reveals to me the reason why Cyrus and the rest of the siblings were so worried.

"Cyrus Delton. Like before, the one you randomly choose amongst the photos...will be the one you will happily kill."