Chapter Fifty-Three: In The Shadows

"What the hell is this thing?" 

Emily muttered under her breath in complete shock as she scratched her skin around the tattoo.

The skin around the tattoo had turned bright red and purple and Emily had a great urge to scratch that area and relieve herself from the irritation.

And it was then that her shocked mind finally registered the design of the tattoo. A circle inside a triangle with wings and a large cursive R was written in the very center of the circle.

The moment her eyes landed on that letter R, the first person who popped up in her mind was none other than that weird silver-haired boy.

She felt another chill running down her spine as a dreadful feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

She had no idea what that tattoo was or how did it end up on her shoulder. But there was one thing that she was aware of and it was that Rylan was definitely bad news for her.

The first time she met that boy, she knew that he was one of the dangerous kind, but somehow he still succeeded in hiding his bad and negative vibes from her.

She never felt scared or terrified around him. Though he easily succeeded in making her angry, disgusted, confused, and disturbed with his behavior and presence.

Even though she clearly remembered the dagger that was piercing through her belly just a few hours ago and the owner of the dagger, a part of her mind believed that Rylan would never have hurt her.

It was a completely stupid thought especially after she actually saw him stabbing her. The fact that she still was trying to make herself believe that Rylan did not mean to hurt her, was utterly stupid on her part. 

All these thoughts only made Emily more frustrated as she glared at the reflection of the tattoo.

She needed to talk to Rylan and get these things sorted out as soon as possible.

She did not even want to imagine the scenario that would unfold in front of her eyes when her brothers would come to know about Rylan and his presence in her life. 

Even though she was not well aware of the grudge that Rylan held against her brothers or the other way around, but she was aware of one thing and it was that Mark was not the only one who had Rylan in his bad book.

As much as she understood from Rylan's words, it looked like all her brothers were not on good terms with Rylan or probably with his family too.

She had no plans for coming in the middle of these two parties and their grudges.

However, looking at the tattoo that was sitting on top of her shoulder, she had a feeling that somehow her plan of staying away from Rylan was no longer a possible thing.

The knock on the door of the bathroom brought her out of her thoughts and she heard Crist calling her.

"Em! It's time for dinner. Hurry up! You have been inside for more than half an hour." 

A soft sigh escaped Emily's lips as she gave a last look to her shoulder where the tattoo was carved before she buttoned up her cotton pajama top.

"Coming!"

She announced before she quickly adjusted her appearance and walked out of the bathroom into her bedroom.

***

"Don't move! I will go and fetch some water for us." Leo said as he stopped his little sister who was about to slip out of her bed.

However, Emily was tired because of sitting in the bed all by herself for more than the past five hours and don't even mention the fact that she slept throughout the afternoon.

Her brothers even send her dinner to her room so that she would not need to climb down the stairs and back.

She was not even that much injured. Other than small cuts and a few scraps there was nothing serious about the wounds that she received.

After all, the biggest and deepest wound had already disappeared from her body on its own, and the ones that were left barely made any difference for her.

"Can you let me do this on my own? I want to give a quick exercise to my muscles. Pretty please!" She pleaded with her cute eyes as she looked at Leo with a little pout.

Her trick probably would not have worked on the rest of her brothers but for Leo, being cute and soft was enough to melt him into a puddle.

"Aww, look at you. Fine, fine! You can go but make sure to call out for help as soon as you feel any pain or discomfort, okay?" Leo looked at her with serious eyes as he waited for her reply.

Being a good girl, Emily immediately nodded her head as she said, "I sure will. Just don't follow me. Otherwise, I'll kick you out of my bedroom." 

"Y-you! How can you say something like this? I was not going to do anything like that." Leo huffed in annoyance as he glared cutely at his little sister.

Emily giggled softly at his cuteness before she left the room and headed downstairs towards the kitchen.

It was not until she was almost at the bottom of the stairs when she heard the whispering voices coming from the living room.

The pillar and huge plant pots in addition to the darkness gave her small body a perfect cover.

She was not sure why she stopped there and hid in the shadows immediately but it was like her feet refused to move forward.

As far as she could tell from the soft voices coming from the living room, it was only her brothers discussing something.

There was no need for her to act like a thief or intruder in her own house and in the mid of her own family, right?

And just when she was about to groan out in annoyance, her ears registered the sentence that made her body went still in shock.