Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"Most good judgement comes from experience. Most experience comes from bad judgement."
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Chapter 26

Killian

I've known Ash for over two thousand years, and never once have I ever seen him speechless. The moment the words 'My son' came out of my mom's mouth, Acheron Parthenopaeus paled so severely I thought he'd died standing up.

"Your son?" Ash stated. "As in your son from before-"

Kiara... mom, could only nod. I don't think any of us were still able to fully register all this. It was crazy, to put it mildly. The silence was broken by my mom saying, "He's my oldest."

"The one taken from you by Valerius's grandfather."

"I need to come clean about something..." My wife interrupted shyly. We all looked at her. "Um, Ash and Killian know this but Kiara, I'm psychic. I saw you a couple weeks ago and later that night I had a vision of you saving Killian from being dragged away to a cell by your brothers' guards. He called you mom and I knew I had to find you. Killian had his memories of his mom but thought you were dead. I didn't know whether or not you'd remember him because I had a dream about your deal with Ares, but then I had another one a couple nights ago of you arguing with a guy about him being your husband and he was denying it. I could tell you'd gotten your memories back but I knew I couldn't just walk up here and tell you. I didn't think you'd believe me. So I kind of came of up with the ploy that my car broke down to get Killian over here. And then it all fell in to place. I'm sorry if I deceived any of you but you two needed to find each other."

My mom pulled Amanda into a hug. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Not only have you given me a son, you've given me a daughter and a grandchild. I can never thank you enough."

"Who was the guy you were saying was dad?" I asked.

"Let's talk about that another time. I'd rather not think about him, let alone talk about him."

"Kiara," Ash said disapprovingly.

"What?" She replied indignantly. "He was an ass and called me insane. I want nothing to do with him."

My old boss sighed. "Fine, but we will be talking about him and you because he's not dealing with it in a healthy way. I don't think you are either but at least how you're dealing with it isn't giving you a death wish."

"What are you talking about?" My mom sounded nonchalant but I'd been trained well enough to recognize hidden undertones and there was definitely one in hers: worry.

"Like I said, we'll talk about it later if it continues. You three have a nice time catching up. I have to go back out. Kiara, I'm glad you found your son. Killian, I'm glad you found your mom. Take care of her, okay?"

"I will," I promised. Ash kissed mom on the head, gave me and my wife a hug, then left. Mom wiped away some more tears off her face as I questioned, "What's the guy's name?"

"Whose?" she answered.

"The one Ash was talking about."

"Honey, I know that look in your eye because I get that look in mine whenever I want to kill someone. He's a Dark Hunter who I've been living with the past few months and we had... something but that all crashed and burned when I told him I thought he was my husband."

"Kiara?" A man shouted from the foyer. "Why's there a Ferrari parked in our driveway?"

"Who's that?" I asked. Before she could respond, a tall, muscular man with jet black hair and piercing blue eyes entered the room. I knew him. I knew that I knew him, but I couldn't place where from.

"Killian, this is Zarek. He was our bodyguard back home," Kiara said. The man blinked at me, taking in my appearance.

"You were probably too young to remember me," Zarek remarked. "But I remember you."

"You took care of me after I fell out of the tree," I remembered, the memory suddenly surging back to my mind. "I was crying and you took me to my parents."

A smile formed on my former bodyguard's face before we both went in for a hug.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you from my brother and Arsenius," Zarek apologized softly. "It was my job to protect you and I failed."

"No, you didn't fail me. You took care of my mom, my dad, and my siblings. That was the most important thing you could've done," I insisted. "Besides, we were long gone before any of you knew."

"I wanted to kill Valerius before but now..." he growled.

"Don't," Kiara said gently.

"You're telling me you don't want to kill the man that took your son from you?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm still furious, but look at how Killian turned out. Look at the man he's become. Whether I like Valerius or not, he did a good job raising Killian." She sighed. "What are you two doing tomorrow?"

"I have a prenatal checkup tomorrow but otherwise I'm free," Amanda said.

"I have the day off and I'm going with her," I added.

"Would you like to come with us?"

My mom's mouth fell open. "No... no, this is a special occasion for you two. I wouldn't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't be intruding at all. Plus, I want my mother-in-law there."

"I would be honored," mom declared. "I know you probably need to get home, but you're welcome to stay here for the night."

"We should really get home. Our dog needs to be let out soon. We'll see you tomorrow at noon though for the doctor's appointment. I'll text you the address."

"I can't wait. I'll see you tomorrow sweetie." She gave me a hug and we both whispered 'I love you' to each other. I didn't want to let go but knew I needed to. It just felt so good to have my mom back. I made a silent promise to myself that no matter what, I wouldn't lose my mom again.
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Kiara

Zarek had his arm around my shoulders as we watched Killian pull out of my driveway. We only went inside when we could no longer see the car. I grabbed my own car keys from the drawer in the mudroom.

"You're seriously going to go make amends with Valerius?" Zarek asked in disgust. "His grandfather kidnapped your son, he probably helped, he had your son kill your husband, he tortured you on multiple occasions. Do you not want to kill him?"

"I do, but I wasn't joking when I said he did a good job raising Killian. Everything's changed because I don't think Killian or Valerius knows the other is alive. I need to tell him."

"No you don't. You lived without your son for over a decade. He should experience the same."

"He has. Killian was killed by my brother after Valerius escorted you back to Rome. He knows what it's like to be without his son, and if Killian found out I knew about his father and didn't say anything, he'd be mad. I'll be back. Let me know if you need anything." Kissing Zarek on the cheek, I left my house and made my way to Valerius's. I'd found out his address by looking up his squire and looking up the deed of the house for the address. I swear women are better are finding out information than the CIA and FBI... combined.

Upon arriving at his house, I pressed the button to open the gates. An elderly voice came over the speaker and said, "How may I help you?"

"I'm here to see Valerius. Tell him it's Kiara Castellanos."

There were a few seconds of silence before, "I'm sorry but I'm afraid he is not in right now."

I did an internal sigh, pulling out my phone. Two minutes later, I responded, "I texted his boss. I know he's home. I must speak with him, it's of the utmost importance. Tell him it's about his son."

"He has no son, miss. I'm afraid you are mistaken."

"It's about Killian."

A few more moments of silence ensued before the gates to his house opened up. I said thank you and drove through. I'd barely reached the door before it opened, revealing a wary and suspicious Valerius.

"Don't worry," I told him. "I'm not here to kick your ass again. I'm being serious about talking about Killian."

"What about my son?" he asked shortly.

"Our son," I corrected a little heatedly. "Did you know he was alive?"

Valerius paled. "He's alive?"

I nodded. "I just discovered it for myself. He used to be a Dark Hunter, believe it or not. He's not anymore. He met the love of his life, Amanda, and they're already expecting."

"W-why are you telling me this? I took your son from you and kept him from you for years."

"Because despite that, which for the record I haven't forgotten and it doesn't mean I'm still mad about it... you raised him well. I'm proud of the man he's become and I owe a lot of that to you."

"Thank you... I kept him away from my other family members as much as possible so they wouldn't corrupt him. I knew kidnapping him would bite us in the ass later on and I was right. You came back from the dead, killed your brother, killed the two guards about to lead my- I mean our- son to execution, and your husband's father came at a vengeance towards Rome and while it didn't destroy us, he certainly contributed to our downfall later on. We were never able to fully recover from some of the blows he dealt us."

"I can't say that I'm not happy Rome fell in the end because you guys were dicks..."

Unless I was mistaken, there was a ghost of a smile on his face. "Why are you telling me our son is alive? I forced you to live without him. Why are you not doing the same to me?"

"Because I know what it feels like and I know Killian would find out sooner or later that you were alive, which means he'd find out sooner or later that I knew you were alive and hid it from him. That's hardly how I want to start a relationship with my son."

"You shouldn't be having to start one. I am truly sorry, Kiara. When I lost Killian to your brother, I understood a sliver of what you went through... but losing all your children, watching them be taken from you... I can't imagine it. You are a better person than I have ever been and could ever be."

A knot formed in my throat but I quickly swallowed it. "By admitting that, you're already as good of a person as you'd like to be. Look, we have a long way to go in forming a decent relationship, but I think we're on the right track with this, and for the sake of Killian, we need to figure out something so that whenever something happens, we're not at each other's throats."

"Can we start it by you giving me his number so I can contact him?" Valerius requested.

"Of course," I told him with a smile.

"When we're done talking, I'm supposed to go out on a hunt. Would you like to join me?"

"Really?"

"You and I share two things in common: Killian and hunting things. Perhaps this could be a start to creating a good relationship for our son."

"Then I'll take you up on the offer. Just let me know when you're ready."
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Do you think Kiara and Valerius will be able to form a relationship other than hate? Or will it crash and burn? And what happens when Kyrian finds out? Let me know in a review :)