Steven Grant

Chapter 16- Layla

I didn't intend to play the villain in this whole story.

I wasn't just the villain in one person's life.

Instead  I was the villain in many people's lives at the same time.

Love is very complex and complicated.

Love makes a person do things they normally wouldn't do.

And in the end, you always regret it and wish you could just turn back time and stop yourself from committing those acts.

That didn't mean that I wasn't in love with Steven and that I didn't want to murder Luna.

But Luna was the woman he loved and I had to accept that.

Sometimes you have to put the wishes of others before your own.

And often you don't get the happy ending you dreamed of.

No matter how much you wanted it.

Marc was still so clingy and divorcing him was almost impossible.

Marc was not an inherently bad person.

He is very caring and empathetic and a real protector.

But there is another part of him that is so unbearable.  And I've seen more of his bad sides than of his good sides.

I was very patient with him but eventually I got to that point  where a divorce from him seemed to be the best and only solution.

And since he didn't get in touch with me most of the time anyway, because he was "too busy" to even answer the phone, I figured it would be easy. 

But then he came back.

And now it wasn't so easy to get rid of him anymore. 

I haven't spoken to him since I found out that he was partly responsible for my father's death.

I punished him with silence.

And while everything was falling apart, Harrow was still busy enacting his evil plans, which included releasing Ammit.

Ever since Marc and Steven  met the Bianchi sisters, however, stopping Harrow didn't seem to be their number one priority.

So now it was up to me to stop him.

Marc would occasionally contribute his ideas and pretend he was still interested in what Harrow was up to.

But he wasn't.

So I sat on my sofa and thought about the best ways to stop Harrow's evil plans.

I was in the middle of making plans when there was a knock on the door and to my surprise it was Luna.

Why did Luna know where I lived and what did she want from me?

I asked her to come in and she explained that she wanted to talk to me.

I didn't have too much to do anyway besides saving several lives, so I agreed.

She sat down next to me and as respectful as she was, she was trying hard  not to question what I was doing.

"Look, I am sure you are a great person. 

No, honestly I admire you. 

You are a strong and confident woman. 

You know who you are and you don't let anyone question that. "

"But ..?"

"There is not "but".

I blamed you for all my problems. 
But, I can't really blame you for caring about Steven. 

Because he is  also incredibly important to me. 

I just wanted to tell you that I'm very sorry about everything."

She wasn't here to tell me I had done something wrong or to tell me to stay away from Steven. 

She actually wanted to apologize.

"You know, I knew you two were very fond of each other, but I still squeezed in between you guys, hoping Steven might end up choosing me over you. 

I know how pathetic that is and was.

And I'm the one who should apologize.  So..I'm sorry. "

"I didn't want to ask, but what are you doing? It look super complicated."

"Well, You must have heard of  Harrow's  evil plan, right? 

That "evil plan" was the reason why Steven and Marc so often just disappeared. 

They wanted to stop him.  Now they don't seem to care.  Well, Marc still helps me sometimes. 

Steven rather less.  Since Khonshu no longer  has the control over them , they do what they want. 

But the problem persists.  And now it's up to me to stop Harrow."

"Oh, wow.. So Harrow wants to free Ammit, right ? And he's probably very close to reach his goal, isn't he? How are you going to stop him?"

„Well, I just have to be faster than him."

„Do you need a helping hand?  I don't think you should do this alone.  And I haven't done anything this exciting in a long time."

She really meant it.  she wanted to help me  And now that I think about it, it wasn't such a bad idea.

                                     ****

We spent the rest of the evening and week consummating our plan to stop Harrow. 

The plan had to be perfect. 

Nothing could be missing.

Because Harrow was incredibly annoying , but not stupid. 

We always had to be one step ahead of him. 

Luna and I were just two people.

He, on the other hand, had hundreds of accomplices. 

We knew it wasn't going to be easy. 

But we had no other choice. 

We had to make it.

So by the end of the week we arrived  at our destination. 

Harrow and and his entourage were there too.

They were just preparing to complete their plan. 

And our task was not only to stop them, but also not to attract attention. 

Nobody was allowed to find out that we were there.

Steven or Marc didn't know where we were either. Neither did Jo or Jake.

We were on our own and the chance that we would actually make it without getting killed was very slim.