Midnight CEO

38

"Ebony, I don't know what to say right now."  Carter pulled me aside from the others. "I feel so ashamed for what I did and for keeping it from you. I know nothing I can say will ever make what I did ok." Carter stood in front of me with complete sadness across his face.

I looked away from his broken-heart face. I knew he felt disgusted by his past, he had told me many times about the things he had done, but I had no idea he had actually done those horrible and unthinkable things to me.

"Why did you choose my pack? There are hundreds of wolves out there. Why mine?" I kept my eyes off him.

"Your father was the pack leader and a well-respected one at that. He had great power over the forest, and I knew if I wanted respect from my peers, he was the one I had to take down. I knew he was too strong for an attack, so I had to come up with another way," he said softly. "I was sick of being called weak because of my wolf side, so I decided to show everyone that I was more than a half-breed. I wanted their respect and loyalty more than anything, and money doesn't cut it in the vampire world killing does."

"So, you killed my family and tortured me until you nearly killed me as well so you could prove you had a bigger dick than all other vampires?" I yelled at him. "You ruined my brother for nothing more than your ego?"

"I did it to prove I am a ...."

"What? A man Carter? A big tough man who hurts little kids? What?"

"I did it to prove to my wife and son that I am a leader, and I can protect them from anything. I did it to prove to myself that I am more than the mistake people thought I was," he yelled, pushing over a tree in rage like it was nothing more than a flower. "I wanted to be respected in my world like I was here, and that was the only way I knew how." he covered his face and took deep breaths as the cold wind blew around us. "I'm sorry," he whispered in the wind.

"I know you are, but I need you to know that I can never forgive you for what you did. I will never forget the horrible things you did to me. I will always know what a true monster you are."

"I know. You hate me, don't you? Of course, you do. You should hate me. Trust me, right now, no one could hate me more than I hate myself," his eyes were closed as he spoke, and a single tear was falling from his eye. He was hurting himself more than I could ever do.

"Carter," I said, walking towards him slowly.

He said nothing.

"When I met you, you said you would slaughter my family if I didn't agree to work for you, but you knew they were already dead, so that was no threat, was it? You were planning on killing me that night and confessing what you had done. You were tortured and still are by the memories of what you did, and instead of being selfish and killing me like a coward would have done, you opened up your home and heart to me and tried to make up for the things you did as a real man would. You faced me, your one true fear, and helped me get through my fears. For that, I thank you."

He opened his eyes one at a time and stared at me with complete confusion, terror, and relief. "What did you just say?"

"I said thank you," I repeated, standing in front of him. "Thank you for giving me a chance at life when I know it was against everything you believed in at the time. I know that was a huge sacrifice on your part, so thank you."

He raised an eyebrow sharply at me. "See, every time I think I have you all figured out, you go and punch me in the arm instead of slapping me in the face like I think you will. You amaze me, you always have, and if there were a way for me to go back in time and take back what I did, I would go in a heartbeat, no matter the cost. I was a monster Ebony, I was your monster, and yet you still don't fear me, just like when you were little. You always stood up to me and met me head-on, no matter how scared you were. That's how I knew you were made for great things. I knew you were going to make a difference in this world. I just never thought it would be through me," he touched my face with his hand. "I meant what I said, I love you more than anything, but I understand if you want to leave me. I promise I will leave you alone this time," I could hear his heart beating fast in his chest, even though his face showed no emotion at all. I also knew my following words were going to hurt him deeply.