The Angel

She found herself going back into their mansion where the wake of her father is being held. On the entrance, her mother could not hold her anger and attacked her and slapped her hard on both of her cheeks.

She accepted the two slaps but not the third one. Those two were enough. Hitting her on the third time would already be a disrespect for her, Emily, and her baby.

“How dare you come here in your father’s wake after you killed your own father?!” she shouted helplessly at her face while the forlorn guests looked on waiting for the drama to unfold.

Devon looked at the whole place and sighed. "His other sons aren't here. Does it mean they also killed him?"

"How dare you!" She tried slapping her again but she dodged it. "If I know that this will happen then I shouldn't have told you the truth! I should have kept it all inside me! I regretted telling you about your daughter's death."

Devon can only nod in pain. "See, this is why we'll never mend our broken relationship. I can understand that you're mourning now and that you can't accept his death but for you to still think that what you did to my daughter is right, then that's where you're wrong. A grandmother tolerating her own husband's murder of their own grandchild will never be right even if the whole world does it."

"And you killing your own father is right?! He is still your father, Devon! How could you do that?! How could you kill him?"

"But he never treated me like his own child! He never loved me!" She pointed at herself shakily. "Am I supposed to force myself to treat him as my father just because his blood runs through my veins?"

Melena paused for a moment, the hardness on her face never leaving.

"I do not have any expectations from you. I thought you're weak but you are really your father's flesh and blood. You're his daughter! You will be just like him I swear!"

“I don’t know what happened to me to be able to do that but I swear that I’m not going to get corrupted by this. I’m not like him. I’m not a monster!"

Her mother gasped and pushed her back to the gate.

"You're calling your father a monster when you're like him too. Devon, you're a monster too! You became one when you killed him! Get out of here! I don't want to see you! No one here wants to see you! From now on, you're not my child anymore."

Hearing her disown her somehow hurts but a relief flooded her at the same time. It's better to be like this. She doesn't intend to repair their broken relationship right from the very start of her return because forcing her way back to the family that killed her soul will never be the kind of life she vowed she would be living.

While Daemon is in prison, she'll work hard to keep his legacy and nurture their baby.

She gazed at her mother's angry face and her resolve to end everything this way is cemented. "I'm never coming back here or into your life. I only came here to say goodbye. This is the last time I'll be seeing you."

She smiled at her and breathed out loudly. "Goodbye, mom."

And then she walked to the car and sped it away, not bothering to look back anymore. She'll never revisit this memory in her head ever again.

She doesn’t know how she did it but she never shed tears for them the whole trip.

When she knew that she's able to keep her emotions in check, she called Sylvia who answered in a single ring.

"Come see me. I'm giving Lucy back."

"Before that, allow us to show you where Emily was buried. I'll send you the address."

Devon nodded briefly trying as much as not to sob at that point but she already felt the warm tears on her face.

The tears that she couldn't shed for her now dead father is now streaming like water for her own dead daughter.

When she reached the biggest cemetery in the city, she couldn't help but had the urge to go back into the car to leave.

Can she do this? Can she face Emily being a failure? She failed as a mother. She failed her baby!

"Emily," Sylvia called her at the entrance and smiled kindly at her. "Come on. It's time you meet her."

She held Devon's hand tightly and guided her to the small tomb where only the word angel is engraved on the stone.

Sylvia sighed. "Mom told us where Emily was buried after days of patiently asking her. Finally on that day when you... When you shot dad, we located her. I'm sorry, Devon. I'm sorry for all of this."

Devon can't hear her anymore. The only thing that's ringing in her head is the fact that her baby is laid to rest here.

"I've checked all the documents using Daemon's resources and they're all authentic, not tampered." Devon took a long breath. "My baby is really dead," she whispered bitterly and got down on her knees in front of her daughter's grave.

"Oh my poor Emily. Emily... I'm sorry mommy is too late, baby. I'm so sorry, my baby."

She wept like never before, saying incomprehensible things, trying to tell it all at once all the things she wanted to tell Emily.

"I didn't have the chance to see you grow into a fine young lady, my love. Fate has been cruel to you, our daughter. You didn't deserve all of this! You don't!"

Devon clutched her chest while her other hand was wistfully touching the engraved letters.

"Angel".

That's the only name they left for her.

"They know your name, my love. They know you are mine and yet, they didn't put anything here. You're my Emily, my baby! You're my only one!"

After minutes of crying and shouting, she stopped to ask Lucy who stayed silent the whole time and lent her the most precious gift a mother could give to another one.

“Did she suffer much?” Devon breathed out the words heavily.

“No… her death is quick and almost painless according to Brian.”

Devon nodded and smiled sadly before leaning in to give the grave a kiss. "I'll come back to you my baby. Every day until mama can accept everything."