Chapter 143 - Only If

"You are worried about my safety, right? Then I promise that I'll stay at home for the coming three days. I won't step out of the house, won't go anywhere, and will make sure to stay in the company of at least one of the brothers all the time. I'll even let Leo sleep in my room. The others can also take leave for three days and stay with me at the mansion." Emily hurriedly tried to explain her idea.

Her eyes turned to glance at Mark and found him also nodding his head in agreement.

"See! Even Mark doesn't have a problem with this. And if you are still worried, then I'll call Bee and Jackson to stay with us. Sam can always drop by whenever he will have free time. And....there's always the Sullivans. Though they can't step into our side of the city, I'm sure they will still do their best to make sure that we are well protected in your absence."

She finished and looked at her eldest brother with pleading eyes. She could tell that he still wasn't impressed by her idea but at least, he did not reject it immediately.

"Dom, I'll protect her at every cost and so will the others. The mansion is one of the safest places....."

"It is not..." Domenic immediately cut off Mark in the middle of his sentence as he shook his head in denial.

".....you are forgetting that last year, the rogues succeeded in capturing her from the mansion," Domenic reminded as he looked at his younger brother.

"But that was when we were not aware of the dangers. It's been more than ten months since then, and the security around the mansion is far stronger than before." Mark immediately responded.

"He's right. Unlike before, the mansion is now surrounded by five protective wards. The outermost one is the patrol team of Evans. Then there's the protection ward that Miss Bianca has installed. Then the original protection ward of your house, and your security team that surrounds the mansion. And then there's the protection ward that I've installed." Shadow spoke as he looked at the three of them, especially at Domenic.

"I'm not saying that no one can break through these protection layers, but it will take hours to do that. I'll know immediately if anyone will try to break through the wards and I can teleport us back to the mansion before they can succeed. Moreover, the Evans can petrol the area around the mansion and the Sullivans can keep eyes from their spots. It's not really a bad idea in my opinion but only if she keeps her promise and doesn't step out of the mansion for the coming three days." Shadow continued as he turned to look at the girl with serious eyes.

He was not really that happy about leaving her alone like this but he was also aware that she loved her brothers more than anyone else. If she wanted him to keep Domenic safe, then he would do exactly that as long as she promised to stay inside the mansion for the coming three days.

"I promise. Once I'll step inside the mansion today, I won't step out of it until you both are back and everything would go back to a normal pace. I won't break my promise. Really!" Emily hurriedly responded as she looked at both Shadow and Domenic with serious eyes.

"This..." 

Domenic still looked a little bit unimpressed but then he saw the anxious expressions of both of his siblings which made him sigh as he finally nodded his head.

The cheers of happiness that immediately escaped through Emily and Mark's mouths made their eldest brother shook his head as he watched them celebrating their victory.

"Alright! Let's go. We will see you guys off at the airport." Mark said as he took hold of one of his sister's hands as he started to move away from their table.

"You guys should head to..." Before Domenic could complete his sentence, his younger brother decided to take revenge on him as he also cut him off before he could finish speaking.

"It won't take us long to drop you guys off. We will then immediately head towards the mansion and do exactly what Emmy has promised... WHAT ARE YOU DOING GIRL?" 

Mark shouted when he felt a sharp pain on the left side of his waist. His right hand immediately moved to rub the spot while his eyes glared at the girl accusingly.

Emily just nodded her head in her eldest brother's direction, making a confused-looking Mark turn to look at Domenic only to find his eldest brother glaring at him with cold and scary eyes.

"You are..."

"We are heading home immediately. Without wasting a single more minute. Let's go!" Mark did not waste any more time as he pulled Emily beside him and started walking towards the exit of the cafe.

"Can you slow down?" Emily whispered shouted at him as she tried to keep up with his long strides.

"That damn man is about to murder me. How can you even ask me to slow down?" Mark questioned as he walked out onto the busy street.

"A few moments ago, you were acting like you are not afraid of Nick at all but look at you now," Emily commented as she chuckled softly.

"People change." 

That's what she got in reply from her moody brother. She turned around to look at Shadow and Domenic who had also followed them outside.

"Don't you need to get your belongings from the mansion?" She asked her bodyguard as she watched him walking towards Domenic's car.

Shadow just shook his head in denial but did not speak to explain any further.

Emily just shrugged her shoulders before she gave Domenic a quick hug and hopped inside the car.

Mark was already sitting in the driver's seat and as soon as they all were done with the final waves of goodbyes, he started the car and headed towards the mansion while two security cars followed them.

The two of them were silent for some time before Mark decided to speak.

"I hear from Dom that you and Shadow were heading to the Academy when he asked him to bring you to the cafe. Was it something important that you needed to do at the Academy?" He asked as he decided to put on some music.

A small sigh left Emily's lips as she remembered the reason for which she wanted to visit the Academy.

"Nothing important. I just wanted to collect some books so that I can read them in my free time." She answered his question as she focused on the music to stop thinking about anything at the moment.

She was completely unaware of the tsunami that was going to knock her entire world in the next few minutes.

***

"Why are you going to Direspell all of a sudden?" Shadow asked as he drove the car towards the airport.

The journey to the airport was almost half an hour long. He could have just teleported both of them to Direspell and back, but he knew that Domenic would definitely not like his suggestion.

"It's something really important. I can't miss this chance.......we can't miss this chance." 

This was the only response that he got from the man who was sitting in the back, pretending to read something on his tablet but was actually lost in his thoughts.

Shadow did not ask any more questions as he became silent and focused on his driving.

Only if he had decided to ask further, maybe then, he would have been able to stop everything that was about to take place soon enough.

Only if!

***

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Mr. Kim asked as he hurriedly came around the table to check on his master who was suddenly looking a little paler than his usual complexion.

Kaiden pushed away his Secretary's hand as he took a sip of the tea that was sitting in front of him. However, as soon as the hot liquid touched his taste buds, he wanted to gag at the weird sensations that his tongue received. 

"Where's Rylan and Shane?" He asked as he pushed away the cup and started focusing on the files that he needed to sign.

"Second Young Master was suddenly feeling a little bit unsettled, so he had gone to take a stroll in the nearby park along with Young Master Shane." Secretary Kim answered as he hurriedly typed a message to his assistant.

Kaiden stopped in the middle of signing one of the files as he heard about Rylan's condition. For some reason, he too was feeling a little bit unsettled. But he just could not pinpoint exactly what was the reason.

A knock on the door of his cabin pulled his attention away from his thoughts. He watched as Secretary Kim's newly appointed assistant ran inside the cabin, bowed to greet both her bosses, picked the cup of tea, and ran out of the room.

Kaiden was about to comment something when his phone started buzzing with an incoming call.