Chapter 169 - Back For Revenge

"I didn't want a divorce either," said Killian. "I'm just saying that if we keep our mutual interest aside, that was the reason we got married in the first place, we can try."

Did she hear him right? 

Mutual interests? 

What mutual interests was he talking about? 

"Mutual interest?" With furrowed brows, Emma questioned him, "Wasn't I the one who was desperate?"

They married in the first place because she convinced him to marry her as she really needed shelter and didn't want to be under her family's thumb anymore. 

It could be said she kind of forced him to marry her by giving such a silly excuse. 

So what mutual interests was he talking about? 

To think how she courageously married a man she didn't know anything about still brings a smile to her face. 

Answering Emmaline's question, Killian sighed out loud. "No, Em. I knew your identity the moment I saw you. That's why I married you."

There was no free lunch in this world. And neither were coincidences. 

Thinking of that day which was still clear in her mind vividly like it was yesterday, she understood why he agreed to marry her. He knew all along, who she was. Still, she couldn't bring herself to think of him as a bad guy. He gave her everything that a man would give for his wife without any expectations. 

She wouldn't call Killian Palmero a saint but he wasn't a devil either.

He was just a human. 

"What do you mean?" She still asked him. However, her gaze didn't seem hostile, just curious. 

"I met you a long time ago," Killian informed her. The first time, they had met, they were still kids. He was Lucca Palermo's son and she was Richard Costas' daughter. Their fathers were accomplices that day. 

"We met when I was still engaged to Salvatore?" Emma questioned him. She and Salvatore had been engaged for around a decade. 

Could it be he met her then and fell for her but since she was engaged to another man, he didn't approach her? Her thinking was going way too wild. But she couldn't help but wonder why he treated her so well. 

But there was nothing lovable about her then. 

She was nothing but an obsessed bitch. 

"No," Killian shook his head in reply. "You were engaged to Lucian then."

To say Emma was shocked would be an understatement. The name 'Lucian' was her biggest weakness. And Killian knew about this. How? 

Suddenly, she feared their future. She didn't want to part from him. But she didn't want to turn into an obsessive bitch once again. 

"How…?" She didn't have in her to ask her all those questions. 

Killian didn't know what the name *Lucian* would have this exaggerated effect on her. If he had known… Then again, they couldn't afford to let this matter slide. It's better to clear the misunderstandings on time or else they would become something so toxic that could destroy any healthy relationship. And he didn't want this for a relationship that had yet to start. 

So, he gently held her hand and made her sit on the edge of the bed. He sat on the warm floor, his hands warming her cold ones. 

"Remember Luca Palmero?" He softly asked her. 

Emmaline's wide eyes looked into soft chocolate ones. How could she not know Luca Palmero? 

How could she not? That man was the factor that Lucian was killed. 

"I'm his son. Killian Palmero."

Emma felt as if she couldn't breathe. Killian was from the Palermo family that her family destroyed. He was back for revenge? 

No. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to leave him. Why couldn't she just spend her life with a person she finally began to trust? Was she cursed? Or this was what retribution was called? 

"Em, stop overthinking," Killian sighed out. 

"How…?" Once again a word left her mouth. 

"How am I alive?" Killian asked the question for her. 

"I don't know either?" He replied with similar confusion. "I just know that I am." 

"You are back for revenge," She concluded on her own. 

The man she married was that Killian Palmero. 

Could it be more messed up? 

Killian laughed while shaking his head. He knew what she might be thinking in her mind. He raised his hand to stroke her silky golden hair that he seemed to love so much. "Silly girl, if revenge is the only fire that kept me going, I would have died a long time ago." Seeing the look of uncertainty flashing in her eyes, he explained, "My father was a monster, a bastard who never deserved the family. My mother was a kind woman who chose that man and this life for her and us too." 

By us, he meant him and his sister. 

"I have no desire for the notion of revenge. You might not know but Em, I saw someone very close to me burn his soul for revenge. He worked all day and night, not stopping. Just for revenge. He even threw away the only thing ever wanted in his life. For what! Revenge!"

Emma didn't know who Killian was talking about. But whoever he was, he might have left a huge scar on Killian's mind. 

"I am not back for revenge," He said in a soft whisper. "I'm just back for the sister that I lost."

... 

Killian and Emma talked for a long time. He told her about his life in his country and about the brothers he found and lost. What he does for a living and what kind of life he has been leading back in all those years. 

All she could say was that he really cared for the three men he talked about. Although he didn't tell many things but whatever he did, they were deep enough to leave an impression on her. 

"Emma, can you tell me something about Lucian that will help me look for Alicia?" Killian asked her after a while. 

Lucian and Alicia. What could be the connection between those two? Why did Lucian give away his life to protect a girl who was nothing to him? 

Emma was put in thought. As much as she knew, Lucian never had any interaction with Alicia Palmero. It wasn't like she knew that girl too well. But Alicia was quite younger than her, which makes her, even more, younger than Lucian. 

Lucian was In his late teens when he died and Alicia was merely a child, not more than seven years old back then. It made no sense that he would save that girl when he had no interaction with her at all. 

What's more! That girl was still nowhere to be found. And she knew this because Don Marino was still looking for her, for some indescribable reasons. 

"Have you ever met Lucian, Killian?" Emma asked him. 

The majority of the people didn't even know what the infamous Lucian Marino looked like. He was so isolated from the real world that he would spend months cooped up inside his wing in Marino Residence. He never attends any parties or events organized by Don Marino. Some said Penelope had pampered him a way too much. And some say Don Marino listened to him too much, which makes Lucian, the golden boy, arrogant and superior. 

But she knew better. After all, she had been betrothed to him as soon as she was born. Penelope was like a second mom to her. 

After Penelope's death, Lucian grew way more reclusive. It was impossible for him to meet little Alicia that time. 

Killian replied with a shake of the head. "I have never met him. I don't even know what he even looks like." 

"Have you seen Alessandro Marino's father?" Emma questioned him. 

"I have. Well, not face to face but in pictures. I have seen him." Killian didn't know where she was going with her questions but he tried to answer as much as he could. If these questions could take him anywhere, he would be glad to answer them. 

"Lucian looks exactly like him," Emma informed her. "Emerald green eyes, dark hair and a tall and lanky build. He looks nothing like Alessandro." She paused before adding something, "None of Alessandro's children except for Persephone. She took after his father, except for those eyes." As something clicked inside her mind, she added further. " Even Salvatore is a carbon copy of his grandfather. If Lucian was alive, Salvatore would have safely been dubbed as his identical twin."

Since it had been many years since Lucian died and no one really saw him developing into a fine young man, they might not know that Salvatore and Lucian looked almost identical. But Emma, who was close to both Marino brothers, knew better. 

Even Carina or Alessandro didn't know Lucian and Salvatore as much as she did. 

But one thing Emmaline could say was that Salvatore Marino wasn't what he seemed like. That man is hiding himself beneath multiple masks.

And even the great Don Marino is not capable of seeing through this prodigal son of his.