Delia’s stomach drops as if an earthquake scourged through the room. Her selfish, conniving brother was the sole reason for her family’s financial destruction; the sole reason for her captivity. She seethes, resentment tearing through her as her realization settles in.

There’s no way that her grandmother doesn’t know about this. Her guilt before the wedding had shown Delia some redemption, but to hide something such as this from the family—and to make Delia pay for it? She’s beyond words. She’s beyond competent thought. Delia throws the chair to the side, storming towards the door of Theo’s bedroom—she’s going to demand an audience with Delius and make him pay for his crimes. That is until Theo grabs her wrist.

“The hell do you think you’re going this late?”

“I’m not sitting idly by just to see my brother get off scot-free. I won’t bail him out—I don’t care what the damage will do to our family name!”

“I won’t allow you to cause a fuss. My grandfather can’t know Oli is here—and if you create a ruckus this late, he’ll find out why. I’m not risking that.”

“I don’t care—Delius needs to pay for this!”

Theo strongarms Delia into place; she’s furious that biology fails her. If she could escape his grip—

“I care. Your brother, he will get what’s coming, but you can’t act so rash. You want those bodyguards out there to get all trigger happy because they think you’ll escape?”

“They won’t kill me if they wish to extort my funds.”

“I’m not letting them put their hands on you, ever again,” Theo growls, struggling to keep Delia’s flailing arms at bay.

“Er—sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything about Deel. But I needed you guys to know, and I didn’t know what else to do. Deel wouldn’t have said anything, but I know he feels real bad about it.” Oli’s meek voice fills the room.

Theo replies, “Does he know about what happened to us?”

“No, I came to you first because you can keep the deed until they agree to better terms.”

Delia doesn’t want a reasonable conversation. She wants vengeance. “He’s going to be dead when I’m through with him.” Her voice drips with malice, it even causes Theo to shudder.

“Deel doesn’t deserve that—he was just caught between a rock and a hard place. It was just a last resort bailout—or that’s what he said to me.”

“A bailout for what?”

Oli looks downcast, “He never told me. But you shudda saw the regret on his face, he really didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

“What he did was illegal—if anyone caught wind, he’d go to prison for many years—and rightfully so,” Theo concludes.

Delia doesn’t miss the fear that crosses across Oli’s face. “We can’t let this get out.”

“I won’t pay.” Delia snaps, still barricaded by Theo’s strength. “He’s not getting off scot-free; not at the cost of my freedom. He’s already done enough.”

“Look, just talk to him when you’ve calmed down alright? I’m sure you can work this all out; there’s no need for anyone to go to jail.” Oli raises his hands calmly, “And bro, you should let go of your lady.”

“I don’t trust her to stay put.”

Delia groans, but he’s not wrong. Her anger hasn’t subsided—if she let go of her now, Delius wouldn’t have been the only one on the receiving end of her wrath. Oli walks up to her, Delia realizing that the Avangard brother was shorter than Theo, but, still heads above her. She notices the faint scar on his cheek—as if a blade had sliced his skin during a skirmish. His soft crimson eyes plead at her; ugh, she knows what’s coming.

“Please don’t sell Deel out. He means so much to me—I couldn’t bear it if he disappeared for good.”

“I get that this isn’t your fault, but I’m sick of paying for my brother’s mistakes. I don’t deserve it.” Delia lowers her voice. “I’ll give him the chance to come clean himself—or—whatever will free me from the hands of these kidnappers. Don’t think that I’ll go easy on him just because you asked me to.”

“But you’re my sister now—doesn’t that count for a family favour?”

“Don’t ask for favours you don't deserve.” Theo orders, letting go of the grip around Delia. Delia’s cheeks burn from the realization that he’s right; Oli was her brother in law. She is married to Theo now—no—she’s got to keep focused! “But Oli’s right. There’s no sense of letting Delius rot in prison for years if we can avoid it.”

“You just said Deliusshould get a just punishment.” Delia stares at him with irritable confusion.

“I did, but I realized that would sully the Avangard name if Delius were to end up in the slammer. I don’t care so much about our reputation for myself, but I don’t want this scandal to affect Thea’s good name.”

“You want Delius to stay out of prison to keep your sister’s purity?”

“No—” He stares at her blankly, “she was publicly engaged to the man, and it could make her look like she was involved in the crime if this were to go public. I disregarded that possibility until now.”

“For god’s sake,” Delia rolls her eyes—and hard. “Don’t expect me to hand out my shares because you don’t want your baby sister to be sullied.”

“I won’t allow Thea to be involved in this—end of story. There needs to be another way.”

“If it helps, I think you should talk to Grandpa about it,” Oli says, his courage depleting with every word. “He might know how to stop them.”

“The whole reason I kept quiet was to protect you, dumbass. You know how he’d respond—he’d blame you for the entire thing.”

“If it’s for Deel, I don’t care what he’ll say about me.” Oli brushes his hand through the air, “Whatever. The old man needs someone to point fingers at, and the ritzy life wasn’t for me anyway.” He flashes a coy smile, but Delia sees the hurt beneath it.

“You’d be chased out.”

“I said I don’t care. Talk to Grandpa—get some help. It’s not worth staying in debt to protect me.”

This makes Delia angrier. Now Oli was paying for Delius’s selfish treachery.

“You’re both out of your minds.” Delia tenses up—she looks at Theo. “Don’t bother restraining me, I don’t plan to escape, but the two of you are pussyfooting around the issue. Oli, you don’t have to take the fall for Delius, he doesn’t deserve it. And Theo, I met your sister—do you think Thea gives five flying fucks about her reputation? Have you met your sister? Frankly, I think she’s happy as long as she’s around her raccoons, and away from Thorne.”

Theo narrows his brows at her; It’s obvious that Delia hit a sore spot. She expects him to get cross, but he keeps quiet.

“I won’t sit by and do nothing—I came to warn you guys about your safety, so you owe me the favour that you won’t turn Deel in.” She doesn’t know how one was possible without the other—unless Milo did have a way to protect them. But then she was risking Oli’s safety to do it. Delia would just have to convince Milo to listen to reason.

“Fine. We’ll talk to Milo. This doesn’t mean that I will forgive Delius—I don’t think I can ever do that—but I’ll try.” Delia crosses her arms, looking off to the side. She misses Oli’s appreciative expression. And Theo's disapproving one. 

He changes the subject, “Do you plan to crawl through the window again or do you want a spot on the bed?”

Oli notes Delia’s shocked demeanour. “Nah bro, it’s fine. Even I’m not gonna stop you two from having a good night together,” He winks.

“No worries—I’m long past that.” Delia edges in before Theo gets a chance to embarrass her.  

“It’s cool, if you don’t mind me stepping on the end table I can just hop right out,” Oli says gesturing to the furniture near the window. Delia watches as he effortlessly balances himself and dives through the opening, somersaulting on the grass before standing to take a bow. She couldn’t believe how quick—and graceful—that performance was. She wouldn’t be able to pull that off in a thousand years.

Delia expects Theo to be grouchy and scold her, however, he’s anything but. “Thanks for staying calm.”

“Yeah,” She says weakly. Delia didn’t expect gentle arms to pull her into a gentle embrace; the action sending her tear ducts into overdrive. She collapses into his arms—letting her emotions pour out of her.

She's too far gone to feel ashamed.