Cassey woke from her sleep when she heard the muffling sound of her daughter. Penny always cries softly when she does not find her mother, but the moment she comes back to her arms.. She opened her eyes to see the room was only empty.
Did she imagine it? She looked around with confusion when her eyes fell on the shadow on the window.
Someone just passed and she felt she heard the cries of her daughter again.
She forced herself to stand and walked towards the door only to see a helpless Tyrone who was trying to calm Penny by patting her head and cheeks but she was taking none of it.
She was crying harder and he was looking devastated by it. He looked at Damien for help who fidget at his place not sure how to help and then raised his hands to hold the child but instead of giving Penny to Damien, Tyrone hid her in his arms like a protective beast who would kill anyone who would come closer to the cub.
"What in the world do you think you are doing?" she asked, appalled as she took slow steps towards them and took Penny from his arms. He held Penny tightly at first, not ready to let go but when Penny sobbed louder, his hands fell limp.
"There there! What happened to my princess?" Cassey softly kissed the cheeks of her daughter knowing well that she did not cry easily. She didn't even get flustered meeting strangers, a trait that she must have taken from her father, the man who was standing in front of them in a state she had never imagined she would see.
Penny moved her small hands and pointed a finger towards Tyrone with an accusing look in her eyes.
"He scolded me and chased Jack." she muffed a sob before continuing, "he said you will never meet Jack. Mommy, Jack looked worried." Penny touched the cheek of her mother tenderly and then forced her to look away from that bad uncle towards her and continued,
"He did not let me come to you too." The girl was beyond angry. She did not like this man at all and she left no chance to inform Tyrone about it who felt that his world was crumbling again.
He had never known that he had a child. For ages, he felt that he was alone in this world and now that he had finally met her, she hated him. Her daughter hated him.
The words were harsher than the death sentence and painful than burning in the war. His face looked so hurt that Cassey could not help but hold Penny tightly in her arms, feeling bad for her husband for a second but then she recalled how he had ordered his staff to throw her from the palace when he left for the war.
They told her that he had married a new princess there while she was waiting for him with this great news! Her anger boiled and her eyes turned cold again.
She patted the head of her daughter again and told her in a soothing voice.
"It is alright. You did not need to worry about it. We will return to uncle jack once mommy feels better. Okay?" the child blinked and searched the face of her mother and then finally wiped the tears off her face and nodded her head.
Cassey smiled at her daughter. She had always been so simple to handle and so understanding, just some words and she had never thrown a tantrum or worried Cassey. But just when she raised her head, her eyes met the cold eyes of Tyrone who was looking at her with hatred and anger that she took a step back unconsciously.
But when she realized what she had done, she stood straight and stared back at him. He was the one at fault but from the time he had returned unannounced in their life, he was trying to hold her liable for everything. As if she was the one who ran away.
"You can not force a child to do your bidding." she stated, did he think everyone would be like her who would dance on his palms. Ha! Her daughter was smarter, "she didn't even know you." she added as she kept patting the head of Penny who had placed her thumb in her mouth.
After crying for such a long period had exhausted her. So, her eyes were closing. The warmth of the body of her mother was assuring her to take a nap.
"And whose fault is this?" he glowered in a dangerously low voice that even Damien shivered when he was not even at the receiving end.
"You did not tell me that you are pregnant! And then ran away from the palace when I went to war! You deprived me of my child and now you are telling me that I did not know how to handle her! Ha! And you think that it is my mistake.
Two years! You have taken two years of my childhood from me, Cassandra!" she flinched! This was the first time that he was calling her by her full name instead of Cassey and each time it felt like he was cursing her.
"And I will make sure that you will pay for it!" His voice was so low to make sure that Penny did not get disturbed but it only made him more dangerous with those bloodshot eyes that looked no less than a demon who had come from the depths of hell to take revenge.
Cassey staggered as she lost all her strength but before she could fall, she was already in the arms of Tyrone. The familiar warmth made her feel instantly better but when she raised her head he was only looking at Penny.
He had held her to make sure that his daughter did not wake up from her sleep!