if this is moving slow for anybody I apologize but it does take a little time to build up the suspense for a story. if you like TEA, you will like this chapter. lots of backstory. pls comment.

The distinctly European spirit of Archangel was deeply rooted in francophilia. Everything from the architecture to the food to the jagged harmonies of Cajun and Creole accents of the city's occupants.

Amoret found comfort in just how unfamiliar the cadence of Archangel was. Familiarity was always a bitter taste for him. His past had been so brutal all he could even think of was the flexibility of the future. The blankness of inevitable time. Old folks always did say time healed all wounds but Amoret didn't dare cry over permanent scars.

He and Golnar spent over a week cooped up in their beloved abode, adjusting and altering their long term living space. Golnar took pleasure in painting every room a different color. Together they painted the living room emerald, a brilliant shade of green that complimented the mahogany floor. Then they painted the guest bedrooms in pastel colors, and their own bedroom in a warm, sensuous plum. They agreed that it was a romantic color. One afternoon after painting, hanging curtains and laying rugs, Golnar passed out from the exhaustion of working all day. Amoret snickered to himself, remembering how high strung she was while painting, clearly to the point of overworking herself. He whisked her into his arms and laid her in their bedroom, horizontal upon the new plush bedding. A circular bed for a circular room.

He left the door slightly ajar and decided to play a little music when he returned to the living room. He boiled water for coffee and thought about his current situation. Giving Golnar and himself the luxury of social detachment was priceless. She had know very little peace since he'd known her and he knew he owed it to her for all her loyalty and unconditional support. She was the kind of woman who provoked negative emotions in others by doing nothing at all. There was so much dignity about her that it was often misconstrued as arrogance. In crowds of insecure, disingenuous and uncertain women, she was a lone wolf; confident, composed and decisive. She held her head high regardless of her circumstances and he admired it. It was so unique and sexy to him, the way she seemed so superior and unattainable. The only issue that came with that was how she struggled to open herself up emotionally. She never voiced her feelings, and in the past that had been a major obstacle for them. Now he finally had her all to himself and he would pick her brain relentlessly until her had all her affections naked and in his possession. All to himself! Being unfettered by the opinions and influence of others would do them a lot of good.

Despite his ideals of isolation, he reached down into the pocket of his baggy sweats and pulled out the cell phone he hadn't checked since they got to Archangel. With a weary sigh he thumbed the power button until it lit up.

Forty-one missed calls. Thirty-four unopened texts. His stomach lurched with sudden pressure. Thirty-two of the missed calls and sixteen of the unopened texts were from Kitana. He frowned and his posture tightened. Kitana was the last person he wanted to hear from. The rest of the calls and texts were from Deuce, Mecca, and Renegade, his workers slash homies. Some he trusted more than others.

He responded hastily to Deuce, Mecca and Renegade's texts, which were mainly them checking in and updating him about the status of his businesses. He had left one of each of his businesses to all of them but he still owned them so they were obligated to consult him when it came to business. He owned Kitana's salon and her boutique, too. That wasn't what she was inquiring about though. She just kept asking where him and Go went, paragraphs and paragraphs about how she missed them. Also angry texts like how dare he kidnap her best friend and leave her lonely and confused in Philly? Why hadn't he allowed Golnar to call her? Why didn't he say where they were going? Did he tell Golnar where they were going or did he tie her up and drag her away so that he could have his way with her? He snorted with contempt. This crazy bitch was accusing him of kidnapping Golnar? Taking his woman against her will? He read the emotionally varied texts from Kitana in sizzling agitation and turned his phone back off without responding.

-
He had known both parents. Both mother and father had lived in peace, in harmony and in love for the early part of Amoret's life. Jantzen Alphonse was a lawyer and his mother Sinclair worked from home as a seamstress who made custom clothing for the elites where he had been born in New York City. When Amoret was five his mother gave birth to his sister Amaranthe. Amaranthe was born with clear emerald eyes that later turned hazel. In the beginning, Amoret had known stability, love and family, things that were now scarce in his life.

Jantzen Alphonse was the best friend and primary attorney of Holden Carriveau, who had been a brother to him since they went to military school together. They became so close that they decided their children would marry.

Amoret and Kitana met when they were seven and six. It was a friendship they took for granted. Kitana was a pretty little girl with long hair and skin a bronzed apricot shade. She was so skinny she looked like she could break. Amoret didn't play with any girl's at seven, so when they met he made it clear she wasn't allowed to be a girl if she wanted to be his friend. Little Kitana went home and cut her long hair to chin length after he said that. She stopped wearing skirts, dresses and ribbons.

Her mother, Marigold was appalled at this and unbeknownst to Holden, who was always working and never home, she drove to the Alphonse household to talk about the goings-on between Amoret and Kitana. She had never known Kitana to be so impressionable before and she didn't want her baby girl to be that kind of person so she wanted to nip it in the bud immediately. She'd never even met the Alphonse family, Holden liked to keep her cooped up.

Marigold's skin was new penny copper, her eyes obsidian dark and tired looking like an ancient Egyptian's, her features delicately measured and straight. She carried herself in a modest, reserved way, but she had the makings to be a true beauty queen. Her hair was in ringlets that tickled her clavicle. She rang the doorbell of the big red and white house with the pillars and waited.

A man answered the door. A bald man with a tan complexion and hazel eyes. His bone structure was undecidedly rugged, like that budding brute son of his. The man was Jantzen Alphonse. "Marigold..." his eyes twinkled when he saw her. They had never met in person, Holden was a private man who kept his wife away from all things that didn't directly concern her. However Jantzen recognized the beautiful woman from pictures and she was remarkably more breathtaking than he could have predicted, while still not lighting a candle to his wife. "What brings you here? Did.. Did Holden send you?"

She stared into his gleaming hazel eyes dreamily, as if she had heard nothing he had said. Then she blinked. "I... I was just coming by to-to discuss the kids. It's a little something about your son and my daughter that concerns me. I hope I'm not... being an inconvenience." Her heart pounded so loudly in her chest she could hear it in her ears.

"Of course! Come on in I'm nothing doing anything must but looking over this paperwork." Jantzen welcomed her inside and felt relieved he had a little temporary distraction. He loved his line of work but sometimes his focus just wasn't there and the words began to blur together.

She walked in slowly and perused the classy black, white and silver decor of Jantzen's home. "Your home is lovely." she looked around and her eyes landed on a framed photograph of Jantzen and his wife, a striking woman with a softly chiseled face, mahogany skin and wild kinky hair that cascaded past her shoulders, kind of like Diana Ross' signature hair. Her haunting eyes protruded from the sunken chasms of her eye sockets and seemed to levitate above the surface of the photo.

"Thank you. My wife is very sensitive to color, you know. Artists can be like that. She's at a convention in Brooklyn." he shrugged.

"Your wife is an artist?"

"Fashion designer. She's too modest to call herself that so she just likes to be called a seamstress."

Marigold smiled, a melancholy detachment in her eyes.

"We can talk in my study." he led her upstairs to a room with bookcases along pale walls, a polished wooden desk with papers over every inch of it. "Excuse the mess." he smiled sheepishly, leaning against his desk.

She smiled too, for no apparent reason.

"What's been going on with the kids that concerns you?" he nodded toward her and spoke quietly. She was so beautiful, but clearly disturbed in some way. "I know my boy can be on the aggressive side but I hope he's being respectful when Sinclair and I aren't around. He adores his little sister and we try to get him to extend a similar courtesy to others. But he doesn't like that. He feels like... he's good to his sister because she belongs to him. He feels responsible for her. I don't know how to make him care about other people in a similar way."

Marigold was so moved by the even toned eloquence of his words that she nearly forgot why she came. "I know your son is a good boy but I am a little worried about his influence over my daughter."

Jantzen's forehead creased with apparent concern. "What's going on?"

Marigold stepped closer to Jantzen, looked him in the eyes. "Kitty has always been a very girly girl. Her room is entirely pink. She has more dolls than I can count. She takes such an interest in vanity that she recently started doing her hair on her own. But...Amoret told her that she isn't allowed to be a girl around him. He said he doesn't like girls, so Kitana needs to be a boy. She asked him how could she be a boy? He told her to figure it out. So, she went home and she cut all her hair off with scissors and she cut up all her dresses and skirts." Her voice broke on the last sentence. Hormones she thought were dead were resurrecting themselves and her body was betraying her.

Jantzen's lips parted with shock. He stood over the fragile woman, accidentally closing space between them. "Amoret told her to be a boy?"

"Yes." she held her head down.

"Wow. I.. I'll be sure to talk to him." Jantzen told her.

"Ok." she sniffled. Quickly she turned for the door, embarrassed at her unexpected emotional breakdown.

Jantzen gently gripped her wrist.

She turned to him, ashamed.

"Marigold, are you certain that's the only thing bothering you?" he pulled her back towards him.

Marigold inhaled, her heart pounding again. "I... I shouldn't say anything."

Holden's dark image cut into Jantzen's mind. Was Marigold being abused? Holden was a generous man and a great friend to Jantzen, but his private life was very private and Jantzen had no clue what could be going on behind closed doors. "Are you okay? Is there something else going on?"

Marigold's tears fell from her eyes and she stared into Jantzen's kind, worried eyes. He was so handsome. And evidently, very caring. She just couldn't help herself, her body felt severely inflamed. She pressed herself against Jantzen and tilted her head back until their lips met. Hungrily, she pulled his bottom lip into her mouth. His body tensed up against hers in resistance but his hands were encasing her slim waist. Electricity coursed through Marigold at an alarming rate as she pulled his tongue into her mouth with her own and rubbed pulsating core over the length that was hardening against his thigh and the he abruptly shoved her away.

Breathlessly, Jantzen wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and straightened his clothes. "Marigold, we can't do this."

"What, wh-what do you mean, why not?" she stammered, looking up at him in astonishment.

Jantzen's eyes met hers and they held a firmer consistency than before, no longer muddled by sympathy and kindness. "I love my wife, I'm devoted to her. To our kids. And I love Holden. And you... you love Holden, don't you?"

Marigold choked and grasped her chest from the stunning impact of his rejection. She wanted to tell him fuck Holden, but when she thought of the kids... "I-I'm sorry, I should have just called." she pushed her way out of his study, avoiding eye contact and escorted herself out his home, resisting any assistance from the man who not only spurned her advances, leaving her high and dry but also the man who had reminded her of her conscience; a tenuous little inconvenience that held her back from obtaining her desires.

Subsequently, Jantzen's wife Sinclair got an opportunity to design costumes for a film being shot in Los Angeles. Jantzen's first mind had been to fess up about what had occurred to Marigold, but knew that wouldn't go over well with Sinclair's fiery disposition so he kept his mouth zipped. It had meant nothing to him, yet somehow he felt shaken by it. Vaguely disturbed. Time passed and not much had changed except that after Sinclair designed costumes for one film, the offers kept pouring in until there was a new venture every year. While Jantzen's job as a lawyer was equally consuming, he at least had the privilege of staying home. Sinclair was always traveling now and barely had time for him. Sometimes they would argue over her taking the kids, and she usually won. So Jantzen was left with an empty house and a stack full of paperwork and files on most nights.

Then came the dinner parties. Something had changed in Holden's marriage, too, because while their children were in middle school, Marigold began hosting dinner parties two or three times a month. She was a bored stay at home mother with an existence that was constantly being limited by her husband. Holden wouldn't even do her the service of giving her another child. Luckily she had the advantage of being beautiful and persuasive, therefore she had a small win when he allowed her dinner parties.

Jantzen attended one out of boredom. With Sinclair and the kids gone, he didn't even have a warm wife to snuggle up against when he was done with his work. It started to show. His prim and proper appearance had taken on a more rugged edge as he was shaving less and eating less home cooked meals. He'd become such a lonely workaholic that he no longer had the appearance of a man who was spoken for.

Marigold's suppressed preoccupation reached an all time high when she saw Jantzen, for the first time in years sporting a significantly more masculine aesthetic. It was all very simple to her. Getting Jantzen alone had been easy because there were so many unassuming people around and also because he was drunk. A sober Jantzen probably would have waved her off. She tried to small talk him but he just kept blathering on and on about how he missed Sinclair and the kids. It annoyed her, but she understood. Marigold felt that she had Jantzen pegged just off the strength of the first time she'd seen him. All it took was to pull his sympathy card. When she burst out in tears and confessed about how loveless her marriage with Holden was and how he rarely let her leave the house or go places with him and how he hadn't touched her in so long and before she knew it, Jantzen was putty in her hands. And she didn't even have to lie.

Little did Marigold know, she was being watched. Holden was nobody's fool and Marigold couldn't even breathe unless he said so. When she requested these parties, he had known immediately that she was plotting something. However, he didn't have the slightest premonition that she was plotting anything with Jantzen. He had eyes all over Marigold. Eyes with cameras that came back to him with pictures of her and Jantzen.

Holden's stomach turned at the sight. Jantzen Alphonse was the only man he trusted a hundred percent, and Holden was hardly even capable of trust. Marigold and Jantzen, having an affair? It was an impossible pill to swallow and Holden was immensely enraged.

Afterwards, Jantzen avoided Marigold with more fervor than he ever thought he would have to. He was in the hot seat and he knew it. All he could think about was Sinclair. He hadn't even been in his right mind with Marigold but what he didn't want to admit to himself was that he was so hard up for a woman's touch that he likely would have still given in, even sober. Unlike Holden, Jantzen was inherently moral. Now his do-gooder outlook was feeling increasingly false, even to himself.

The deception pierced Holden deeply when Jantzen didn't confess to his transgression. Knowing how moral his friend was, he expected him to come clean despite the heat of the situation. It only incensed him even more and fueled a voracious appetite for revenge.

Sinclair came back to town with thirteen year old Amoret and eight year old Amaranthe in tow. She took absolutely no pleasure in keeping them away from their father, but she knew that she had made strides in her individual relationships with her children while they were just with her. Amoret's turbulent temperament calmed significantly with her after long talks together. Amaranthe was pampered and Amoret was mildly jealous, but they had a great brother and sister relationship. Amoret already looked like a full grown man, chin hair was beginning to sprout and he's recently shot up six inches to six feet even seemingly overnight. Amaranthe was naturally gorgeous, her eyes took on a similar shape to her mother's but not nearly as wide or large, hers were more slanted and took on the iridescent hazel color of her father's. She was tall, too, for her age and she was creative, sometimes assisting her mother in making more difficult wardrobe choices.

Sinclair was entirely unprepared for Jantzen's nervous, needy attitude towards her when she came back. Of course she was happy to see her husband, but this man was all up under her every chance he got. He'd never been so clingy. She didn't read too much into it. She told him she was going to stop taking on so many designing jobs at once so that Amoret and Amaranthe could get back to stability in New York. Jantzen was so relieved.

One day Holden stopped by unannounced to tell Jantzen and Sinclair that he'd gotten Marigold to throw a party in celebration of Sinclair's recent career advancements. Sinclair was a homebody who didn't like the idea of all that attention being placed on her but conceded anyway. There really wasn't any turning Holden down, which was a big reason why she didn't like him. Quiet as it was kept, Sinclair had a dominant personality and she relished in being blessed with a doting husband who willfully did what she asked with seldom limits. Real recognizes real and she knew that Holden's generosity and kindness were just his own slick methods of getting whatever he wanted from Jantzen and whoever else. She steered clear of Holden because she didn't know what he was capable of.

Holden and Jantzen were polar opposites, Jantzen light and Holden dark, both figuratively and literally. Sinclair hated the way Holden would play Jantzen like he was his flunky but since it seemed to begin and end in business circles, she didn't press the issue. That was the thing about her, though. She would pressure Jantzen to stand up to Holden all day and night but if he was to stand up to her... She snorted at the thought. He best know better.

The night of Marigold's party in honor of Sinclair came. Sinclair reluctantly dolled up after Jantzen went on and on about how it would be a bad look and "disrespectful" if they failed to dress up. So Sinclair dressed in a slinky black wrap around dress with a pattern of gold flowers flourishing along the waist and clasped by a thin belt that had a gold flower buckle. She wore black stilettos and her hair was hoisted into big movie star waves, her widow's peak in plain view. Her eye makeup was smoky golden and lined with white, dramatizing the already huge eyes that sometimes scared people. She dressed Jantzen to coordinate with her, a black suit with subtle gold pinstripe and a bow tie that followed the pattern of her dress, likely made with the same fabric.

Sinclair was simply eye catching. She received all the attention she didn't want, eyes glued to her as soon as she walked in. Marigold had never seen her in person, and she was far more stunning than any picture could portray.

"As much as our kids see each other it's a shame we've never met." Sinclair embraced Marigold, grinning timidly. Marigold wore a light blue dress that complimented her copper complexion. Sinclair noted the quiet destruction in her eyes and the fact that they made her even prettier.

"You're really beautiful in person!" Marigold commented excitedly, sounding almost shocked.

"So are you!" Sinclair replied graciously.

Holden was so smooth that he'd gotten Sinclair alone without her even realizing it. He only knew that she knew when she began to look around like she'd lost something.

"Where did Jantzen go?" she murmured, eyes darting around the scene of the crowded party.

"I'm sure he's just fine. Occupying himself with my wife." Holden sipped cognac with a bitter gleam in his crinkly eyes. He was handsome, but in a dark, shifty eyed way. He always had an expression on his face like he knew so much more than everyone else. It was intimidating to say the least. Sinclair was used to being the intimidating one in the room, so Holden wasn't particularly alluring to her, more so infuriating and annoying.

Sinclair squinted at him, laughing a little. "Why do you say it like that?"

"You missed a lot while you were away."

"I was only gone a few months, Holden. What are you insinuating?" she shifted her eight to one leg and put her hand on her hip.

"Yes. And a few months before that few months. And so on and so on. You've neglected him, Sin. He's been taking up with Marigold in your-" he cleared his throat, "in our absence. You see, I've been neglecting her, too. Business and all."

"Don't fucking call me Sin! My name is Sinclair Alphonse, Mrs. Alphonse to you. And why in the hell are you accusing my husband of some slick shit like that? Jantzen is not that kind of man! He would never betray me or you like that!" she spat, turning crimson.

She was so petite and so angry it amused Holden but he swallowed his laughter so that she wouldn't make a scene. The only reason no one heard her out burst was because they were in a secluded area, a balcony by liquor on ice overseeing the festivities.

"I have proof."

Sinclair's eyes bulged from the sockets and her lips pursed. "Proof? You have-what do you mean you have proof?" her tone had softened uncharacteristically. She was shocked at the mere idea of Jantzen being unfaithful.

"Come with me."

Normally Sinclair wouldn't be following a man like Holden Carriveau to heaven's pearly gates but in her panicked curiosity, she followed him to a vacant room like a zombie.

It was a guest room with more drinks and gold walls and bedding. Unmoved by the lavish decor, she turned to him as soon as the door was closed. "What is this proof you're talking about?"

Holden pulled open a drawer under the table and out he pulled a manilla folder. He tossed it her way and she opened it like a kid who'd just been given a copious amount of candy. Boom. Her devastation blossomed bitterly right before her eyes. Pictures of Jantzen and Marigold, doing what lovers do.

"Oh my... oh Hell no!" she sneered, tears clouding her vision and heat rising in her back like bile in her throat.

That was the moment everything turned on its head.

Sinclair was purely shocked but she held it together in front of everyone. Only Holden was privy to the distinct change that had taken place in her, the same change that had taken place in him just weeks before. He told her not to make a scene and to call him. She had trusted Jantzen so much, he had never given her a reason not to. Her sense of security had been single handedly shattered and she had no clue how to address the situation. Typically, Sinclair would be bold and confront things immediately. She was upfront almost to the point of excess. But thing had thrown her off her game, she never believed this would happen. She played it off and spent time with her kids, distracted Jantzen with elaborate meals or sex. Her mind was clearly elsewhere and Jantzen seemed to notice, but maybe he was too scared to address it. All her respect for him disintegrated and she saw him as weak and indulgent. She was so invested in her children and marriage, she didn't even have any true friends. Every day, fifteen years of being together flashed before her eyes like the death of something.

Desperation amplified within her and she finally picked up the phone to call Holden, feeling like she had no one else.

Had to be at least a dozen phone calls before Holden was able to convince Sinclair to come and see him. They both seemed to know that an affair between them was inevitable but Sinclair's pride was a strong barrier. When she finally agreed, he knew she had to be distraught in an epic way.

What was a mind blowing once in a lifetime experience for Holden was more of an ego propelling, exhilarating pick me up for Sinclair. Holden had serial dated passive women his whole life, and married a passive woman, so Sinclair was like nothing he'd ever had before in his life. She was just as aggressive as him and maybe ever more assertive and the moments where she shrunk and became temporarily submissive were amazingly stirring to him. Despite the potent sexual affinity they had for one another, Holden simply was not Sinclair's kind of man. More so, she wouldn't allow him to be. But she felt thoroughly justified in her affair with him. She saw it as poetic justice, given what Jantzen and Marigold had done.

Casual transactions turned into addictive encounters and Holden began sending Sinclair gifts when they weren't together. She tended to give the gifts to other people, flowers she would give to her often off duty assistant, jewelry she would hide and keep for Amaranthe to have in the future, anything else she would sell and give the money to Amoret, who never actually bought anything. But she had a weakness for clothing. She couldn't help but wear the brightly colored blouses and dresses that he would send.

It was an undeniable fact that she and Jantzen weren't the couple they once were but they failed to communicate about it. She was secretly seeing Holden and she figured Jantzen was still carrying on with Marigold. Sex between them evaded.

A month passed without seeing Holden and she wondered why, then brushed her suspicions off. Holden was not her business. However she noticed him annexing Jantzen time, sending him off on business trips on Holden's behalf. She just appreciated the lack of tension in the house when Jantzen left. Then he called. For the first time in a month.

"I've got a surprise for you."

Her face creased in confusion. "What surprise?"

"Come outside."

The kids were at school so it was nothing for her to slip out unnoticed. Holden leaned, grinning against a shiny black Cadillac. He opened the door for her and she got in.

"What's this about, Holden?" she questioned and he smiled and waved her off.

He pulled up to a big white suburban home in his neighborhood and urged her to get out and come take a look.

"Holden, what's going on?" she demanded.

"For you," he dangled keys in her face.

Putting two and two together, she gasped. "For me? What?" Perplexed, she stalked through the massive house and eyed the pure white fixtures of every room. He could not be serious. "Holden don't play like that? You know the kids are due home in like an hour. Why you bring me here? I know you didn't drag me out of the city for a quickie."

Holden chuckled. "Baby, I told you, it's for you. You and the kids. You can let Jantzen keep your old home. And you move here." he approached her with ecstatic eyes.

Sinclair stepped back, staring at him. Sure, they had joked and role played that they were divorced from Jantzen and Marigold, played like they would somehow be together after all of this but to her, it was only a joke. A fantasy that would never come true, it was only fun to think about. "Holden, you can't be serious. I can't move my kids here. We can't-Holden this can't happen."

He frowned. "Why not? Sin, Jantzen isn't a problem and neither is Marigold. All I have to do is snap my fingers and I can make them disappear. Don't you understand that? There's nothing holding us back but you."

Sinclair struggled to even her breathing, she just knew she was about to hyperventilate. "Why would I want my husband to disappear Holden? Stop this! You have to stop this and take me home! You're crazy?"

Appalled, he glared at her. "I'm crazy?"

"Holden, be serious. You have to consider the kids. You can't take Kitana from her mother. I'm not gonna take my kids from their father, Holden I'm just not gonna do it. Stop it, please." Sinclair was sobbing uncontrollably and she'd never felt more under pressure in her life. She was perfectly content with her and Holden's previous arrangement and she hated to admit that he, in some way made her happy and it felt like the false security she had constructed for herself was crumbling.

Holden's face tightened and she could clearly see that she had hurt him. "You choose his weak ass over me? Don't fuck around, Clair you're miserable with him."

"Holden, stop it. Maybe... maybe if we had met first then... maybe it would be easier for us but I can't just up and leave him for you." she told him sadly.

Holden looked around as if he was embarrassed. He tightened up and stood straight. "Alright. I hear you."

He was pissed. He'd never been rejected in his whole fucking life. Everything felt like it was out of his hands and the loss of control gave him a helpless feeling that he couldn't fathom for the life of him.

Meanwhile, Kitana and Amoret were starting high school. They were attached at the hip, both of them fully aware that their parents had every intention of marrying the two of them off. Kitana had been snooping around and stumbled upon big news, devastating news. She just didn't know how to tell Amoret. They were so close that they even dressed alike, matching shades and baggy denim.

She finally mustered the courage to tell him what she knew one day after school when they were walking together.

"Amoret, I know a secret."

"What kinda secret?"

"Has to do with our parents."

He glanced at her briefly, then looked back ahead. "Might as well tell me if you bringing it up."

Kitana pouted, already so scared of how he'd react. "My dad's in love with your mom. I overheard him talking about it with one of his friends."

"My mama? What you talking about, girl? My moms is with my pops."

Kitana was near tears because she knew so much but not how to say it all. "I'm serious, Am. They been sneaking around together and he wanna marry her."

Amoret seethed internally. He didn't like being confused and this went against everything he knew about his parents. But he couldn't pretend that there hadn't been a drastic change in his household. "I don't believe you." he mumbled, clearly upset. But if he didn't believe her then he had no reason to be upset.

"Well...at least let me walk you home." she suggested. He didn't respond so she took it as a yes.

When they approached his house, the entrance was blocked by fire trucks and police cars, fervent orange flames eating away at his home, the majority of the massive structure was already burnt to a sizzling, blackened crisp.

-
Present day Amoret cleared his throat, choked up at the excruciating memory. His past was an ugly one and it had all started with Kitana's scorned father and the mysterious fire that killed his mother and father even before Philly. Golnar was truly all he had.