Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 61

CAINE’S P.O.V

I watched the door shut behind Nadine and turned to the General.

I didn’t refer to him as father. I didn’t even think of him that way. I always knew who he was. My mother never spared me details about the man who ruined her life by knocking her up and refusing to take responsibility.

They had an affair. She worked for him and according to her he was charming up until the moment she told him she was pregnant. He tossed her out, ruined her reputation and left her with nothing. She never took him to court, she never wanted his money and after she died, I stopped caring.

"There was no need to tell her that." I sat up slowly. "You’ve never been a father before today. Don’t try to start now."

He clicked his tongue. "Is that any way to speak to the man who has given you life three times now?"

"It doesn’t take much to father a child. Any half-brained imbecile can do it."

"True, but I let you into the last bunker, and I let you in here. The nurses told me that even though you did a fairly good job treating your leg, if you hadn’t arrived when you did, you would have lost it or died from an infection. I saved your life."

"Fuck you."

He just laughed. "Language, Rowan."

"It’s Caine." I ground out. "You don’t get to call me Rowan."

"She does." The corner of his lips tipped upwards. "Nadine Tyler calls you Rowan. Do you want to tell me how that happened?"

I stayed silent.

I’d rather die than give him any information pertaining to Nadine. After everything that we had been through, every day that she risked her life to go out knowing I could die. She had done more for me in the time we were together than the bastard did in my entire life.

"She is a pretty girl. Although I don’t think her father will take too kindly to the knowledge of you having sex with his daughter."

I rolled my eyes. "I don’t give a shit about her father."

"You should." He took the seat next to my bed. "Her father can request that you be thrown out of here."

"And I’m sure you would be glad to oblige." I scoffed. "Why not get to the point? This whole back and forth thing is beneath you."

His lips curled and in that moment, I saw a resemblance. A flash. A reminder that I was half him no matter how much I tried to ignore it.

The silence stretched thin between us, fueled by years of abandonment, childhood rage and adult indifference. He had never apologized, had never even cared to find out how I was doing. The first day he saw me, he just smiled at me knowingly.

He had always known that I existed, I was just not important enough for him to care about.

"Thank you for bringing Nadine Tyler back," he said finally. "Once you are healed, Pickett will take you to the guards. You should be joining them in a week."

"A week isn’t nearly enough time for my leg to heal."

The corner of his lips tipped up. "There are technologies that you don’t know about. There are breakthroughs that cannot be shared with the public."

"Why use them on me? I am no one. I’m just a simple soldier."

"Would you rather spend weeks in a hospital bed?"

I didn’t respond, merely stared at him blankly and he sighed.

"Consider it a thank you for bringing Nadine Tyler back. A personal favor from your father."

"Fuck you," I hissed out. "You can take your favor and shove it up your ass."

"Would you rather leave? I can arrange for that immediately but Nadine will not be going with you." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Like hell-"

I started to rise but he held up a hand to stop me. "Let’s not make your healing any slower than it needs to be. Nadine Tyler is no longer your responsibility. You can stay here and keep an eye on her or you can leave and forget that she existed. The choice is yours."

He stared at me for a moment longer as if analyzing me then he stood to his feet and walked out. I watched him leave, holding my breath for the moment he would shut the door behind him but he didn’t. He just stood there in the doorway, his back turned to me.

"What did you see when you were out there?" he asked. "Did you find any other people? Any other survivors?"

"I did." I swallowed, not wanting to think about Dan. "Why didn’t you save everyone?"

"Because we didn’t have the space or resources. We had to get cars to take people. Do you know how dangerous that is? We could only afford to take a few."

"What was the criteria?"

"I don’t understand."

"What was the criteria that determined who was taken and who was not? Did you judge by wealth? Age? Fertility? Are you looking to build your own special breed of humans?"

He turned to me slowly. "You think the worst of me."

"Do you blame me?" I spat. "You left hundreds there to die. People I worked with, hunted with, slept with. They’re dead."

"And I apologize, but I didn’t kill them. The monsters did. Remember who the real enemy is, Caine, it isn’t me."

With that, he walked out leaving me alone in the empty room.

I let my head fall back against the pillow with a sigh of frustration.

I could count on one hand the number of conversations I had with my father and none of them ever ended well. He had this way of ruining my day and making things worse.

I looked around the empty room. I was used to the silence and the solace but I was not used to not having Nadine next to me. In the beginning, she talked a lot, but the longer we spent together, the more silent she got.

At first, I thought it was because she hated me but I quickly realized that it was because we had gotten so comfortable with each other that we didn’t need words. It wasn’t something that was easy to attain and I had found it with her.

I reached for the nurse’s button, ready to push it and demand that Nadine return when the door opened.

"Nadine," I breathed, taking her in. "How are you?"

She shut the door behind her and stepped forward. "As good as I can be seeing as I just spoke to my dad."

"What did he say?"

"He thought I was with Joshua and the others. He didn’t know I was left behind and he was devastated. He asked me to go with him, to stay in his place. He says he missed me."

"You should."

She stared at me for a long second before rolling her eyes. "Where does that leave you?"

"You don’t have to-"

"Cut the martyr bullshit, I hate it." she took the spot that the General vacated. "We started this together. We are finishing it together. Now, do you want to tell me why the fuck you didn’t think to inform me that the General was your father?"