He felt twitchy as if he couldn’t see it but danger still lurked at every corner. He still felt uneasy about bringing Yan Mei with him here, claiming that she needed to stay at home and rest, and also have private time to spend with her father who dropped in now and then.

Leaving her at home would have made him feel less raw and better able to handle the feelings of protectiveness she aroused in him nowadays that made him feel jittery and very confused.

His last argument had been that her father was there and could take care of any threat both physical and supernatural.

Yes, his father-in-law was the Devil, yes, the very one and it still blew his mind if he allowed himself to think about it. Yan Mei had blatantly refused to stay home, something that both pleased and annoyed him endlessly

Lei Zhao parked the car and strode straight to the other side of the car to help her out. Looking at her, no one would see the effect of the battle for her life a few days ago on her.

But he knew where to look, the shadows in her eyes were fleeting but fresh, without a word he strode arm in arm with her to the house, he debated if they should head to his mother’s greenhouse or go through the house and decided last minute that he wanted the sense of ease seeing his old home would give him.

The Zhao mansion was stately and elegant but somehow managed to still have the cozy sense of home, the scent of gardenias teased his senses as he walked through the door, siphoning away some of his tension.

The butler, yes he had grown up with a family butler, a tall balding man named Robert greeted him with a wide smile and a brief hug to both him and Yan Mei before pointing them in the direction of the kitchen.

He knew his mother was not there but there was no way he was going to get out of greeting Ms. Smithers.

The housekeeper had been here for most of his teenage years and had been like a mother to him. He had barely crossed the threshold of the kitchen doorway when he was enveloped in a warm hug.

Lei Zhao smiled down at his third favorite person in the world with a wide smile of his own.

”Your mother’s having her breakfast in the greenhouse and your father has gone putting.” The housekeeper informed him as she searched his eyes.

Lei Zhao deflected her budding concern with a smile “Thank you, Ms. Smithers”

”Call me Ru you silly boy,” she countered with a smile of her own.

”You know I love you Ms. Smithers” he teased lightly.

She shooed him away with one fluttering hand and a loud huff but she couldn’t hide her smile either “go on and see your mother then come back, I have something for the both of you.”

Ms. Smithers turned to Yan Mei and gave her a warm hug too, no words were spoken but the love between them was almost tangible.

It soothed something in him to have all the people he loved in one safe place around him.

Lei Zhao nodded through another hug, greeted all the other people bustling in the room before he slipped out with Yan Mei in tow and headed for the greenhouse.

This close, a small bit of impatience was creeping in, making him want to go faster.

The scent of rich earth and healthy plants greeted him before he cleared the door, when he opened the door the scent tripled, that in conjunction with the sight of his mother sitting calmly with a book in her lap and a faraway look in her eyes, the last of his tension drained away.

He had the oddest urge to walk up to her, lay her head in her lap and sleep off, he wanted to surround himself with the kind of love only she should give.

Yan Mei must have sensed it too, she squeezed his arm and rested his hand and rested her head on his arm and didn’t say a word as he struggled to get a hold of the many emotions running through him.

In the time he stood just inside the door watching, she had come back from whatever thought was occupying her mind and was looking at them.

She beckoned them over and he walked into her embrace. “Mother”

”My baby” she greeted him with a kiss on his cheek

”Mom” Ying Sheng greeted and got a hug of her own

”Darling”

”I have so much to tell you” he replied and she nodded emphatically

”I know” she answered softly

”You always know” the words were spoken without censure, just a statement of fact.

Turning to Yan Mei You, Lei Xiao Tong said, “you look so tired darling, let me hold you.”

As if those were the magic words, his wife folded into his mother’s embrace with a small sob, and they held each other for one solemn moment before moving apart.

”Tell me everything.” She ordered as they all sat down.

He relived it all in a brief rush, a harmless mistake that grew into a malevolent evil that almost destroyed everything he held dear. He couldn’t help the full-body shudder that rippled through his body.

They didn’t say anything, both his mother and his wife just waited for him to start talking but their hands squeezed him in a show of love, which gave him the strength to start.

He told her everything, from the moment he had received that fateful call to the time when the brutal revelations of the truth hit him.

He hadn’t thought about it but he had lived through it with Yan Mei , he hadn’t thought he needed someone to talk about it to. The two of them were too drunk on surviving to even revisit it but he didn’t know how much he had needed to pour out his heart to someone until now.