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"Daddy, can we keep it? I found it on the street and it looked so scared and lonely. I couldn't leave it behind. And see? It is so cute!"
Charles Augustus Milverton looked down at the little girl who approached him. She was holding a dirty kitten in her hands and raised it towards him. The kitten was helplessly mewing and this brought sorrow and empathy for the girl's striking golden eyes which contrasted her oil brown skin in quite a unique way.
Milverton could never say no when the girl was watching him like that - with a wide, begging gaze which reminded him so much of someone else. He let out a sigh and just nodded.
"Yes, Charlotte, we can keep it, but ask the servants to help you clean it down. I don't want you to catch any illness due to bringing stray cats home all the time." He gave the permission which made the child brightly smile.
"Thank you, Daddy." Charlotte jumped to him and gave a kiss to his face, then a second later, she was out of the room to deal with her new cat. The third one Milverton allowed her to adopt this month.
Milverton shook his head, but he couldn't fall to his thoughts. In the next moment, the door opened again and his secretary, Ruskin stepped in the room.
"Did I see it right that Charlotte brought home another homeless kitten, sir?" He asked as he walked next to Milverton.
"Yes, you saw it right." Milverton rolled his eyes. "Maybe I should be harsher and make her quit doing it." He wondered, knowing well that he would be unable to do that. He was cruel to society and it brought him joy seeing people suffer, but there was two people in his life he was unable to hurt. The man standing next to him and the little girl who just ran out of the room.
His mate and his daughter.
A knowing smile appeared at the corner of Ruskin's mouth. His oil brown skin which was so similar to Charlotte's was radiating warmth, especially whenever he smiled.
"You shouldn't treat her harshly just because she is having fun, Mr. Milverton. Besides, may I remind you that she inherited her obsessive love for cats from you?" He noted playfully. Milverton let out a desperate moan. He didn't want to remember this - not now, when his mind was so troubled.
"You know that I wouldn't do that and this is what concerns me. I feel like..." he stopped for a second, inhaling a deep breath before he voiced out the thought which was haunting him in the last few days. "I am not evil anymore."
Now that he said it out loud, he glanced at Ruskin, somewhat shyly, to see what the other man thought about the realization he made. Ever since Ruskin gave birth to Charlotte and Milverton needed to learn how to act like a father, he felt like he became less evil, less threatening than he was before. Yes, he still used his media power to manipulate and mislead people and still made the good-hearted fall to sin. However... when he was not doing his work and his hobby, he and Ruskin were playing with their daughter to whom they gave everything she wished for, making sure that she will have a perfect childhood neither of them could have. In one moment, Milverton was laughing at the ruination of someone and in the next, he needed to tell a bedtime story to Charlotte while the little girl was sitting on his lap and sometimes even fell asleep in his arms. Those times, Milverton didn't go to his own bedroom, but stayed to not wake her up. It was one of these nights when he realized how soft he had become. And this was... really not fitting for someone who liked comparing himself to the Devil.
"Oh, sir, you are still very much evil, I can assure you." Ruskin replied and gently put his hand down on Milverton's shoulder to encourage him. "Just remember the lord you blackmailed last week. He was kneeling on the floor and begging you while you poured the tea onto his head and laughed. It was really, really evil."
Hearing that, Milverton felt a little better. Ruskin always knew what to say to cheer him up and he understood him perfectly. This was the reason why Milverton chose him to be his mate - the Omega to his Alpha. He impregnated Ruskin to carry out their little forbidden fruit which could make their evil stronger in the world. But this thought, instead of calming him down, just reminded him of his other concern - the one he had regarding Charlotte. Charlotte was supposed to be born to be his evil successor, but she seemed to be nothing like the two of them. She was kind and empathetic and kept bringing home poor kittens she found on the street. Milverton felt that he somehow made a mistake with her upbringing. Maybe giving her everything she needed to be a happy child erased the seed of evil from her heart. Not like Milverton would have been able to hurt his own daughter.
He decided to share his concerns with Ruskin. Ruskin always gave him the right advice when he was stuck with an evil plan. He might know now as well what they should do.
"But about Charlotte..." he said and cleared his throat. "I am afraid that she doesn't develop as she is supposed to. I sense no evil in her. What if she will turn out to be a good person?" His greatest fear slipped out of his mouth. To that, he felt that Ruskin wrapped one of his arms around his shoulder.
"Charlotte is still just a little child, sir." Ruskin said in a comforting voice. "Of course now she is more interested in cats than evil. We still have time to teach her everything she needs to become an evil incarnate. I am sure that she has inside her what makes her capable of following your path - and it will bloom one day. She is our child, after all." He gave a gentle kiss to Milverton's face and looked into his eyes deeply. The wide gaze was now not begging, rather, showed awe and faith - in him. Ruskin continued. "It was a long road until you became the man you are today, sir - the true evil I admire and love. Charlotte just needs time, just like you did."
A smile appeared on Milverton's face. He knew that Ruskin was right - he was always right. His words made his doubts fade away. Charlotte was their child, after all. Which meant that she was born in sin - their sins. This will give her enough strength to do what she needs to do. But until then... maybe she truly should just enjoy life the way she is doing it now.
Milverton reached out and gently patted Ruskin's face.
"You always know what to say, Ruskin, to convince me. Charlotte must have inherited this from you." He told his secretary who blushed for the unexpected compliment.
"I really just want to make you happy, sir." He answered with love. "And I am sure that she wants to make you happy, too."