Like Rapunzel, but Not Really ✔

Chapter 24

All my life I had pictured what it would be like to meet Connor. 

Even when he kept me in a fishbowl in Switzerland back then, he made sure to stay in the dark so that I never could see his face. I only saw glimpses of his features. But never an actual full face.

I'd always thought that just to put a face to the nightmare that had been playing on repeat my whole entire life would shine some light to the hazy cloud I'd lived in all this while.

So when the white car came to a stop right in front of me, a million rush of emotions flowed within myself that I felt so numb from just feeling too much in too little time. I stared at the car like I had never stared at anything in my life. And when I heard the door click open, I stopped breathing entirely.

His leg came out of the car first. I frowned, recognizing the shoes. 

They were the exact pair of Italian shoes my Dad had custom made for himself. I recognized the unique details of the design. But the shoes themselves were much larger than my Dad's.

The rest of Connor finally emerged from the car and I almost ran out to the cliff to vomit had it not been for Tristan's grip on my hand from in front of me.

"Zeke?" I whispered out loud in shock.

But I knew that wasn't actually Zeke. Zeke was laying in a hospital with all manners of tubes stuck in every orifice he had on his body. The man in front of me - He definitely had Zeke's face. Or at least, a semblance of his features.

"Arianna," his too-white teeth stretched into an unnatural smile, just like the rest of his face. 

"I didn't want to show you my face until it was ready. But certain events...," his dead eyes leered over to Tristan, "has made me hasten my entrance." 

My grip on Tristan's shirt tightened slightly.

"Glad to see you got my message, then." Tristan's voice was cold but he meant every word to be a jibe. 

Connor's eyes flashed with anger while his teeth gnashed in ire. He mumbled something under his breath that neither of us could understand.

"Sorry, were you saying something? I didn't catch that," Tristan mocked him again, making me give him a WTF look.  

"What are you doing?" I whispered urgently to him. Why would you antagonize and immensely unstable man?

Instead of answering me, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders while smirking at Connor. 

"Get your hands off her!" he snarled to Tristan. His eyes were dripping with menace and I could smell murder radiating off him.

My grip on Tristan's shirt loosened as I involuntarily took a step back, only to have his arm wrap around my shoulders to lock me in my place.

"No, I kind of like it like this."

There was a second of quietness before Connor's body started to shake with with anger. "Hands. OFF."

He charged forward suddenly so fast, he was just 20 feet away when he reached back and drew out a retractable baton from behind him. But then he stopped and the sound of click on my right gave me a clue as to why.

Connor's face bore a glimmer of fear for a quick moment before he grinned maniacally. He brought his arms to the side but chuckled raspily in my direction. "We all know what happens if he pulls that trigger."

He was talking to me. 

"Tristan, you can't shoot him," I whispered. When he did not seem to pay any heed to me, grabbed his sleeve and pleaded. "Please. My parents."