Promises

Chapter 13.3

As Marco headed out of the subway, he had a look around before turning right.

The hospital was only a walking distance from the subway, and it wasn't that far from where Marco lived. So, it was a quick trip there, but definitely not the trip he looked forward to.

"Los Angels Hospital..." Marco mumbled to himself.

He was standing at the opposite street of the hospital, staring intently at the name on the building's façade. Marco took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before walking over to the traffic light.

As he entered the hospital, he headed straight for the reception.

"Hi, I would like to see Tom Lucitor." Marco said politely, looking at the nurse, who was still staring at the monitor.

"No reporters." The nurse spoke uninterested.

"Uhm..I'm not a reporter. I'm a friend of his."

"No visitation from friends. Only close family members"

Marco curled a corner of his lips down and sighed.

"What do you mean you still can't find her!? What do my parents pay you guys for?!"

Marco whipped his head to the right.

"I'm sorry Mr Lucitor, but she doesn't have anything that we can use to pinpoint where she is. She hasn't used any electronic devices or any powers recently." A man in a suit said looking down at the floor, holding a beige file in front of him with both hands.

The man growled from his wheelchair and swatted the file out of the man's hand.

"I don't care! Someone should have seen her! She can't just disappear like that!" He shouted from his wheelchair as the man in the suit sprawled to ground, frantically picking up the fallen pieces of paper.

"Mr Lucitor please, do not push yourself." A young nurse behind him intervened sternly. The man had his fist clenched and his teeth bared. He slammed his fist onto the arms of the wheelchair.

"Tom."

Tom looked over to his right and his glare softened a little.

"Who are you?" Tom asked, still with a hint of anger.

"I'm...Marco Diaz. A friend of Star..." Marco stuttered.

Tom's eyes widened and he started to chuckle. His chuckle turned into laughter. Marco and the individuals around Tom watched in fear and speechless. It grew louder and louder that he was now hunched forward, pressing his forehead into his hand.

Everyone, even strangers and passer-bys, on the ground floor was now staring at the commotion as Tom's laughter echoed through the high-ceiling building. Marco tilted his head slightly, but kept his gaze at him. Tom started to calm down and was now glaring at Marco through the spaces between his fingers.

"You got a lot of nerves coming here...and calling yourself Star's friend." Tom growled softly as Marco narrowed his eyes at him, clenching his fists.

The man from earlier quickly rose to his feet, with unsorted papers pressed against his chest, shifting his gaze between Marco and Tom.

"Guys...not here. Please." The man said softly.

"Shut up, Connor." Tom shouted, glaring at him.

"Hey, enough. He is just doing his job." Marco cut in, grabbing Tom's attention again.

Tom gripped his arm rest and began to rise from his seat. Everyone around him, even Marco, had their eyes widened. The nurse behind tried to go to his side, but Tom put his hand out, palm facing out.

He managed to get on his feet and shuffled his way to Marco, still holding his glare. He was now face-to-face and Marco could hear him breathing heavily as they both held their glare at each other.

"You don't tell my men what to do."

"I will, unless you be nice to them."

Tom scoffed out loud.

"Nice? You're telling me to be nice?! While I was god damn sleeping, few weeks after she disappeared, they can't even get back a trace. Now you come here to tell me to be f**king nice, especially when you're the cause of all this?!" Tom hissed, baring his teeth.

Marco leaned closer to him, till Connor came in and placed his hands between them.

"Please! Enough! This is a hospital!" Connor trembled, shifting his gaze between the aggravated men.

Marco looked over to Connor and sighed. He lowered his head and took two steps back, stuffing his hands at the edges of his coat pockets.

"What are you doing here?"

Marco looked over to Tom, who was still glaring at him.

"I need to know what happened to Star. The month you had your surgery."

"Why do you want to know?" Tom demanded.

"Because I have been looking for her." Marco stated.

Tom scoffed, looking away from him.

"What now?" Marco asked frustrated, furrowing his eyebrow at him.

Tom glared back at him with a clenched jaw.

"You think you can just come here and fix everything, after what you did to her?" Tom sneered.

He looked down and his glare softened as his eyes landed on Star's bracelet around Marco's wrist.

Tom shakingly lifted his finger at him.

"Where did you get that?" Tom trembled staring at the bracelet before looking up at Marco.

Marco softened his gaze and curled one corner of his lips down.

"Tom...please...we both know she's out there. We need to work together, or else we can lose her forever." Marco pleaded, emphasizing the last part of his plea.

Tom slowly lowered his finger and stared down to the floor. He started to slowly turn away but collapsed forward, causing everyone around him and Marco to reach out to help him.

"Don't!" Tom ordered, stopping everyone in their tracks.

Marco and Tom's bodyguard, the nurse and Connor furrowed their eyebrows and watched as he struggled to lift himself up to his wheelchair. As he got to his seat, he let out a shaky sigh.

"You have no right being here Marco." Tom said dejectedly as he stared at him.

Marco retracted his hand and sighed.

"I know...but I'm here to make things right and I need your help..." Marco felt his throat went dry, but immediately ignored it with an empty swallow. "I need to find out what happened to her, especially the day she was with you."

"What does it have to do with the search for her?" Tom inquired judgingly.

"Me, Janna, Pony and her parents have found out she's been keeping stuff from everyone and...I won't be surprised if you don't know what they are."

"She won't keep secrets...especially from me..." Tom muttered, but it was audible for Marco. He watched Tom clenched his jaw, staring down hard.

Marco frowned and let out a sigh. He walked up to him and knelt in front of him with one knee up. The gesture caught Tom's attention.

"Then tell me what happened." Marco pleaded again, furrowing his eyebrows at him.

Tom had his eyes wide open, but it slowly shifted to eyes of hurt. He let out a sigh and gestured to the nurse. His wheelchair started to move back and turned away from Marco.

Marco rose to his feet and watched Tom being pushed away, with his bodyguards and Connor following behind. He looked out to the large window beside him and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What are you waiting for?"

Marco whipped his head to Tom, who was waiting at the archway, looking over his shoulder. He shifted his gaze forward and the nurse resumed pushing him forward, but now with Marco trailing behind them.