Love Me (very slow updates)

Ch 15 |•| Sometimes the ugly side is prettier

Clara sat opposite her brother as nerves pummelled through her. She wrung her hands out as the ticking of the clock seemed to be getting louder and louder.

"Clara?" Lorenzo said as he raised an eyebrow. Clara looked up at him as he stared at her expectantly.

"Sorry what?" She said making him sigh.

"I said why weren't you in class yesterday," he repeated his question cocking his head to the side. Clara took in a deep breath before opening her mouth.

She quickly closed it again. She had no clue what she was meant to say. How was she meant to explain what happened? And what if he agreed with the wicked witch. What if he thought she was just being lazy?

She couldn't handle that. She could handle a random teacher but not Lorenzo. "Well?" Lorenzo pressed making her let out a breath she wasn't even aware she was holding.

"I-" she hesitated. She didn't want to tell him the truth. "I just didn't want to go. I'm sorry." She said lowering her head. Lorenzo let out a breath.

She was lying. He knew she was lying. He hadn't failed to notice her slightly red rimmed eyes when she had come home. Or the way her voice shook. Or the way she practically sprinted up to her room as fast as she could.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth Clara. I just want to understand you." He said softly. Lorenzo was at a loss. He didn't know what he was meant to do. He didn't know how he was supposed to get her to trust him.

But at the same time he couldn't just let her get away with everything. He had to stay true to his rules. But how was he meant to do that with everything she had been through? Everything he had thought he knew about raising someone had been thrown out of the window.

It was brand new territory and Lorenzo didn't know what he was meant to do. He had no one to ask. No one to go to. How was he meant to know what he was doing was the right thing?

Clara didn't say anything. A minute passed. Then two. Eventually Lorenzo let out a frustrated sigh.

"Fine. If that's the case you've broke one of my rules. That means I'll have to punish you." As soon as the words left Lorenzo's mouth he wished he could cram them right back in. Clara's head snapped up to meet his gaze as the colour had drained from her face. Her eyes widened as her mouth opened slightly.

Lorenzo felt his heart drop to his stomach at the fear in his sisters eyes. He hated it. He hated that he scared her.

"Fuck I should've worded that differently." He  muttered before putting his hands up where Clara could see them. "I'm not going to hurt you Clara. I'm sorry I shouldn't have said it like that. That's my bad." He said gently hoping to calm her down.

Clara swallowed as she kept her gaze on his hands. She didn't think Lorenzo would hit her but that fear was always there. It was lingering in the back of her mind. Always there to ask the 'what if?'.

She began to chew her lip nervously as millions of thoughts ran through her head. "What are you going to do?" She asked slowly after a while. Was he going to withhold food? Make her sleep on the floor for a month? Lock her in her room for a week? Surely he was going to do something.

"I'll take your phone for the day." He decided
making Clara's eyes widen.

"Oh." She muttered as she stared at him in shock. That was it? She waited for a moment in case he was going to add more but he simply sat there looking at her.

He was going to prove to her that she could trust him. Words did very little. He had to put actions behind them. He needed her to know she'd never be hurt in their home. She would be cared for, loved and protected with every thing the De Luca family had.