Elizabeth

23: New Chapters

I sit in my office with a cigarette and whiskey. Dad comes into the room.

I haven't slept in three months. I've been so accustomed to having her in my arms that I don't know how to sleep anymore without her. I failed at protecting her. "Someone's here for you," he says. I hear the footsteps of multiple people. I don't once look up from my computer. I'm hoping for a break.

"Mr. Bianchi," I surmise. I look up. The police chief stands in front of me. This is the man whom we've had countless alliances with. "I don't pride myself in death, but I am here to tell you the news," he says.

"What?" I scoff. Dad glares at me.

"Bobby Ross was killed in a DUI last night." I perk up.

"Where is my Elizabeth, then?"

"We flipped his residence inside out. There was no sign of her." I pause. How is that even possible?

"What the hell do you mean? He took her! so where the fuck is she!"

"That's what we are working on. It doesn't appear that she was even taken with Bobby."

"What?" I ask.

"Bobby never had her in the first place," Dad explains.

"So then where the hell is she?"

"We don't know."

"How the fuck do you not know!" I stand up angrily. "That's my fucking queen who is out there without her king. She can't survive."

"Yes, she can! She can survive because she lived with you. She learned how to survive because of you. I know you want to believe that she needs you and she does, but she doesn't need you to survive in this way."

"Are you telling me that she doesn't need me?" I ask Dad.

"No," he replies. "I'm trying to open your eyes and tell you that she is somewhere surviving and we will find her."

I stumble back to my seat and begin to cry. I can't take this...not being with my Elizabeth. She's my everything and I can't survive without her. I'm slowly dying inside. I'm slowly dying because she's not with me.

How long will I survive without her?

...

Elizabeth

It's been three months without him.

"You owe me rent," he says as he bangs on my door. I turn on the lights in the middle of the night.

"It's due tomorrow," I bark as I open the door.

"Not for you. You fucking owe me rent!" He barges through the door and shoves me against the wall.

"Get out! Get out!" I scream. I try to reach for a kitchen knife on the counter, but he holds me against my neck.

Since I moved in here, the landlord has been ruthless. He's been perverted towards me and shows me no mercy. "This is my fucking place. If you won't give me the money, then I'll take something else. It wouldn't be your first time," he says. He forces his hand in my sweatpants. I flinch and try to move away. "You're so wet for me."

"No," I whimper. I turn away. I can hear him moaning. I hear him try to unbuckle his belt, so I shove him away and run from my apartment in hysterics.

The bar I've been working at is a five-minute walk away, so I run.

It's ten minutes until close, so I rush inside the bar and immediately hide behind the bar. "Eliza, what are you doing here, darling?" He asks me. I put my finger to my lips and hope that he doesn't barge into this restaurant.

The bell to the bar rings. "Aaron," he huffs.

"Franklin," Aaron smirks. He discreetly glances down at me as he continues to clean the bar.

"You didn't see a girl run in here, did you? Short, curvy, knocked up," he chuckles. "She owes me rent."

"Rent's every last Sunday of the month. It's Friday, man," Aaron says.

"You know why we work so well together?" Franklin asks. He bangs his fist against the bar. I flinch. "Because you don't tell me how to do my job and I don't tell you how to do yours!"

"Well, like you just said," he sighs. "You don't tell me how to do my job. So, get out." He pulls a handgun from the counter and lays it on the table. "Don't let the door hit you on your way out."

The door slams closed. Aaron goes behind him to lock the door.

When I know that the door is locked, I stand up from behind the bar and wipe my tears. I don't look at Aaron. Our relationship has been a weird one for three months. Even after everything he's done for me, I don't give him enough recognition. "What happened, Eliza?"

"He barged in my apartment," is all I say. He looks at me. He doesn't believe me.

I touch my baby bump. I can feel my baby boy kicking now. "What else?" I shake my head.

"Eliza, it's been three months," he reminds. "Let me in."

"No," I whisper.

"Let me in. It's been three months. I like you, Eliza." I shake my head and laugh.

"I can't like you how you want me to. My heart is with someone else." He nods and leans against the counter. "I'm sorry, Aaron. I don't want to hurt you."

"No, you're right," he says. "He's a lucky man. But you have to realize that it's been three months." He pours me water as I sit down at the bar.

"I don't need therapy time right now, Aaron. I'm tired and my baby has been keeping me up—"

"I've got a guest room upstairs. You can stay there. Rent free." I look at him with some doubt. I know he has feelings for me. "I don't want anything in return. I promise. Go upstairs. I'm going to finish up down here."

He tosses me the key to the apartment upstairs.

When I'm upstairs, I find the guest room and immediately wrap myself in Romeo's jacket. I imagine it's him hugging me from behind telling me that it's alright. I imagine that he holds just below my pregnant belly to give me relief. But instead, I lay in the bed alone.

I wonder what Romeo's doing.

Has he forgotten about me? Is he off with someone else? Or is he wondering where I am?

Has he forgotten about me?

Am I only a girl in his dreams, or am I haunting him as much as he haunts me?

-Everest-