Ghosts ✔

038 • Lotte

Lotte sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her phone. She had to call him, filling him in about the changes. But she was so sick of it – she couldn't live with herself, with the betrayal. Especially now Juice had gone into rehab and wanted to start over, she didn't want this to ruin their relationship. 

She however had no choice. She couldn't let her little sister suffer because of her feelings for Juice. Sighing she looked for the right number and called it. Like every time she was listening to the dial tone she felt ice cold. Before every call she was afraid that he would give her the final order – to kill him in his sleep.

"Yeah?"

A shiver traveled through her body as she heard his cold voice. Tears stung in her eyes. "I don't know how much longer I can take this," she whispered. 

She hadn't wanted to speak out that thought, but somehow she never controlled her thoughts when she was speaking to him. 

"You think he will kill you?"

"What? – No," she answered baffled. 

She heard him snort. "He's no longer beating you?"

"No. He's just back from rehab, he's doing well. He told me Dana had called him." She held her breath, afraid that mentioning the girl's name stirred up his darkness. There however was no doubt that Maddox expected her to mention the call, whether he already knew about it or not. 

"I know. Dana wants to distance herself from him."

"Yeah..." Her voice was shaking. "I think he made peace with the situation."

At least that was what Juice was thinking. Lotte had her doubts. She had the feeling that the fact that he wanted to be with her now, had little to do with his feelings for her; he was rather fulfilling a promise he had made Dana. He was doing this for Dana, and not because of her.

"His sister has been sent to prison and he has to take care of his nephew now." She found it hard to share the information; the last thing she wanted was putting little Mikey in danger. The thought however of what Maddox would do if he found out she had kept things from him, was much more terrifying. She wanted to offer him transparency; that was the best way to keep everyone safe. "He moved in with me because I have an extra room." She took a deep breath. "You want me to move the cameras?"

"Hmm. Just buy some new ones for your house."

She bent her head and squeezed her eyes. A pounding headache was coming on. "How long do I have to keep doing this?" she whispered. "How much longer before you finally release my sister?" She wiped her eyes as they were filled with tears. "Dana is with you for over a year. And all this time Charlie..." Her lips were quivering. "Please let her go."

"Be careful you're not starting to annoy me, Lotte. I already rejected two customers who were interested in her."

She pressed her lips together. Once he had sold her, it would be impossible to track down her sister. Bile was burning in her throat. She still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he did this to a fifteen year old girl.

She started to sob, no matter how hard she fought against it. The secret she was keeping was weighing too heavy; she no longer knew how to keep her head above the water. She wanted to tell Juice what was going on, but as soon as Maddox would get wind of it she would lose her sister. For good. While she was going through even worse things than Dana did. 

"Haven't I proven my loyalty?" she whispered. "I'm always obedient. I... I... Please Maddox. Take her away from that place."

He was silent for a while. She didn't know whether he was angry or seriously considering her pleas.