Open Heart: Second Year {On Halt}

Chapter 28- Always an option better than Worse

"What are you saying, Bryce?" I stared at him, brimming with unbelief, "I don't understand. You never talked about them and now all of sudden th-they are...killers?"

If the situation was stagnant like usual, I would've regarded the revelation simply as a prank from him but there was no humor in Bryce's brown eyes, dark as pools of a black riptide, "All this while I've been warning about your boss...I never bothered to explain how dangerous my family is. I am."

Shaking my head, I averred, "I don't believe you. No-No, this...this isn't true. You can't be anything like that!"

"Believe me or not, Charlotte but it's the truth." He inclined his head, "Truth is always bitter to hear, especially from someone like me, isn't it?"

You could know truth from the silence it brought. It was a virtue which rendered one completely at the mercy of frozen iron curtains— harsher than mirthless lies. The way Bryce spoke...it was as if the Bryce in front was the Bryce I knew no more. This one was absinthial and darker, miles wandered off from the carefree and virile surgeon I called my guy-friend. There were stories unenlightened in his frontage, memories rising as shrouded vapors from overextended validity. A different being stood before me, twisted contortion— angry and scared and flustered and confused. This one wanted to be comforted. Wanted...help.

"You ran away from your family." I stated in a low voice, suspicious of immoral ears that might be listening to this private converse.

Bryce's eyes sought heavenward for a moment before he recited in an equally low tone, "My high school went with fear and bodyguards. My family has enemies, lots of them. Comes with the perks of dealing blue diamond. My guards would wait outside my classroom and follow me everywhere. And because of them, guys rarely wanted to be my friend and girls were too afraid to come near. This shit went on until I graduated and shoved a huge pile of rebellion against my parents. I was given an ultimatum." He growled, "Either stick to their methods or snivel away from their lives, living my own."

Inside, I understood my hypocrisy of upholding my parent's imprudent behavior on my skin always without knowing that I was no special snowflake in a world like this, a sneer of cold command where visage of evil were always in demand.

"And you chose to leave them." I said, "They allowed it?"

"Hell no." he shot, "My father almost locked me in dungeon of his fucking huge mansion and mom threw tantrums every day, saying that I'll always be followed whenever I went. The only good thing about their lives was they were really secretive with their business and operation. You can't really find Lahelas dealing with underworld. Even law enforcement can't do."

"It's too much." I took in a sharp breath, "That's like...you were keeping this whole thing within you the whole time? You never bothered to share anything even when I said I was with you! Bryce!"

"I wanted to be your friend, Charlotte." He tone was gentle, "I never wanted you to be in fear around me."

I guffawed at his puerile thinking, "Bryce, I grew up with my parents. Fear is the last thing I would ever expect from you." Steeping closer to him, I raised my head to meet his eyes, "You should've told me something really shitty was happening. Are you parents bothering you now?"

"Not directly...but with my sister here, she's a senior." He spoke in a mocking tone, "Somewhere near your age. She ran off and I am afraid my folks would think it was me who took her away and would send artillery to take her back. And by artillery, I actually mean it."

"...So you parents are mafia?"

He winced, "That they are."

"That's what you meant by your parents being absent in your life and sending loads of cash for you to grow up. They were always out in business." I put in the words, "Blood business."