Entangled

Chapter 18

"I'll have to watch you from now on," Mr. Arach murmured.

Liatta's stomach twisted. "What?" The question slipped out before Liatta could stop herself.

She glanced up at Mr. Arach, to see if she needed to apologize, but he was too focused on his own thoughts to register she even said anything.

"Starting tomorrow, you'll be staying with me,"

Liatta bit her lip and nodded.

He had given her an undisguised command so she couldn't defy him no matter how much being around Mr. Arach triggered her instinctual need to escape.

Mr. Arach left after his order and now Liatta was completely alone for the first time in a while. Char had disappeared while she was asleep. Presumably, to avoid being discovered by Mr. Arach.

She laid back down on the sofa and stared at the floor listlessly.

Hopefully the spider would return soon, whenever she was alone, the emotions Liatta pushed to the edges of her mind creeped back to the forefront.

She turned her attention to the next day as a distraction, however poor.

The thought of spending a moment, let alone a day, in Mr. Arach's presence clogged Liatta's insides with dread.

He was filled with so much hate. At first, Liatta had thought it was directed at her. That the sight of her triggered a visceral irrational disgust in him, but it was becoming increasingly clear to Liatta that she was wrong. But the true target of Mr. Arach's hate made even less sense to Liatta.

What could Anita have done to him that would cause his eyes to burn with such scorn at the mere mention of her name. That he would choose to hurt Liatta this much, just to spit at Anita's memory.

And if Mr. Arach hated Anita enough to hurt Liatta like this just for knowing her, she shuddered at what that same hate might have motivated him to do to Anita herself.

Did he treat Anita like he treated her? Did he treat her worse?

All these years that Liatta naively spent with her, was Anita putting on a brave front and hiding her pain?

Did Mr. Arach kill her?

The question stuck in her mind. How could it not after Liatta had seen, firsthand, the flood of rage that Mr. Arach harbored for Anita. But...

Somehow, Liatta didn't believe he did it.

She made up reasons for her irrational yet unshakeable conviction:

If he killed Anita why hadn't he rubbed it in her face? Mr. Arach was perfectly happy to use anything to hurt her, so why not use Anita's murder too?

Or, Mr. Arach wouldn't kill another member of his family while the press still circled around him.

She came up with lots of post hoc reasons, but it all boiled down to: something in her bones told Liatta that he didn't kill her.

'Something in her bones' She pursed her lips.

Was it really conviction, or did Liatta just not want Anita's brother to be the murderer.

Her train of thought was interrupted by herself yawning. Her eyes were growing heavier by the moment.

Well perhaps one good thing, if it could be called that, could come out of her new schedule. If she was around Mr. Arach it made it that much more likely that she would encounter Grimm again.

And, maybe, then she would finally get some answers.

~℘~

Liatta stood in the closet, looking over the clothes, trying to figure out what she would wear.