"Tell me what?" Lorenzo's heavy voice boomed through the lobby. Jace looked at him, wide eyed, as he came striding down the stairs.
Lorenzo's looked at Amelia and stopped in his tracks. His eyebrows furrowed and he stepped closer.
"Oh here he is. Look, Lorenzo I'm drunk." She giggled, as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
"What?" He glared at Jace, piecing two and two together.
"How long has this been going on?" He asked, furiously.
"Two weeks." Jace mumbled, looking down.
"Behind my back?" Lorenzo gritted, feeling more angry than ever.
"I'm sorry. I thought she'll stop." He mumbled again.
That was a dumb response.
Amelia groaned, dragging Lorenzo's attention towards her.
"Go to your room, Jace. You're grounded. I want all your electronics, keys and credit cards in my room. You're not taking care of the security anymore. You clearly misused it." He said, before stalking towards her, his jaw clenched. Jace glanced at them, sending a pitiful look towards Amelia and shuffled to his room.
"Lorenzo." She giggled. "It feels so good."
"How did I not notice this?" He grumbled.
Amelia kept blubbering something, which didn't even make sense and kept giggling.
Her laughing, just angered him more.
"I let you do everything, Amelia. I tried to let you live how you want. I didn't say no to anything. But I've reached my limit."
Lorenzo's voice kept on raising with each word he spoke. He was so angry.
She was smart enough to know if what she's doing is right or not.
"I know you're sad and stressed. But I can't let you drink your life away." He glared at her.
Amelia was just looking at him emotionlessly, now. Even drunk, she still felt a pang of guilt on seeing his icy cold expression.
"We'll talk in the morning." He said, before picking her up and walking upstairs. It was useless talking to her while she was drunk.
Her eyes started closing, but she struggled to keep them open.
"I know I'm a disappointment, Lorenzo. You have every right to be disappointed and angry at me." She slurred, her mood completely changed now.
She didn't feel all giggly and happy now. She felt sad and gloomy.
All the events of her past swirled in her mind. The disgusting look Ryan gave her. The way he looked her up and down. Chris and Maria. How they made her work so hard and never appreciated her.
Everything.
She was breaking inside. Losing hope.
She was ready to beg. To be saved from Ryan. She was that scared of him and what he'll do to her, if he had his hands on her.
"I know I will never be good enough. I know I made you and angry and disappointed. But please don't kick me out. I don't wanna leave now. Don't let him take me away from you." She whimpered and buried her face into his chest.
Lorenzo stayed silent. He'll get the answers soon. She's in huge trouble and would need to explain many things. He opened the door to his room and put her on the bed.
She sat up and looked at him through teary eyes. Lorenzo just grabbed a water bottle and handed it over to her.
"Finish it." He ordered. Amelia drank a sip or two before she felt the need to start talking again. She wanted to let it all off her chest. A minute or two passed with her just staring at the bottle.
"I want you to drink all that water." Lorenzo said, glaring at her. Amelia's gaze snapped to him.
"I don't want to." She slurred out not even knowing how hard Lorenzo was trying to control his anger. Making him repeat himself and not obeying was making him furious.
"I said finish the damned bottle, Amelia." Lorenzo almost yelled, his voice was raised and angry.
"If it's not finished within the next two minutes, you will regret it." He gritted, pointing his index finger at the bottle.
Amelia flinched and immediately started drinking again, not liking this. Even drunk, she was scared out of her wits at the moment.
Meanwhile, seeing her flinch at his tone, Lorenzo's anger wavered, but just then, her drunk picture came back to his mind, alone outside in the dark and the anger returned.
Amelia put the bottle down after drinking the water and was already losing consciousness, but she was fighting against it, desperate to say whatever she wanted to.
Seeing this, Lorenzo grabbed his desk chair and sat before her. He took her hands in his and kissed them, taking deep breaths to calm down.
She was very talkative while drunk and refused to sleep now. She wanted to talk.
That's why Lorenzo pushed his anger aside for a moment and decided to listen to her.
"Don't let him take me away. I'm sorry, Lorenzo. I won't drink again. Please." She sobbed, begging him, clutching tightly at his hands.
"Who?" Lorenzo asked. She fell silent and looked away. Lorenzo grabbed her chin and made her look at him.
"I need you to tell me, baby." He said, softly, caressing her cheek.
"Ryan Brown." She said, as new tears started falling from her eyes.
"What?" Lorenzo was beyond shocked.
Why would he take her away? Does he know her? Is he a threat for them?
So many questions were swirling in his mind.
The trail of thoughts stopped when he heard a sob. He picked her up and hugged her to calm her down. Amelia kept spilling tears.
"He bought me." She said. "He put a price on me and asked Chris and Maria to turn me into what he wanted me to be, so he could take me when I turned eighteen, as his property."
"Who told you that?" He asked, trying to control his anger, that now returned, not because of his sister's mistakes, but one of the reasons why she was doing what she did.
And one of the reason was their business partner and friend for years. Who knew he was doing this behind his and Damon's back.
"Chris. Ryan is their friend. He used to visit very often. Today when I met him, he had the same disgusting look, he always gives me." She mumbled. She shuddered at thoughts of him looking at her like that.
"Please Lorenzo. I will follow any rules you ask me to follow, but please don't let him take me. I will clean the house, I will cook for you all. I'd do anything." She sobbed into his chest, clutching his shirt tightly in her fists, not wanting to be away from him.
"You can hit me if you want, but I don't wanna go away from you."
That hurt Lorenzo. His heart hurt. He felt pained on hearing those words, on knowing she thinks they will ever hit her.
Lorenzo looked at her sadly. He wanted to end all her problems, but they seemed to increase every minute.
"I'm not letting anyone take you away. You made a mistake, that doesn't mean I'm going to hate you." He soothed. "You should've told me earlier, angel."
"I thought you were going to send me away." She sniffled.
"I can't send my baby sister away." He said, softly. "It was me who compelled you to come here in the first place."
"I don't know what I was thinking. Actually I'm not thinking right, at all." She whispered before hugging him tighter.
Amelia was relieved and felt foolish to even question Lorenzo's love for her.
Amelia didn't let go of him and kept hugging him, for a long time. Lorenzo cradled her and watched her fall asleep, before tucking her in. He turned the lamp off and left the room.
He went to sit in the living room and dialled a number on his phone.
"Hey Lorenzo. How's it going? Why are you calling so late?"
"Dad."
----------------------
Oooooooooooo
o.O
Stay safe and happy.
🤗🤗❤