CHAPTER L
❝ I don't know what to believe.❞
There is an intense silence that overlaps everything. Even though the music was blaring in the background, even though drunk people were stumbling around, laughing obnoxiously, there was still this heavy silence that hung over them.
Niklaus first noticed the panic cross Lucy's face. Then some anger and then, nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just an empty stare which held nothing but resentment, hatred and stoicism.
And he gulped, because this was not the Lucy he knew. This was not the Lucy who was dancing with him moments ago. And this was utterly not the Lucy that Brie called Mom.
This Lucy was void of any emotion but hate. And this hate was totally and completely directed towards her father and the man accompanying him, who by the looks of it, seemed to be his boyfriend.
Lucy stepped forward, her jaw set hard, her strides powerful, not breaking eye contact until she was right in front of them.
"Why are you here?" she said, or almost gritted out, her voice low, imposing.
But Richard seemed unaffected. Not even recoiling by the excess of loathing in her voice. Perhaps, he was used to it.
"Well, well, Lucia, don't be so unwelcoming." Richard Wright clicked his tongue loudly, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "At least to us, my dear. We're here for just a family reunion. You, me, Dietrich and my lovely granddaughter, what's her name again, oh, yeah, Brie."
Lucy visibly stiffened. And everyone noticed this.
And Richard smiled, the most evil and contemptuous smile.
He was enjoying this. Very much.
"Oh, oh, no need to call her right now," he said even though she made absolutely no movement whatsoever, "we already had the privilege for the introductions. We ran into her in the garden, which you've turned into an utterly disgusting playhouse, might I add. She was, by far, the most tolerable kid we had met."
"Don't-" Lucy took a step forward in anger. She was fuming. "Don't you dare even speak of her let alone speak to her. Stay away from her-"
"Why?" Richard prompted, his tone flaring this time. "I have full rights to meet my granddaughter. You can't stop me-"
"Yes, I can." she spitted out, her chest heaving up and down in anger. "I can stop you I have every right to-" she wagged a threatening finger into his face "-stop you, your boyfriend-"
"Don't-" a powerful hand grabbed onto her arm, twisting it painfully. "-don't you dare. Keep that finger of yours down."
That. That is when Niklaus decided to intervene.
It was nothing but four long strides. Nothing as he came to (or rather wedged in his way) stand between the father-daughter duo and threw Richard's iron hold off her. Nothing when the latter looked at him furious, shocked by his audacity. Nothing when he caressed her arm silently, just glaring daggers at Richard, challenging him. Yet it was a lot more than nothing when Lucy wrenched her arm out of his grip with such intensity that made him recoil, wonder if somehow his touch had burnt her.
And then he saw it, the panic, the fear in her eyes. And as quickly as he had seen it, it disappeared, dissolving into someone he couldn't quite recognise.
Her lips parted and he sort of expected her to say "thank you but I can manage," or "it's alright, he's my father. I know how to deal with it." or literally any other thing, but what she said was so far away from any of this.
"You needn't intervene, Mr. Mikaelson. It's a family matter. We can manage."
He was taken aback, visibly. And he felt crushed, not his ego, but his feelings.
But then he clenched his teeth and spoke in his most calm voice, "Of course. Ms. Wright. Just trying to be a gentleman. And I won't intervene given your father finally learns to keep his temper in check."
"I won't, Mr. Mikaelson." Richard spoke venomously, practically snarling, eyeing the Mikaelson ring on his finger. "The hybrid, I presume."
"Yes." he nodded curtly.
"Uh," he pinched his nose in frustration, "my daughter never quite drops her habit of making acquaintances out of the most unreliable creatures on this earth-"
"Richard." Dietrich spoke up for the first time, calmly, placing his hand on his shoulder. Richard took the cue to quieten down.
"Dietrich Daldron, pleasure meeting you."
He must have extended his hand to shake, and it took Niklaus three beats to drag his eyes away from Lucy, at whom he had been still staring, crushed, masked by anger.
"Klaus Mikaelson." he said curtly, shaking his hand very briefly.
"You seem like a very good friend of Lucia-" Dietrich began.
"No." Lucy interjected, so fast that Dietrich raised his brows, smirking slightly as if he knew she was lying.
"Well, beats me, because I've heard quite much about your excursions in Florida-"
"No." she said once again, a bit more forcefully this time and Niklaus noticed that suddenly her breath was shallow, alarmed.
"Beats me too," Niklaus interrupted, returning his gaze to her. "Because it's actually the first time we're meeting, at this party."
"Oh," Dietrich nodded and shrugged. "Might be a misinterpretation of mine then."
"Clearly." Niklaus nodded, forcing on a fake smile, his eyes still set onto her. He wondered if she would even look in her eyes for once.
He needs them gone. So that he could ask her what was wrong or where he had gone wrong.
"This is Richard Wright." Dietrich motioned to him. "Lucia's father."
"Pleasure." Klaus jutted his hand out against the best of himself.
"I'll ask you to leave us alone. I need to speak with my daughter." Richard said, almost lazily, blatantly ignoring his outstretched hand.
He clenched his jaw, his fists curling at the obvious disregard for him.
But, then, she met his eyes and he gulped down his anger.
"Fine." he plastered a forced smile on his face. "No issues really. But watch your damned words next time."
◇◇◆◇◆◇◇
Stefan wasn't sure how long had it been since the room had been spell sealed and Brie and her friend, Sara, had fallen asleep. He just played Candy Crush on his phone, keeping his notifications on for any alerts or information.
But he was sure something had turned up when Lucy entered the room, very quietly, looking half shaken and half relieved.
"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked, half-whispering as Lucy stared at Brie as if she couldn't believe she was okay.
"Richard..." she trailed off, sighing heavily, "and Daldron came."
"What?!" Stefan nearly shrieked. "Where are they? What did they want? Did they say something to you? Did they try to-?"
"Stefan, Stefan," Lucy laughed weakly, "everything's surprisingly okay."
"Okay, listen. Sit down here." he grabbed her by the shoulder guiding her to the couch. "Now, tell me exactly what happened."
"They both appeared out of nowhere all of the sudden in the party acting just the usual. Just Richard a bit more bitter. And well, apparently they've already met Brie in the garden and clearly Richard had all the snarky comments practised already. And they saw Niklaus with me-" she held her head in her hands "-god, everything is so messed up. I don't know what to believe. They are acting so weird and they say that they wish to know Brie and want to mend things. But- I just can't make myself believe in them."
She stopped for a short breath and then continued. "Even Casper left a voicemail saying that this time Steve's approaching death anniversary has brought a change in the heart for Richard. He wants to mend things and get to know Brie, and i don't know what to believe and what to not because his behaviour downstairs screams of everything completely opposite."
"Lucy, listen," Stefan said, "first tell me where are they right now."
"They left for their hotel. And I obviously didn't ask them to stay here at all. Like no way."
"Okay. That's one good thing." Stefan nodded. "How did Klaus react?"
Lucy clamped her eyes shut as if the thought physically pained her.
"I-I got scared Stefan." she whispered shakedly. "I couldn't let them know about Nik and me or they'll ruin it and force me to do things I'd rather die than do. So, I..."
"You?" Stefan asked calmly.
"I just showed that he was just an acquaintance. And-and I..."
"And?"
"I think I hurt him. I had no other choice, Stefan. And I had to and-and he was so hurt, I saw it in his eyes. And I don't know how-"
"Talk to him." Stefan interjected firmly. "Tell him why you did what you did. Okay? You will do that, right?"
"Yes, yes, I know, Stefan," she whispered frantically, "but-but, what if he leaves me? What if he hates me aft-?"
"No, no, Lucy, he wouldn't. Not in any way. Just tell him everything. I know he'll understand. And if you don't talk to him now, I'm afraid it'll be worse."
"I know, but-"
"No, buts, Lucy. Go. Now."
She nodded, standing up and giving him a short hug muttering a 'thank you'.
She turned once she reached the doorway and called out, "Stefan?"
"Yeah?"
"Please go to the party. You haven't enjoyed yourself at all."
"No, it's fine-"
"Brie will be okay. I'll spell shut the room again. But you need to go downstairs right now."
"Okay." Stefan smiled.
"And please call off the party whenever you feel like. I'll go find Nik."
◇◇◆◇◆◇◇
Lucy wasn't sure where she'd find Nik. She'd checked the terrace, the pool and even the movie room, but still no sign of him. Even the loud music at that point had almost begun to annoy her.
She had decided to give one last shot before she'd try calling him (for she knows he'd never pick up her call under the current circumstances). And by the grace of god, her shot turned out to be fully effective.
Lucy turned the handle of her room's doorway, filling herself with one last shred of hope.
Her eyes widened as she peeked inside, slowly opening the door.
The whole room was in a mess. The bedsheets were thrown halfway across the floor. Vases shattered and tables broken to shards.
She stepped inside, over a torn bed sheet soaking the scene in as she closed the door behind herself.
"Nik?" she called out, continuing to traverse deeper into her room as she felt some shards of glass crunch under her heels.
No response came as she looked around, avoiding a broken table in her way as she came to stand in front of the bathroom door.
"Nik? You in there?" she called out again, knocking on the door this time.
She waited in silence for a lapse of a few seconds before she heard a gruff "No." from inside the bath.
Lucy sighed, resting her forehead against the cool surface of the door.
"Can we talk?" she asked.
"No."
"Please?"
"No, I don't-"
"Please?" she repeated, sliding down against the door to sit with her back pressed against it.
A beat of silence before Lucy heard some shuffling and figured he too had sat against the door on the other side.
"Fine." he replied shortly and Lucy managed a smile at that simple word.
━━━━━━✰━━━━━━
A/n :
I know it's been so long since I updated 😭 but life's super hectic these days💔.
Until then,
Ripahhhhhhhhhh.
Word Count : 1892