Natasha's pov:
I assumed that we were going home, but I couldn't have been more wrong..
Once I see that Vincent had passed the house I begin to panic. Why didn't he go home? Where was he taking me? Was he going to punish me for lying? Maybe I should escape before it's too late? It was almost as if Vincent knew that I was freaking out internally and he assured me "Nat don't worry, I wanted to treat you for being quite brave, so I'm taking you to your favourite ice cream parlour." He even lets a little crease form in the corner of his mouth.
What? I thought that he was going to punish me, I suppose not anymore. Maybe things are different here?
I mumble a small "Thank you." to be polite. It was a nice thing for him to do for me, especially after everything I've taken from them recently. It was the least I could do.
"Don't you want to know about my bruises?"I ask him. I was curious to know if this was one of his infamous manipulations or not. Besides, I knew that he was disappointed from earlier when I lied to the doctor.
"I do, but I know better than to force answers out of you. I trust that you will tell me when your ready." He confesses while keeping his eyes on the road ahead of us. That was kind of him. I thought that he would force me to tell him the truth, but I guess not. I was grateful for all the kindness that he had shown me but my radar was still up, I couldn't trust him fully yet.
I wanted to trust him, but after what he had pulled off earlier, I don't know if I could.
The rest of the car ride was peaceful. We made some small talk here and there, but the majority of it was silence. Soon after the 15 non-verbal minutes, Vincent pulls up into a vacant parking lot. I thought that he said we were going to an ice cream shop? Why are we here? He gets out of the car and I open my car door instead of waiting for him to open it for me. I didn't need my biological brother, let alone any man open a door for me.
I could do it all my myself, I didn't need their help.
Vincent starts to walk in front of me and I follow him mindlessly. We were walking for about 10 minutes when my mind couldn't take it anymore. "Why did you park the car all the way over there?" I ask him. He was a good few steps ahead of me. It seemed as if he was in a rush but It was only around 10 am in the morning.
He halts in place and turns to me quickly. I swear all this man wanted to do was get in and out. He then says in a slight whisper so that only I could hear "My profession restricts me from going out casually. As a Do- I mean Real estate agent, my job is of high value and there are bad people who would want to hurt me by hurting you."
He pauses for a second and takes a deep breath. "I parked over there because I want you to be safe. I want to spend time with you but I prioritise your safety over that. That's why I parked away from where we are heading, so if any of my enemies find the vehicle, they won't find us, at least not for a while." He takes yet another deep breath and continues to walk ahead of me. I somehow manage to follow the man for the next 20 minutes in complete silence until we reach a small town.
Whilst we were walking, all I could ponder about was what he said.
"I want you to be safe." That sentence that he said had been replaying in my mind for the past few minutes already.
Did he truly want me to be safe? Or did he just say that to shut me up? If he really wanted me to be safe he would've came and collected me from my mother's hold. He should've looked for me, if he really did want me to be safe. And if I'm being honest, I haven't heard of a real estate agent with a life so dangerous. I never really looked into that field of work but I knew that you wouldn't have that level of a threat whilst in the job.
He HAD to have been telling a lie.
I knew that real estate agents do have enemies, but they don't try put other in danger like that. Maybe Brazil was different, I mean I haven't really been in the country in a while. And I get the kind gesture of taking me to get ice cream, but WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU TAKE ME OUT OF THE CAR IF YOU KNOW DAMN WELL THAT YOUR ENEMIES WOULD FIND US? That man had officially lost his mind. If he knew it was dangerous, why would he do this?
Although, the truth is that I needed to be more cautious too.
I knew when I came here that the Brazilian mafia would be notified of my presence sooner rather than later. I knew that I had to watch my guard and I should trust people more cautiously than before. Who knows who's in the mafia or not? It could even be my own biological brothers for fucks sake. That would be really funny not gonna lie. Like imagine the British Donna and the Brazilian Don living in the same house, let alone being related.
That would be crazy, thank god it wasn't real. I would officially lose my mind.
I couldn't even fathom the possibility of that being real. It was complete bonkers. My brothers weren't like that. They weren't right? RIGHT? I calm myself down a bit. I knew deep down that Vincent's job wasn't a real estate agent but I wasn't going to question it any further. It was a waste of my time and effort when I could be thinking about more important issues.
Whilst I was in the middle of thinking about my eldest brother's profession, he halts yet again.
I hadn't actually realised that we had entered a town and it snapped me out of reality. He turns to face me as I peer over his shoulder. There is an Ice cream parlour with bright flashy lights. The exterior was coated with a gorgeous shade of light pink whilst the accents on the side were a stunning baby blue. The two colours worked wonders when placed together.
The shop looked so cute! It even had an ice cream statue out in front. It was extremely adorable!
I softly ask Vincent "Is this the place?" whilst still staring at the building. He plasters a confused look all over his face as soon as I asked him that. "Do you not remember Nat? This used to be your favourite place, we would come here every Friday and-" I cut him off by stating "No I don't remember Vincent. I was only seven when I left and I barely remember what I ate for breakfast, let alone some random ice cream parlour."
A small frown appeared on his face along with a hint of sadness in his eyes.
In that moment, I felt bad for hurting his feelings like that, especially how he got so excited when talking about it, but I knew that I couldn't give in. I couldn't let him see my feelings out in the open, he will, but not so early into our friendship. I want to make him feel better though, so I will try my best to try cheer him up.
I'll give it time.
We walk in the building. There I see multiple flavours of ice-cream and a service worker near the till. Vincent protectively grabs my waist to direct me towards the different flavours. There I see many colourful flavours such as cotton candy, dark forest, rum and raisin, cookie dough and even the classic Neapolitan ones such as chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry.
"May I have one dark forest and one cookie dough please." Vincent asks the women politely.
Whilst I was still deciding on what flavour to get he decided to order for me? But what scared me even more was how he knew my favourite ice cream flavour. Maybe he did really know me, or maybe he hired a secret PI without my knowledge. I give him a puzzled look as I didn't know how he knew that specific fact about me.
Only Seb and Flynn knew that..
"You always loved it as a kid, I figured your love for it didn't change." He says whilst smiling. He has now been caught smiling twice now. Something was fishy here. Why was he in such a happy mood? What happened to his grumpy side? What on earth happened to my emotionless biological brother? What changed him?
Why did he remember my favourite flavour so well?
By the time I finished my pondering of Vincent's ability to memorise, the sales assistant rang us up and the till. After seeing this, I instantly take out my wallet with all my cash inside. I was just about to pay when all of a sudden, Vincent flashed out his credit card and I heard a ding on the card reader.
This man.
It was the least that I could do for the Morales brothers. They let me into their homes, fed me and provided me education. I should pay my debts, at least by buying this ice cream for Vincent, it was the right thing to do. After he payed, he frowned at the leather wallet in my hand. I was confused by his facial expression but I shrugged it off.
Weird, what could he be so mad about?
We left the shop with our individual ice creams in our hands. We were walking side by side towards the nearby beach. I had mentioned to Xavier earlier about how I missed the beach and I guess Vincent got wind of the news, it travels fast. We were only a few minutes into our walk when Vincent abruptly asks me "Why did you offer your money to pay?" with one eyebrow arched.
"It was the least I could do, especially after you guys took me in." I say while stuffing my face with cookie dough ice cream. I didn't hesitate with my answer.
Oh my god, that shit was delicious.
Vincent takes his time to look me in my eyes and declares "I repeat you will never, and I repeat never think like that again. You don't owe ANYTHING to us." He takes another breath whilst beginning again "In fact, it's the opposite. Nat, we want to spoil you, so damn much. We want to replenish all the good milestones that we had missed out over the years. Please let us do this, it gives us a sense of relief after the past decade."
What the heck?
They cared for me? They care for me? They feel an urge of remorse? Never in a million years would I have thought that my biological brothers would have wanted to be there for me. I lived majority of my life believing that they hated my guts and that they were happy when I left, I guess not.
Should I open up to them?
So far, they have shown me an array of different trust levels but for the time being, I might. Not right now obviously, but I would for sure in the future. It felt good knowing that I could possibly confide into my biological brothers. Hopefully sooner rather than later, I could maybe even call them my brothers. No need for the biological in front of it.
But I'll give it some time, after all it has only been a few days.
And the fact that they want to make up for all the important milestones that they had missed truly touched a nerve there. I almost couldn't believe my ears. They wanted to be there for me? They wanted to love and nurture me? They want to shower me with affection? I thought that I owed them everything.
I thought that I owed them my life earlier.
I shoved all the bad thoughts that I had about them and all the grudges I had on them into the back on my mind and I hugged Vincent. Thank god he moved his ice cream out of the way, or else it would've been smushed. I knew right then and there that physical tough was my love language. Loads of people can say many things to me, but physical touched compared like no other.
It was nice to share the feeling of an embrace, especially with a family member.
Although I know that sometimes things may not always go right, I would cherish them in a part of my heart, always.
He then bends down to my heart while still hugging me and whispers "I love you Nat, nothing and nobody will ever change that." I let out a jolly smile listening to his kind remarks about me. Nobody apart from Seb and Flynn had ever said those words to me, well them and him, but we don't talk about him.
At least not just yet.
All I wanted to do was be embraced like this forever, but as we know, all good things must come to an end.
Author's pov:
AHH! Thank you guys so much for 110+ reads! you have officially made my day :)
I have made a schedule that I hopefully intend to follow which is I would upload a chapter once every 3 days, I know that it is a decrease from last month but I want to assure you all that when December comes around.. There will be MANY MANY more chapters! :) I am beyond grateful for you all being so patient with me!
Thoughts on Vincent this chapter? Can we trust him fully? Do we think that Nat will find out his true identity?
Also pardon me for the foreshadowing I had within this chapter, I just wanted to announce that the novel WILL be deeper than you think. Be prepared..
Next chapters going to be REAL juicy, we will find out more about Vincent, that's for sure..
Word count: 2400