A/N:
Two seconds to make me happy.
Click the little star.
Chapter 35:
Kane's P.O.V:
'We are doing all we can to find the missing girls,' says Inspector Davidson form the local police station. 'We urge anyone with information to please step forward before another family faces the possible nightmare of losing a child.'
I grit my teeth at the news report and changed the radio station.
'I just want my little girl to come back home. My husband and I are offering a reward for any information leading to her-'
"This can't be happening," I muttered under my breath, my knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel. Everything was fine this morning. Less than ten hours had gone pass. How could things have turned around so abruptly?
I pull into the driveway and grabbed the keys from the ignition. I ran into the house quickly locking the front door behind me. Call me paranoid, but I wasn't taking any chances. I nearly pushed the door off its hinges trying to get into the dining room quick enough, but once I was in I could finally breath normally again.
Ella was alright.
She sat at the table staring at her hands that was folded in her lap. Her eyes were spacious and clouded at the same time. Like she was trying to empty her mind of what was happening. As if she wanted reality to disappear around her.
My mother wasted no time pulling me into the kitchen and giving me a very stern, worried, motherly look.
"She hasn't spoken since she came back. She just said you'll explain and then sank into a chair and has barely moved since," she whispered and I drew in a breath.
"I'll handle it. Everything will be fine," I assured her and tried to slip past her back to Ella but she grabbed my forearm and pulled me back. Her motherly look was gone, replaced by the frighteningly look of a mother hen whose chicks had been threatened.
"You better tell me what's going on and soon. Before I find out myself." Her eyes were fiery and glistening with anger. This was her disciplining mom side. Nothing I said would get her to forget about it now, but I all I could do was stall for time.
I cradled her hands in mine and smiled softly.
"I will, Mother. I promise, just not right now. I have to be with Ella," I whisper back and see her soften just a tiny bit. She sighed but nodded and I quickly slipped back into the dining room. I motioned for Ella to follow me to my room and heard her chair scrape against the wooden floor as she stood up.
The moment I shut my door she regained her fury. Her hands were clenched into fists and her mouth was in a straight line.
"I know you're hiding something. What is it?" she demanded instantly, taking a threatening step forward. Although my face remains neutral my mind halted for a second. I haven't said anything to her yet. How could she know anything?
"Your tone was different when you spoke to me on the phone. Firmer, superior, like you knew something I didn't. Your eyes are darker and... colder. I know your hiding something," she explained with the same anger directed at me. I try to soften my eyes and reached for her hand but she instantly pulled away from me as if my touch burned her.
She took a few steps away from me with a betrayed look on her face. I felt my heart break a little at the sight of her accusing gaze set on me.
"My sister is missing, Kane. If you know anything – anything – you better tell me or you might as well have kidnapped her yourself," she hissed. Her eyes were desperately scanning mine. Accusing... pleading... demanding...
I sighed and sat down on the bed, preparing my words.
"A while ago my dad told me about this new case they're dealing with. There's this person, rumoured to be a woman, who has been kidnapping and killing teenage girls," I started and saw her frowning.
"What does this have to do with Mony?" she demanded.
"Not Mony," I sighed and met her gaze. "You."
Her angry look faltered as she processed the information.
"The descriptions of the missing girls all matched yours. Dark hair, darker eyes, pale skin. They had another thing in common although I didn't know about that until this morning," I informed her. Her fists were tightening and I knew half-moon dents would soon be forming on her palms.
"What?"
"The victims' mothers all left the home when they were children." Small beads of blood started gathering in her palms, almost dripping onto the carpet. She didn't even flinch at what I knew was a burning sensation. I reached forwards to uncurl her fits but she jerked away from me.
"Don't. Just don't." She took a deep breath before continuing. "If I don't do this, I will do something I'll regret."
"Ella..." I muttered her name and saw her draw in a deep breath to calm the anger that was threatening to spill out of the bottle of emotions he had kept hold of so well.
"You kept information from me. Information regarding Mony's safety. The safety of my sister," she said softly, dangerously.
"I thought you'd be safe here," I defended and jumped up from the bed.
"Well? How'd that go!" she screamed and immediately glued her lips shut. She turned away from me and I knew she was waiting for her temper to die down.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to me. Her voice was soft again and her tone delicate - she was on the point of breaking. "I understand why you did it, but you had no right to keep it from me."
"Ella-"
"I want to be alone." Her tone was final, dooming.
"Please, just let me-"
"I've been alone most of my life, Kane. I've never found it easy to trust anyone, especially men. You made me feel safe and normal and the very thought that you lied to me hurts. It hurts, Kane. I've never had someone else to help me when something went wrong and this isn't a very good learning experience." She folded her hands over her chest protectively and I knew she was trying to hide the moistness in her eyes. "Please, just leave."
What else could I do? She had made up her mind that I had lied. She was upset, open and vulnerable. She hated it and especially other people seeing it. So I slipped from the room with a final 'I'm sorry' and closed the door, allowing her a safe place to cry.
Even if I wanted that safe place to be with me.