For that one blessful moment between awakening and opening my eyes the world seemed right, then it all came rushing back. I was shot. I became the new Gio. Someone found out Sienna's hiding place. Damien sending someone to get her. Damein. Shit. Damein and his kiss. Damien. The guy I'm supposed to marry in a few hours.
I sprung out of bed and took a shower. There's so much going on today I should have been awake three hours ago. I called Rick last night before going to bed.
"I'm really sorry I had to call you on your cell. I tried contacting you the way we planned but you didn't reply. I was getting desperate. It's a matter of time before they catch up to me." he said.
Shit. It's been ages since I checked my email. He was supposed to send me an email that would be considered by anyone as spam but me if anything went wrong. This was my fault. No one else's.
" Hey! Don't worry about it. It's fine. I sent a guy to your location. You're both going to be safe He's a huge Blond guy. His name's Lucas. He'll bring Sienna to me and he'll help you with the people tracking you. Just be careful until then."
"I'm staying low and doing the best I can." he reassured.
"How's Sienna doing?" I asked.
"Sienna's doing great. She just went to sleep before I called you. She misses you a lot, Nila. I know these circumstances are not your choice but Sienna needs a normal life. Her life has been upside down since the moment your mother died. And that's most of her life. "
I took a deep breath." I know. And you have no idea how much it kills me to see her suffer even a second. I'm doing my best. "
" And considering everything you've been through you're doing great, Nila. And that's clearly seen in the way she loves you. You've been a mother and a father for Sienna. Your father, may God rest his soul, was a good man but he was barely there after he lost your mother. He was a brother for me but after your mother died we fell through because I didn't support his idea of vendetta. I wanted him to forget everything and take you and Sienna away from it all. " he said voice hushed." I'm sorry I should have been there for him and for you girls no matter what. That's my only regret in life. If I had been there maybe I'd have gotten to him eventually. I don't know. " he sighed.
" There's no use in it now, Rick. Don't torture yourself over something that can't be changed. He made his choice. And even after everything Dad left me your information so that I could contact you if anything happened. I say that stands for something at least." I told him.
A knock at the door caught me while I was getting dressed." Just a second. " I called out and scrambled into my shirt. " Ow. Ow. Shit" I groaned. Scrambling into anything hurts my shoulder. I hated this. A low laugh came from outside. "Shut up, Liam." I grumbled and opened the door. Then I forgot all about the idiot.
"Nila! " squeaked my favorite eight year old. I fell to my knees and started hugging and kissing her all over murmuring nonsense. God I missed her. And seeing her safe and smiling ment the world to me.
"Stop Ni," she giggled, "I can't breath."
I laughed and squeezed her harder. "You don't need to breath you just need to be hugged."
I'm glad she wasn't afraid of Liam standing beside her. It must have been scary for her to be brought back here after we escaped. I talked to her when Lucas got there around 3 am. I couldn't sleep until I heard her voice and reassured her she could go with them and that she'll be safe.
"Ni. Your getting married." she said. Looking excited.
"Yeah." I told her while glaring daggers at chatty cathy behind her. He shrugged. "What! You took your sweet time getting up and Damien said not to bother you. I took a few minutes and chatted with your sister." He said with a pointed look.
I glared some more.
"Come on. The dress, the makeup and hair people are ready for you. You need to get started. " he said gleefully.
I took Sienna's hand and followed him. She chatted along the way and through my getting ready on how nice living with uncle Rick was. How much she missed me. How nice Lucas And Liam had been. Liam and Sheila even helped her pick out a dress from a dozen dressed Ashley got for her after breakfast. And is Nila really going to marry that Demon. That question slipped right through and I started choking. I laughed so much I almost got my eye poked out by the girl doing my eyeliner.
"His name's Damien, Sienna." I gasped, "And he can be nice when he wants to be nice. Meanwhile it's not nice to call older people bad names. " I chided.
"Ahuh. Sure. He's nice. " she said eyeing me with an innocent smile. Then went back to entertaining me with her endless chatter. God how much I loved this girl. But I was starting to rub off on her.
"It's scary how sarcastic both of you are. " I glared through the mirror at the idiot running his mouth at my back. He refused to leave. Apparently it wasn't safe for me to be left alone even with the make up people. Damein's orders.
"That's not good. We can barely handle one of you." he added.
I smiled at him. "Liam. Sweetheart. My very handsome future brother in law." he perked up at the complement. I widened my smile. " If you want to keep these snow white teeth in your mouth stop yapping it and showing them to me."
His smile fell. "Your becoming as brutal as Damien" he grumbled. "Nobody loves me in this family" he pouted and layed his head on Sienna's shoulder. "Oh, princess. Can I cry on your shoulders". She giggled and patted his hair, "Your being silly!" he grinned.
He was. And I appreciated it. Since she was happy. I knew he was being extra silly to make her more comfortable. He didn't have to. But he was doing it anyway. I owed him for that at least. From what she told me. He also talked to her as soon as Lucas brought here to the house. He convinced her somehow that Damien and I had been fighting and we made up and now we're in love. I had no idea how that was even remotely believable. But apparently lying is a gift. We're also getting married, he told her. Didn't she want to the maid of honor since she was too grown up to be the flower girl. Oh wasn't it so very romantic. Insert eye rolling here.
I appreciated the nonsense nonetheless as long as Sienna had no idea what was happening. I know she's not going to be a little girl forever and she won't always be content with me deflecting her questions on the way we're living. She knew we had trouble and we're in danger most of the time but she didn't know what, why, and how. And I want to keep it that way as long as possible. I had to grow up fast enough for both us.